'Wanted' user reviews

Find out what users rate Angelina Jolie's new action flick, "Wanted." » See their grade and comments

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Is Dobson's Obama Hit Backfiring?

Attacks from the Christian Right on the Democratic candidate aren't getting the grassroots support they once could expect

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Tomato Recall Prompted By Salmonella Outbreak

The tomato recall was swift after it was discovered that raw tomatoes had been linked to a salmonella outbreak in 17 states, and restaurants and supermarkets were eager to avoid a consumer backlash:

But experts say supermarkets and fast food chains that threw out tomatoes suspected in a salmonella outbreak were acting aggressively to protect their customers' health and avoid a consumer backlash.

And a federal government that's been sluggish in the past is being more responsive, said consumer advocates. It hasn't been pretty, however. It's been a little like trying to cut a tomato with a dull knife.

On Tuesday, federal authorities cleared fresh tomatoes being harvested in Florida and all those grown in California -- the nation's top two tomato-producing states -- of responsibility in the national food poisoning scare, which has sickened 167 people since April.

It's an expensive proposition to toss seemingly edible food, experts said. But McDonald's and others had good reason to pull the tomatoes, said Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who for 15 years has specialized in food-contamination cases.

"The dilemma is if they don't recall the tomatoes and someone gets sick, then they're going to really look foolish," he said.

Watch a video report of the tomato recall.

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Mark, Zooey, and Mischa Are Totally Happening

Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel were out in New York City last night for the premiere of their new movie, M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. Of course, Mark Wahlberg looked smoking hot all snazzed up in his suit, while Zooey was picture-perfect adorable as usual in her pink dress. So bubblegum girly! Mischa made the trip out for the premiere, and considering her big break was as a little girl in Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, it only fits. This scary movie is too scary for me (eek!) but we'll see this weekend if you're all ready for another fright fest with that M. Night twist.

To see more from the premiere including Abigail Breslin, John Leguizamo, Judah Friedlander, M. Night Shyamalan, and others, just .

Images include: Zooey Deschanel, Abigail Breslin, Mark Wahlberg, Mischa Barton, Ashlyn Sanchez, Betty Buckley, John Leguizamo, Judah Friedlander, M. Night Shyamalan, Spencer Breslin Source

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Norway passes law approving gay marriage

OSLO, Norway - Gay couples in Norway will be granted the same rights as heterosexuals to marry, adopt and undergo artificial insemination under a new equality law passed Tuesday. Norway's upper house of parliament voted 23-17 in favor of the gender-neutral marriage law on the same day that gay couples were marrying in California.' The law takes place January first. Sounds like Northern Europe cherishes equal rights more than the US, since Denmark was the first for civil unions, and the Netherlands were the first to allow gay marriage.

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Cyd Charisse's glorious feeling

In the musical cavalcade "Ziegfeld Follies," Cyd Charisse is at her most imperturbably lithe dancing through a sea of soap. Smothered in bubbles, the set looks like the victim of an overflowing washing machine in a '70s sitcom. Foam mountains teeter in the Technicolor horizon. And there, pirouetting through the suds, is a bubble-wrapped Charisse. She can dance around anything.

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Sen. Barack Obama: Michelle Is an "Extraordinary Mother"

Barack Obama tells Us Weekly in its new issue, on newsstands now, that his wife Michelle is an "extraordinary mother" to their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 7. "Nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother," the Democratic presidential nominee tells Us. "She works every day to instill in our girls the same values we were raised with." (See Barack's Just Like Us photo gallery.) Michelle's...

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Cyrus addresses scandal

Miley Cyrus opens up about the controversial Vanity Fair photo shoot. » 'It still hurts when I think about it'

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Actress-dancer Cyd Charisse dies in L.A. at 86

Cyd Charisse, the long-legged Texas beauty who danced with the Ballet Russe as a teenager and starred in MGM musicals with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, died Tuesday. She was 86.

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Will You Watch Top Chef Junior?

This morning Bravo announced its plans for Top Chef Junior. Similar to Top Chef, the eight-episode series will feature teens battling it out in the kitchen and competing in culinary challenges. Frances Berwick, the general manager of Bravo Media, explains the network's decision to expand the Top Chef brand: With Top Chef as the No. 1 food show on cable comes the natural expansion in our food domain. With Top Chef Junior we're reaching a growing market and are developing a series that will teach and test the skills of younger aspiring chefs and appeal to the whole family.

Bravo is also planning another untitled, food-related reality series highlighting the life of "the world's sexiest chef," Jean-Christophe Novelli. Knowing Bravo's track record, these shows have the potential to be smashing hits. Will you watch? Source

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Paying for Gas with Credit? Not Here

When gas station manager Roger Randolph realized it was costing him money each time someone filled up with $4-a-gallon gas, he hung a sign on his pumps: "No more credit cards"

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McCain calls for building 45 new nuclear reactors

AP - Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality," measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

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Is Britney Leaving L.A.?

