December 31st, 2008 // comments (0)

Happy New Year! Welcome To ‘09

Not much in the way of posting today. Watch the videos feed on the lower right for New Years Eve celebrations around the globe. If something big happens, I will post it immediately.

Have a great NYE and be safe…

Catch your breath because 2009 is going to be the fastest-paced year yet.

December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

Intrade’s 9 For 2009 List

Just got this email from Intrade.com…:

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

Bristol Palin Baby Pics Net $300k?

According to one source, bidding for the baby photos began at $100,000. People won out in the end, but In Touch was the only other weekly to make serious bids, according to several sources involved in the process.

The price didn’t soar immediately, according to the sources, because Sarah Palin stories just didn’t sell all that well for the weeklies on newsstands.

The drug-related arrest of Johnston’s mother, however, caused the price

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

Blagojevich To Fill Senate Seat

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected today to name former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

The action comes despite warnings by Democratic Senate leaders that they would not seat anyone appointed by the disgraced governor who faces criminal charges of trying to sell the post, sources familiar with the decision said.

Shortly after Obama’s Nov. 4 victory, Burris made known his interest in an

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

Snapshots: Both Sides Of A War

Palestinians carry a wounded man after an Israeli missile strike hit the home of a Hamas member in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008. Israel’s air force obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of its overwhelming Gaza assault Monday, striking a house next to the Hamas premier’s home, devastating a security compound and flattening a five-story building at a university closely linked to the

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

Israeli Military Takes To The Web

Israel’s New York Consulate will hold a “live citizen press conference” over Twitter on Tuesday hosted by David Saranga, consul for media and public affairs at the consulate.

Twitter is a free “micro-blogging” website that lets users report their moment-to-moment thoughts in “tweets,” or messages no longer than 140 characters. Friends can follow these tweets and respond to them. The service is particularly popular on hand-held devices such as cellphones and PDAs.

Twitter

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

‘Jena Six’ Teen Shoots Himself

MONROE, La. — A teen convicted in the “Jena Six” beating case shot himself in the chest and was taken to the hospital Monday, days after his arrest on a shoplifting charge, police said.

Mychal Bell’s wound isn’t life threatening, said Monroe Police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten. The 18-year-old used a .22-caliber firearm in the shooting around 7:40 p.m., she said.

Wooten believes Bell was upset over media coverage of the arrest last

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December 30th, 2008 // comments (0)

McKinney’s ‘Relief Boat’ Rammed

The boat, which set off from Cyprus Monday wanted to make a statement and deliver medical supplies to embattled Gaza. The trip’s organizers said the boat was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, at the time of its close encounter with the Israeli navy.

“Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side,” McKinney told CNN Tuesday morning. “Our mission was

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Palestinian Stabs 4 In West Bank

A Palestinian laborer stabbed and wounded four Israelis Monday in the West Bank settlement of Modi’in Illit before he was shot and wounded by a volunteer medic, police and rescue officials said.

The morning attack in the haredi community, located just over the Green Line adjacent to Modi’in, left one victim seriously wounded, and three others lightly hurt.

The Palestinian assailant, who had worked in the settlement for over a decade, was shot

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Bristol Palin Gives Birth To Son

Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has given birth, FOX News confirmed.

Palin and her boyfriend Levi Johnston, both 18, are parents to a healthy 7 lb., 4 oz., baby boy in Palmer, Alaska.

“We think it’s wonderful,” Colleen Jones, the sister of Bristol’s grandmother Sally Heath, told People.com. “The baby is fine and Bristol is doing well. Everyone is excited.”

Jones told People.com that the baby’s

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Russian ‘Expert’ Predicts Fall Of U.S.

MOSCOW — For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media, who are interviewing him twice a day.

A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Professor Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

“There’s a 55-45 percent chance right now that disintegration will

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Is It Over For Caroline Kennedy?

Some top Democrats were certain Gov. Paterson, a close-to-the vest electorate of one, would find Kennedy irresistible now and as a running mate in two years. All others were chopped liver next to her sudden star power.

But a strange thing is happening on the way to the coronation. The wheels of the bandwagon are coming off. Fantasy is giving way to inescapable truth.

That truth is that Kennedy is not ready for

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Dolphins Playoff Tickets Sell Out

Thousands of Miami Dolphins fans flocked to the Internet and Dolphin Stadium Monday morning and snapped up some 25,000 remaining tickets to the team’s playoff game Sunday, when they host the Baltimore Ravens.

Some fans, like Carol Pulido, had gotten in line early at Dolphin stadium. She showed up more than two hours before the ticket office opened at 9 a.m.

The mother of two waited eagerly outside Gate F to score

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

Rockets From Gaza Wound 5

Five Israelis were wounded on Monday night – one critically, one seriously and three lightly – when a rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit an Ashdod bus stop.

The casualties were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

The rocket was one of over 70 fired at southern Israel Monday.

In another of the attacks, Hanni Al-Mahdi, 27, of the Beduin town of Aroer in the Negev, was killed and at least 14

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December 29th, 2008 // comments (0)

The State of Iraq: NYT Graphic

AS 2008 and the Bush presidency conclude, Iraq has settled into a kind of violent semi-peace. The population-protection strategy initiated by Gen. David Petraeus has been a remarkable success on balance. Its logic continues even though American force numbers in Iraq have nearly returned to pre-surge levels.

The NYT tries to point out the bad in this story but they don’t have much to work with. It appears this graphic gives…