Glenn Beck Admits Lying: ‘I Thought It Would Be A Little Easier’
September 5, 2010
News worldwide — After being called on a white lie he told during his Restoring Honor rally, Glenn Beck admitted Thursday that he stretched the truth because he “thought it would be a little easier.”
Beck had claimed that he held George Washington’s handwritten first Inaugural Address in his hands at the National Archives, but a spokeswoman at the institution said he did no such thing. Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz and others called him out for the fabrication.
Thursday on his radio show, Beck copped to the lie. (RELATED: Lies By Prominent Americans.)
“I thought it would be a little easier in the speech,” Beck said, than to go into the following elaborate explanation (via Mediaite):
Yesterday I went to the National Archives, and they opened up the vault, and they put on their gloves and then they put it on a tray. They wheeled it over and it’s all in this hard plastic and you’re sitting down at a table and you can’t, because of Sandy Berger, I had a long conversation with him about this, you can’t actually touch any of the documents, these are very very rare. So what they do, they have it in this plastic thing and they hold them right in front of you, you can’t touch them but then you can say ‘can you turn it over,’ and then they turn it over for you and then you look at it. I thought it was a little clumsy to explain it that way.
‘Ghost train’ hunter killed by train in North Carolina
August 28, 2010
News worldwide — The facts: On August 27, 1891, a passenger train jumped the tracks on a tall bridge near Statesville, North Carolina, sending seven rail cars below and about 30 people to their deaths.
The legend: On the wreck’s anniversary, the sounds of screeching wheels, screaming passengers and a horrific crash might still be heard. You might also see a uniformed man with a gold watch.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, on the 119th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge train tragedy and at about the same time, between 10 and 12 ghost hunters were on that approximately 300-foot long span.
They were hoping to hear the sounds of the crash, and perhaps see something.
Instead, a real Norfolk-Southern train — three engines and one car — turned the corner as it headed east to Statesville, about 35 miles north of Charlotte, authorities said.
The terrified “amateur ghost watchers” ran away, back toward Statesville, trying to cover the nearly 150 feet to safety, said Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Darren Campbell.
All but two made it.
Christopher Kaiser, 29, of Charlotte, was struck and killed, said Campbell.
A woman who witnesses say Kaiser pushed to safety fell about 30 to 40 feet from the trestle and was injured. Her name and condition were not known Friday night. She was being treated at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
“There was no way out, said Campbell. “They almost made it.”
The engineer of the train, which was traveling at its customary 35 to 40 mph, hit the horn and “stopped as fast as he could,” Campbell said.
Campbell, 38, is from the area and has heard all the stories, although he said he knows of no one who has ever seen or heard the “ghost train.”
On the 50th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge incident, a woman said she witnessed it all again. In 1991, hawkers sold T-shirts and other memorabilia, and there were an estimated 150 people waiting for the train, according to the Charlotte Observer.
There are occasional reports of railroad crossing arms dropping without cause, Campbell said.
The ghost trip on the anniversary has become an annual tradition of sorts.
A woman who did not want to be identified, but who was part of the group of onlookers, told CNN affiliate WCNC, “We were there looking for what people say happened. You hear the train wreck or hear people screaming. We were just watching.”
Kaiser’s mother said the family was too distraught to talk about the incident, WCNC said.
Campbell said most of the ghost hunters, who were from out of town, have been interviewed. Many fled because they were trespassing on railroad property, he said. Campbell said there were no patrols near the bridge early Friday.
Although the investigation is continuing, Campbell said the incident appears to be an accident.
At least two blogs that cover the phenomena, N.C. Ghost Guide and CreepyNC.com, detail the 1891 wreck’s legend. While accounts vary somewhat, the man with the gold watch reportedly was first seen on the first anniversary.
According to CreepyNC.com, Hugh K. Linster was a baggage master for the Asheville-bound train that crashed into Third Creek that August of 1891.
“Hugh Linster never made it to retirement,” the blog reads. “His body was found in the wreck having been killed immediately upon impact with a broken neck.”
One year later, a group of people at the bridge said they saw a man in a railroad uniform, holding a watch.
He vanished before their eyes, legend has it.
Michigan slashing suspect to undergo psychiatric tests
August 27, 2010
News worldwide — Elias Abuelazam, suspected of stabbing 18 victims in a three-state slashing spree, will be examined by a psychiatrist on Friday because there are concerns that he could harm himself, officials said.
Abuelazam was returned to Flint, Michigan, on Thursday amid tight security from Atlanta, Georgia.
Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said Abuelazam will be held in an 8-foot-by-13-foot cell with no television, and will be locked up 23 hours a day.
