Joe Biden F-Bomb

Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, doesn't just think the newly-passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a big deal. The president's signing of health care reform legislation on Tuesday is being hailed as a historic moment by the bill's supporters. Vice President Joe Biden went a step further, calling it "a big f---ing deal."

Biden was hugging President Barack Obama when he made his unscripted pronouncement into the president's ear at the bill-signing ceremony. His comment was barely audible on video of the ceremony.

That video quickly found its way online, and Biden's gaffe is now perhaps the most memorable quote from the landmark event.



White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reportedly backed the V.P. up, saying “Yes, Mr. Vice President, you’re right.” Barack Obama’s senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, later responded that they are unable to change the gaffe-prone Biden one bit.

He certainly had his share of memorable moments during his decades of service as a member of the U.S. Senate from Delaware, including more than one like this.

Cloture Vote: Ben Bernanke Re-elected

Ben Bernanke was re-elected as the Chairman of Federal Reserve by Senate today. Bernanke was voted 70 to 30. But, before the Senate re-elected Bernanke today, a cloture vote had to be held first. Ben Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. Bernanke, a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush in October 2005 and who had briefly served as chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers,[3] succeeded Alan Greenspan on February 1, 2006. He was nominated and confirmed for a second term as the Chairman of theFederal Reserve by President Barack Obama in 2009 despite opposition from some Senators. In 2009, he was declared the TIME magazine person of the year.

Bernanke was sworn in on February 1, 2006, as Chairman and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. He was appointed as a member of the Board to a full 14-year term, which expires January 31, 2020, and to a four-year term as Chairman, which expires January 31, 2010.

On August 25, 2009, President Obama announced that he would nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. In a short statement in Martha's Vineyard, with Bernanke standing at his side, Obama said Bernanke's background, temperament, courage and creativity helped to prevent another Great Depression in 2008. "Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom, with bold action and out-of-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic free fall", the President said.

Bernanke Confirmation get More Senators Support

Support for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's confirmation for a second four-year term mounted Monday as the White House appeared to stanch opposition that had roiled the financial markets. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., expects a vote by the end of the week, his spokesman said Monday. And David Axelrod, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, said Bernanke has the votes to keep his job. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, joined Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Dianne Feinstein of California in announcing support for Bernanke's reappointment. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had indicated he was leaning against Bernanke, formally announced his opposition to the Fed chairman on Monday.

But the momentum was moving in Bernanke's favor.

"To blame one man for the financial implosion is simply wrong," Feinstein said. "Ben Bernanke has been helpful to the recovery and, for reasons of stability and continuity, should be reconfirmed."

Also Monday, the liberal MoveOn.org activist group urged senators in an e-mail to vote against Bernanke.

His defeat would rattle Wall Street and financial markets around the world and add new risks to the fledgling recovery. Economists fear that prolonged political wrangling over a successor could increase the odds the economy will falter and dip back down into recession.

Beau Biden pass on a Senate run

Another uncertainty to the 2010 midterm election lineup: In Delaware, where the son of the former senator and now Vice President Joe Biden was expected to seek his father's seat, state Atty. Gen. Beau Biden now says he'll take a pass.

Since Biden's seating as vice president, former aide Ted Kaufman has served as a placeholder in the Senate seat. Republican Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware is seeking the seat, and now could have a clearer path without another Biden standing in the way. (Castle recently delivered the Republican Party's weekly address.)

An associate of Beau Biden this morning circulated a letter from the attorney general and National Guardsman who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Taiwan welcome for Chinese visitors

BBC - China's relations with Taiwan have been tense and potentially explosive ever since the civil war 60 years ago when the island broke away from the mainland government, but there are increasing signs of a thaw.

Some Grand Hotels just do not live up to their name. One in north east Scotland particularly comes to mind.

