Donald Trump The Cheese Ball Speaks On Rosie/Hasselbeck

This one came from FameUsa.net. Their “weigh-in” on Donald’s point of view.

Story… 

Of course trump had to open his big mouth over the Rosie fued with Hasselbeck. “The Donald” is the biggest fool of the three, lacking in taste regarding every aspect of his cheesy existence. 

Donald Trump has weighed in on Wednesday's war of words between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O'Donnell, surprisingly taking O’Donnell’s side while still managing to insult both co-hosts of "The View" and to voice his opposition to the war in Iraq.

“On this one I think Rosie should win, but Rosie is not much herself. I think anybody that’s against the war in Iraq is the winner of the fight, because to justify the war in Iraq — only an imbecile could do that," he told "Extra."

About Hasselbeck’s political views, especially on the war in Iraq, he added, “Elisabeth is not a very smart person, she’s one of the dumber people in television. To see that she supports the war, and she’s solidly behind the war, give me a break.”

Trump later told reporters that Hasselbeck was "probably the dumbest person on TV."

In response to Hasselbeck calling him obnoxious, he said, “Well I am obnoxious, on that she’s right.”

On whether Trump thinks the fight has forced O’Donnell to quit the ABC talk show before her last day on the air, which is scheduled for June 22, he said, “I think Rosie will be back” and added, “She’s self-destructing, and it’s too bad.”

Watching O'Donnell and Hasselbeck squabble on "The View" is nothing new, but Wednesday's dustup seemed particularly nasty with the co-hosts trading accusations and personal digs.

A political discussion over the war in Iraq became heated when an angry O'Donnell decried Hasselbeck for not standing up for her when media outlets suggested that she'd called U.S. troops "terrorists" during a previous debate.

"What you did was not defend me. ... I asked you if you believed what the Republican pundits were saying — you said nothing, and that's cowardly," O'Donnell said.

Responded a stern Hasselbeck: "Do not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe."

O'Donnell and Hasselbeck were shown on a split screen as the argument progressed without commercial interruption.

"Do you believe that I think our troops are terrorists? And you would not even look me in the face, Elisabeth, and say, 'No, Rosie,'" O'Donnell said.

Responded Hasselbeck: "Because you are an adult, and I am certainly not going to be the person for you to explain your thoughts. They're your thoughts! Defend your own insinuations!"

O'Donnell, who is leaving the ABC daytime talk show next month, said she wasn't going to fight anymore. "So for three weeks, you can say all the Republican crap you want."

Hasselbeck discussed the war of words in an interview with syndicated entertainment show "Extra."

"I honestly think, I believe that we are mature women who can resolve," she said. "I hope we can. I would hope that a disagreement or a heated debate wouldn't be the end of a relationship."

In a posting on her blog, O'Donnell wrote: "a split screen, new heights, or lows, depending on who u ask."

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Bush Details Bin Laden Plan for Attack on U.S.:

President Bush, stressing that Americans face an ongoing threat from terrorists, shared intelligence on Wednesday asserting that Usama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.

[Via FOXNews.com]

Coca-Cola Secretary Will Face Serious Jail Time

Some jail time for a Coca Cola employee has come to pass. Scary dealing with corporate espionage right. Something else to see one of the big guys roll on one of their employees. 

A former Coca-Cola secretary convicted of conspiring to steal trade secrets from the world's largest beverage maker was sentenced Wednesday to 8 years in federal prison.

Joya Williams, 42, faced up to 10 years in prison on the single conspiracy charge in a failed scheme to sell the materials to rival Pepsi for at least $1.5 million. She was convicted Feb. 2 following a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, where The Coca-Cola Co. is based.

"This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society," U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester said in imposing sentence.

A co-defendant, Ibrahim Dimson, was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Forrester's sentence for Williams was more severe than the 63- to 78-month sentence recommended by federal prosecutors and federal sentencing guidelines.

He said the seriousness of the crime necessitated a departure from the guidelines, which federal judges are not bound by.

"I can't think of another case in 25 years that there's been so much obstruction of justice," the judge said of Williams' conduct.

Forrester ignored a tearful apology by Williams, which was the first time she acknowledged what she did.

"Your honor, I have expanded my consciousness through this devastating experience," Williams said before she was sentenced. "This has been a very defining moment in my life I have become infamous when I never wanted to become famous."

She added, "I am sorry to Coke and I'm sorry to my boss and to you and to my family as well."

The government said Williams stole confidential documents and samples of products that hadn't been launched by Coca-Cola and gave them to Dimson and a third defendant, Edmund Duhaney, as part of a conspiracy to sell the items to Pepsi. Duhaney, like Dimson, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Duhaney will be sentenced later.

The conspiracy was foiled after Pepsi warned Coca-Cola that it had received a letter in May 2006 offering Coca-Cola trade secrets to the "highest bidder." The FBI launched an undercover investigation and identified the letter writer as Dimson.

Williams was fired as a secretary to Coca-Cola's global brand director at the company's headquarters after the allegations came to light.

Williams' apology Wednesday lasted for several minutes and she asked the judge to show mercy, though Forrester had told her previously that he planned to depart from sentencing guidelines

"Punishment is the memories and the moments that I'm going to miss," she said. "Punishment is never having a family of my own."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak told the judge that Williams didn't deserve leniency.