Everything in the cell is “breakaway,” so the suspect cannot hang himself, Pickell said. A deputy will check on him every 15 minutes, and he will eventually move to an even more secure cell, the sheriff said.
Abuelazam will be in restricted housing, separate from the jail’s general population. Pickell described the case as the most high-profile in all his years of law enforcement.Abuelazam, an Israeli citizen living legally in the United States, was arrested August 11 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. He was trying to board a flight to Israel when he was taken into custody, police said.
He is accused of slashing 18 victims in Michigan, Virginia and Ohio, killing five of them, from May through August.
So far, Abuelazam has been charged in only one of the stabbings. The investigation continues, and more charges are expected, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said.
One of Abuelazam’s alleged victims, Richard Booker of Flint, told CNN he planned to be in court for Abuelazam’s hearings.
Police say Booker is one of 14 people attacked in Michigan between May and August. Like the others, Booker was stabbed and attacked in the same geographical area, at about the same time of night and after offering to help the suspect.
Only one of the stabbing victims is named in the single complaint filed so far against Abuelazam. Booker is not the person named in that complaint.
Booker gave CNN a vivid account of what happened to him on July 19 when he said he encountered the suspect
On his way to a store, Booker said he met a man who asked him for help to get his truck hood open. As Booker was doing so, the man grabbed him from behind, he said.
“He had a Bowie knife … he tried to gut me or something,” Booker said.
“He stuck me, fell on top of me,” he said.
He said the man wounded him on his arm and “tried to stab me in the face and throat. I punched him in the nose and he kind of got off me a little bit.”
Booker managed to escape and make it home, where he passed out on his porch. He said he lost six pints of blood by the time he got to the porch.
“I just flipped out,” he said. “I didn’t know what the heck was happening.”
“I spent a couple of weeks in an ICU, and I was so close to death I was on a respirator, and they had to replace all my blood, eight pints of blood,” Booker said.
Authorities had Abuelazam in custody twice in the past month, both within hours of when stabbings were reported, but he was released. Police said he had not been linked to the attacks at the time.
He was arrested August 5 after a traffic stop in Arlington, Virginia, and July 29 for allegedly providing alcohol to a minor. He was fined $125 in July.
In the traffic stop arrest, police arrested Abuelazam after learning he had an outstanding warrant for assault. A knife and hammer were found in his car.
Authorities now believe both weapons were used in the string of stabbings. One attacks happened in Virginia hours after Abuelazam was released.
Most of the stabbing victims were African-American. Federal officials have not provided a motive for the attacks, but Leesburg, Virginia, Police Chief Joseph Price has said he believed the attacker was targeting African-Americans.
Abuelazam is believed to be responsible for three attacks in Leesburg, the stabbing deaths of five people and the wounding of nine others in Flint and a stabbing that wounded a man in Toledo, Ohio.
The suspect is said to have approached victims who were walking during the early morning hours, asking them for directions or other assistance to lure them near his car, police said.
In an August 13 hearing in Atlanta, Abuelazam waived extradition to Michigan.
Egg Recall List Includes and Expands Two More Egg Brands
August 26, 2010
Egg Recall List Includes and Expands Two More Egg Brands – The egg recall list still continous to become the hottest trend in the internet nowadays. And yet the egg recall brands affected by Salmonella outbreak is considered as the most largest egg recall in the history across the nation.
And now, pay much attention, specially those leaving in California and Nevada as the two additional egg brands have been recalled due to the Salmonella outbreak. These are the Cardenas Market and the Trafficanda Egg Ranch.
Apparently, the trafficanda Egg Ranch confirmed salmonella in some of its eggs from Wright County. Affected plant numbers are 1026, 1413, 1720, 1942 and 1946, with Julian dates between 136 and 229.
Now, the Wright County Egg said also that the salmonella is already in Cardenas Market brand and calling the attention of the consumer to their almost 380 million of 550 million recalled eggs. Affected cartons have the plan number 1026 on the side and Julian dates between 136 and 228.
If we will remember, few days ago , the massive recall of more than a half billion eggs just began last August 13, 2010. This is the time that the Wright County recalled almost 380 millions of egg and confirmed that these were due to salmonella outbreak. A week later, the Hillandale Farms recalled their 170 millions of egg.
And for those who are searching for the updated list of the egg brands recalled, the Trafficanda Egg Ranch and Cardenas Market brand eggs recall are the latest addition on top of several other brands that have been confirmed to be in a recall of millions of eggs produced by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa.
These brand names are the following: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms, Kemps and others.
New credit card restrictions take effect
August 22, 2010
News worldwide — New rules designed to protect credit card users from “unreasonable late payment and other penalty fees” come into force Sunday as a result of the Wall Street reform bill.
