Obama’s Books Were Banned From US Prison

Prison officials twice rejected requests by al Qaeda inmate Abdul Omar Abu Ali to read Dreams of my Father and The Audacity of Hope, saying they contained material “potentially detrimental to national security.”  The Bureau of Prisons eventually relented and allowed him to read the books.

Certain pages, but not specific passages, were mentioned in the case. Think Progress surmises:

In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that “the dealth penalty does little to deter crime” and explains his “basic principle that no innocent person should end up on death row.” Perhaps that’s just too …

Frozen Moments In Time

For two days running this picture has been on both Drudge and the front page of the New York Post. The obvious attempt is to portray Obama as a lustful horndog (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The tabloid headlined stories such as “Tail to the Chief” and “Lusty Eyes Turn Sober to Meet Pope.” The Post story even quotes the father (that would be the girl’s father, not the Holy one) as being proud that his daughter is so beautiful as to attract such highfalutin admirers.

Of course this is a fun, and …

It’s The Free-For-All

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On Friday’s Radio Show…

• Former insurance executive Wendell Potter of the Center for Media and Democracy reveals how the health care industry fights reform by putting profits before patients.

• Does the government have the right to ban movies? Ted Baehr of the Christian Film & Television Commission explains why he’s seeking to halt screenings of the new movie Bruno.

• It’s the Friday Night Free-For-All!…

So Where’s The Health Care Plan Already?

Conservative Democrats are holding up the works. Just as House Democrats were due to release a plan, they came forth with a list of demands.

The group’s concerns were the need for more cost containment measures, protections for small businesses and a focus on rural health care.

“We cannot support a final product that fails to” address these issues, members of the group wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Opposition from the 52-member group could imperil House passage of a bill.

The blue dogs don’t want businesses to be required to provide …

Joe Jackson Believes Foul Play Killed His Son

Michael Jackson’s father told ABC’s Chris Connelly he believes his son was the victim of foul play.

“I just couldn’t believe what was happening to Michael,” he said.

“I do believe it was foul play,” Jackson added. “I do believe that. Yes.”

LA Police Chief William Bratton says if an autopsy shows that Michael was over-prescribed prescription drugs, his death could be treated as a homicide.…

John Ensign’s Parents Paid $96,000 To His Mistress

Ensign’s attorney, Paul Coggins, says each gift was limited to $12,000 and “complied with tax rules governing gifts.”  This new revelation appears to be designed to head off questions about whether or not Ensign violated federal laws by failing to report what Doug Hampton called a severance package, worth $25,000, to his wife, Cynthia.

The revelations of the payoff came as the scandal – quiet for several weeks – blossomed anew as Doug Hampton, the husband of Ensign’s mistress Cynthia, told a Nevada television show this week that Ensign left his family in shambles by relentlessly pursuing his wife, …

Obama Is A Right-Winger, If We’re In Norway

Professor George Lakey of Swarthmore examines the Norwegian view of Obama.  Norway’s political specrum is different than ours and, let’s face it, we’re further to the right as a country than we often acknowledge.

When Norway hit a major financial crisis in the early ’90s (from a real estate bubble and speculating banks), the Norwegians decided against bail-outs. Three of the biggest banks were simply taken by the government, their senior management fired, their stockholders sent packing. The government nursed the seized banks back to health over time while the economy made a quick recovery. The other troubled …

On Thursday’s Radio Show…

• The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, tells Alan how the CIA misled Congress.

• Why is a Pennsylvania swim club turning away black children? Alan analyzes a strange case of alleged racial discrimination.

• Think you can survive the cut? It’s Sudden Death Radio!…

Here Are Some New Words For Us To Use

Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary has sanctified some new words that are now officially part of the English language.

Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes? Or perhaps you plan to signal a flash mob for a quick bite of shawarma.

Thanks to officially sanctioned government torture, “waterboarding” is now in the dictionary. And here’s the meaning of some words you may wish to incorporate into your daily speaking:

locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), vlogs (a blog that contains …

John Ensign To His Mistress: “I Used You For My Own Pleasure”

Family values Senator John Ensign wrote a letter of apology to his mistress saying, “I used you for my own pleasure….Plain and simple it was wrong; it was a sin.”  The letter was given to the Las Vegas Sun by Doug Hampton, the woman’s husband.  And Ensign paid Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in severance when she stopped working for him.

Hampton also detailed a February 2008 meeting in which he, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others encouraged Ensign to end the affair, as well as the working relationship with the Hamptons. Hampton said Coburn and others tried to encourage …