Could Britney Spears be deserting L.A.? What will the paparazzi do with themselves? At a court hearing today, Britney's dad was granted the right to sell the singer's Studio City home. You know, the home that has been the center of nothing but trouble for the pop tart since she has moved in. It was not revealed exactly where Britney would like to set up shop next, but sources told People.com that she is definitely looking for something specific. "Having more privacy and wide open spaces for her to raise her boys has been a goal for some time," said the insider. Also in court today, Brit's lawyer made mention that BS wouldn't be in California for the next couple of days -- though he never said where she was going. The best guess is that Brit is headed back to Louisiana to spend some time with sister Jamie Lynn, who is very pregnant. Do you think Britney could or would leave the limelight?

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Michelle And Barack Obama Land Cover Of Us Weekly: Their Love Story

Barack and Michelle Obama appear on the cover of the Us Weekly hitting newsstands later this week, further establishing their crossover appeal as both political and entertainment figures. The magazine will feature a six-page article on the Obamas' love story as well as an album of family photos. The cover is headlined "Michelle Obama: Why Barack Loves Her" and teases, "She shops at Target, loved 'Sex and the City' and never misses the girls' recitals. The untold romance between a down-to-earth mom and the man who calls her 'my rock.'" In February, Barack Obama sat down with Us for a Q&A (where he notoriously refused to answer the boxers-or-briefs question). That article, combined with Hillary Clinton's "My Worst Outfits Ever" spread critiquing poor past fashion choices, helped establish political figures' appeal to celebrity magazines, one of the new trends emerging from this campaign season. An excerpt of the Obamas' love story is to be posted on UsMagazine.com Wednesday morning. For the full story, pick up a copy of the magazine, which hits newsstands nationwide on Friday (Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles).

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Belkin loves Spiderman with Micro Grip

Belkin has a brand new line of 3G iPhone cases which will roll out at the same time as the Apple handset, but among the entire bunch I must say the Micro Grip is the most impressive of them all, featuring a design unlike any other. It features a rubberized grip to ensure that your butterfingers symptom won't result in you accidentally dropping your shiny new handset come July 11th, along with holes in all the relevant places to give this a much more fun look compared to other serious cases.

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Strawberry Moon To Rise Wednesday Night, Actually Just An Illusion

As the full moon rises this Wednesday evening, June 18, many people will be tricked into thinking it's unusually large The moon illusion, as it's known, is a trick in our minds that makes the moon seem bigger when it's near the horizon. The effect is most pronounced at full moon. Many people swear it's real, suggesting that perhaps Earth's atmosphere magnifies the moon. But it really is all in our minds. The moon is not bigger at the horizon than when overhead.

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Oil CEOs: High Prices, Fat Paychecks

As consumers around the world struggle to fill their gas tanks, captains of the oil industry are getting a raise. Starting with info provided by Capital IQ (which, like BusinessWeek, is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP)), BusinessWeek asked executive compensation research firm Equilar to analyze compensation of the chief executives of the 25 largest publicly traded global oil and gas companies (see the accompanying slide show for the full list of CEOs and what they were paid). Equilar's study found that for the 12 CEOs at the largest U.S.-based, publicly traded oil companies, median total compensation increased by more than four times the rate of that of executives in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index as a whole.

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Bush doesn't rule out military strike in Iran

President Bush on Wednesday raised the possibility of a military strike to thwart Iran's presumed nuclear weapons ambitions, speaking aggressively even as he admitted having been unwise to have done so previously about Iraq. Bush's host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, joined the president in urging further sanctions against Iran if it fails to suspend its uranium enrichment program. However, Merkel was less direct in her comments about Iran.

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How to Pick a Veep

There's no right way to choose a No. 2. McCain and Obama have to decide what matters most: heft, diversity, party unity, regional balance, buzz -- or a combination of all five

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Luke Russert Delivers His 'Dad's Last Speech'

A composed, 22-year-old Luke Russert delivered what he termed "my Dad's last speech" at funeral services in Washington, D.C., Wednesday for powerhouse journalist Tim Russert. The elder Russert, longtime host of NBC's Meet the Press, died Friday of a heart attack at age 58. "My dad was my best friend," said the younger Russert, who acknowledged wondering if he were capable of speaking at the service. "Well dad, I am the man for this job." Speaking for his father, he advised parents, journalists and politicians to be their best selves. Saying that "we are all a small part of a grand design," Luke told his listeners: "Anyone can withstand anything" – even the loss of a beloved father.