The rules block credit card companies from charging more than $25 for late payments except in extreme circumstances, prevent them from charging customers for not using their cards, and requires them to reconsider rate increases imposed since January 1, 2009, according to the Federal Reserve, which approved the regulations.
They are the final provisions of federal legislation that placed new restrictions on credit card interest rates and fees, completing the most comprehensive overhaul of the credit card industry in history.
The Fed’s rules could result in lower interest rates for consumers.
Banks will have to reduce rates if the reasons for increases imposed in the last 20 months no longer exist, and regulators will review and enforce such cuts.
Consumers will most immediately notice the new penalty fee limit of $25. Reducing penalty fees was a central provision of the credit card law, but Congress left it to the Fed to determine how to do it.
The Fed leaves room for larger penalty fees to be charged if a consumer has shown a pattern of “repeated” violations or if a card issuer can show that a higher fee reasonably offsets its own costs in dealing with the violation that spurred the penalty.
Among other new rules, penalty fees can’t exceed the dollar amount incurred by the consumer’s violation that spurred the fee.
For example, if a customer is late making a $20 minimum payment, the fee can’t exceed $20. A consumer who exceeds her credit limit by $5 cannot be charged an over-the-limit fee of more than $5.
Consumers will no longer face multiple penalty fees if the violation was based on a single late payment.
The provisions, which were announced in June, complement previous rules of the 2009 credit card law that are already in effect.
Starting in February, issuers were prohibited from hiking interest rates on existing balances as long as customers paid their bills on time. They also have to notify customers at least 45 days in advance of interest rate increases and most fee changes.
The Fed was tasked with figuring out a way to set penalty fees in a way that’s “reasonable and proportional” to the violation that caused the fee.
Consumers scored a win, since these fee caps go beyond what the Fed had suggested earlier this year in a draft.
The $25 limit will mean significant savings for consumers who face median penalty fees of $39, according to data collected by the Pew Safe Credit Cards Project.
However, if a cardholder is late or over his credit limit two times within six months, issuers could hike the second penalty fee to $35, or possibly more if the issuer can justify the fee to regulators, according to the Fed rules.
Although the Fed is cracking down on penalty fees, it hasn’t addressed the interest rate hikes that are also imposed on consumers who violate the terms of their credit card agreements.
So a consumer who spends more than his credit card limit by $15 may only face a $15 fee. But that consumer could still face a permanent penalty hike on his interest rate, which would apply to any future purchases.
Still, some banking groups have concerns. Financial Services Roundtable’s senior lobbyist Scott Talbott warned that the Fed’s cap on penalty fees will limit the industry’s ability to offset the risk that credit cardholders don’t pay their bills.
“The restrictions in the rules the Fed issued will decrease the ability of the credit card industry to price for risk and the net effect will be a decrease in [credit] availability,” Talbott said.
19th Amendment: How far have women in politics come since 1920?
August 22, 2010
News worldwide — 19th Amendment experts suggest that women are finally gaining a measure of the political leverage that the 19th Amendment promised when it gave women the right to vote 90 years ago.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is surrounded by area children after signing a $26 billion jobs bill in Washington Aug. 10 to protect 300,000 teacher jobs. Pelosi is the first woman Speaker of the House.
Ninety years after the 19th Amendment enshrined women’s right to political participation in the US Constitution, women may be having one of their most influential years yet in American politics, analysts say.
The first 50 years of American women’s suffrage was “votes without leverage,” according to a book of the same name by Anna Harvey, a political scientist at New York University. But women’s leverage on politics is now stronger than ever, and it appears to be growing with each successive election cycle.
At least 13 women, a record, will win a major party nomination for the US Senate this year, assuming three female incumbents – Lisa Murkowski (R) of Alaska, Kirsten Gillibrand (D) of New York, and Barbara Mikulski (D) of Maryland – overcome token primary opposition over the next month.
On the unelected side of things, there are three female justices on the Supreme Court, since Elena Kagan was sworn in. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to lead the House of Representatives. And America’s secretary of State has been a woman for 10 of the past 14 years, with Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Rodham Clinton all serving as the country’s chief diplomat.
The changes reflect the changes in the electorate. More women than men have voted in each presidential election since 1960. Four times since 1976, more than 60 percent of women have voted in a presidential election; men have topped the 60 percent turnout mark only once in that span, according to data from Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics.
However, despite progress, a gap does remain between women’s participation in mass politics and women’s participation in the higher levels of the political game, says Jennifer Lawless, a political scientist at American University.
“Women turn out to vote in greater proportions than men, so women can often be the decisive bloc in an election,” Ms. Lawless says. “Still, we don’t see women running for office nearly as much as men do.”