But when you drive up to the Grand Hotel in Taipei there is no doubt. Built on the side of a hill where the green of the jungle meets the grey of the urban sprawl, it is an extraordinary rectangular structure built in the style of a grand temple with massive bright crimson pillars running up the outside of its 16 storeys. With its intricately decorated tiled roof, it is the world's largest building in the Chinese classical style. Inside the grandeur continues with a vast, red-columned and carpeted interior to match.

From the top floor you can look out to the south to the distant lights of the Taipei skyline and to Tower 101, until this week the world's tallest building.

ND Tiwari sex scandal?

Andhra Pradesh Governor ND Tiwari on Friday denied media reports alleging his involvement in a sex scandal and termed them "malicious" even as women's groups held demonstrations outside his official residence here demanding his resignation.

The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu has also sought the 86-year-old Tiwari's resignation for "unbecoming conduct".

Ravi Shankar, Tiwari's lawyer told CNN-IBN news channel that the allegations were "a tissue of lies" and they had slapped a legal notice on the media house that telecast clips purportedly showing the governor in compromising position along with three young women in his bedroom. Hours after the TV channel aired footage of the alleged sex scandal, a group of 50 odd women descended on the Raj Bhawan demanding action against the governor.

Police quickly hustled away the protesting women. A dozen activists of the All India Democratic Women's Organisation and Progressive Women's Organisation were arrested.

A statement issued from Raj Bhavan Friday evening said the governor was disturbed at the attempts to malign him.

The statement signed by Aryandra Sharma, officer on special duty to the governor, said: "All other media/news channels have been informed of the facts with a request not to take cognizance of fabricated, false and malicious news story attempting to tarnish the image of the Hon'ble Governor."

"There is absolutely no truth in the alleged news story which is nothing but sensation mongering and in poor taste. It is nothing but a tissue of lies," it added.

"The Governor Shri Narayan Datt Tiwariji is 86 years old and in the evening of his life. The office of the Governor is constantly under public scrutiny and entirely above board."

"It is sad and unfortunate that constitutional functionaries are dragged into needless controversy with utter disregard to propriety as well as deference to be shown to the age which is part of our culture and tradition," it said.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court, acting on a public suit, issued an injunction against showing the pictures, a couple of hours after the ABN channel aired the clips.

The channel quoted Radhika, a woman from Uttarakhand, as saying that she sent the young women to the Raj Bhavan on Tiwari's request through his aide.

The woman said she was exposing the governor as he failed to provide her an iron ore mining licence in Andhra Pradesh.

Narayan Dutt Tiwari was born in 1925, in village Baluti, Nainital district. His father Poornanand Tiwari was an official in the forest department, and who later resigned and joined the Non-cooperation movement. Tiwari received his education at various schools including, M.B. School, Haldwani, E.M. High School, Bareilly and C.R.S.T. High School, Nainital.

His initiation into politics came early, when during the Indian Independence movement, he was arrested on December 14, 1942 for writing Anti-British leaflets opposing imperialist policies, and sent to Nainital jail , where his father was already lodged.

Upon his release 15 months in 1944, he joined Allahabad University, where he topped the University in M.A. (Political Science), he continued his education doing LLB from the same university, and elected as the President of the Students’ Union of the Allahabad University in 1947. Meanwhile he was remained Secretary, All India Students Congress, 1945-49. In the first election in Uttar Pradesh after the independence for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly held in 1952, he was elected from Nanital constituency and became an MLA for the first time on Praja Samajwadi Party ticket. In 1957, he was elected from the Nainital legislative constituency, and became the leader of Opposition in the Assembly. He was married to Dr. Sushila Sanwal in the year 1954.

In 1963, he joined the Indian National Congress, and was elected M.L.A. from the Kashipur,_Uttarakhand constituency in 1965, in the same year he was appointed a minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. After that he also remained Minister for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs in the Chaudhary Charan Singh Government (1979-1980). In 1968, he established Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre (JNNYC) is a voluntary Organisation. He remained the first President of Indian Youth Congress from 1969 to 1971.