"Choices have consequences and she made those choices," Pak said. "She chose to go to trial and she lied on the stand."

At the hearing, prosecutors disclosed that Williams has two prior convictions, one involving making false statements related to unemployment insurance.

Williams' lawyers had repeatedly asserted in court and out of court that Williams had no criminal past, and the government until Wednesday did not challenge that assertion.

[Source AP]

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Scientists Discover How To Stop Fight or Flight Response

Scientists have discovered how we put the brakes on a racing heartbeat. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago explain in the May 11 issue of Circulation Research how an enzyme acts on the heart's pacemaker to slow the rapid beating of the heart's "fight-or-flight" reaction to adrenaline.

A single cell in the upper right chamber is responsible for setting the pace of the beating heart, triggering its neighbor cells to beat. In the human heart, one cell -- the pacemaker cell -- beats faster or slower to induce a rhythmic heartbeat that varies to increase or decrease the blood flow to the body as we eat, sleep or exercise.

"Disturbances of pacemaker control are common in heart diseases. When the heartbeat becomes non-rhythmic and chaotic, it can result in fatal arrhythmias and stroke," said R. John Solaro, UIC distinguished university professor and principal investigator of the study.

Current treatment of arrhythmia requires destruction of tissue surrounding a chaotic pacemaker, followed by insertion of a mechanical pacemaker that can regulate the heartbeat. "Understanding the molecular regulation of the heart's pacemaker opens the possibility of less drastic treatment options, including drug interventions," said Solaro, who is also director of the center for cardiovascular research and head of physiology and biophysics at UIC.

Solaro worked with Yunbo Ke, UIC research assistant professor of physiology and biophysics and first author of the paper, and colleagues in England at Oxford and Manchester on characterizing and isolating the pacemaker cell.

The UIC researchers demonstrated that an enzyme called Pak 1, present in high concentrations in the heart, signals depression in the action of adrenaline and adrenaline-like chemicals on the pacemaker cell, playing an important role in slowing down the heart rate. "The enzyme works through calcium and potassium channels that we know to be key players in the generation and regulation of the pacemaker activity," said Ke.

"Although adrenaline and other mechanisms that accelerate the heart rate have been well studied, mechanisms that might act as a brake are poorly understood," said Solaro.

"Identification of this previously unknown molecular mechanism for slowing the heartbeat may offer new avenues of diagnosis, drug design and treatment of many common heart diseases," said Solaro.

"Further, now that we know something of how this enzyme works in the pacemaker cell, we may discover it is involved in the regulation of other processes, particularly in the brain, where it is also highly expressed," added Ke.

Other contributors include Dr. Derek Tarrar, Thomas Collins, Stevan Rakovic, Paul Mattick and Michiko Yamasaki at Oxford; Dr. Ming Lei at the University of Manchester; and Mark Brodie at UIC.

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation.

[Source ScienceDaily]

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Senate Voting on Ending War Funding

Senate Democrats are staging a dramatic anti-war vote this week, with moderates collaborating behind closed doors on legislation that could call on President Bush to rethink his war strategy.

Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday that members will decide whether to cut off money for the Iraq war next year, as well as consider a softer proposal calling for troops to leave this fall. The two measures would be offered as amendments to a water projects funding bill to be debated this week.

The votes, expected by Wednesday, will probably fall short of the 60-vote threshold usually needed to advance controversial legislation. But they will help Reid, D-Nev., test the Senate's political waters at a time when the Democratic caucus is divided on how far Congress should go to end the war.

"These are important votes," said Reid spokesman Rodell Mollineau. "This will give members an opportunity to debate these issues and have up-or-down votes" on whether to end the war.

Earlier this month, Bush vetoed a $124 billion supplemental bill, which would have funded the war but demanded troops begin coming home on Oct. 1.

Not having enough votes to override the veto but unwilling to back down, House Democrats last week pushed through a new bill that would fund the war only through July. That bill is unlikely to survive the Senate, where several Democrats say they do not want to appear to be turning their backs on the troops by funding combat in installments.

"On our side of the aisle, Democrats believe they should do something very, very close to what was done in the bill that was sent to the president to be vetoed," Reid said.

Accordingly, Reid and Sen. Carl Levin proposed that the Senate vote on legislation demanding troop withdrawals begin on Oct. 1 but allowing Bush to waive that requirement.

Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called the approach the Senate's "second-best" option. "By providing for the presidential waiver, we are removing any reason for the president to veto the supplemental funding bill," he said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush opposes the Levin amendment.

"Such timelines tie the hands of our commanders, weaken our friends, embolden our enemies and enhance the risk faced by our troops in combat," Perino said. "The bottom line is that a date for retreat is a date for retreat, and the president opposes such provisions."

Under pressure from other more liberal party members, Reid also wants to give members a chance to cut off money for combat operations after March 31, 2008. Reid co-sponsored the legislation earlier this year alongside Sen. Russ Feingold, but he said he would not push it as a caucus position.