Still, in their collective effect on mass politics, women’s political influence is high. Groups of women are increasingly seen as the key to electoral victory for both parties.
In the 1990s, the decisive bloc was “soccer moms,” the growing class of suburban mothers whose primary concerns were education and the economy. After the 9/11 attacks, “security moms” concerned about terrorism were courted by both parties and credited for fueling George W. Bush’s victory in 2004, in which he got a higher percentage of women’s votes than any Republican presidential candidate since his father.
Lawless says that both parties, and especially Democrats, now recognize that they need vigorous support from women to win elections. This evident in the way they present their platforms to the public. “Women’s issues” are not the focus, but the way women see the issues is.
“Both parties today really try to frame issues in [women’s] terms,” Lawless says. “Security is framed as, ‘How to keep the kids safe?’ The economy is framed as, ‘How do I put food on the table?’ ‘How do I pay for college?’ ”
Soledad O’Brien: Rebuilding afterwards Katrina ceremoniousness a generation
August 21, 2010
News worldwide — My aboriginal appointment to Pontchartrain Park is on a big day in Fresh Orleans East. I’m met by amateur Wendell Pierce, the admiral of Pontchartrain Park’s Community Development Corp., for the aperture of the aboriginal archetypal home.
“The Park,” nestled amid Lake Pontchartrain and the Industrial Canal, was devastated afterwards Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Then, area we angle was beneath 12 anxiety of water. But today is not about the past. It’s a affair affair of sorts, and Pierce is like a appreciative parent.
He’s demography a breach from filming the HBO alternation “Treme” to appearance off his neighborhood.
Today marks the alpha of what he calls “the 21st-century redevelopment of Pontchartrain Park.”
He has spent the aftermost two years aggravating to accompany aback this neighborhood. Being a developer has become his fresh day job. He introduces me to his ancestors and friends, again delivers a activation accent to the crowd. I sit and accept beside families who accept lived actuality for added than 50 years.
Judge says no to California’s ban on gay marriage
August 5, 2010
News Worldwide:
A federal
adjucator in California made the verdict on Wednesday that the California gay marriage ban goes against the the constitutional right to equal safety, the opening stage in a lawful struggle that is very much looked to come to final stages at the Supreme Court, news reporters reported on US News.
Judge Vaughn Walker jotted down that Proposition 8, on which voters made an approval being a changing to the state constitution during the era of 2008, “fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.”
“Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples,” written by Vaughan, chief adjucator of the U.S. District Court belongs to the Northern District of California in San Francisco, reported by news reporters.
The change outlawed similar-sex wedding five months later than the state Supreme Court made it legal. Walker was inquired to come to a decision whether restricting marriage to opposite-sex duos went against the U.S. Constitution’s warranties of due method as well as equal safety, news reporters stated.
The verdict made a celebration at the exterior side of the courthouse. Gay duos waved rainbow as well as American flags. Shelly Bailes looked happy with her partner, Ellen Pontac, as well as held a mark stating “Life Feels Different When You’re Married.” A number of dwellers of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood celebrated with champagne.
Mitch Miller is no more!
August 3, 2010
, the strong American music charm who was a guide to a number of the leading great U.S. pop stars of the era of 50s as well as had Americans singing along with him on the “Sing Along With Mitch” TV program, has departed this life at the age of 99, reported by news reporters on US news.
Miller, having a branded Vandyke beard had a likeness for cigars, kicked up the bucket at New York City’s Lenox Hill hospital later than a brief sickness, his girl, Margaret Miller Reuther informed.
Miller, got the birth on July 4, 1911, got matured in Rochester, New York, in addition to was a classically practiced oboist. Later than makin performances as well as recording with orchestras, he came to merge with Mercury and moreover charmed up the professions of Patti Page as well as Frankie Laine, who made a leading hit in the company of the Miller-produced “Mule Train”, news reporters reported.
Bill Cosby’s not dead
August 3, 2010
News Worldwide:
The Great
COMEDIAN Bill Cosby has made a post to admirers on Twitter to let them be familia with the fact that he’s not dead later than rumours he was no more swept the cyber. 
“Bill Cosby died” was the top most trending theme on Twitter the whole night, in addition to “is Bill Cosby dead” was the second top “hot topic” on Google Trends, reported by news reporters on US News.
On the contrary, amongst the rumour’s prevailed Cosby made a post on Twitter: “Again, I’m rebuttaling (sic) rumours about my demise.”
As stated by news reporters, Cosby was in the mid of on more demise rumour in February, letting him to make a tweet: “As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal. Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttaling and went into denial.”
He identified that “rebuttal” was not utilized in the sense of a verb – other than stated: “I don’t care, because I’m alive!”