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Docs to Women: Pay No Attention to Ricki Lake's Home Birth

Ladies, the physicians of America have issued their decree: they don't want you having your babies at home with midwives. We can't imagine why not. Study upon study have shown that planning a home birth with a trained midwife is a great choice if you want to avoid unnecessary medical intervention. Midwives are experts in supporting the physiological birth process: monitoring you and your baby during labor, helping you into positions that help labor progress, protecting your pelvic parts from damage while you push, and "catching" the baby from the position that's most effective and comfortable for you -- hands and knees, squatting, even standing -- not the position most comfortable for her. When healthy women are supported this way, 95% give birth vaginally, with hardly any intervention. And yet, the American Medical Association doesn't see the point. Yesterday at its annual meeting it adopted a policy written by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists against "home deliveries" and in support of legislation "that helps ensure safe deliveries and healthy babies by acknowledging that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital" or accredited birth center. "There ought to be a law!" cry the doctors. The trouble is, they have no evidence to back up their safety claims. In fact, the largest and most rigorous study of home birth internationally to date found that among 5,000 healthy, "low-risk" women, babies were born just as safely at home under a midwife's care as in the hospital. And not only that, the study, like many before it, found that the women actually fared better at home, with far fewer interventions like labor induction, cesarean section, and episiotomy (taking scissors to the vagina, a practice that according to the research should be obsolete but is still performed on one-third of women who give birth vaginally). Which is why the American Public Health Association and the American College of Nurse Midwives support women choosing home birth. The British OB/GYNs have read the research, too, and have this to say: "There is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications... it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families. There is ample evidence showing that labouring at home increases a woman's likelihood of a birth that is both satisfying and safe..." The other trouble with the American MDs is that they seem to have lost all respect for women's civil rights, indeed for the U.S. Constitution -- the right to privacy, to bodily integrity, and the right of every adult to determine her own health care. The "father knows best" legislation they are promoting could indeed be used to criminally prosecute women who choose home birth, say, by equating it with child abuse. Research evidence be damned, the doctors want to mandate you to go to the hospital. They don't want you to have a choice. We think they're spooked. The cesarean rate is rising, celebrities are publicizing their home births (the initial wording of the AMA resolution actually took aim at Ricki for publicizing her home birth on the Today Show!), people are reading Pushed and watching The Business of Being Born, and there's a nationwide legislative "push" to license certified professional midwives in all states (The AMA is against that, too, by the way). The docs are on the defensive. After all, birth is big business -- it's in fact the most common reason for a woman to be admitted to the hospital. And if more women start giving birth outside of it, who will get paid? Not doctors and not hospitals. "The AMA supports a woman's right to make an informed decision regarding her delivery and to choose her health care provider," the group said in a statement. But if it really supported women's choices it wouldn't adopt a policy condemning home birth and midwives. Because if U.S. women are to have real birth choices, everybody needs to be working together to provide them, not waging turf wars at their expense.

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Tiger Woods Wins The US Open, Rules The Internet

As we noted yesterday, NBC Sports, ESPN and the USGA got something right on Monday: They streamed the US Open playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate live on the Web, for free. The rationale: NBC wasn't losing any TV audience, but they gained at-work golf fans, who wouldn't be watching TV anyway. Today, the payoff: NBC Sports says Monday was its best day ever online, with 9.1 million page views, 2 million unique visitors and 1.5 million video streams served of the playoff. Each stream averaged 17 minutes. NewTeeVee checked in with the USGA, which is claiming it did even bigger numbers on its site: 16 million visits, 3.5 million unique visitors and 2.5 million streams. ESPN also streamed the tournament online through its ESPN 360 broadband service, but isn't giving any metrics. ESPN 360 is only available in 28 million US homes, subject to deals with broadband distributors, so those numbers would be comparatively small. Even so, the NBC and USGA numbers combined come close to matching the 4.8 million viewers that tuned into CBS's March Madness online. The big difference here is that March Madness was 63 games over three weeks. CBS was earning a $44 CPM from advertisers for March Madness online, and generated some $21 million from the event overall. So what did NBC get? We don't know, but we don't think it amounted to much. Why? Because the NBC stream had next-to-no advertising. The network's television advertising was stripped out of the feed, and on NBC.com, the stream carried just an occasional 15 second-spot for USGA sponsor Lexus (plus all the usual display ads surrounding the stream). Meanwhile the USGA was running short pre-rolls for American Express. We're not sure why NBC stripped the ads out of its feed, but we're trying to find out. In the meantime, if you've got any ideas, let us know in comments below. See Also: Tiger Woods, Live, Free, Legally On The Web* CBS: March Madness Eyeballs Worth More On TV Than The Web

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Reportedly, Walker has broken orbital socket

When the Raiders guaranteed wide receiver Javon Walker $16 million to sign with them in March, many accused the team of overpaying, citing the torn ACL that wiped out Walker's 2005 season and the arthroscopic surgery on the same knee that limited him to eight games last year.

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Kuhn vows party will go on despite painful exit for co-hosts

AFP - Deflated Switzerland boss Jakob Kuhn has vowed the Euro 2008 party will continue in his country despite the co-hosts' heartbreaking exit from the tournament.

