ARE COLLEGES BECOMING 'BOOT CAMPS' FOR 'GAY' ACTIVISTS?Αre "gay" studies programs at America's colleges legitimate academic pursuits or an attempt to push, via education, an agenda to normalize homosexuality?
California State University Fullerton became the latest CSU school to offer a Queer Studies minor this fall, and SaveCalifornia.com President Randy Thomasson, a prominent pro-family voice in the Golden State's Proposition 8 battle to protect marriage as the union between one man and one woman, argues there's an agenda behind the increasingly common courses.
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PATERNO RETIRING AMID CHILD ABUSE "TRAGEDY"\
Joe Paterno, the Penn State football coach who preached success with honor for half a century but whose legend was shattered by a child sex abuse scandal, said Wednesday he will retire at the end of this season.
Paterno said he was "absolutely devastated" by the case, in which his onetime heir apparent, Jerry Sandusky, has been charged with molesting eight boys in 15 years, including at the Penn State football complex.
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GAY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, 16, SUSPENDED BY PRINCIPAL FOR WEARING MAKE-UP IN CLASSAn openly gay 16-year-old high school student was given a three-day suspension for wearing make-up in class.
Kasey Landrum was censured by the principal at Lexington High School in Tennessee after being told he had violated the school's dress code.
'The principal walked into the school and immediately started yelling at me for it, and told me to get outside,' Kasey told WBBJ-TV.
He said he did exactly as Steve Lindsey demanded without a reply but that another student who witnessed the incident and stuck up for Kasey was issued a one-day suspension for speaking out.
The next day Kasey was called into the office and given the in-school suspension for violating the dress code which states: 'When a student is attired in a manner, which is likely to cause disruption or interference with normal operation of the school, the administration will take the appropriate action.
'In matters of opinion, the judgment of the teachers and administrators will prevail.'
'I'm very upset about it because he can't be who he wants to be,' Kasey's mother Shelly Maness told WBBJ-TV. 'When I went to register him, about the make-up, he (Lindsey) reminded us Kasey was not to be wearing any.'
Henderson County Superintendent Steve Wilkinson said he did not know what disruption the make-up would have caused but added that the principal had the authority to determine what is deemed a distraction.
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FAMILY CIRCUS' CREATOR BIL KEANE DIES AT 89
Bil Keane's "Family Circus" comics entertained readers with a simple but sublime mix of humor and traditional family values for more than a half century. The appeal endured, the author thought, because the American public needed the consistency.
Keane, who started drawing the one-panel cartoon featuring Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J. and their parents in February 1960, died Tuesday at age 89 at his longtime home in Paradise Valley, near Phoenix. His comic strip is featured in nearly 1,500 newspapers across the country.
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NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SOLYNDRA PROBENew developments in the congressional probe into failed solar panel maker Solyndra LLC shed light on what Republicans are calling the close relationship between the White House and an Oklahoma billionaire donor whose foundation was deeply invested in the company.
Pressing the White House to release documents in response to a recent congressional subpoena, leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday questioned the notion that no political influence played a role in more than a half billion dollars in government loans awarded to Solyndra.
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LIMBAUGH TO DEMS: WHO'S 'RACIST' NOW?Rush Limbaugh isn't a fan of New York City and its liberal political bent. However, on Nov. 29 he makes a rare public appearance in the Big Apple, at an event dubbed "Rush Live."
Sponsor New York's WABC Radio states, "The last time El Rushbo visited his New York audience was in 2005 to a sold out crowd. While Rush isn't bashful about criticizing New York politicians and tax policies, he jokes that he's going 'behind enemy lines' because he loves his New York listeners and his flagship station."
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CAIN CAMPAIGN CLAIMS SON OF NEW ACCUSER WORKS AT POLITICOHerman Cain's campaign chief of staff Mark Block, on FOX News' "Hannity" claims the candidate's latest accuser, Karen Kraushaar, has a son that works for Politico. Transcript:
Mark Block, Cain campaign's Chief of Staff: "It's become quite apparent that Mr. Cain's candidacy and his rise in the poll is the -- both the left and the right's worst nightmare.
