Nearly two weeks into his administration, it is hard to judge President Obama.  Still, a few random thoughts.| MORE ›

The Washington Post reports that ‘Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged “regrettable” behavior and “bad judgment” after a photo in a British newspaper Sunday showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.’

‘In a statement to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games did not dispute the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World,’ the Post adds.| MORE ›

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Hamas on Sunday that continued rocket fire from Gaza would result in a “disproportionate response” from Israel. Rocket fire wounded three Israelis today. Two victims were soldiers, the other person a civilian.

Thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza in the last year alone, eventually leading to a massive Israeli operation in Gaza late December 2008. The occupation of Gaza lasted several weeks and killed more than 1,000 Palestinians.| MORE ›

Politico reports that Republican politicians are “remarkably upbeat” about their own career and the future of their party. This even though they lost the elections for Congress and president easily last year.

Especially Republican congressmen appeared upbeat. They made clear to Politico and to everyone else present that they believe their party has a great chance of winning back seats two and four years from now. They are even eying a complete comeback by taking the House back.| MORE ›

At the very moment every economy in the world is suffering a major economic crisis, My Way News reports that ABC has done a terrific job selling advertisement space (minutes) for during the Super Bowl. According to the report, the advertisement deals earned the network $206 million; it’s an all-time high.

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Iran’s government said Saturday that President Barack Obama’s willingness to talk to Tehran (without any preconditions) is proof that the ‘era of U.S. dominance’ has ended and that the West has become “passive.”

“This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed,” spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.| MORE ›

British paper News of the World published a photo of what it says is 14-times Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps smoking cannabis from a so-called ‘bong.’

The accompanying article cites sources who saw Phelps used the bong at a university party in South Carolina. He was visiting the state’s main university to visit Jordan Matthews, a girl he was seeing at the time (only weeks after the Olympic Games in Bejing, China).| MORE ›

Governor Sarah Palin continues to play a major role in the national debate on energy (independence).| MORE ›

Even though he is generally considered the best male tennis player in history, Roger Federer lost a Grand Slam final to Rafael Nadal for the third time in a row today. Federer was defeated by Spaniard Nadal, who is rapidly on his way to become a living legend himself.

Where Nadal was first only great, untouchable even, on gravel, he improved himself dramatically in recent years leading to a major victory on the grass of Wimbledon last year and his first victory at the Australian Open today.

Nadal beat Federer in five sets.| MORE ›