President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama give address

Before he left for Hawaii and family for Christmas, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama gave this rare joint address. They took time to honor those who serve overseas for America.

Iran protests - death toll reaches eight, four in Tabriz

Protests against the Iran Government have led to eight deaths, including reportedly the nephew of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Iranian police allegedly shot Ali Mousavi in the head during protests in Enghelab Square in Tehran , according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Here's video posted on YouTube at Iranprotest channel:





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Stay tuned.

JFK and Ted Kennedy on a yacht with naked sexy women?

Did President John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy hang out on a yacht with a bevy of naked women - topless and bottomless - in August of 1956? And if so, why wasn't the photo discovered until now?

This photo:

Courtesy of TMZ.com

In perhaps its most incredible find yet, TMZ.com has revealed a photo that, if universally confirmed, could have altered the course of World History.

The photo allegedly shows John F. Kennedy catching some rays on a yacht (he's said to be on the left) while above and around him are naked women. Some of them are skinny-dipping; others lounging. It looks like Hugh Hefner's Playboy dream. TMZ also links the photo to reported accounts that then-Senator JFK and his brother Ted Kennedy and Senator George Smathers had taken a two-week Mediterraneanboat boating trip where they reportedly entertained a number of women.

But is it real? TMZ.com claims it is:

TMZ had multiple experts examine the photo -- all say there is no evidence the picture was Photoshopped. The original print -- which is creased -- was scanned and examined for evidence of inconsistent lighting, photo composition and other forms of manipulation. The experts all concluded the photo appears authentic.

Professor Jeff Sedlik, a forensic photo expert, says the print appears to be authentic. Sedlik says the photo is printed on paper consistent with what was used in the 1950s. The emulsion on the surface of the print has numerous cracks -- the result of aging and handling....

Forensic analyst Sedlik superimposed an image of Kennedy taken at the Democratic National Convention in August 1956, just days before Kennedy went on the Mediterranean cruise. Sedlik says the features from the two pics almost precisely sync up. TMZ has also had two Kennedy biographers examine the photo -- they also believe JFK is in the picture.

TMZ.com claims that they got the photo from the son of a "man who owned a car dealership on the East Coast" who would brag about it. But here are my questions: first, who took the photo? Second, how did they come to be in position to take it? Third, how did such a controversial photo lay undiscovered for so long? Fourth, who was really on the boat? Fifth, if it's real, who was instrumental in arranging for it not to be discovered.

I'm sure you can think of even more questions than I've offered.

Stay tuned.

Max Baucus not drunk on Senate Floor - war of words

The issue of Max Baucus not drunk on Senate Floor is turning into a war of words pitting "Max Baucus not drunk on Senate Floor" forces versus "Max Baucus drunk on Senate Floor" believers.

Senator Max Baucus (D - Montana) had launched a spirited debate against Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker on Heath Care Reform. In the process, his tired, angry, articulate tirade was such that online Conservatives activists elected to make a charge that Max Baucus was drunk.

The fact is that Max Baucus was not drunk and correct in his attack against Republicans who did not break ranks to join Democrats in backing Health Care Reform. Rightpundits explains that Baucus' "core argument is that those who oppose healthcare reform are somehow lacking courage.."

Baucus is right for a very basic reason.

We've had the same Health Care System for 60 years and over 30 million Americans are without insurance. It, by nature of what it takes to mount a change to a culture takes courage to do so.

We have line after line of scores of Americans who line up in support of Heath Care Reform because we need a better system.  The Republicans have only opposed what Democrats have developed and not came up with a better system themselves.  In this the Republicans are not only the "Party of no" but the "Party of lazy".

It takes significant brain work to really sit down and crunch the numbers, craft the legislation, and think about and simulate its impact, then go back to the drawing board.  There's just no evidence that the Republican Party has done that.

Every time Republicans are in power, nothing is done to significantly improve and change the Health Care System so we don't have the access problem.

Nothing.

So Max Baucus was right. It does take courage to support change. And Max Baucus wasn't drunk.

