August 27, 2010
August 26, 2010
August 24, 2010
August 20, 2010
Israeli and Palestinian leaders to be invited to U.S. for peace talks
Face-to-face negotiations could start in early September. Obama would be directly involved, but Israelis and Palestinians remain skeptical about achieving tangible results.
World leaders are planning to invite Israeli and Palestinian officials to Washington in September to begin direct Middle East peace talks, a U.S. official confirmed Thursday.
An invitation from the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations is expected to be announced as soon as Friday, nearly two years after the last round of talks broke off.
The world leaders are suggesting early September for the first session of negotiations.
Details were still being worked out late Thursday, and though acceptance by both sides was expected, officials warned that nothing had been confirmed. Nevertheless, skepticism is high on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides and many question whether direct peace talks will achieve tangible results.
U.S. and allied officials in recent days said they had persuaded Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to join the talks. President Obama would be directly involved in the meetings, officials said.
On Friday, officials in Israel and the Palestinian territories declined to comment until after an official announcement from Washington was released. The two sides have been arguing over the proposed wording of the U.S. invitation.
The U.S. has spent months on shuttle diplomacy — special envoy George J. Mitchell has been meeting extensively with Israeli and Palestinian officials since May — in an attempt to start indirect talks, with little discernible result.
Key negotiators signaled a breakthrough in the effort to begin negotiations this week, when Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, announced in a letter to other EU officials that Abbas was on the brink of committing to talks.
Confirmation of such negotiations, first reported by the Reuters news agency Thursday, would be a relief for Obama, who has made Mideast peace talks a high foreign policy priority in his administration.
The resumption of face-to-face meetings would be a measure of political success for his administration, even if the two sides didn’t agree to discuss core issues that could relieve long-term hostilities and move the region toward a two-state solution.
Read More: LA Times
August 18, 2010
August 16, 2010
No Joke: Talk show host and comedienne Stephanie Miller comes out of the closet -
From : Examiner.com
Progressive radio talk show host Stephanie Miller revealed on Friday that she is a lesbian.
The 48-year-old former comedienne came out of the closet of her nationally syndicated show on Friday, The Stephanie Miller Show.
This morning, Miller told her Twitter fans that “There may be a lot of crying in the next hour. Stick around for the next hour. Mama’s got something to tell you.”
Country star Chely Wright, who also recently came out of the closet, was a guest on the show Friday. Miller joked with Wright that she “[gets] a toaster oven for recruiting me.”
Miller has always been publicly supportive of gay rights. Her father was attorney and congressman, William Miller, who ran with Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.
Listen: Progressive Radio
more here:
Syndicated talk host Stephanie Miller comes out of the closet
August 10, 2010
Levi Johnston wants to show Sarah Palin how it’s done : contemplating run for Mayor of Wasilla
Current Mayor: Levi Should ‘Get A High School Diploma And Keep His Clothes On’
From Yahoo News
JUNEAU, Alaska – From Playgirl to … politico?
That’s right: Levi Johnston’s manager, Tank Jones is confirming a report that Johnston is planning to run for city office in his hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, as part of a reality TV show.
Wasilla is where Sarah Palin got her start in politics, moving up from City Council to mayor before winning election as Alaska’s governor in 2006. Johnston, 20, is the father of Palin’s grandson, Tripp, and the recently off-again flame to her daughter Bristol.
Jones said Johnston is serious about a run, either for mayor or City Council.
“Let me put it to you like this: If you live in a town and things are happening in that town, and you’re displeased with it, what do you do? You try to change those things,” Jones said.
He declined to give specifics on what Johnston wants to change but insisted the run is real. “This is not a spoof. This is not a joke,” Jones said.
According to the Wasilla city clerk, the next mayoral election is in 2011. The candidate filing period for council elections this October closed July 30. Johnston isn’t listed among those candidates.
Wasilla’s outspoken current mayor, Verne Rupright, was at a meeting Monday and didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Johnston has seemingly come to embrace the spotlight since first being thrust into it in 2008, amid Palin’s bid for vice president, when he and Bristol were unwed teenagers expecting a child together.
Since then, he’s gone on to pose for Playgirl and appear with Kathy Griffin on her reality show. On Sunday, he walked the red carpet at the Teen Choice Awards with singer Brittani Senser, with whom he agreed to shoot a music video.
Asked whether he believed people would take Johnston’s run for office seriously, with TV cameras rolling, Jones said: “People questioned Jesus Christ, so I definitely don’t care about these mere mortals questioning Levi Johnston.
read More: Yahoo News
August 7, 2010
Video: Elena Kagan sworn in as 112th Supreme Court Justice
Fourth Woman Justice on the Supreme Court
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administers the oath two days after her confirmation by the Senate. She is not expected to dramatically alter the ideological makeup of the court.