N.D. Tiwari was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh three times: from January 1976 to April 1977, from August 1984 to September 1985 and from June 1988 to December 1988. He did a lot of work in developing the road and bridge network of U.P. - the network expanded significantly.

He was elected to 7th Lok Sabha in 1980, and served as a union minister in several portfolios in the 1980s: starting with Planning, and also remained Dpt. Chairman, Planning Commission. Thereafter he became a member of Rajya Sabha 1985-1988, during this period he also remained the Minister of Industries in September 1985 and in addition to that portfolio, became minister of Petroleum in 1986. He then served as India's External Affairs Minister from October 1986 until July 1987, at which point he became Minister of Finance and Commerce, serving in that position until June 1988, when he became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the third time.

He was a contender to be Prime Minister of India in the early 1990s but was beaten by the late Narasimha Rao . One of the key reasons was that he lost the Lok Sabha elections by a mere 800 votes. In 1994, he resigned from Congress and formed his own All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) along with senior Congress leader, Arjun Singh in 1995, but joined back when Sonia Gandhi came at the helm of affairs of the party two years later, and after a devastating defeat of the party under Narasimha Rao during the general elections in 1996. Tiwari was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996, and again to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.

He later served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, which was carved out of Uttar Pradesh, from 2002 through 2007. He offered to resign on 5 March 2006, citing his age. He left office in March 2007 following setbacks for his party in the state elections.

Tiwari was appointed governor of Andhra Pradesh on 19 August 2007 and was sworn in on 22 August.[9] Mr.N D Tiwari quit the office by the allegation by a local news channel (A B N Andhra jyothi) that ,he involved in the sex scandal.he quit the office on 26th december 2009.

Rick Lazio bolstered by Rudy Giuliani.

Rick Lazio reveled in major momentum Tuesday as his drive for the Republican gubernatorial nomination was bolstered by the strong endorsement of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The development prompted many political observers around New York to ask how long potential GOP rival Chris Collins can watch from the sidelines. But the Erie County executive simply issued a statement wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Lazio, Giuliani, Gov. David A. Paterson and Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo — all players in the race for governor.

Gilad Shalit deal

Reuters reported that the mediator’s name was barred from publication but the German-language paper Tagesspiegel reported that it was Gerhard Conrad, one of the foremost Arab experts in Germany’s intelligence service – known as the BND. Since early summer, the paper reported, Mr. Conrad has been shuttling between Jerusalem, Gaza, and Cairo in an attempt to engineer a prisoner exchange deal that would return Sgt. Shalit to Israel, where he has become a cause célèbre since being kidnapped in 2006.

Little is known about Conrad, even in his own country, where he holds a senior post in the BND. But the Israeli center-left newspaper Haaretz reported in 2008, when after 18 months of shuttle diplomacy Conrad secured the exchange of a Hezbollah militant for the remains of two Israeli soldiers, that since the 1990s he had been involved in every Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap in which the BND had participated.

Serbia Bids to Join the E.U

Serbian President Boris Tadic, whose victory last year in a tight runoff election was seen as crucial to the country's further integration with Europe, submitted the application on a trip to Sweden, the country that currently holds the E.U. presidency. "This is indeed a great day for Serbia. This day represents a crossroads," Tadic said. "Today we are entering a stage which is very difficult, which demands deep and painful reforms." Swedish Prime Minster Fredrik Reinfeldt described the move as "a new beginning for Serbia," but warned, "the road to membership is long and demanding." The bid comes days after citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia won the right to travel without visas to E.U. countries for the first time since the bloody Balkan wars of the early 1990s — a move that some low-cost airlines had already anticipated by adding Belgrade and other airports to their routes. It also follows the E.U.'s decision earlier this month to unfreeze an interim trade and cooperation pact with Serbia — seen as a precursor to eventual E.U. membership.

