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BBC NEWS | Americas | Venezuela approves election law ( http://ping.fm/eCHAj )

Skype is in danger, owner says | csmonitor.com ( http://ping.fm/Wqhh3 )

The Associated Press: McMackin suspended over slur ( http://ping.fm/2DAq7 )

Today's Most Popular Stories 07.31.09 Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for July 31, 2009: Washington Post: House Passes Bill to Prolong 'Cash for Clunkers' Washington Times: Economy declined a modest 1% last quarter Washington Examiner: Congress approves $2,000,000,000 more to fund "cash for clunkers" N.Y. Times: So Far, It's the Summer That Isn't L.A. Times: GDP beats expectations in second quarter USA Today: Tiger back in the mix at Buick Open after second-round 63 CQ Politics: New Alaska Governor More Popular Than Palin The Hill: Veterans groups have 'grave concerns' on health bill Politico: Henry Waxman gets deal on health bill ABC News: Political Punch: Pentagon Releases New Images of Air Force One Flyover CBS News: Hot Wall Street Caps Best July in 20 Years Fox News: Not So Suite Life: Family Wants Out of Living Alone in 32-Story Co

Broward Palm Beach - The Juice - On Front Lines of Poverty War, Conflict Between Broward Agencies ( http://ping.fm/wl9oG )

World of Warcraft Twitter = TweetCraft - mediabistro.com: WebNewser http://ow.ly/iKXi

Things omitted are often more deadly than errors committed. - Leo F. Buscaglia

Today's Most Popular Stories 07.31.09 Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for July 31, 2009: Washington Post: House Passes Bill to Prolong 'Cash for Clunkers' Washington Times: Economy declined a modest 1% last quarter Washington Examiner: Congress approves $2,000,000,000 more to fund "cash for clunkers" N.Y. Times: So Far, It's the Summer That Isn't L.A. Times: GDP beats expectations in second quarter USA Today: Tiger back in the mix at Buick Open after second-round 63 CQ Politics: New Alaska Governor More Popular Than Palin The Hill: Veterans groups have 'grave concerns' on health bill Politico: Henry Waxman gets deal on health bill ABC News: Political Punch: Pentagon Releases New Images of Air Force One Flyover CBS News: Hot Wall Street Caps Best July in 20 Years Fox News: Not So Suite Life: Family Wants Out of Living Alone in 32-Story Co

Recession Eases; GDP Dip Smaller Than Expected - Money News Story - WDIV Detroit ( http://ping.fm/akfnB )

Denny's, famous for its Grand Slam breakfasts and other trademark menu items, is facing a class action lawsuit over allegedly concealing the amount of sodium in its food. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer watchdog group that is championing the lawsuit, the amount of salt in a Denny's menu item greatly exceeds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's daily recommended intake, which is 1500 mg. The CSPI allege that some meals at the national restaurant chain exceed 4000 mg of sodium. High sodium intake is a major contributing factor to high blood pressure, which leads to heart disease. The 48-year-old lead plaintiff in the class action, Nick DeBenedetto, takes medication to control his blood pressure, and is careful of his salt intake at home. According to the CSPI, however, some of DeBenedetto's favorite meals at Denny's, such as Moons Over My Hammy or the Super Bird turkey sandwich, contain far more than 1,500 mg o

http://ping.fm/cu3fh

ABC News Harvard Prof Gates Is Half-Irish, Related to Cop Who Arrested Him Two Men at Center of Controversy Linked by Irish Heritage By NIALL O'DOWD IrishCentral.com Publisher July 28, 2009— Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots. Strangely enough, he and the Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages. In a PBS series on African-American ancestry that he hosted in 2008, Gates discovered his Irish roots when he found he was descended from an Irish immigrant and a slave girl. He went to Trinity College in Dublin to have his DNA analyzed. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many

Embedded video from CNN Video

The New York Times July 28, 2009 U.S. Turns Off News Billboard Atop Its Mission in Havana By MARC LACEY MEXICO CITY — The Obama administration has pulled the plug on an electronic billboard outside the American diplomatic mission in Havana that was used to tweak the Cuban government with pro-democracy messages and became a symbol of the bad blood between the two countries. When the billboard went up in 2006, some saw it as an innovative diplomatic stick in the eye of the government of Fidel Castro. Others, though, considered the 25 electrical panels installed by the Bush administration in the fifth-floor windows of the American Interests Section to be fundamentally silly. Mr. Castro, who ceded the presidency to his brother Raúl last year, was clearly not amused by the bright red messages, many of which criticized his government for human rights abuses. In response, he blocked the message board with huge black flags hanging on 100-foot-high flag poles and erected billboards nearby that

Sarah Palin Farewell Speech pt.1 (A Message To The Media "Stop Making Stuff Up!)