"The American people deserve to have the Senate go on record about whether or not it wants to end our misguided mission in Iraq and safely redeploy our brave troops," said Feingold, D-Wis.

The votes come as nearly a dozen Republican senators have been discussing possible legislation on the war, including a proposal by Sen. John Warner that would call on the president to re-evaluate his Iraq strategy if the Baghdad government does not meet certain benchmarks.

"We're trying to put together a single document" that would address concerns of GOP senators, Warner, R-Va., said in an interview.

Warner said he personally backs requiring reports before the August recess and in September on the extent to which Iraqis are making progress on political and security reforms.

Warner said he wants to get a report by July at least "so members of Congress have an evaluation of that situation as they presumably go back to their respective constituencies." If the Baghdad government fails in meeting the benchmarks, "then the president is to determine whether he is to revise the strategy that he laid forward," he added.

Warner said he has been discussing the idea with the group and plans to talk about it Tuesday with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. The goal, he said, is to develop a proposal that attracts broad bipartisan support.

The list of Republicans working with Warner include Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota.

Nelson has drafted similar legislation that would go even further. If the Iraqis failed to make progress on certain political and security reforms, the U.S. would cut off reconstruction aid. Under the bill, the president could waive the restriction if he provides public justification.

Nelson's bill also would require the U.S. commander in Iraq to testify by Sept. 15 on whether Bush's troop buildup around Baghdad is working.

"The Senate needs to move forward," Nelson said. "The president has signaled he will accept reasonable benchmarks."

The alliance of Nelson and Warner and other moderates on Iraq is reminiscent of the "Gang of 14," a group of senators who in 2005 drafted a compromise to end a Senate fight on judicial nominations.

[Source AP Top Headlines]

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Microsoft Tries Making Google a Thing of the Past

Microsoft gathered top agencies and marketers at its annual Strategic Account Summit to deliver a simple message from chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer: It was serious about catching up to Google in online advertising. 

One year later, Ballmer did not attend the gathering, and Gates made no mention of Google in his address, choosing to ignore the here and now to suggest that the future of digital advertising lies not just in the Internet via computer, where Google dominates, but across many channels.

The see-no-Google, hear-no-Google tactic reflects how badly Microsoft trails in the online ad market. While Google made $1 billion last quarter, Microsoft's MSN unit lost $205 million. It outbid Microsoft to buy DoubleClick, which will give the search giant entr饠into the display ad market. Google's growing domination of online advertising--it accounts for an estimated 33 percent of the market compared to Microsoft's 7 percent--has led to reports that Microsoft would either acquire or strike an alliance with Yahoo to catch up.

Microsoft executives skirted the Yahoo scuttlebutt that dominated corridor chatter at the conference, and Yahoo CEO Terry Semel did not address it during an appearance there. Yet Microsoft acknowledged the issue upfront in a e-mail message welcoming attendees.

"Some of you have asked if we remain as committed following the announcement of Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick," wrote Kevin Johnson, president of the company's platforms and services group. "We maintain our sharp focus on this industry and we will continue to invest heavily in innovation and partnerships in this area."

Whether by strategy or because it has little choice, Microsoft executives focused not on the Web advertising market of today, but on how it may look in five or 10 years. Gates focused in particular on two new frontiers: mobile and Internet-enabled TV. Microsoft jump-started its mobile capabilities with its acquisitions of mobile ad network ScreenTonic this month and voice-search technology TellMe two months ago. While it has been working on Internet-enabled TV for a decade, Gates said the time has come for the Web and TV to merge.

"As dramatic as things happening on the Web are, that's actually what all advertising--all these contexts where people learn about products--will be in the future," he said.

In the view of Microsoft executives, the progress they are making on these fronts has been overshadowed by its difficulty making a dent in Google's gaping lead in the Web search market. "You'd think all people did was search," said Eric Hadley, general manager of MSN marketing. "But if you look at Microsoft, the assets we have, it's unmatched."

Despite solid reviews for its year-old search platform adCenter, Microsoft has a problem: Not enough people use its search engine. According to comScore, Microsoft's U.S. search share has dropped from 13 percent last May to less than 11 percent in March, the latest month for which stats are available. Meanwhile, Google's share during that period has grown from 44 percent to 48 percent. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's chief advertising strategist, said search gets more credit than it deserves for closing sales, since other forms of advertising do the heavy lifting of generating demand.

Gates also pointed out that Xbox could serve as an avenue for Microsoft to break into TV. He predicted the widespread adoption of IPTV, along with highly targeted, Web-like advertising, within five years. "Before you know it, if you broaden the definition of a query, they're back in the lead," said Kevin Lee, chairman of Did-it.com, a New York search agency.

Gates was dismissive of the current Web search experience, comparing it to a treasure hunt. Putting Microsoft's stamp on search is the No. 1 task for his last 15 months before his planned retirement to focus on philanthropy. Gary Flake, a technical fellow at Microsoft, said the industry perception of search is "a little backwards" for its focus on returning mostly Web site lists. "Search is not an end of itself," he said. "It is a means towards an end. The end itself is discovery." He showed off new Microsoft technology that lets users preview sites before clicking, and another that overlays photos with three-dimensional virtual environments, creating what he dubbed "one and a half life," which could be used by advertisers for immersive user experiences.

