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American Idol Nice & Nasty: Ellen DeGeneres vs. Simon Cowell

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iPhone Video Stabilizer Software

While driving in the car, I decided to record something quickly with the iPhone 3GS. I was in my beloved Vader, a black Toyota... more

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Google Easter Eggs

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Betel Nut | Taiwan | Asian Girls

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China releases first national pollution census

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Top 5 Songs of the Week

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Have You Heard of Devocalization? It's the Cruel Act of Surgically Silencing Companion Animals.

This video will show you the dangers and the reasons this is most definitely considered animal cruelty.

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Faith Evans gets reality show

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Seeking the Butcher & Discovering the Tri-Tip

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Obama Urges Setting Aside ‘Petty Politics’

President Obama declared today that “a sense of purpose that transcends petty politics” must be forged by Democrats and Republicans to create more jobs, reduce the deficit and find at least some common ground on health care.

“We can’t afford grandstanding at the expense of actually getting something done,” Mr. Obama said as he made a surprise appearance at the daily White House briefing for the media only hours after he convened his first monthly bipartisan meeting he called for in the State of the Union address.

The president praised Republican leaders for coming to the White House on a snowy day in Washington. He said the meeting went so well that Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, were “out doing snow angels together on the South Lawn.”

But his laughter gave way to a forceful message, saying that bipartisanship was a two-way street and neither side – including Democrats – could get their way. He said there needed to be at least some cooperation, but he offered no specific path for the legislative way forward.

“Bipartisan can’t be that I agree to all the things that they believe in or want and they agree to none of the things that I want,” Mr. Obama said.

The president took several questions from behind the lectern in the White House briefing room, the first time he has appeared before reporters in a formal setting in months. The appearance by Mr. Obama had the effect of giving him the final word after the bipartisan meeting of lawmakers a few hours earlier.

It was the latest effort in a revised White House approach for the president to appear more transparent and more bipartisan in the second year of his term. He touched upon health care, saying that he would be willing to consider tort reform in the overall debate on expanding coverage and bringing down the costs of health care, but he said Republicans needed to consider some of the Democratic ideas.

“Bipartisanship cannot mean simply that Democrats give up everything that they believe in,” Mr. Obama said. He added, “That’s not how it works in any other realm of life. That’s certainly not how it works in my marriage with Michelle. There’s got to be some give and take.”

His bipartisan appeal came with sharp words for Republicans, whom he asked to stop blocking the confirmation of his administration appointees. He said he would consider making appointments during recess – a prerogative of the president – if Republicans did not give in.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/obama-urges-setting-aside-petty-politics/President Obama declared today that “a sense of purpose that transcends petty politics” must be forged by Democrats... more

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Ink Love

Love In Black Ink By Zen77

Dravenlee77
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Italian Catholic scandal draws in Pope Benedict

;_ylt=Aq6nbygmGaHNFsr0ZWxu7u6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNuamdjZTZ2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjA5L2V1X3ZhdGljYW5faW50cmlndWUEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM0BHBvcwMxBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDaXRhbGlhbmNhdGhv
VATICAN CITY – A scandal in Italy's Catholic Church has morphed into a tale of Vatican intrigue complete with forged documents, reports of dueling cardinals and a papal admonishment Tuesday to put the matter to rest.

The scandal erupted in August, when the newspaper Il Giornale reported that it had court documents showing the editor of the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference had paid to settle charges that he harassed the wife of a man he was romantically pursuing.

The revelations were initially seen as retribution by Il Giornale, which is owned by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's brother, against the bishops' newspaper, Avvenire. The Catholic paper had harshly criticized the premier and demanded he answer questions about his purported liaisons with younger women.

Il Giornale accused Avvenire editor Dino Boffo of hypocrisy, saying the journalist had been fined in a plea-bargain several years ago for making harassing calls to the man's wife.

Prosecutors say Boffo made the calls, but have denied the case involved a gay angle. Boffo acknowledged being fined in the case but said someone else had used his cell phone to make the calls. Amid the fallout, he resigned from Avvenire in September, saying he wanted to spare his family and the church further humiliation.

Three months later, Il Giornale's editor Vittorio Feltri — who had penned the initial articles — admitted the document implying Boffo is gay was falsified, and apologized in a front-page letter.

The scandal resurfaced last week when Feltri said the document in question had been given to him by an "institutional" church official whom he trusted.

Some Italian media suggested that the editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, essentially the pope's mouthpiece, was involved. Others suggested the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was behind it.

There have been long-running reports in the Italian media of battles between Bertone and the leadership of the Italian Bishops' Conference, particularly its previous head Cardinal Camillo Ruini. Italian news reports have said Bertone sought to wrest dealings with the Italian government away from the bishops' conference and had vetoed candidates for the conference leadership who he deemed were too powerful.

Italian newspapers routinely publish unsourced stories about machinations in the Vatican. Rarely, though, do such reports elicit thorough and high-ranking denials.

On Tuesday, however, Bertone issued a statement saying that reports of Vatican involvement were false and that Pope Benedict XVI himself "deplored these unjust and insulting attacks" that were "defaming the Holy See."

L'Osservatore Romano ran the statement on its front page with a note saying Benedict had approved the text and ordered it published.;_ylt=Aq6nbygmGaHNFsr0ZWxu7u6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNuamdjZTZ2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjA5L2V1X3ZhdGljYW5faW50cmlndWUEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXI... more