President Obama Celebrates His Irish Roots

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President Obama landed in Dublin
today as the sixth United States
president to visit Ireland and
celebrate his Irish roots.

"It is heartwarming to be here,"
Obama stated. "People even
arranged for the sun to come
out shortly after I arrived."

Presidents John F. Kennedy,
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan,
Bill Clinton and George W.
Bush visited the small island
home of 4.5 million people.

His visit will include an
hour-long visit to Moneygall,
in County Offaly, where his
great-great-great grandfather
was born in 1830, and a speech
in Dublin at an outdoor concert
to tens of thousands of people.

Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton are
the most celebrated presidents
to have visited. Kennedy came
first, in 1963, just months
before his assassination, and
spent three days. Reagan visited
another tiny village south of
Moneygall called Ballyporeen to
celebrate his family's ancestry
there.

Clinton helped to bring peace
to Northern Ireland in 1998
through the signing of the Good
Friday Agreement.

Obama's visit is being celebrated
culturally too. There's a new 90-
minute film, Barack Obama's Irish
Roots, which just premiered at
Cannes. There's a painting by
former Miss Ireland Nuala Holloway,
Famine Ship, depicting the type
of vessel that would have brought
Falmouth Kearney, Obama's ancestor,
to America

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110523080037writ.nb/topstory.html

Take Down Osama bin Laden in a Video Game

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A video game, launched shy of a
week after United States Special
Forces killed Osama bin Laden at
his compound in Abbottabad,
Pakistan, allows players/gamers
to re-enact the circumstances
that took down bin Laden.

KumaWar Episode 107- Osama 2011,
the latest in a series of free
online games based on anti-terror
themes. The game gives players
the chance to lead the team that
took down bin Laden.

The game offers one variation on
the actual mission, and it's
that the virtual Special Forces
can suffer casualties.

"In forty minutes and a rain of
hot lead, a decades-long,
worldwide manhunt for Osama bin
Laden will be ended... by you,"
the web site of New York based
Kuma Games, which released online
the first person shooter over
the weekend.

The company made the claim of
realistically recreating the
compound, weapons and mission
objectives from bin Laden's
real-life take down based on
news reports.

One screen shot on the game's
web site creates an image that
the Obama administration hasn't
released, and that's bin Laden's
corpse with a head wound.

"I think it might actually draw
interest for young men and women
to serve in the military," Neil
Livingstone, CEO of the corporate
security firm ExecutiveAction.
"The Army had its own video game
at one point to draw young men
and women into the service,"
Livingstone added.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110509060545writ.nb/topstory.html

Danger: Sugar More Toxic Than Thought

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Sugar is toxic according to an
incendiary article that sparked
concern and debate from experts
to the average home.

It's a glucose-fructose combination
that add extra calories to our diet,
Gary Taubes in the New York Times
Magazine article "Is Sugar Toxic?"
but its consumption is an independent
risk factor for heart disease, high
blood pressure and many common cancers.

The liver, as Taubes explained, is
where sugar's damage begins. "In
animals, or at least in laboratory
rats and mice, it's clear that if the
fructose hits the liver in sufficient
quantity and with sufficient speed, the
liver will convert much of it to fat.
This apparently induces a condition
known as insulin resistance, which is
now considered the fundamental problem in
obesity, and the underlying defect in
heart disease and in the type of diabetes,
type 2, that is common to obese and
overweight individuals. It might also be
the underlying defect in many cancers."

The recommended daily allowance of sugar
is about six-to-nine teaspoons of sugar a
day, for an average person, CBS News Medical
Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. It's
estimated that the average American is
consuming about 90 pounds of sugar a year.

The high fructose corn syrup, sucrose,
fructose, in theory, does the same amount
of damage to body cells.

Sugar stimulates our pancreas to release
insulin which stimulates the liver. If
it's not used as fuel for the body, it
turns into fat. Years of consuming sugar
can lead to the pancreas being worn out
and diabetes.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110420074609writ.nb/topstory.html

Published: March 08, 2011

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Conservative legal watch-dog group,
Judicial Watch, filed a lawsuit
Monday against Florida Democratic
congressman Alcee Hastings, accused
him of sexually harassing a one
time female staffer during an
assignment to Vienna, Austria.

"My comments will be limited since
I have not seen the complaint filed
in U.S. District Court by Judicial
Watch. I have seen a draft complaint
prepared by my accuser that contains
numerous inaccuracies and untruths.

"I have never sexually harassed
anyone. In fact, I am insulted that
these ludicrous allegations are being
made against me. When all the facts
are known in this case, the prevailing
sentiment will be, 'How bizarre!'

"I will win this lawsuit. That is a
certainty. In a race with a lie, the
truth always wins. And when the truth
comes to light and the personal
agendas of my accusers are exposed,
I will be vindicated," Alcee Hastings.

Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president,
during a news conference announced the
lawsuit, stated the alleged harassment
took place for more than two years, and
ended in early 2010 when she left a
staff job with a panel- the Helsinki
Commission, based in Vienna, Austria.

Hastings was chairman of that group at
the time, formally known as the United
States Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110308112342writ.nb/topstory.html

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Reveals His New State Budget

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In an effort to control the
collective bargaining rights of
most public workers, Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker is scheduled
to reveal his new state budget
on Tuesday.