Several agency executives agreed that Microsoft is often underappreciated, particularly in hot areas like Internet-connected gaming. Thanks to its acquisition of Massive, Microsoft has a network that serves ads in 50 video game titles, not to mention its leading game console, Xbox. "[Young men are] not searching, they're playing games," Hadley said.

But despite the heady promises from Microsoft that it will bring a flood of innovation to the market, some agency executives expressed exasperation that it has not made more headway, wondering whether the company is too software focused. "The question is, can they do it as a media company?" said Ellen Siminoff, CEO of Efficient Frontier, a search-focused agency, and a former Yahoo executive. "That's a longer-term story."

Having seen competitors like Netscape come and go, Microsoft is taking the long view. Chief media officer Joanne Bradford noted that the first marketer summit Microsoft hosted eight years ago drew about a dozen people to the company's cafeteria, as opposed the nearly 1,000 who packed a hotel in Seattle this year.

"They want to get to a multiple-device digital world," said Jeff Lanctot, vp of media at aQuantive's Avenue A/Razorfish. "But until then, they'll be mired in comparison to Google."

[Source Yahoo! News]

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Jack Russel Terrior Gives Life To Save Three

A hero lives on in puppy heaven…

Story……..

Nine-year-old Jack Russell terrier George is being honoured with a posthumous bravery medal for saving five New Zealand children from an attack by two pitbulls.

The medal from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) comes after US Vietnam veteran Jerrell Hudman said he was sending his Purple Heart medal to George's owner after hearing of the dog's bravery.

George, who had a heart problem, won fame after defending five children from the pitbulls in the small North Island town of Manaia a week and a half ago. The two pitbulls rushed at the five children on the street, prompting George to charge the much larger dogs as the children escaped.

The Jack Russell was badly mauled by the two pitbulls and later had to be put down because of his extensive injuries. The two pitbulls were also put down.

The SPCA medal is usually awarded to people for their bravery in defending animals.

"George was a very brave little dog who almost certainly prevented severe injury, if not death, to at least one of the children," SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said.

"It's truly tragic that he paid with his own life for his instinctive act of courage."

Hudman, 58, of Austin, Texas was a US Marine for 30 years and said he decided to send his Purple Heart to George's owner Alan Gay after reading the news on the Internet because the dog was "a little warrior".

The Purple Heart is awarded to those killed or injured fighting for the US military.

[Source Yahoo!]

Related Jack Russel Terrior Video…..

 

Barack Obama Woes Crowds In Missouri

Obama moves through Missouri with a good showing. He talked allot about the war in Iraq, health care, and more during his 30 minute speech.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama recommended over three thousand supporters  to help send members to congress who will oppose the Iraq war.
 
"We have 51 votes in the Senate, and to have a veto-proof majority the next time we send a bill to end the war, we're going to need 16 more votes," Obama said.

"So I need everybody to take a look at how your senators are voting and how your congressmen are voting. We are 16 votes away from ending this war."

Obama was referring to President Bush's veto earlier this month of a $124.2 billion bill that would have funded the war in Iraq, among other things, but demanded troops begin coming home Oct. 1.

The Kansas City fundraiser was the Illinois senator's second in as many days in Missouri. He was in St. Louis on Friday for two events.

During his half-hour speech, Obama also touched on his proposal for universal health care, which he said would be at least in part driven by $75 billion in savings from improved technology in the field.

"If we move to the same kind of technologies that exist in every other industry, we save money. We can save $75 billion a year in improving the quality of our care, and we take that $75 billion and make sure that every single American has health care," he said to cheering and applause.

Obama also criticized the Bush administration for what he called "its lack of energy policy" and said he wants to encourage Detroit to make more energy-efficient vehicles.

"If we increase fuel efficient standards by 40 percent, we would have to import zero oil from the Middle East," Obama said. "We could stop sending $800 million a day to some of the most hostile nations on earth."

Obama takes his campaign to New Jersey next week, where he is picking up the endorsement of the high-profile mayor of the state's largest city.

Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker told The Associated Press on Saturday that he will officially announce his endorsement at a news conference with Obama on Monday, when the senator arrives in New Jersey to attend a number of events including a town hall meeting with union members in Trenton.

"It's time that we have a national leader that's going to raise us around our highest common ideals and remind us that we have more in common as a people than we do that divides us," Booker said.

Booker, who has been linked with Obama as part of a new generation of black leaders, said he will not only be endorsing Obama, but will also be a part of the campaigns leadership in New Jersey.

Barack Obama’s Original Announcement For Candidacy

[Original text Yahoo! News]

Mysteries And Surprises In Quantum Physics:

Scientists report manipulating and controlling single atoms and single photons interacting in a cavity, which is a box made of highly reflecting walls. The result means that it is now possible repeatedly to extract information from the same photon. This is important because the major part of all information we get from the universe come from light. "Developing a new way of 'seeing' could have applications in quantum science," said researcher, Prof. Haroche. "A photon could share its information with an ensemble of atoms to build up an 'entangled state' of light or matter".