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Tiger Woods Out for Season, PGA Ratings Will Suffer

The Associated Press is reporting that Tiger Woods will undergo more surgery on his knee and his season is over. After a rapid return from having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee two days after The Masters, it seems that Tiger's win at the U.S. Open was even more dramatic than we knew. He suffered a small stress fracture in his left leg about two weeks prior to the Open. Wow. We watched as Tiger hobbled his way through 90 holes. After a weak first round, he came roaring back to take the lead Saturday for Sunday's final round. We saw him use his club to support himself at times. But also saw the brilliance that puts Tiger one shot short of Jesus himself as the greatest golfer of all time. The look on his face after the first of two eagles on Saturday was priceless. He was tickled...at himself. I was switching back and forth to catch what was going on at Torrey Pines on Sunday and Monday, and the play of Woods and 158th-ranked Rocco Mediate was that of U.S. Open lore. Back and forth, neither seeming to put together enough to take the win. Fans were torn. Everyone likes to see Tiger win, but who doesn't love an underdog? Then, on the 19th playoff hole, Mediate's second shot went left and out of play. He recovered nicely, and had roughly a 20-foot putt for par, but missed, and Tiger won his third U.S. Open crown. So now he's going under the knife again to have his ACL repaired in the leg. Season over, done. "I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week, and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly at an appropriate time. I wanted to be very respectful of the USGA and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus was on the U.S. Open," said Woods on his website. "Now, it is clear that the right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee." (espn.com) Apparently he ruptured the ACL in 2007. Okay, put Tiger Woods up there with hockey players who will play with torn ACLs (ala Joe Nieuwendyk and Rich Matvichuk in the Dallas Stars 1999 Stanley Cup winning run). Worth the risk to win that 14th major? The win put Tiger just three major victories behind Jack Nicklaus for most major wins in PGA history. Was it worth it? Tiger would probably say "Yes." This blows open the British Open and Ryder Cup later in the year. I would also think it's going to adversely affect viewership of PGA events. Without Tiger there, I know I won't be watching, and I doubt I'm alone in that boat. Ouch.

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Obama explains the 'bump'

Michelle Obama jokingly demands to be greeted properly on "The View." � 'I'm not that hip'

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Bush: end ban on oil drilling offshore, McCain agrees

George Bush and John McCain agree, offshore Oil Drilling is a good idea, and they want to end the ban. ------------------------------- WASHINGTON ? President Bush, reversing a longstanding position, will call on Congress on Wednesday to end a federal ban on offshore oil drilling, according to White House officials who say Mr. Bush now wants to work with states to determine where drilling should occur. The party?s presumptive presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, used a speech in Houston on Tuesday to say he now favors offshore drilling, an announcement that infuriated environmentalists who have long viewed him as an ally. Even before the disclosure of Mr. Bush?s decision, the drilling issue caused a heated back-and-forth on the campaign trail on Tuesday, as Mr. McCain sought to straddle the divide between environmentalists and the energy industry, while facing accusations from his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama, that he had flip-flopped and capitulated to the oil industry. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, responded by calling the vice president ?Oil Man Cheney,? saying: ?So all that Cheney can talk about, the Oil Man Cheney can talk about, is drilling, drilling drilling. But there is not enough oil in America to make that the salvation to our problems.? After hearing of Mr. Bush?s proposal on Tuesday night, Mr. Reid affirmed his opposition, saying, ?The Energy Information Administration says that even if we open the coasts to oil drilling that won?t have a significant impact on prices.? And the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said, ?The president?s proposal sounds like another page from the administration?s energy policy that was literally written by the oil industry: give away more public resources to the very same oil companies that are sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands they?ve already leased.? End of Excerpt Source: New York Times The argument to drill for more oil is null and void. A) Oil will run out sometime in the future B) It damages the environment (also fuels Climate Change) C) Just because other nations are doing it doesn't mean we have to. D) It won't change gas prices. E) Also it's a lie that China is drilling off our shores. Thats my rant.

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AP: Paul Newman's friend says actor has cancer

AP - NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Paul Newman has always been a fiercely private man, shunning the trappings of fame wrought by his Hollywood career while immersing himself in auto racing, philanthropy and a multimillion-dollar food business.

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Charter Boats In The Current Economy

The current economy and especially gas prices have hit charter boats in different ways, Bruce Asbury Explains.

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Video: David Cook Talks Dave Grohl, New LP at His RS Photo Shoot

The current issue of Rolling Stone features Austin Scaggs' conversation with David Cook, the American Idol champ who auditioned on a whim. Click below for the complete piece, and click above for a behind-the-scenes look at Cook's Rolling Stone photo shoot and find out what White Zombie song turned Cook on to rock music, why [...]

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China and Taiwan re-start talks

Negotiators from Taiwan have arrived in China to resume formal talks after a gap of almost 10 years. The talks, set to last until 14 June, are expected to result in agreements on direct passenger flights and tourism. Dialogue was suspended in 1999 as Taiwan's leaders began to lean towards formal independence, angering China's government. But the election in Taiwan of Ma Ying-jeou earlier this year has led to a rapid improvement in bilateral ties. When he took office in May, Mr Ma said maintaining regional stability was his priority. He called on China and Taiwan to create "a new chapter of peace". Shortly after that, Chinese President Hu Jintao met the head of Taiwan's governing Kuomintang party in Beijing, the most senior meeting between the two sides since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

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Bridging the Iran-West divide to save cheetahs

Reuters - Iranian and Western wildlife experts are working together to save rare cheetahs from extinction in this arid, mountainous region, despite a nuclear row between their governments.

