RTFA: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300816,00.html

Dropping the “f-word” no fewer than 16 times in the course of what has become a popular You Tube video, Republican Oddo became irate when he realized the attractive, seemingly harmless young reporter who sat before him last week for an interview in his office was really a comedienne of note for the Norwegian program “Rickets Rost,” a sort of Scandinavian “Daily Show w/Jon Stewart.”

I love Fox News for finding things I don’t have time to find.

RTFA: http://www.washingtonpost.com

Next year, members of the House will be expected in the Capitol for votes each week by 6:30 p.m. Monday and will finish their business about 2 p.m. Friday, Hoyer said.

6:30pm on Monday to 2pm friday is a 5 day work week?

By the time the gavel comes down on the 109th Congress on Friday, members will have worked a total of 103 days. That’s seven days fewer than the infamous “Do-Nothing Congress” of 1948.

Hoyer said members can bid farewell to extended holidays, the kind that awarded them six weekdays to relax around Memorial Day, when most Americans get a single day off. He didn’t mention the month-long August recess, the two-week April recess or the weeks off in February, March and July.

Nice, 103 day work year, less than a third of the year.

… for members from Alaska and Hawaii, the West Coast, or rural states, the new schedule will mean less time at home and more stress.

“Keeping us up here eats away at families,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. “Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families — that’s what this says.”

Interesting point, but you already had 262 days off! And guess what, you’re a congressman representing the American populace, which in my opinion is more important than your family. In addition, if you were to get a normal job (5 days a week all year long), you’d probably see your family less.

Sorry for all the commentary, this post is against the norm of RTFA, but my blood burns when I hear politicians whining about their salary and schedules.

RTFA: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic…

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company’s Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group’s communications network.

I wonder if this company will sue for monetary damage.

RTFA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7037443.st…

Australian doctors have kept an Italian tourist alive by feeding him vodka through a drip for three days, medical staff in Queensland say.

The 24-year-old man, who had swallowed a poison in an apparent suicide attempt, was treated while in a coma.

Doctors set up the drip after running out of medicinal alcohol, used as an antidote to the poison.

mmmm, medicinal alcohol

RTFA: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_mi_ea…

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

I find this hopeful and unrealistic. It’s great that Abbas has laid out specific demands, which should hopefully move the peace process forward, but I doubt Israel will give up half of Jerusalem.