Belgrade is already working closely with Brussels to make the necessary economic, legal and constitutional reforms to join the E.U. The government is also closely monitoring the European Commission's "progress reports" on its efforts, the latest of which underlined privatization and fighting organized crime as priorities for the government. And E.U. officials were pleased with the austere 2010 budget approved by Serbian lawmakers Monday that meets the strict terms of a recent International Monetary Fund loan. Belgrade is also rethinking its military options after neighbors Albania and Croatia joined NATO earlier this year, meaning most of Serbia is now surrounded by the alliance that bombed it in 1999. Serbia has already joined NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, a cooperation framework for NATO member aspirants.

Health Care Bill, Senate Advances Democrats Aim for Swift Passage

www.foxnews.com - The Senate health care reform bill cleared a pair of hurdles Tuesday, putting Democrats halfway through a series of key votes and another big step closer to passing the bill by Christmas Eve.

The Senate voted 60-39 to shut down debate on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's original health care proposal, showing once again that Democrats have the minimum number of votes necessary to move the bill over GOP opposition. The chamber voted earlier Tuesday morning to approve a measure known as the "manager's amendment," which included all the latest changes to the overall health care bill. That measure needed a simple, 51-vote majority to pass.

Ben Nelson on reform bill

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will host a rally in Omaha to persuade Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson to withdrawal his support of sweeping health care legislation. The rally sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Nebraska is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Doors open at 2 p.m. Nelson said Saturday that he decided to support the reform measure after winning concessions to limit the availability of abortions in insurance sold in newly created exchanges, as well as tens of million in federal Medicaid funds for Nebraska.

Ben Bernanke defended his record as chairman of the Federal Reserve

Ben S. Bernanke on Thursday defended his record as chairman of the Federal Reserve but conceded that the central bank’s lapses contributed to the financial crisis.

“I did not anticipate a crisis of this magnitude,” Mr. Bernanke acknowledged in an occasionally contentious hearing on his nomination for a second term as Fed chairman.

Mr. Bernanke volunteered that the Fed had been “slow” in protecting consumers from high-risk mortgages during the housing bubble and that it should have forced banks to hold more capital for all the risks they were taking on.

“In the area where we had responsibility, the bank holding companies, we should have done more,” he told lawmakers. “That is a mistake we won’t make again.”

As he faced the Senate banking committee on Thursday morning, Mr. Bernanke still seemed to have enough support to win approval for a second term.

Australian Liberal Party New leader

Australian Liberal Party M-Ps have voted out their leader Malcolm Turnbull over the divisive issue of climate change, but may have failed to find a unifying figure after days of bloodletting.

Tony Abbott was elected by the narrowest of margins .. 42 votes to 41 .. in what some have called a battle for the Liberal Party's soul.

Malcolm Turnbull ost the leadership of the Liberal Party.

Malcolm Turnbull who has a demonstrated track record of drive, ambition, passion and accomplishment in law and business entered parliament full of promise. True to form, he was outstanding when making the economic case against the Rudd government's debt and deficit. But from the outset Turnbull was met with a level of poisonous jealously from within and without the Liberal Party. Those less brilliant are inevitably intimidated by men such as Turnbull. He confronted haters within the Liberal Party too threatened by their own mediocrity to accept him as leader.

Still pining for a John Howard-like leader, Turnbull was anathema to them. Sadly, Turnbull also did himself no favours on several fronts. When it came to climate change, as opposition leader he gave the internal Liberal Party haters every reason to bring him down. Turnbull's early policy mid-last year was entirely sensible. He said it was economic madness for Australia -- a country responsible for 1.4 per cent of global emissions -- to commit to carbon cuts unless the rest of the polluting world followed. Here was a policy steeped in pragmatism and caution that could have allowed the Liberal Party to argue the case against the Rudd government's rush to enact an emissions trading scheme ahead of the rest of the world in a way that would damage the Australian economy.