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Jack Lucas; Received Medal of Honor at 17

Jack Lucas, who at 14 lied his way into military service during World War II and became the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, died June 5 in Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss. He was 80.

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Dollar stores offer deals for New Yorkers feeling pinch

Full place settings for a family of four for $22? It's not fine china, but the price is right. From national chains like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar to New York staples such as Jack's 99 Cent Store, retailers that keep the pricepoint at $1 or less are attracting strapped shoppers.

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Elizabeth Holtzman: An Analysis of Kucinich's Impeachment Case Against Bush

Some will want to dismiss Rep. Dennis Kucinich's introduction of articles of impeachment against President Bush as quixotic, but it's not. Twenty House Republicans joined nearly all House Democrats in voting to send the articles to the Judiciary Committee. This comes on the heels of the Senate Intelligence Committee's 107-page report confirming, with the vote of two Republican Senators, that President Bush abused his office by deceiving Congress and the American people into the Iraq war. Although Kucinich's articles included other impeachment grounds as well, deception about the war is arguably the most serious one. We have long known that the reasons President Bush and his team gave for going to war in Iraq were false. Many have contended that the president deliberately misled the nation into war. Scott McClellan, for example, with his insider's perspective, says in his new book that the president used exaggerations and misleading statements to win public and Congressional support for going to war in Iraq. Now we have important corroboration of such claims: the Senate Intelligence Report has made it official in a way that Congress will find hard to ignore. The report describes a drum roll of groundless statements by the president, the vice president and other top officials. While it does not use the word "lie," it offers plenty of evidence that we were "led to war based on false pretences," to quote Committee chair Senator Rockefeller. The report shows there was no intelligence to back up the President's contention that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were in cahoots, or his claim that Saddam would give WMD to terrorists, much less the Vice President's fantasy that American soldiers would be welcomed as liberators. Now that these are official findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the question is, what do we do about it? Just wring our hands? Simply hope for change in the November elections? Or does the Constitution now require something more of us? The Constitution's framers envisioned the possibility that presidents and their minions might seriously abuse the power of their office, and "subvert the constitution." Their remedy was impeachment: the removal of the offending official to protect our democracy. They understood that Executives historically wanted to take countries into unnecessary wars, so they empowered Congress act as a real check on unwarranted presidential warmaking. Since lying to Congress obstructs that function, it is a grave abuse of power that "subverts the Constitution" and meets the standard for impeachment. The House should commence an impeachment inquiry forthwith. In fact, in a sense, it is already beginning. Rep. Kucinich introduced the articles, the House has referred them to the Judiciary Committee and the Senate Intelligence Report goes a long way toward furnishing the investigative work Congress needs to do in the course of impeachment, at least as regards the run-up to the war (Congress should also look at other serious abuses of power, including President Bush's refusal to obey duly enacted laws, as evidenced by hundreds of signing statements, his violations of the laws on wiretapping and mistreatment of detainees). The next step is to start asking, what did the president actually know and when did he know it? Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has stated that President Bush seemed determined to overthrow Saddam Hussein at the beginning of his administration, well before 9/11. There was also the British "Downing Street" memo written in the summer of 2002 stating that President Bush was going to "fix" the intelligence to fit the policy of overthrow. It's now incumbent on Congress to take these matters up in impeachment hearings. Yes, even at the end of their terms, President Bush and Vice President Cheney can still be impeached and removed from office. There might just be sufficient time to finish impeachment before they leave office, and technically they could be impeached even after that. This administration can still be held accountable for the consequences of the unnecessary Iraq War and other grave abuses. The American people still have a chance to witness the Constitution in action as it appropriately limits the powers of this president, preventing further abuses by him (such as bombing Iran without approval of Congress) or by his successors. This would be an important lesson in democracy. We last learned it 34 years ago during the Nixon impeachment process, which reminded Americans how the Constitution works. But our collective memory of those far-off events may have faded, especially after the past eight years of President Bush asserting extreme claims for presidential power, coupled with the failure of Congress to respond forcefully. As a result, as a nation we may have a diminished level of constitutional literacy compared to 1974. It's time to reinvigorate that literacy. We need to understand once again that acquiescing in this president seriously deceiving us into war means ignoring what the Constitution says, and jeopardizing our democracy.

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Arming our own enemies in Iraq