[Via ScienceDaily Headlines]

Sex Merchants Exploiting Youtube

In this video (if it’s still there this morning) you’ll see another attempt by a sex merchant to use Youtube as a marketing vehicle. We’re seeing this time and again - videos are uploaded that are too sexually explicit for Youtube's guidelines, and they’re soon removed.

The video publisher still wins, even if they’re video is removed, as thousands of Youtube viewers watch the video, and are exposed to the sex merchant’s web site.

In this video, you’ll see a young woman in a bathing suit making extremely provocative movements. It’s still accomplishing the publishers goal, by “turning on” thousands of male viewers, and attracting attention to their web site. Ching! Ching!

This morning a video post entitled, “Shaved Pussy”, was published on Youtube, and it managed to stay afloat most of the day. Mission accomplished for sex merchant.

With video, the challenge to keep porn from infiltrating, and dominating their servers, Youtube has a challenge on it’s hands. They have to have HUMANS review submitted videos, and that means hiring REAL people to work for the company, and that’s the dread of any online business.

Google (who owns Youtube), likes to automate as much as possible through the use of algorithms. Their algorithms read text to identify online content, but a video has to be seen by a human before a judgment can be made.

An interesting dilemma. Now you can watch this video to see how the sex merchant is staying within Youtube's guidelines, but still getting the exposure they’re after.

Don’t get me wrong. I like watching a healthy young woman “shake her booty” like any other red-blooded Canadian male - but it’s getting stupid.

Vegan Parents Given Life In Prison For Death of Baby

A vegan family gets life in prison for the death of their baby. A tragedy they didn’t see coming. They’re hearts are broken, and now they will have to try and heal in prison.

STORY ———————————————————————————————-  

The baby died six weeks after birth after being fed a diet largely made up of soy milk and organic apple juice.

Defence lawyers for Lamont Thomas and Jade Sanders said they had starved their child unintentionally by adhering to a strictly vegan diet.

But prosecutors in the US city of Atlanta said the couple had deliberately neglected their child.

"No matter how many times they want to say, 'We're vegans, we're vegetarians,' that's not the issue in this case," Prosecutor Chuck Boring is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

"The child died because he was not fed. Period," he said.

Strict vegans adhere to a diet that avoids all animal products.

'I loved my son'

Crown Shakur weighed 3.5lb (1.6kg) at the time of his death in April 2004.

The baby was born in a bathtub in the couple's house.

Defence lawyer Brandon Lewis is quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper as saying the couple did not take their child to a doctor because they feared hospitals were full of germs.

Defence lawyers said the couple did not realise the baby's life was in danger until it was too late.

A jury deliberated for seven hours before delivering its verdict on 2 May.

Sentencing the couple, the judge said the murder verdict made the life sentence mandatory.

Jade Sanders told the judge: "I loved my son - and I did not starve him."

According to the AP news agency, Lamont Thomas complained that he had not known he was being tried for a felony - rather than the lesser offence of a misdemeanour.

"We had no idea involuntary manslaughter was a felony. We were told for three years this was a misdemeanour," he reportedly said.

"It takes money to prove this wasn't a felony - money we don't have."

[Via BBC News]

PM Blair Will Announce His Resignation

Well the time has come for Prime Minister Tony Blair. He’ll be resigning this thursday. Story -

"There are a mixture of emotions today. There's disappointment and sadness that we are losing the prime minister after 10 years," said John Burton, Blair's political representative in the constituency. "But there's joy, happiness and thanks for what has been achieved."

Blair was traveling to his northern England parliamentary district to formally announce his plans. He met earlier with Cabinet members, who left No. 10 Downing Street without answering questions shouted by reporters.

Blair would leave office in late June or early July, depending on how quickly his party elects a successor — almost certain to be Treasury Chief Gordon Brown.

Burton said Blair would continue to represent Sedgefield in Parliament for the time being, but could not confirm whether he would stand down before the next national election expected in 2009 or 2010.

Blair's resignation is an announcement that his Labour Party, and the nation, have been expecting for nearly three years, ever since the prime minister said in 2004 that his third term would be his last.

"Today, the beginning of the end," read the front page of The Guardian newspaper.

Brown, who was Blair's partner in reforming the party as "New Labour" but an impatient rival in government, has already declared he will be a candidate. At least one opponent from the party's left wing was expected to announce his candidacy Thursday afternoon.

Blair's announcement was expected to trigger a contest to succeed him as leader of the governing Labour Party, and the new leader is likely to become prime minister by early July.

The Iraq war, a police investigation of allegations that the government traded honors for political contributions, and endless questions about when Blair would step down overshadowed his last term in government, after winning the third term in May 2005.

Blair has stopped short of openly endorsing Brown, a stern Scot who has long coveted the top job, but said last week that Brown would make "a great prime minister."

"One of the things I very much hope will be part of the legacy of the government is the strongest economy in the Western world which he has been responsible for," Blair said.

Blair, 54, led Labour to two landslide election wins in 1997 and 2001, and a narrower but still comfortable victory in 2005.

The first term was marked by several significant initiatives: the Bank of England was given the freedom to set interest rates, Scotland and Wales were given regional governments, London gained an elected mayor, and all put 92 hereditary members were ejected from the House of Lords.

