McCarthy added that it’s also time “for President-elect Obama to start acting on the promises he made to the LGBT community during his campaign so that he doesn’t go down in history as another Bill Clinton, a sweet-talking swindler who would throw us under the bus for the sake of political expediency.” And “for LGBT folks to choose their battles wisely, to judge Obama on the content of his policy-making, not on the character of his ministers.”
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Not going to happen. Obama, The One is against Gay Marriage – end of story

But some of Saltsman's rivals responded more mildly. Former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael S. Steele, one of two black candidates for the job, said Saltsman's "attempt at humor was clearly misplaced," adding that the leadership of the party needs to "be a lot smarter about such things and more appreciative that our actions always speak louder than our words."

"Our actions and our words are oftentimes used to define who we are as Republicans," Steele said in a statement.

After weeks of criticism that she had not opened up to the public or the press, Ms. Kennedy has embarked on a series of interviews. But in an extensive sit-down discussion Saturday morning with The New York Times, she still seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: forceful but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way.
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Please please appoint this empty shallow person to the US Senate.

While all around him prospective candidates for governor are pulling out checkbooks and fattening up campaign war chests, lame-duck Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives mixed messages about what he might do next.

Whatever he does, he says he won't be doing any more acting and he will be pushing environmental causes and clean energy.

So it's a bit ironic that he has not totally ruled out running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by three-term Democrat Barbara Boxer, the Senate's leading advocate of those very causes
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Arnold would have to run as an independent because he will not win a GOP primary election. In any case, a three way race for Boxer spells trouble.

Barack Obama has said that when all is revealed, it will be clear that neither he nor his staff had any contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich that could be considered improper.

The president-elect's office now says it will release on Tuesday the promised report giving a full accounting of those contacts, following additional work by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has yet to indict the already-arrested Illinois governor. Obama aides say the official under the most scrutiny — Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — will be exonerated after weeks of innuendo that they have long said was unfair.

"We have a report," said Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "It's been ready for release for a week. We've held off at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office and that continues to be the case, though we expect to be able to release the report shortly."
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In the meantime, Obama is in Hawaii showing off his pecs and getting a tan.

The sources add that the report will show Emanuel also had four phone calls with Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris. During those conversations, the Senate seat was discussed. The pros and cons of various candidates were reviewed, and the sources say that Emanuel repeatedly reminded Harris that Blagojevich should focus on the message the pick would send about the governor and his administration.

Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations. In the course of that conversation, Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, "all we get is appreciation, right?" "Right," Emanuel responded.

The group representing the U.S. recording industry said Friday it had abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright.

The Recording Industry Association of America said it instead would work with Internet service providers to cut abusers’ access if they ignored repeated warnings.

The move ends a program that saw the association sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average, for around $3,500. The association’s legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.

The association said Friday it stopped sending out new lawsuits and warnings in August and then agreed with several leading U.S. Internet service providers, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.