In recent months, Gen. David Petraeus charged that Iran has supplied powerful rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Shiite militias in Iraq. But according to the U.S. government's own reports, there is no evidence to support that charge. In fact, the vast majority of RPGs in the hands of Shiite militants have come from either U.S.-purchased weapons intended for Iraq's new security forces, or from Saddam Hussein's old stockpiles, which the U.S. failed to secure when it took control of the country. The Bush administration has long sought to create the impression that Iran has been playing a major military role in Iraq by supplying arms to Shiite militias, including the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's powerful Mahdi army. But to date, U.S. military officials have offered scant or even dubious evidence of Iranian military involvement in Iraq -- and Petraeus' allegation about the RPGs is a clear-cut case of unsubstantiated charges. Last October, and again in late December, Petraeus stated emphatically there was "absolutely no question" that Iran provided RPG-29s, a sophisticated anti-tank weapon, to Iraqi Shiite militiamen. He even called the RPG-29 an Iranian "signature weapon." What Petraeus failed to mention, however, is that RPG-29s are manufactured by Russia, not Iran, and those that have shown up in Iraq apparently came from Syria. The Syrian government bought large numbers of RPG-29s from Russia in 1999 and 2000, many of which ended up being used by Hezbollah in the war against Israel in 2006, according to Israeli and Lebanese media reports. Even some U.S. military officials were quoted in the media in May 2006 as saying that they believed RPG-29s had been smuggled into Iraq from Syria. Moreover, as Air Force Col. Scott Maw of the Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF-I) Strategic Communications Office told me in a telephone interview last week, "very few" RPG-29s have actually been found in Iraq. An examination of U.S. military press releases on weapons caches found in Shiite areas reveals no mention of RPG-29s. Additionally, the U.S. military has never displayed a captured one to reporters. In a highly publicized February 2007 slide show, U.S. military briefers did include a picture of what was identified as a round to be fired by an Iranian-made RPG-7AT-1 launcher, a less advanced weapon than the RPG-29, although it did not depict the launcher itself. But the U.S. military has found no evidence of an Iranian pipeline of RPG-7s to Iraqi Shiite militants, either. In more than two dozen MNF-I news releases on Iraqi Shiite weapons since early 2007, more than 200 RPGs are listed. Not a single one was identified as Iranian-made. That was not because of a lack of effort by the U.S. military, however, to determine whether captured weapons were of Iranian origin. Lt. Col. Steve Stover, the spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, which is deployed in and around Baghdad, confirmed that explosives experts examine the findings at each cache site to determine the origin of the weapons. "Normally we say whether they are Iranian-manufactured or not," Stover said in a telephone interview. Col. Maw said that the number of these weapons found in militants' possession is rising rapidly -- now more than 400 -- due to many discoveries being made by Iraqi Security Forces in recent months. "Very few of them are of recent manufacture," he said, suggesting that they came from Saddam Hussein's old stockpiles. The U.S. command is so eager to highlight any weapons that can be linked to Iran that one MNF-I press release from last September singled out the discovery of four Iranian hand grenades. But that find hardly supported the Iranian-weapons narrative, because the grenades were found in an area frequented by Sunni militants associated with al-Qaida. (There is no reason to believe that Iran would arm extremist Sunni fighters, who consider both Iran and the Shiites as their arch enemies.) In the early stages of the war, when the Bush administration was being criticized for its failure to prevent the looting of the Saddam Hussein regime's arms depots, Bush officials downplayed the importance of the weapons that disappeared. In October 2004, an unnamed senior administration official was quoted by CNN as saying that the weapons were "stuff you can buy anywhere." Among the pilfered Iraqi weapons were thousands of RPG-7s, which soon turned up on Iraq's thriving black market. Malcolm Nance, an Arabic-speaking 20-year veteran of military and civilian U.S. intelligence, recalls being offered more than 20 RPG-7 rocket launchers and dozens of RPG rounds in a single trip to an arms bazaar in Sadr City in September 2003. According to Nance, RPG-7s were also on sale in black markets at another location in Baghdad and in at least seven other Iraqi cities. In a telephone interview, Nance, who is now a counterterrorism consultant to Homeland Security and the Army's Special Operations Command, among other government agencies, recalled that the Iraqi RPG-7s were "so ubiquitous" that they were selling for a mere $50 each for the launcher and $5 each for an RPG missile. Sunni fighters got large numbers of Saddam's RPG-7 stocks, as discovered by U.S. troops who were frequently attacked by them in the early stages of the insurgency. But the Mahdi army has also been able to purchase them easily over the past four years. Equally troubling is the near certainty that Soviet-made RPGs purchased by the Pentagon in 2004 and turned over to Iraq's Ministry of Interior have fallen into the hands of the Mahdi army. Beginning in 2004, the Pentagon sent at least 7,500 Soviet-made RPG-7s and 4,500 Soviet-made under-barrel grenade launchers to Baghdad to be distributed to Iraqi Security Forces, along with hundreds of thousands of sidearms, according to a September 2007 report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. U.S. authorities hired civilian contractors to distribute the U.S.-purchased weapons, but had no system to account for them once they left U.S.-controlled warehouses in Iraq. As the New York Times reported last November, the Iraqi businessman contracted to distribute Pentagon-funded weapons from one depot was widely known to be stealing them from the warehouse by the truckload. Only 499 of the 2,389 Soviet-made RPGs that were provided to the new Iraqi security forces could actually be accounted for through serial numbers, according to a report by the Defense Department Inspector General's Office in November -- and that was because they were still in the warehouse. No one knows how many of the other 1,900 RPGs entered the Iraqi arms market. Inspector General Claude Kicklighter told the Senate Appropriations Committee in March that there is an ongoing investigation into "pilferage of storage facilities" for the arms in Baghdad. According to Col. Maw, MNF-I makes no effort to determine which, if any, of the Soviet-made RPGs came from the U.S.-financed weapons stocks. The munitions specialists responsible for assessing the weapons on site are unaware of the U.S.-financed RPGs from 2004, he said, so they would have no way of distinguishing them from other Soviet-made RPGs. The Mahdi army had abundant opportunities to gain access to the U.S.-supplied weapons. During 2005 and 2006, the Shiite militants successfully infiltrated the Iraqi police as well as parts of the Iraqi military and government. The police in Sadr City were effectively controlled by the Mahdi army, and the militants had also penetrated several Iraqi army units stationed there. In Basra, the Mahdi army was part of a consortium of Shiite militias that used their control over a key police office to get access to various kinds of weapons. The military official responsible for the decision to rush ahead with massive arms transfers to the Iraqi Security Forces in 2004 and 2005 -- despite the absence of a dependable tracking system and the wide reach of the Shiite militias -- was the man in charge of training and equipping those Iraqi forces: Gen. David Petraeus.