In 1998, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern led successful negotiations for a peace agreement in Northern Ireland, launching a process which reached its culmination earlier this week as former enemies from the Protestant and Catholic communities joined to form a new regional government.

The Iraq war severely dented Blair's popularity. Blair's close alliance with President Bush was unpopular at home, there were mass marches in Britain opposing the U.S.-led invasion before it began, and the government's claims that Saddam Hussein was building an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction proved false.

For more than a year, Labour has consistently trailed in opinion polls behind a Conservative Party revived by its new leader, David Cameron.

In local and regional elections earlier this month, Labour lost hundreds of seats in city and county councils, and was beaten into second place in the Scottish Parliament elections by the Scottish National Party, which advocates independence.

In recent months, Blair's thoughts have turned to the lessons of his decade in power.

"When I first started in politics, I wanted to please everyone," Blair said during a valedictory tour of the Middle East in December. "After a time I learned that you can't please everyone, and you learn that the best thing is to do what you think is right and everyone can make their judgment."

[Origin FOXNews.com]

General Batiste Goes After Bush

No question about. Bush IS the worst president in the history of the United States.

Extremely Touching Story On Racism By Brett

Came across this touching story. If you have time check it out.
We should think twice, before giving ourselves permission to
hate.

Paris Hilton Dead & Autopsy Being Performed

Daniel Edwards features a very weird, and nude replica of Paris Hilton dead and on the autopsy table. Wacky or what? It’s supposed to be for a good cause apparently.  

For a show warning teens about underage drinking, the sprawled-out "Hilton" clutches a cocktail glass in one hand and a cell phone in the other as her distressed dog, Tinkerbell, jumps across her bare chest. She and the animal wear matching tiaras.

It's one of several works that have gotten attention for Edwards. Last August, he flaunted a busty Sen.
      
Hillary Rodham Clinton sculpture at Manhattan's Museum of Sex. His earlier works — of Ted Williams' severed head and a naked
      
Britney Spears giving birth — stirred up artistic storms.

In the Hilton exhibit, which opens Friday at a gallery run by Capla Kesting Fine Art in the Williamsburg neighborhood, removable "innards" are exhibited on a display stand placed in a sexually suggestive manner near the "body."

"Around this time of year, I think of a couple of friends I lost in high school because of drinking and driving," said the artist, dressed in snow white as he stood by the feet of his creation Wednesday.

Edwards said he's using the jail-bound celebrity "as a vehicle for a public-service announcement, to educate teens."

Hilton's spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said Wednesday he would have no comment about the work.

Edwards started making the work in polyester resin in January after the infamous party girl's arrest. A judge ordered Hilton, 26, to report to a county jail by June 5 to serve a 45-day sentence for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. Her lawyers have taken steps to appeal the sentence.

The 42-year-old artist, a father of three from Moosup, Conn., acknowledges that Hilton's primary claim to fame is "as a seductress. But I do respect her ability to build this career out of pretty much nothing."

He says his provocative use of empty celebrity, plus the shock factor, "rings a bell, it brings it home. If one person is saved, that's awesome."

Gallery director David Kesting said the sculpture counters a disturbingly glamorized trend of Hollywood girls gone wild. The work, no doubt, is also aimed at making money. Buyers are asked to call Capla Kesting for a price, which was not disclosed.

High school students are encouraged to take a virtual tour of the installation at http://www.parishiltonautopsy.com — then compete for prizes by writing an "obituary" for the socialite.

If you go to the gallery, by the way, you're encouraged to touch.

[Original = Yahoo! News: Entertainment News]

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Free Online Dating Sites Winning According To Zulit Blog

Terry Zulit posts regarding online dating services. Free dating sites catching rides the heels of the EHarmony, and Match.com. Once again, the little guys are using the Internet to threaten big business.

Dating sites are old news, but there are some changes in the online dating market. The big daddy dating sites, like Lava Life, or Match.com, still have the vast majority of the Internet dating market, but the freebie sites are beginning to win the market war.

Why? Because the traditional dating sites charge hefty monthly subscription fees to take part in the fun. The new breed of dating sites never charge a penny, but can deliver the very same service. This is why the big, traditional, dating sites are marketing themselves as being safer, faster, better, and clean cut. However, the new generation is much smarter than the past Internet generation, and can see through mass-marketing in an instant.

How Do Free Dating Sites Make Money?

Totally free dating sites make their money via advertising, which is created by banner ads and text ads. The users will periodically check out another dating service, by clicking on the banner or text ads. The owners of the free dating site get a trickle of money, which soon adds up to mucho moola.

Dating sites like Plenty-O-Fish are now reported to make over $270,000 dollars per month, just in click advertising commissions, such as the Google Adsense program. That's not the only site winning over the lonely hearts of the Internet.

Sites like Hot or Not, enjoy record traffic numbers, and even the new free dating sites, such as Rate Thy Mate, are gaining momentum on the major players in the lonely hearts industry. Rate Thy Mate was just launched in the winter of 2006, and their traffic levels have steadily increased by 3000% per month.