The spending plan is being displayed
as protesters enter a third week of
demonstrations at the state capitol,
and Democratic law-makers stay away.

The state's 14 Democratic senators
went to neighboring Illinois to stop
a quorum of 20 votes needed for a
budget repair bill that would require
public employees, with the exception
of police and firefighters, to cover
more of their retirement plans and
health care premiums.

The budget repair bill would apply to
the current spending plan, and limit
collective bargaining for wages. Any
pay increases beyond the rate of
inflation would be subject to voter
approval.

"There are plenty of states that do
not have collective bargaining,"
Republican Governor Scott Walker
stated Monday. "We have a right to do
this with the statutes and that's
what we're doing."

Union leaders agreed to pay more for
benefits, but resisted limiting
bargaining rights that the governor
argues is needed for meaningful
fiscal reforms.

The governor defended his budget
repair bill, said the measures are
needed to head off a $3.6 billion
budget gap by 2013 that could result
in thousands of layoffs.

The state faced a suggested Friday
deadline to balance the budget, but
the important date is March 16, per
officials.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110301054541writ.nb/topstory.html

Egyptian Defense Ministry: 'It Is Time To Go Back To Normal Life'

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The Egyptian defense ministry asked
the youth to return home, saying,
"It is time to go back to normal
life," as protesters assembled for
a ninth day to push the departure
of President Hosni Mubarak forward.

The crowd had families with young
children in Cairo's Tahrir Square
on Wednesday. Some camped out at
Tahrir which means "freedom" or
"liberation" in Arabic for one week.

Mubarak, on Tuesday, said he wouldn't
run for office again in the elections
scheduled for September, but is firm
on remaining in the country to finish
his term.

"My first responsibility now is to
restore the stability and security of
the homeland, to achieve a peaceful
transition of power in an environment
that will protect Egypt and Egyptians
and which will allow for the responsibility
to be given to whoever the people elect in
the forth-coming elections," Mubarakin in a
televised address Tuesday night.

Thousands of protesters exploded in chants
of "Down with Mubarak!" and "The people want
the president to be judged!" following his
announcement.

Some waved shoes in the air, a deep insult
in the Arab world. They vowed to continue
their demonstrations until Mubarak quits now,
not when his term is over.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110202080440writ.nb/topstory.html

Deficit Panel Proposes Cuts

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A White House commission proposes
to cut the federal budget deficit
by hundreds of billions a year.
Social Security benefits, middle
class tax breaks and defense spending
are of interest.

The initial plan is to stop various
breaks the middle class are getting
like the deduction for home mortgage
interest.

On Social Security, the plan would
slowly raise the retirement age to 68
around 2050, 69 by 2075. It would combine
various cuts to benefits with an increase
in taxes on wealthier people's incomes.
Also, it's looking to curb federal spending
on health care except what's needed for the
recently passed health care plan. This would
be achieved by introducing further changes,
including reform of medical/malpractice law,
and by slowing the growth of the Medicare p
rogram.

A version of the plan would dramatically lower
individual rates to 9%, 15% and 24%.

"Tough choices" are going to be necessary to
tame a deficit that has soared to more than
$1 trillion a year, President Barack Obama
shared with leaders of his own Democratic
Party.

"Before anybody starts shooting down proposals,
we need to listen, gather up all the facts, and
be straight with the American people," Mr. Obama
stated at a press conference Thursday in Seoul,
where he attended a Group of 20 nation's summit.

The commission staff's goal is to curtail growth
of the federal debt by roughly $3.8 trillion by
2020.

"In the end, the president is going to have to
decide whether to incorporate some of this into
the 2012 budget," David Walker, a former U.S.
comptroller general and an advocate for deficit
reduction. "He's going to have to lead, because
if the president doesn't lead on this, it goes
nowhere fast."

"The Man Told Everyone To Just Stay Still"- Discovery Channel Building

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James Jay Lee, of San Diego,
California, is known for protesting
the Discovery Channel's environmental
programming. He stormed the network's
Maryland headquarters carrying a hand-
gun on Wednesday, held three people
hostage for hours.

"These guys have been very sneaky and
deceptive as to their contribution to
the planetary problems. Just look at
their 'new' show about saving the planet,
'Planet Green,' to me, it's just another
show about more PRODUCTS to make MONEY,
not about actual solutions. We can't let
them get away with doing it anymore," The
words are from a web site registered to Lee.
It's believed Lee distributed a manifesto
outside the Discovery building several weeks
ago that called on the network to "broadcast
to the world their commitment to save the
planet." "All programs on Discovery Health
TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any
more parasitic human infants and the false
heroics behind those actions," the list read.

"The man told everyone to just stay still,"
A Manager explained.

Police reports indicate how he paid homeless
people to join his protest and carry signs
outside the building.

A crowd of more than 100 people gathered around
Lee, who referred to money as "just trash" and
began throwing it in the air.

Discovery Communications LLC operates cable and
satellite networks in the U.S. including The
Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet.

Discovery Communications employees and a security
guard were not harmed. The police saw Lee point a
hand-gun at a hostage via security cameras.

He was shot and killed by police, according to
authorities.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20100902101610writ.nb/topstory.html