Senator Max Baucus not drunk on Senate Floor

There's a video going around that claims Montana Senator Max Baucus is drunk on the floor of The Senate as he spiritedly takes on Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker in a talk about Health Care Reform.

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana)

In fact, the video that started the Conservative's nasty attack on Baucus is from Think Progress, which pointed to Baucus' articulate claims of Republican partisanship"

I want to tell the Senator that that is not what happened. I was in the room constantly, constantly. I talked to those Senators many many times. That is not what happened. I”ll tell you what did happen. Your leadership pressured them, pressured them, pressured them not to work together. There is no European style effort in that room, that is a totally untruthful statement. Totally untruthful statement. None whatsoever….That assertion of working towards a European solution is entirely untrue. It’s entirely false.

Now, if you can read that, and you can, then you have to agree Baucus was not "slurring" or "drunk" , or "slobbering" when he was speaking. Otherwise he could not have got off such a great blast against Wicker.

And Conservatives know it.

Rather, Baucus was just plain tired and really angry. The product of long hours of debate against Republicans who just don't play fair at all.

Baucus made a great point. People like Maine's Republican Senator Olympia Snowe were really interested in passing health care reform, but were relentlessly pressured into not doing so. Personally, I think they're on the wrong side of history.

Stay tuned.

Does Janet Napolitano own the Oakland Raiders?

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was on CNN this morning and said that "The traveling public - and this is my message for you, Candy - The traveling public is very, very safe in this air environment. And while we continue to investigate the source of this incident, I think the traveling public should be confident in what we're doing now."

That was a mistake. Does Janet Napolitano own the Oakland Raiders? Is she invisible to what happened or is she talking about "The Greatness of The Raiders" in the wake of six straight losing seasons? (And the Oakland Raiders lost to the Cleveland Browns today, 23 to 9.)

My issue with what Secretary Napolitano said is that she didn't use words that acknowledge what happened. What she should have said is "There has been a security breach that we will close. We will work to make you safer." Or words like that.



The reality is the people on Northwest Flight 253 were safe in this case because of other passengers, not primarily due to the Federal Government.

Just something that continues the Obama Administration's objective of open, honest, no-spin communication where issues of national security are not being shared.

Now, President Obama must take time to make a public statement if only to set the Nation at ease about what's happened: two problems with "disruptive passengers" in three days, one labeled a terrorist.

Stay tuned.

Rachael Ray racy sexy photos? Sex symbol? What?

This is crazy! Rachael Ray has racy sexy photos? She's a sex Symbol? What? When I think of Rachael Ray, I think of food, not sex. But apparently, Rachael did a photo shoot for FHM Magazine in 2003 in next to nothing, and her racy images have resurfaced in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women 2009 Edition. Unfortunately, she's not in the Top 10, but given the buzz created by her publicist, she should be. She's ranked 100.

The Top 100 ranked list features in no particular order Hilary Duff, Megan Fox (number one), Kate Hudson, Evangeline Lilly, Elisha Cuthbert, Adriana Lima, Vanessa Hudgens, Diora Baird, Lindsay Lohan, Madeline Zima, Ashley Tisdale, Iron Man 2's Scarlett Johansson, Heidi Montag, Frieda Pinto, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Anne Hathaway, Liv Tyler, and Anna Faris.

In March 2009, Rachael Ray said she'd do the whole thing again, even with the controversy it sparked for her at the time. Even her mother took issue with her decision.

But once again, the photos and the buzz they create show that for women in fashion and media, sex sells. It's an important aspect in the development of a "Q-Rating". Some take extreme measures of expression, using sex tapes, others racy photos, but the formula of getting one noticed works. What separates the success of one actress or model from the other is what the person does with that platform.

For example, even with all of her fame, Former Miss California Carrie Prejean is not on the list.

Politics?  I think so. It's obvious Carrie's being punished for her recent behavior.   I still think had she carried herself with a quiet dignity on CNN's Larry King Live, she would have gotten a second wind in pop-culture.

Stay tuned.