For bid on eBay: 1 Ill. Senate seat, slightly worn

CHICAGO (AP) - For sale: One Senate seat. Goes to the highest BLEEP-ing bidder. Seller's positive feedback rating: since Tuesday, just about zero.

Caribbean Queen

Obama tries the parliamentary system

Why has Barack Obama appointed three of his defeated opponents to top jobs? Why did he put Hillary in the State Department? And why has he filled other posts with people from other factions in the Democratic Party — and a Secretary of Defense from the Republicans? One even doubts that a majority of Obama's cabinet voted for him in the primaries!

Obama / Rezko part #633

A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama.

Change We Can Believe In!!!!

Preparing the Pentagon for a New Age- Robert Gates

The defining principle of the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy is balance. The United States cannot expect to eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything. The Department of Defense must set priorities and consider inescapable tradeoffs and opportunity costs.

Woman smuggles sedated monkey into U.S. under her shirt; pretends to be pregnant

Show me the monkey!!!!!!

Bidders line up for MediGene's EndoTag Cancer drug

FRANKFURT, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Pfizer (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Eli Lilly (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have submitted offers to buy marketing rights for MediGene's (MDGGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) EndoTag as the contest over the promising pancreatic cancer drug heats up, two people close to the situation said.

Valero restarts hydrocracker at Corpus Christi

NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Valero said it restarted the hydrocracking unit at its 340,000 barrel per day refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas on Monday.

Ill. Gov. arrested in Obama successor probe

Hope n Change Chicago Style!

Start Me Up

Little Feat The Ingenue

Hero: Lt. Col. Michael A. Manning

Michael A. Manning

Lt. Col. Michael A. Manning’s actions in connection with combat operations involving conflict with an opposing force while serving as the operations officer, Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Jan. 1, 2007, to Jan. 22, 2008, have been marked by an exemplary record of accomplishments. This is directly attributable to his courageous leadership, sound judgment, meticulous planning and consistently superior personal example.

Lt. Col. Manning’s peerless ability to lead and plan is widely recognized throughout Multi-National Force – West. Several samples of his efforts include the planning and executing:

• Operation EIN NESSIR, which rid the city of Hit of insurgents and terrorists, killing an operational enemy 82mm mortar crew and uncovering over 100 weapons caches. The overall success of the operation was evident in the fact that there was not a single hostile incident in the Hit for 54 days after the operation.
  
  
• Operation HARRIS BA'SIL (March to May), designed to hunt al-Qaida in Iraq and insurgents, deny them their caches and safe havens and seize enemy held areas. The operation netted enough explosives and bomb making materials to make over 1,700 improvised explosive devices. Additionally, over 200 known insurgents were detained during this operation.
  
  
• Operation MAWTINI I-III (July to November), which involved numerous clearing and disruption operations across all of the area of operation Denver. The results of MAWTINI included 29 insurgents killed, over 1,200 suspected insurgents detained and 476 caches discovered. Five high-value individuals were captured or killed. This operation kept the enemy on his heels and unable to muster the annual Ramadan offensive.
  
  
• FAJR JADEED (December to January), which focused on continuing security in the vast desert areas of Anbar province, Iraq, and returning the urban population centers to normalcy.

One unique aspect of Lt. Col. Manning’s operational design was his ability to control and secure 500,000 Iraqi citizens. This was accomplished through extensive use of Biometric Automated Tool Sets in every village and city in the area of operation.

Throughout his entire 13-month combat deployment, Lt. Col. Manning, 40, demonstrated exceptional poise under pressure. His combat leadership, professionalism, steady devotion and war-fighting spirit were the foundation for the success and high operational tempo of Regimental Combat Team 2 in the area of operation Denver. These heroic efforts leave a lasting legacy for Iraqis and Americans alike in the fight against global terrorism.

Bush Looks Back

Tom Morgan: Tragedy and Triumph

Boost the economy, get America working

There aren't a whole lot of people in the country who can honestly say that they understand how the government's $700 billion -- and growing -- bailout plan is supposed to work. Buying up toxic assets in credit markets and throwing money at uncooperative banks in hopes of jump-starting the economy aren't the kind of things you learn in Econ 101. And so far, those efforts have done nothing to stave off the worst economic crisis in America since the Great Depression.

Yah, give all the bankers and stock brokers shovels and get them on the infrastructure!!!!!

Addicted To Love

Hero: Staff Sergeant Daniel Bogart

Most people try to avoid deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Not Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Daniel Bogart: As an explosive ordnance disposal technician, it’s his job to get up close and personal with these devices, often in combat situations. From August 2006 to March 2007, Bogart neutralized 65 IEDs, saving countless soldiers and Marines from harm. His actions – which required extensive technical knowledge and unflappable concentration – earned him the Bronze Star with “V” for valor.

Bogart’s tasks as the team leader of the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon, 1st Marine Logistics Group, included disarming bombs and clearing explosives. A sense of normalcy is a sign of success: As Bogart told the Midland Reporter-Telegram, “You hear a lot about the [IEDs] that go off, but not about the ones we take apart.”

One of Bogart’s most harrowing missions involved manually disabling three IEDs in Ramadi while under small-arms fire. After disarming the first two, a fourth IED exploded just three feet away, damaging Bogart’s ear drums and injuring his partner as shrapnel covered the area.

Despite being wounded, Bogart refused to let medical personnel into the area since he knew there was at least one more live IED. Despite his injuries, Bogart defused the third IED, moved the injured Marine from the blast area, and then returned to perform a post-blast analysis – before finally allowing himself to be medevaced. After spending twelve days recovering from his wounds, Bogart returned full-time to his job.

Bogart participated in more than 170 combat missions during his seven-month tour, and disposed of over 11,000 pounds of unexploded ordnance. During many of these missions, Bogart had to avoid enemy machine-gun and RPG fire. He is quick to credit his comrades-in-arms for his many successful missions: “It is easy to do good things . . . when you are set up for success, surrounded by the best individuals and a good chain of command. . . . I could not have done anything on my own – it was a team effort.”

After two tours of duty in Iraq, Bogart is now a team leader for Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort’s explosive ordnance disposal unit. In that capacity, he trains other Marines in his field. Bogart has also shared his knowledge with other coalition forces: In 2005, he provided assistance in explosive ordnance disposal training to Georgian soldiers set to deploy to Iraq.

While IEDs continue to be one of the greatest dangers our troops face, the efforts of servicemembers such as Bogart have greatly reduced this threat. On October 12, 2007, Bogart received the Bronze Star and his Senior EOD insignia, a well-deserved recognition of his courage and expertise. Bogart’s decorations also include a Purple Heart and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Tony Bennett - The Best Is Yet To Come

Homeowners who modified loans are in trouble again

WASHINGTON – More than half of all homeowners who had their loans modified to make the payments more affordable in the first half of the year are already in default again, banking regulators said Monday.

40% of N. Korea's population need urgent food assistance: U.N. report+

ROME, Dec. 8 (AP) - (Kyodo)—About 40 percent of the population of North Korea, or about 8.7 million people, urgently need food assistance due to an expected cereals deficit in the coming months, two U.N. agencies said in a joint report Monday.

Kim must be spending all that money on hair product!