Turnbull's fatal mistake was to rejig his policy. He hitched his star to Kevin Rudd's need for early glory on the global stage by enacting an ETS in time for the climate change conference in Copenhagen without taking his party with him. In recent days, Turnbull's plea for Australia to act now on climate change has been far more passionate than anything we have seen or heard from the Prime Minister or Climate Change Minister Penny Wong. While Turnbull may deserve praise for articulating his genuine conviction on this issue, his position was increasingly out of kilter with most within his party.

Many now realise that the debate on climate change is changing fast. The Climategate fiasco of leaked emails reflects poorly on the scientific establishment and more and more people are beginning to understand the enormous personal and broader economic costs of an ETS. This is no sure-fire winner for the Rudd government. Yet no one in the Liberal Party has prosecuted the case for caution in a way that gets traction with the public.

Indeed, last week Turnbull sounded more like Peter Garrett before the previous election. Recall when, in late October 2007, Garrett told ABC political reporter Chris Uhlmann that a Labor government would sign a global deal on climate change even if developing countries were not part of that deal. Then prime minister John Howard immediately rang ABC radio's AM program, pointing out the folly of signing an agreement that did not include the developing countries, countries that would account for two-thirds of the world's emissions by 2030. Garrett was duly punished for his political naivety by his leader.

And Turnbull has been similarly punished by his party.

The demise of Turnbull is the starkest and fastest lesson that brilliance is not always transferable. Even the most extraordinary acumen in business does not necessarily translate into political nous. The smart politicians who do the hard yards in parliament for many years learn the dynamics of politics and the inner workings of their party. They learn the art of winning arguments by cajoling and persuading their colleagues, treating even their opponents with respect. And they learn how to lose arguments with grace. Those years of political experience build connections and hone skills most needed in times of political tumult.

For all his past brilliance, Turnbull was a political neophyte. Skills that worked for him elsewhere failed in Canberra. When he treated disagreement from within his party as ignorance and failed to show others the respect due to them, Turnbull lost people; good Liberals such as Andrew Robb he never should have lost.

Tony Abbott against the ETS legislation

The change in the Liberal Party leadership, the return of "conservative" Liberal leadership as embodied in the person of Tony Abbott and the Senate vote at noon today against the ETS legislation is perhaps the most dramatic change in the Australian political scene since the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975. Henry wishes Tony Abbott well. He holds strong ethical values and he is unusually outspoken and intelligent. Also, despite acknowledged past errors, Tony Abbott is a hardened and experienced politician.

This surprise ascent may well mean the death of the EST and sets the stage for an ETS election that Rudd's Labor may not survive. Our attention rightly now turns to the Copenhagen conference. Tony Abbott has said that he accepts man has contributed to global warming, but he is uncertain by how much.

This is a sensible position -- see, for example, Garth Paltridge's fine book -- but the climate science is not going to get more definite by the time the Abbott opposition has to make its next decision on the ETS or other climate change action.

The ETS is very complicated and, because of the number of exemptions and offsets, unlikely to make any quick and strong effect on greenhouse gas emissions. What is certain, of course, is it will add greatly to the complexity of the tax and welfare system, and the overall burden of government.

Anthony John "Tony" Abbott (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian politician, the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party, having succeeded Malcolm Turnbull on 1 December 2009.

Abbott has been the Member for Warringah in the House of Representatives since 1994. He was the Minister for Health and Ageing in the Howard government from 2003 to 2007 and Leader of the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament. Following the defeat of the Howard Government, he was Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in the Australian federal opposition from 2007 until he resigned from the front bench in protest against Liberal Party policy on 26 November 2009.He then defeated Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership challenge, following a successful party leadership spill motion on 1 December 2009.

Abbott was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Warringah at a by-election in March 1994 following the resignation of Michael MacKellar. He served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1996-98), Minister for Employment Services (1998-2001), Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Small Business (2001), Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (2001-03) and Minister for Health and Ageing from 2003 to November 2007. From late 2001 to November 2007 he was also Manager of Government Business in the House.He acquired a reputation in these roles as a robust parliamentary debater and political tactician.