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What Will You Watch on TV Tonight?

As Summer TV nights go, this one is actually relatively big. Two new shows — Fear Itself and Swingtown — are premiering, while an established Summer favorite — So You Think You Can Dance — reveals its top 20 contestants. Plus, there's the start of the NBA finals and the end of Step It Up and Dance. So, what will you be watching? Photos courtesy of NBC, CBS, and Fox What Will You Watch on TV Tonight? Swingtown on CBS Fear Itself on NBC Basketball on ABC So You Think You Can Dance on Fox Step It Up and Dance on Bravo No TV for me tonight! Other (tell me below)

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Snag in deal to return Texas sect kids to parents

AP - Parents' hopes of quick reunions with more than 400 children removed from a polygamist sect's ranch were dashed Friday after their attorneys and a judge clashed over proposed restrictions.

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Jaymes Foster-Levy artificially inseminated with Clay Aiken's baby

Jaymes Foster (formerly Jaymes Foster-Levy) is the sister of musician and record producer David Foster. On May 29, 2008, TMZ reported that Levy is pregnant with the child of Clay Aiken, a previous "American Idol" contestant. The two have been "best friends" since working together on "American Idol". Foster, who was artificially inseminated, will give birth in August.

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True or not, ref's charges linger over NBA finals

AP - If Tim Donaghy's latest allegations are true, Kobe Bryant won his last championship with the help of an NBA conspiracy. And Scot Pollard is still ringless because some guys in suits determined it would be that way.

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The WWE RAW ratings reality

There is panic in the halls of WWE Titan Towers this morning. After a week of heavy publicity promoting the WWE McMahon Million Dollar Mania the ratings are in for Monday Night RAW. Last week's dismal 2.9 only saw an increase of 3.1 with all of the publicity. WWE employees ...

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Euro 2008: France Bow Out at the Hands of Italy

Italy beat a 10-men French side at a sold out stadium in Zurich to advance to the quarter finals of Euro 2008 thanks to Holland's win over Romania. The game started at a high level with both teams knowing that only a win would do. Franck Ribery had to go off early after colliding with Italy's Zambrotta. He was replaced by Nasri. Luca Toni saw an early chance go begging after Abidal misjudged a long ball and Toni was obviously low on confidence as he fired in the shot first time, even though he had more than enough time to take a few touches and pick his spot. However, that chance set the tone for the match and it was the same pair that later resulted in the Italy's opening goal. Another long ball was played over the top and Abidal misjudged the flight of the ball again. Toni was onto it in a flash and this time Abidal was made to pay for his mistake. He conceded a penalty and then received his marching orders. To balance out his defense, Raymond Domenech took off Samir Nasri 16 minutes after replacing Ribery. He was replaced by defender Jean-Alain Boumsoung. Pirlo calmly slotted home the penalty to put Italy 1-0 up in the 25th minute and France was down to 10 men. The goal spurred on the Italians and they continuously blew chance after chance. Luca Toni was the main culprit. The commentator on the BBC was saying at one point that Toni could have had TWO hat tricks during the game. Needless to say, Italy and Toni missed a host of chances towards the end of the first half France did not give up, but although they showed plenty of character, they failed to find the finishing touch to level the score before half-time. In the second half, news of Holland taking the lead against Romania filtered through. This, however, failed to spur on the Italians, who seemed content to defend their 1-0 lead. With France, and in particular Benzema, gaining momentum, Italy got their second goal. With Pirlo off the pitch, free kick duties were put on the shoulders of De Rossi. His powerful shot bounced off Henry's foot and sent Coupet the wrong way. Italy was 2-0 up in the luckiest fashion. This seemingly put the result beyond doubt, but Buffon did have one last contribution to make. He produced a stunning one-handed save to deny Benzema's curled effort which was heading for the far corner. Italy held on for the victory and, combined with Holland's 2-0 victory over Romania, they were safely through. They will now face an in-form Spain side with a lot of expectations.

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Bush looks offshore for remedy to high oil prices

AP - For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills.