It looks like people are not swayed by the claims of the "big player" in the dating game, who claim their sites are monitored, have better databases, and help the lonely find "the one". Why? Because over 50% of these dating surfers are not looking for their soul mate - they're looking for fun.

The dating/rating sites add the element of fun by allowing users to vote on pictures and profiles. It's not as serious a venture, but yet hundreds of thousands of people around the globe are finding "the one", in this casual medium.

Rate Thy Mate, and Hot or Not, have inspired hundreds of lesser copy cat rating/dating sites, and they're growth has been impressive as well. These sites don't require a high employee base, and can run themselves in autopilot. As long as the company has a firm grasp of database maintenance, they can be rolling in a day. Scripts for databases can be had for as cheap as 5 Euro, with an easy download, and viola!

So if you're feeling lonely, want to find a mate, just fool around, or maybe just knock a few people down a peg or two, don't waste money on a monthly subscription - just login for free.

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MySpace Serious On Photobucket

MYSPACE has reached a preliminary deal to acquire Photobucket, the world's top photo-sharing site, for around $US250 million ($300 million), a source familiar with the deal said.

Photobucket functions like a bank for depositing and transmitting photos, helping web users post their photos on other social networking sites, instead of trying to keep the users locked up on its own site.

Besides MySpace, Photobucket is popular on sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, eBay, Craigslist, Blogger and Xanga.

While hardly known outside the youthful world of social network sites, Photobucket has become wildly popular with users for providing free, online storage tools for multimedia self-expression, from photos to videos to digital slideshows. Site builders turn to it for images to decorate their sites.

The four-year-old start-up, based in Palo Alto, California, has signed up 41 million registered users, up from 32 million at the end of last year and 2 million in 2004. It now hosts nearly 2.8 billion images.

Spokesmen for Photobucket and MySpace were not available to comment on the deal.

The agreement with MySpace, the world's top online meeting place and part of News Corp's Fox Interactive online business, is tentative and could still fall apart, the source cautioned.

The site was founded in the suburbs of Denver by two young telecoms engineers at Level 3 Communications, Alex Welch and Darren Crystal, in the wake of the dot-com downturn. The two came up with the idea of providing a simple, less commercial alternative to existing photo sharing sites.

Mr Welch, 30, the chief executive, said in a recent interview he ran the site on credit cards for the first six months until its popularity forced him to borrow money from his parents. He made do without venture capital until it was a proven success.

Eventually, Photobucket raised $US2.5 million in initial financing from Trinity Ventures and another $US10.5 million from a group of investors led by Trinity a year ago. It eventually moved to Silicon Valley and now counts more than 65 employees.

Photobucket holds a nearly 40 per cent share of the US online photo market, nearly four times more than second-ranked Yahoo, according to audience measurement firm Hitwise. It was the 22nd most visited US site overall last week.

It recently struck a deal with top design software maker Adobe Systems to supply its users with free tools to edit, or "remix," images on its site. Its growth is fuelled by users who link to its photos from 300,000 internet sites.

But Photobucket's growth has been largely symbiotic with that of MySpace, functioning as a kind of outsourced provider of photo services to MySpace users.

Nearly 60 per cent of Photobucket site traffic comes from users leaving MySpace properties, Hitwise click data shows. Photobucket is the third most popular destination for MySpace users after Google and Yahoo, according to Hitwise statistics.

That relationship has proved rocky: Last month, MySpace blocked traffic from its site to Photobucket after a dispute over technical issues led MySpace to accuse Photobucket of violating the social network site's service terms.

On April 10, Photobucket posted a statement on its blog that attacked MySpace for limiting the freedom of its users to connect to outside sites such as Photobucket.

"By severely restricting this freedom, MySpace is showing that it considers you as a commodity which it can treat as it sees fit," Photobucket said in a statement.

Two weeks later, on April 23, Welch said his company had talked to MySpace and resolved the dispute.

"We've established open lines of communication and procedures with MySpace to prevent a sudden block of Photobucket content in the future," he wrote at the time. Welch was not available to comment on the sudden turnaround.

[Original Source….AustralianIT.com.au]

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Arctic Ice Is Melting Three Times Faster Than Predicted

Al Gore’s critics will be interested (maybe not) to find out the real truth.......

With its wreath of sea ice shrinking ever smaller over the last half-century, the Arctic has served as global warming's canary in the coal mine. By 2050 to 2100, according to climate model predictions, Arctic summers will be ice-free for the first time in about a million years. But new research reveals the ice has been vanishing about 3 times faster than the models have predicted, shifting the inevitable meltdown about 30 years ahead of schedule.

Global climate forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are based on computer models that use mathematical equations to describe key aspects of the physical world such as greenhouse gas levels. To simulate past climates and project future trends, the models start at a given year in the past, say 1800, and run forward in time, allowing all the parts of the faux world to interact. Although the simulations include real-world observations, this information doesn’t necessarily capture fluctuations on small spatial-scales in factors such as ocean heat and ice thickness. Together, these changes may significantly diminish sea ice. That's why climatologist Julienne Stroeve of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her colleagues wanted to double-check the IPCC projections on melting with records of what actually happened to the ice.