As Minister for Health and Ageing, Abbott introduced the Medicare Safety Net to cap the annual out-of-pocket costs of Medicare cardholders to a maximum amount. In 2007, he attracted criticism over long delays in funding for cancer diagnostic equipment (PET scanners).

Abbott is widely known as an outspoken socially conservative Catholic. Abbott sees reducing the number of abortions performed each year as a national priority. In March 2004 he asked "Why isn't the fact that 100,000 women choose to end their pregnancies regarded as a national tragedy approaching the scale, say, of Aboriginal life expectancy being 20 years less than that of the general community?" Abbott promised to launch an investigation into a product called Pink or Blue, which is made by UK-based DNA Worldwide, a division of US-based Consumer Genetics. This test is one of several pre-natal blood tests designed to detect the sex of a fetus as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Ethicists have raised concerns that knowing the sex of a foetus so early into pregnancy would facilitate Sex-selective abortion and infanticide.

A conscience vote took place in February 2006, approving a measure that deprived the Health Minister of regulatory control of the abortion drug RU486. Abbott and previous Health Ministers had decided not to allow it to be made available. Abbott responded to the vote by calling for funding of alternative counselling to pregnant women through church-affiliated groups. During this time he criticised the acceptance of abortion, saying "... we have a bizarre double standard, a bizarre double standard in this country where someone who kills a pregnant woman's baby is guilty of murder but a woman who aborts an unborn baby is simply exercising choice."

Abbott opposed allowing the introduction of Embryonic stem cell research or therapeutic cloning in another conscience vote, preferring continued use of Adult stem cells for research into cures for debilitating diseases. He argued that: "there are very important ethical questions here and even the very best end does not justify every possible means." He has proposed a return to at-fault divorce, similar to the Matrimonial Causes Act, which would require spouses to prove offences like adultery, habitual drunkenness or cruelty before a divorce is granted.

Abbott is a supporter of the constitutional monarchy in Australia. He has previously accused some sections of the Australia public of "suffering self-imposed historical and cultural amnesia" in relation to Australia's British heritage and acting like "teenagers blowing raspberries at their parents".

After the Coalition lost government in 2007 and he lost his health portfolio, in Opposition Abbott was re-elected to the seat of Warringah with a 1.79% swing toward the Labor Party.Following Peter Costello's rejection of the leadership of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, Abbott nominated for the position of party leader, along with Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson. After canvassing the support of his colleagues, Abbott decided to withdraw his nomination. He seemingly did not have the numbers, noting that he was "obviously very closely identified with the outgoing prime minister." He also said he would not rule out contesting the leadership at some time in the future.

In December 2007, Abbott was assigned the Shadow Portfolio of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.In November 2009, Abbott resigned from shadow ministerial responsibilities due to the Liberal Party's position on the government's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), leading to the resignation of other shadow ministers.On 1 December 2009, he succeeded Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Opposition, defeating Turnbull and Joe Hockey in a party room ballot, with Julie Bishop remaining as deputy leader.
Controversies

* In May 2006, Abbott, as Leader of the House, called the Opposition MP, Kelvin Thompson, a "snivelling grub" in the Parliament for speaking about Nationals MP John Anderson's shares in the disgraced Australian Wheat Board. Abbott then said "If I've offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally." The comments were not widely reported until a week later when (Labor's) Manager of Opposition Business Julia Gillard (then Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) used exactly the same phrase about Abbott, refused to withdraw it, and was ejected from Parliament for 24 hours. Abbott later told the Parliament "It would have been better if I had not moved the motion in the terms that I originally did."

* In July 2007, Abbott gained attention after swearing once on a national TV interview and repeating the phrase when asked about the incident by journalists the next day. After renewed controversy over John Howard's alleged broken promise to hand over the Liberal leadership position to Peter Costello, Abbott said to an interviewer: "Not to put too fine a point on it, shit happens, Tony". When asked if he regretted it he cackled and repeated "shit happens", receiving some laughs from the journalists.