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Hulk Hogan: Carefree in Japan

The list of actors who have been featured in a silly Japanese commercial is endless. From Arnold Schwartzenegger to Brad Pitt, they have all made fools of themselves for a little cash. Even Hulk Hogan, who has been dealing with getting older, divorcing his wife, and having his son sent to jail, had his time in [...]

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How Far Have Gas Prices Driven You?

Writing about cars gives me an ironic privilege: I don't have to worry about gas prices as much as the civilian driver. So when I saw this provocative, preventative measure against gas theft at a station somewhere in deep Lower Alabama (L.A., to you outsiders), it finally struck me--gas is too damn expensive. With $4 a gallon the reality ..

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Should McCain choose Sarah Palin as VP?

Some Republicans are calling for a McCain-Palin ticket in the U.S. election in November. They feel Palin could bridge the gap between McCain and some of the conservative base he has been unable to reach. She is "pro-life" and is a lifetime member of the NRA.

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Do You Own a Wig?

Check out these saucy photos of Angelina Jolie for the July issue of Vanity Fair. It's hard to believe that someone with her gorgeous mane would ever feel the need to wear a wig, but it was actually her idea at the photo shoot. I don't own a wig, but I do like to wear my clip-on hair extensions as much as possible. Do you own a wig?

Do You Own a Wig?
Yes
No

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Clintons Hint at Endgame As Reality Sets in

Both Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton pushed through South Dakota Monday as an air of finality began to settle in. Each made it a point of thanking each other, while showering their daughter Chelsea with praise. (June 3)

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My Email To Hillary

In her self-aggrandizing non-concession speech Tuesday night, Sen. Hillary Clinton invited voters to log on to www.HillaryClinton.com and tell her what we think she should do now. Well, I dropped Hillary an e-mail and, if you've got a minute, I'd like to share it with you. My letter went like this: Dear Sen. Clinton, I was offended by your self-centered, combative speech after yesterday's Minnesota and South Dakota primaries. Your refusal to concede the race, to acknowledge Sen. Obama's historic win and to extend common courtesy to Sen. Obama make your statements about Democratic Party unity seem phony. You lost the election yesterday, but rather than step aside graciously, you came out swinging, condescended the winner and tried to make the night all about you. Your stubborn arrogance was apparent before you took the stage. Even though it was at least half-an-hour after Sen. Obama sewed up the winning number of delegates, you allowed Terry McAuliffe to introduce you as "the next president of the United States!" Shameful. Later, you told your supporters that you were not going to make a decision. But there is nothing for you to decide, because Sen. Obama won the nomination fair and square. The electoral process has made the decision for you. Whether you're prepared to acknowledge it or not, the campaign is over and Sen. Obama is our party's nominee. You can be justifiably proud of the more than 17 million voters who cast ballots for you during the primaries. But when you imply that these voters could become "invisible," you are being inaccurate and divisive. Even more divisive was your reference to "count(ing) every vote" (sour grapes over the outcome of the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting) and your smiling silence as your supporters chanted, "Denver! Denver!" These are not examples of a commitment to party unity. They are selfish, stiff-necked grandstanding. You played up the significance of your running for President as a woman but ignored the greatness Sen. Obama winning the nomination as a black candidate. You went out of your way to mention the 90-year-old ladies who remember when women could not vote and the parents who pointed to you as an example to their daughters. But what about blacks who lived under Jim Crow and remember what it was like when black folks couldn't vote? What about us black parents who point with pride to Obama as an example to our children? We weren't important enough to merit a mention in your speech. By ignoring the monumental racial importance of Tuesday night, you insulted Barack Obama, black America at large and the heroes of all races who fought, suffered and died for racial equality from slavery up through the present day. Your disdain for Sen. Obama was clear in your patronizing statement, "I would like all of us to take a moment to recognize him and his supporters for all they have accomplished." Gee, thanks. Here we are at one of the most significant social and political milestones in American history and you treat it like a footnote. Sen. Obama has literally changed our nation but the only thing you gave him credit for was running "an extraordinary race" and inspiring and empowering voters to get involved in the process. Contrast your dismissive acknowledgment with Obama's glowing praise for your history-making campaign and it's easy to see that his character is made of much greater stuff than yours. And you wonder why black folks cheered when Father Michael Pfleger mocked you. As a final insult on Tuesday night, you didn't even phone Sen. Obama to congratulate him on securing the nomination. Instead, you waited for him to call you and then allowed his call to go to voicemail. Twice. You finally got around to returning Obama's calls an hour after he'd left his messages. That was rank arrogance, disgracefully poor etiquette, bad sportsmanship and the opposite of party unity. Our party and our nation deserve better. Sincerely, Cameron Turner Cameron Turner is a veteran entertainment journalist, cultural critic and founding commentator for the African-American news and opinion site, UrbanThoughtCollective.com.

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Obama Taps Kennedy for VP Help

Obama assembled a three-person team including Caroline Kennedy to lead his search for a running mate. The presumptive Democratic nominee reached out to mend fences with Clinton as Republican opponent McCain tried to frame the fall campaign on his own terms.

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