Stroeve's team compared results from the IPCC's 18 climate models with data from aircraft and ship reports and satellite measurements. The team found that, on average, the IPCC models simulated ice losses in September (when ice retreats to its annual minimum) at 2.5% per decade from 1953 to 2006. In contrast, the real-world observations show September ice actually diminished by about 7.8% per decade during that period. This suggests current model projections are overly conservative, and summer sea ice may disappear considerably earlier than thought, the authors conclude online 1 May in Geophysical Research Letters.

Arctic modeler Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, says that one reason global climate models lowball the rate of melting is that they underestimate the amount of heat transported into the Arctic from the Atlantic Ocean and Bering Sea, which affects the rate of sea ice melting.

We better be moving on this, or our children will need to be developing a 4000 sun block.

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It's Official......George Bush Really Is A Moron!

It’s official ladies and gentlemen, George Bush Junior really IS a moron. Read the article below to see why. If this idiot was not George Bush senior (member of skull & bones), he would NEVER have been a president – just some guy who works at the liquor store, selling cheap bottles of wine.

2008 is not coming soon enough!

WASHINGTON - The queen had the last laugh. Dispensing with protocol briefly at the formal dinner she hosted for
President Bush, Queen Elizabeth said, "I wonder whether I should start this toast by saying, 'When I was here in 1776.' "

The joke was at the expense of the president — the same president whose wife said he had to be talked into putting on the most formal dinner a White House can host — a white-tie affair.

Bush took it in stride, though, starting his toast by saying, "Your Majesty, I can't top that one."

Tuesday night's royal teasing contrasted sharply with the tightlipped, high-protocol, much-orchestrated style that characterized the British monarch's six-day U.S. tour. It was in reaction to Bush's faux pas Monday after he formally greeted the queen with trumpets, a 21-gun salute and a march by the Old Guard Fife & Drum Corp.

At one point in the South Lawn ceremony, Bush noted that the queen had dined with 10 U.S. presidents and had helped the United States "celebrate its bicentennial in 17 ... ." Bush caught himself and corrected the date to 1976." This brought loud laughter from many in the invited audience of thousands.

A chagrined Bush deadpanned that the queen just "gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."

When asked Tuesday what she had told him, Bush deferred, perhaps deciding to keep it to himself. "Nah, she didn't say anything," he told reporters.

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Jessica Simpson - "Showing Her Tits"

Well..,there's cleavage and then there's Jessica's cleavage. Jessica Simpon is really showing her wear, as her boobs are bouncing around for all to see. See pics below.

As you can well imagine, nobody is really complaining about Jessica's ample bossom being displayed so well. She will be selling herself as a full grown woman now, as the "kid has grown up"

Her new roles on film will be very different in the future. Now the men want to have her on their arm, instead of the boys wanting her in their bedroom.

While at MET Costume Institute Benefit Gala, she was the celebrity that got more attention to media, due to her extreme makeover and her big breasts. With a dark red lipstick on, ” boots are made for walking” singer, rocked in the red carped, dress with a tight shiny dress. Too bad her makeup made her look old.

More from Hollywood Gossips!

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of Lindsay Lohan will not be found here, so don't bother worrying
pulling your little winky over your keyboard ;-)
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Police Escalate Madeleine Search

Portuguese police question more than 100 people in their search for missing Madeleine McCann.

Officers said they had quizzed 100 people, followed up 350 pieces of information and searched 500 apartments to try to locate the three-year-old.

But a reported sighting of Madeleine, from Leicestershire, was a case of mistaken identity, they said.

She disappeared from a resort in the village of Praia da Luz on Thursday.

'Great concern'

Portuguese television had reported that a man and a child matching Madeleine's description were seen driving off in a car from the town of Nelas, about 300 miles (483km) north of Praia da Luz.

But Olegario de Sousa, of the Portuguese police, said: "It was not Madeleine. It was a child who looks like Madeleine, but she is a child who lives in the area."

Madeleine has not been seen since Thursday night

He said officers were maintaining a "high level" of effort to find Madeleine, as well as gathering evidence about her disappearance.

The force had been criticised for not keeping the public informed, but officials have insisted that Portuguese law forbids police from releasing information about a live investigation.

Mr Sousa's press conference, where he listed the action taken by his officers, came after intense pressure from the media.

He told assembled journalists than an area with a radius of 15km (10 miles) around the Algarve resort had been searched - along with hundreds of nearby apartments.

Antonio Santana Carlos, the country's UK ambassador, said the case was of "great concern" to Portugal and asked people to trust the police.

Footballers including England captain John Terry and Portuguese players Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Ferreira, who both play in England, have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

A set of pyjamas identical to the ones Madeleine was wearing

Meanwhile, villagers in Rothley, where the McCanns are from, are holding a silent vigil to show support for Madeleine.

Staff at Leicester's three hospitals also joined in prayer for the McCann family.

Madeleine's father, Gerry, is a consultant cardiologist at the city's Glenfield Hospital and her mother, Kate, is a GP.

The McCann family have confirmed she was wearing white pyjama bottoms with a small floral design and a short-sleeved pink top with a picture of Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore when she disappeared.

She is believed to have been taken from her bed while her parents were eating at a nearby restaurant.

They were regularly checking on her and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.

[Via BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

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