* In the 2007 federal election campaign, Abbott was again drawn into controversy over comments he made about asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton. Banton, who was suffering from terminal mesothelioma, attempted to deliver a petition to Abbott's electorate office in Manly. As Abbott was not there, he was accused of being "gutless". Abbott said the event was a stunt and said: "I know Bernie is very sick, but just because a person is sick doesn't mean that he is necessarily pure of heart in all things." Abbott later apologised for the comments.

* The next day, 30 October 2007, Abbott arrived more than 30 minutes late for a nationally televised debate with his Labor counterpart in the health portfolio (Nicola Roxon) after being held up by masses of journalists in relation to the incident the day before. Roxon answered questions and joked with the media about "debating herself" while waiting. After the debate, Abbott was heard saying to Roxon that her suggestion that he could have made the debate on time was "bullshit".Abbott was a recipient of The Chaser Decides' 'Mal Award' for this and later bungles in the campaign.

* On 11 September 2009 Abbott was accused of "hurling foul-mouthed abuse" at the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, after he said she had been sporting a "shit-eating grin" during question time.

Funny or Die Paris Hilton Makes Political Commercial

Funny or Die has become a valuable comedic resource in the last several years. Will Ferrell used Funny or Die for his famous "Landlord" viral comedy bits, Judd Apatow often uses Funny or Die for promotional comedy sketches for his movies, and other comedy fans and comedians have used Funny or Die for various reasons. But not many people would expect Paris Hilton to find a use for the Funny or Die website. That is, until John McCain's now famous ad linking Barack Obama's type of celebrity to Paris Hilton came out, casing Paris Hilton to fight back using the Funny or Die site. The Paris Hilton commercial on Funny or Die begins by turning McCain's ad around in asking if McCain is "ready to lead" calling McCain "like, super old." The usual "McCain is super old" jokes link him to Larry King, Yoda, Colonial Sanders and other old figures before Paris Hilton herself comes on.

Obama Audacity Watch

The Obama Audacity Watch is a list of instances of Barack Obama's audacious behavior and is a pun upon the title of Barack Obama's first book, "The Audacity of Hope."

The Barack Obama Audacity Watch page is very easy to navigate. Barack Obama Audacity Watch has a list of headline/links on the left side to stories describing Barack Obama's latest audacious (i.e. arrogant) behavior.

The right side of the Barack Obama Audacity Watch page has some youtube videos of reporting on Barack Obama's audacity, including the Top Ten Signs Barack Obama is Over Confident from the Letterman Show. Another video shows John Stewart explaining why one is allowed to laugh at Barack Obama.

Tim Kaine, on the short list

Tim Kaine, an early Obama supporter, has the relative youth and compelling biography that the presumptive Democratic nominee may be looking for to dovetail his campaign's message, and it couldn't hurt that Kaine is from Virginia—a state that's shaping up to be a critical battleground.

Ohio Primary results 2008

The pollsters are proclaiming a dead heat between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Ohio. Rush Limbaugh is urging people to vote for Hilary. Will there be enough new voters voting for Obama? Will enough people vote for Hilary to stop Obama? As soon as the results are clear, they will be posted here.

Here are some comments from AOL Hot Seat:

“Truthfully, I think that History will tell our posterity that 2008 was the year that “America Woke Up” and realized, you can’t keep electing Liberal Socialist Demoncrats into office and allowing them to keep waving the American Flag, while they are constantly empowering Government to regulate our thoughts, actions, and desires, with absolutely no ability of freedom of choice in how we will live!

Texas primary results

Right now, it is showing John McCain with 54.92% and Mike Huckabee with 33.26%. The total vote count is at 1.88%. You can see the complete breakdown on the website I provided. I know it is early, but CNN has already called Texas and the GOP nomination for John McCain.

When you look at the actual delegate count, I honestly do not see how they can do that, without counting the unpledged delegates, plus the delegates that belong to Mitt Romney. I think they need to go back to school and take some more math.