I keep hearing members of the media saying: "President Obama said that if the economic stimulus bill was passed, unemployment would not go over 8%." As a matter of fact, I heard Sen. "Waterloo" say that TODAY on a Sunday morning show, unchallenged by either the host or the person sitting next to him. There is one small problem with this statement . . . it is simply NOT TRUE. When are we going to stand up!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

In order to get this so-called "Health Care Reform" accepted by bobbleheads, this administration has just lied and so have the incompetent media. The major causes for high health care/insurance costs are twofold: 1. Treating illegal aliens free because they have no coverage and no money and then having them turn around and sue hoping for that big payday in the sky 2. The ridiculous law suits that are no-win for health care workers. Aliens and ambulance chasing lawyers were bankrupting hospitals, especially in the border states, for the last several years. However, if you read the bill before the House now, it says right in the summary that the national health care plan will cover ALL RESIDENTS of the United States. RESIDENTS, not citizens. That means that the money YOU spend, the money YOU pay is going to pay for some illegal person to have health care at your expense, just so Pelosi and Obama can get the latino votes. Further, illegals bog down the health care system

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. -- Authorities say a 25-year-old former two-time "American Idol" contestant has been struck and killed by a car in a New Jersey shore town. The Asbury Park Press reports that Alexis Cohen, of Allentown, Pa., was killed early Saturday in Seaside Heights. Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Ocean County Prosecutors Office says an autopsy indicated she suffered chest, head and abdominal injuries. Mohel says investigators are seeking more information about the collision. Cohen auditioned in Philadelphia for the popular Fox singing competition in August 2007, and the episode was aired in January 2008. She tried out again during the show's eighth season. A video of her angry rant after being rejected by judges went viral on the Internet.

Palin picnic marks beginning of the end By: Jonathan Martin July 25, 2009 07:21 AM EST WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin kicked off the first of three picnics marking her departure from office with a hometown tribute to the troops and an elbow at the news media. Speaking before a friendly crowd at a park here Friday night, two days before she resigns, Palin invoked her soldier son to assure supporters that she is not downcast over the political frustrations that are prompting her to quit before her term is up. She told the hundreds gathered in a military “Honor Garden” that she wanted to “do something… more worthy than speaking politics” before sharing a story about a reporter who had asked her about how she handles difficult days. “I said, ‘Oh no,’ it is not a down day – my son called this week from Iraq,” Palin recalled, referring to her son, Track, an Army enlistee. “He is safe, he is sound. It is always a good day when my son calls.” Interrupting the applause, Palin said: “I wish

Our post last week on AT&T’s failures inspired a lot of people to voice their displeasure (to put it kindly) with the service over its poor network performance, particularly with the iPhone. It also inspired one professional video editor, Pat Lee, to make the following truly awesome AT&T/Apple ad parody. Lee tells us that he hopes the video inspires people “to contact Apple to let them know about their issues with AT&T’s atrocious service.” The end goal is to put pressure on Apple not to renew its exclusive deal with AT&T here in the U.S. And the video comes at a good time. Comic-Con is currently taking place in San Diego and not surprisingly, there are widespread reports of major AT&T failures at the show. While it’s undoubtedly due to a huge concentration of comic lovers with iPhones, once again, AT&T should have seen this coming. Instead, just as with SXSW, they’re forced to scramble to try and fix things on the fly rather than preemptively attacking a proble

Tweeting from the Web? Nine Alternative Web Clients Guest Author TechCrunch.com Saturday, July 25, 2009 12:49 AM This is a guest post by Israeli blogger Orli Yakuel , who has apparently spent a significant amount of time testing every single way of accessing Twitter. In this post she shares her experiences with nine of her favorite web interfaces for the Twitter service (we have one more that we like, too - tunein , that just launched a week ago). The tenth, of course, is Twitter.com - but the cool kids always want to be a little different. You can read more from Orli on her blog, go2web20 . Believe it or not, almost 50% of Twitter users, prefer to tweet directly from Twitter.com. This isn't surprising, but most heavy Twitter users agree that Twitter.com is actually the poorest user experience among the plethora of alternative web applications to access the service. But there's one thing Twitter.com has going for it (besides being the defaul

Chi jail officer gets $200,000 in harassment suit ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, Jul. 25 2009 CHICAGO A federal court jury has awarded $200,000 in damages to a Cook County Jail correctional officer of Palestinian ancestry who accused the Cook County sheriff’s office of racial harassment. The U.S. District Court jury awarded the damages Friday in a suit filed by 30-year-old Abraham Yasin. In his suit, Yasin contended his superiors failed to look into his complaints of nearly 100 incidents of racial harassment from December 2004 to March 2006. Yasin testified this week that he was the victim of harassing phone calls at work and graffiti on his locker and a bathroom stall. He also said he overheard other jail officers talk about hog-tying Muslims. He said he lost sleep and suffered headaches because of the harassment.

