Barack Obama might not be getting a birthday gift from his staff.
Robert Gibbs, his campaign's communications director, said on MSNBC Monday that an aide left it in the backseat of a taxi Sunday night, The Page reports. They're trying to get it back, Gibbs said.
The Green Bay Packers, trying to figure out what to do with quarterback Brett Favre, have hired former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer as a public relations consultant, reports FOXSports.
Fleischer, President Bush's first White House press secretary, met with Packers players Thursday.
Favre, the Packers starting quarterback since 1992, retired during the offseason only to decide he wanted to return. Though the Packers had planned to start Aaron Rodgers in Favre's place, the National Football League has reinstated Favre, who hopes to win his old job back.
Since leaving the White House, Fleischer has also helped found Freedom's Watch, the conservative advocacy group that has gone after Democratic congressional candidates this election cycle.
His hiring prompted Bush administration critic Attaturk on Firedoglake to joke that the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears -- the Packers' division rivals -- will be dubbed the "new axis of evil."
A new website by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) tries to undermine the conservative advocacy group Freedom's Watch by highlighting its ties to President Bush and China. But the conservative group isn't taking it lying down.
According to
The Real Freedom's Watch website, the conservative organization is Democratic congressional candidates' "biggest threat this cycle."
"The National Republican Congressional Committee is underfunded and is in disarray this cycle so it has outsourced its work to Freedom's Watch, a shady soft money group with ties to President Bush and John McCain," one passage on the site reads.
The website, launched Thursday, goes on to document the business connections between Freedom's Watch backer Sheldon Adelson and China. It also notes Adelson's fundraising efforts on behalf of Bush and McCain.
Freedom's Watch spokesman Ed Patru responded to the site launch by stressing that Americans are focused more on the price of gas than his group or the website. In an e-mail to reporters and the DCCC, Patru included a photo of himself smiling with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
"By the way, I took the Metro to that event; the Speaker and her entourage arrived in a mini-motorcade via several gas-guzzling SUVs," wrote Patru in the message.
Federal investigators said Friday they've made "significant progress" in their probe of the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, but they declined to release any new information in the wake of the death of an Army scientist at the center of the investigation.
Bruce Ivins, who worked at the Army's biological warfare labs, committed suicide Friday before prosecutors could charge him with sending anthrax-laced letters in late 2001, the Associated Press reported.
The Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service then announced Friday that they have made "significant developments in their probe. But they declined to say what the progress was. They said that they "anticipate" the release of more details in the "near future."
Below is the investigators' press release.
The Justice Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) today announced that there have been significant developments in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings, which killed five individuals and injured 17 others. In particular, we are able to confirm that substantial progress has been made in the investigation by bringing to bear new and sophisticated scientific tools.
We are unable to provide additional information at this time. The Department, the FBI, and the USPIS have significant obligations to the victims of these attacks and their families that must be fulfilled before any additional information on the investigation can be made public. In addition, investigative documents remain under court seal.
We anticipate being able to provide additional details in the near future.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE INVESTIGATION
The investigation known as "Amerithrax" is one of the most complex and comprehensive ever conducted by law enforcement. Over the past seven years, the Amerithrax Task Force, which is comprised of 17 FBI Special Agents and 10 U.S. Postal Inspectors, has executed approximately 75 searches and conducted more than 9,100 interviews in the relentless pursuit of the perpetrator of these attacks.
After comparing Barack Obama's rock-star status to that of Hollywood celebutante Paris Hilton (consequently irritating the Hilton family, McCain donors), John McCain continues to mock the junior senator from Illinois and Democratic presidential candidate with his newest web ad, "The One."
The ad begins with a biblical tone, announcing: "It should be known that in 2008, the world will be blessed. They will call him The One."
Playing on Obama's perceived self-righteousness, the ad shows a confident Barack Obama affirming his message through a series of recent speech clips.
"The light will shine down from somewhere. There will be a light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, you have to vote for Barack."
The ad ends with a clip of Moses parting the Red Sea from the film "The 10 Commandments" alongside a faux presidential seal reading "Obama for America." It concludes by questioning his experience once more - "he may be the one, but is he ready to lead?"
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) is broadcasting text and video updates to the web of House Republicans' efforts--launched from a a darkened House chamber--to continue the debate over comprehensive energy legislation.
Republican leaders stayed in the House chamber today after a resolution passed at approximately 11:30 a.m. adjourning the House for the August recess. They continued to blast Democratic leadership for not scheduling a vote on allowing offshore drilling, remaining on the floor even after the lights, microphones, and C-Span cameras were cut.
Since Republicans refused to adjourn Friday, Culberson has been posting sentence-long updates to his Twitter page more or less constantly.
One entry, dated at approximately noon on Friday, encourages readers to
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