News Junkie - Live Wire

Prop 8 Struck Down

California judge strikes down Prop 8 (PDF)…

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Top Secret America

A fountain of information from the Washington Post… 854,000 with top-secret access.

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Drugs Inc. – Meth Episode

A look at the ins-and-outs of meth

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Billion Bug Highway

Fantastic animation/report from NPR to cleanse the palate today… It’s about billions of bugs in the sky.

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Aimee Sword Convicted

Sword gets 30 years for sex with son…

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USA V. Arizona (PDF)

The Justice Department has officially filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over still yet to be enacted SB1070. Read the filing here (PDF).

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Chaos In Iran – Protests Rage After ‘Rigged’ Election

There are several great resources to catch the latest information on the aftermath of what appears to be a rigged election in Iran. Tehran Bureau is doing most of the hard round-it-up legwork so here’s a link in that direction. Their Sunday update was incredibly informative. Here’s a tidbit:

Also from my balcony facing north into the mountains, people are on their rooftops shouting “marg bar diktator” and “allaho akbar” ["Death to the Dictator!" and "God is Great!"]

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Geithner Considering More CEO Firings

Here’s the full Geithner/Couric interview from CBS News:

This is fantastically frightening… we have a government, led by officials with no experience running an automobile company, running automobile companies.

What could possibly go wrong?


’13-Year-Old Dad’ Is Not The Father

A sigh of relief on one hand, the 13-year-old is not actually the father. On the other hand, the 15-year-old is clearly a bit of a tramp.

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Alfie Patten, now 13, had a £300 DNA test after half a dozen boys claimed to have slept with schoolgirl pal Chantelle Stedman, 15.

It proved the 4ft-tall pupil was not the father of her seven-week-old girl Maisie Roxanne.

The result will be a blow to Alfie who was “devastated” by


AIG Bonuses: To Take Or Not To Take

A.I.G. employees must decide whether or take or leave their bonuses by 5PM today. You can’t almost guarantee anyone who doesn’t choose ‘leave’ will be outed…

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Management at American International Group’s financial products unit asked its employees to let the unit know by 5 p.m. on Monday if they plan to return all or part of the bonuses they got under an employee retention program, said the Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter.


Finally: Geithner’s ‘Toxic Assets’ Plan

Time to toss another trillion dollars into the fireplace. Details:

The plan aims to remove so-called toxic assets — many of them bad mortgage investments — from the banks’ balance sheets through a private-public partnership. The program will rely heavily on private investors, such as hedge funds and private-equity firms, to buy up $500 billion to $1 trillion of assets with the government providing incentives such as low interest loans and sharing in both the risk and possible profits.

“The


Wanna Call Obama’s Speechwriter?

How did I miss this gem? Getty Images photog Alex Wong snapped an over-the-shoulder shot of President Obama delivering his speech to Congress on Wednesday. As noted on the D.C. Examiner blog Yeas & Nays, you can make out speechwriter Jon Favreau’s phone number on the top of the page. Now everyone seems to be hiding the photo… I though you might want to see it.

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I’m guessing his messaging service is full…


Obama Sets A Date For Iraq War End

August 31, 2010:

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President Obama, declaring there is “renewed cause for hope in Iraq,” on Friday announced his plan to end combat operations in Iraq by August of next year.

Let me say this as plainly as I can. By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end,” Obama told Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

In stating it ‘plainly’ President Obama glossed over the key fact that though the ‘combat mission’ will end, about 50,000 troops…


Obama Iraq Pullout Plans Coming

WASHINGTON — A “substantial” number of the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops to be pulled out of Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, will remain in the war zone through at least the end of this year to ensure national elections there go smoothly, senior Obama administration officials say.

That pacing suggests that although Obama’s promised withdrawal will start soon, it will be backloaded, with larger numbers of troops returning later in the 18-month time frame.

Though 100,000 is a substantial…


Obama Cabinet Member Earmarks

Those ‘exceptions’ to the ‘no lobbying rule’ are hard at work, it seems:

Two of President Obama’s Cabinet members authored a variety of earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill the House is poised to pass Wednesday to keep the government running through Oct. 1.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis were both House members when appropriators began to forge this legislation last year. However, a stalemate between President Bush and congressional Democrats forced the


Update: 8-Year-Old Double Murder Case

We talked about this case when it broke late last year… even played some of the dramatic police interview audio with the child… the case is now closed but the mystery remains.

ST. JOHNS, Ariz. – The charges against a 9-year-old Arizona boy in a double homicide that shocked the United States have been resolved with a guilty plea to a single count of negligent homicide, but the mystery surrounding the case remains.

No one inside or outside of


Senator Gregg Withdraws Name

Drudge busted out the siren for this blindsided political shocker:

Sen. Gregg stated, “I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.

However, it has become apparent during this process that this


Reporter Seeking Obama Sig Detained

Politico is the only site on this so far… so much for unbiased reporting:

At the end of the SCHIP signing, a member of the press corps jumped the rope penning off reporters to get an autograph from POTUS. Secret Service swooped in and stopped him. An Obama aide said the man is still being held by Secret Service. No details yet on the reporter’s name or publication. — Carol E. Lee (5:48 p.m.)

So many questions… why would…


Casey Anthony Back In Court Today

Here’s some raw video from just moments ago in an Orlando courtroom:


Update On The Casey Anthony Case

More details about the grisly way in which Caylee was murdered:

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Newly-released documents in the murder of Florida child Caylee Anthony show that she was placed in a laundry hamper bag and had silver duct tape around her mouth.

The documents, made public Wednesday, include reports from police and crime scene investigators, FBI crime lab reports and transcripts of 911 calls placed by the meter reader who found the girl’s remains, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

You can check out


Portland Mayor In Foley-esque Scandal

Reader Shfelby sends along this swept-under-the-rug story:

Like with the John Edwards love child scandal being released during the olympics this Portland Mayor gay sex teenage intern scandal broke today…on inauguration day. Rumor around here is that his boyfriend works for the oregonian and so… ya know… maybe they waited on this so that no one would notice during this big Obama event. That is all heresay mind you, but again another democrat scandal breaks with convenient timing.

Lots of…