Asked about the cancellation of talk show host Don Imus's radio program, conservative talker Michael Savage insists it couldn't happen to him–he knows the areas that get a host in trouble and avoids them. But when reminded of a 2003 antigay tirade that got him fired from MSNBC, Savage bristles and plays with fire again.
With President Bush's announcement naming Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as war czar came recognition that his wife, too, has some extensive international credentials. With a Ph.D. from Stanford in political science, Jane Holl Lute is highly regarded in her role as United Nations assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations. Before her current post, she was also a career military officer, later heading up the Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict. They are, joke military officials, a couple that runs the expertise spectrum from war and peace.
Maybe it's a coincidence, but the stock market hasn't had a down day since that trade compromise between the White House and congressional Democrats–brokered by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson–on adding labor and environmental standards to future trade agreements. But the winning streak shouldn't be surprising given how heavily trade issues and protectionism have been weighing on the mind of many on Wall Street. So any good news on that front is welcome. Here is economist Ed Yardeni's sigh of relief:
AP - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani reported a whopping $16.1 million in earned income over the past 16 months, most of it in speaking fees, according to financial documents filed Wednesday.
AP - Anti-war Democrats in the Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war on Wednesday, a lopsided bipartisan vote that masked growing impatience within both political parties over President Bush's handling of the four-year conflict.
AP - Israeli aircraft launched missiles at Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least five people, after Hamas fired rocket barrages into Israel in an apparent attempt to draw Israel into increasingly violent Palestinian infighting.
The Justice Department told an angry Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Wednesday that it does not have the subpoenaed e-mails that President Bush's top political adviser sent regarding last year's firings of eight U.S. attorneys. The department suggested Karl Rove's lawyer has the e-mails. Congress is investigating to determine if eight U.S. attorneys were fired for political reasons.
Britain's Prince Harry is very disappointed about new orders that will keep him out of Iraq. "A number of specific threats" against the prince, UK's top general says, will prevent Harry from serving as a troop commander in the war. The prince would have led a troop of 12 men in four Scimitar armored reconnaissance vehicles, each with a crew of three, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
One evening in 1990, Eliza Noh hung up the phone with her sister. Disturbed about the conversation, Noh immediately started writing a letter to her sister, a college student who was often depressed. "I told her I supported her, and I encouraged her," Noh says.
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