July 25, 2009 Vicente Padilla has swine flu, still expects to pitch vs. Tigers By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a miserable week of coughing and congestion, the Texas Rangers finally have some good news: No new cases of swine flu and most of the sick players are regaining their energy. Texas has had at least a half dozen players hit by flulike symptoms and pitcher Vicente Padilla was diagnosed with H1N1 influenza A on Friday. The team is waiting for results of a few more swine flu tests, but nearly everyone seems on the mend. Padilla worked out today and is expected to start Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. Kevin Millwood also appears ready to go for Sunday’s series finale against Kansas City. Shortstop Omar Vizquel was back in the lineup today after missing three games with the flu.

Obama needs to stop blaming Bush July 25, 5:27 PM · Jeremy Lukens - Orlando Conservative Examiner AP Photo Barack Obama continues his nonstop campaigning, despite the fact that he has actually been president since January, doing countless TV specials, radio addresses, tweets, and Jerry Lewis-style telethons. In seemingly all of these addresses, Obama does exactly what he did to get elected: speak in vague terms and blame Bush. Though his “stimulus bill,” which was so important to pass right away that there was no time for Congress to read it (though there was time for it to sit on Obama’s desk over the weekend), has been an abysmal failure, Obama is quick to point out that he “inherited this economy.” Never before has a person in a position of such power and authority been so unprofessional when it comes to taking responsibility. Obama’s philosophy seems to be that “

Speculation about the true citizenship of President Obama has resurfaced in recent days, in part thanks to this viral video . Despite a widely circulated copy of his certificate of live birth , notices in two Honolulu newspapers , and other evidence , some won't let the issue die. Fanning the flame are commentators Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh , who have both suggested the question remains unresolved, and 10 House Republicans, who have co-sponsored a bill that would require presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificate.

video: HERE CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation. Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been." Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley "100 percent." Gates has said he was the victim of racial profiling.

911, police tapes key in Gates case Officials mull release of recorded evidence By Richard Weir, Laurel J. Sweet and Benjamin Bell | Friday, July 24, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by Matthew West, left, AP, right M ounting pressure to get to the bottom of the controversial arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. is centering on recorded police tapes that may offer a dose of reality amid all the media and political noise. Cambridge police brass and lawyers are weighing making the tapes public, which could include the 911 call reporting a break-in at Gates’ home and radio transmissions by the cop who busted him July 16 for disorderly conduct. “It’s powerful evidence because the (people involved) have not had a chance to reflect and you are getting their state of mind captured on tape,” said former prosecutor and New York City police

A new JOHN LENNON song could be published from beyond the grave - 30 years after his death. By BECI WOOD The lyrics to the song Tell Her Now were penned by the murdered Beatle in the 1960s, but no music was ever written to go with them. Now it has been revealed his son JULIAN is working on a project to write music for the song and to publish it. The lyrics are part of a private collection which Julian accquired after his father was killed on December 8 1980. The song consists of two verses and a chorus: "Little girl I've come to stay "And this time I just have to say "I love you "If she turns you down and you're rejected "Try again the best you can "Call to see her when you're least expected "Tell her now she'll understand." Julian said: "I don't believe the lyrics have been used anywhere. "If the time was right, if it felt right, then I would consider looking at the lyrics and mayb

Ousted Honduran president steps into homeland Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has stepped across the border into his homeland and says he will reclaim his post a month after soldiers flew him into exile.

Legacy Fight: Inside Bush and Cheney's Tense Final Days By MASSIMO CALABRESI AND MICHAEL WEISSKOPF Massimo Calabresi And Michael Weisskopf Thu Jul 23, 11:20 am ET Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon the Vice President's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Libby had been convicted nearly two years earlier of obstructing an investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity by senior White House officials. The Libby pardon, aides reported, had become something of a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship with Bush to the breaking point - and perhaps past it - over the fate of his former aide. "We don't want to leave anyone on the battlefield," Cheney argued. Bush had already decided the week bef