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ANN COULTER: DAVID AXELROD'S PATTERN OF SEXUAL MISBEHAVIORHerman Cain has spent his life living and working all over the country -- Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Washington, D.C. -- but never in Chicago.
So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.
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TWO MORMON MISSIONARIES ON BICYCLES STRUCK, KILLED BY CAR Two Mormon missionaries on bicycles were killed Tuesday and a third was injured after a motorist struck them while trying to pass another car on a rural road in Donna, the state Department of Public Safety said.
DPS trooper Johnny Hernandez said the driver, Jose Luis Garza Flores, a 32-year-old Mexican citizen who lives in Weslaco, first left the scene on foot but later turned himself in at the bridge linking Progreso with Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.
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JUSTIN BIEBER'S BABY DRAMA ESCALATESMore details are coming out about the woman who claims to be the mother of Justin Bieber's baby.
Lawyers for Mariah Yeater, 20, appeared on HLN's "Dr. Drew" show Thursday urging the pop star to "step up and take" a paternity test.
Lawyers Matt Pare and Lance Rogers were asked what they would do if the paternity test came back proving that Bieber, 17, is not the father of Yeater's 3-month-old son. If that happens, they might face a lawsuit from Bieber's team, who has called the lawsuit "malicious," "defamatory" and "demonstrably false."
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BERLUSCONI SET TO RESIGN
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ONE WOMAN WHO ACCUSED CAIN OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT NOW WORKS FOR OBAMAGOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain argues that he's no sexual harasser -- but friends and family members of one accuser were only trying to right a wrong no woman should suffer in the workplace.
Karen Kraushaar, a 55-year-old former journalist who currently works for the Obama administration, was outed today as one of the three women who had filed sexual harassment complaints against Cain.
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CAIN SUGGESTS ACCUSER'S FINANCES ARE MOTIVE FOR ALLEGATIONAs newly reviewed records pointed to deeper financial problems for the Chicago-area woman accusing Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment, he wasted no time Tuesday in suggesting she is motivated by monetary gain.
Sharon Bialek's fiance - who said he is her primary source of financial support - is unemployed and preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to Lake County court documents reviewed Tuesday by the Tribune. And in Cook County, lawsuits show she has been targeted by creditors who claimed she owed them thousands in unpaid rent, personal loans and credit card bills.
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MARINE BEATEN TO DEATH AT CAMP PENDLETONA Marine found dead in his barracks room at Camp Pendleton early Sunday was beaten to death, a spokesman for the investigating agency said Tuesday.
Ed Buice of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said Lance Cpl. Mario Arias Jr. died from injuries he suffered at the hands of another Marine sometime late Saturday night or shortly after midnight. That Marine then jumped from a third-floor balcony of the barracks and suffered what Buice described as "significant" injuries.
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GINGRICH: I'M THE TORTOISE, ROMNEY'S THE HARENewt Gingrich predicted Tuesday that rival Mitt Romney will be one of the final remaining candidates in the Republican presidential contest, but that it's Gingrich's responsibility to provide a set of solutions to those still uncommitted.
Gingrich, the former House Speaker, said there's a "big opportunity for an alternative candidate," given that Romney has not attracted more than 25% support in most national and statewide polls of current candidates.
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IRAN PREPPING FOR MISSILE ATTACK ON ISRAELIran has been preparing Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon to retaliate in the case of Israeli strikes against Tehran's nuclear sites, according to Egyptian security officials speaking to WND.
The security officials said Tehran was convinced the Jewish state was going to attack its suspected nuclear sites in September, prompting Iran to hold joint military drills with Gazan jihad groups in August, including with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
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CONGRESSMAN TO HOLDER: I'M WAITING!U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is wondering just when Attorney General Eric Holder will get around to answering his questions about the prosecution of a U.S. Border Patrol agent for "improperly restraining a 15-year-old drug smuggler."
At least, that's the question he asked in a new letter today to Holder addressing the dispute over the prosecution of Agent Jesus E. Diaz Jr. for lifting the smuggler's arms to force him to comply with orders when he was arrested.
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CHAPLAIN WHO PRAYED 'IN JESUS' NAME' SUES OVER DISMISSALThe U.S. Navy chaplain who was removed from the service for disobeying a "lawful" order banning prayer "in Jesus' name" has filed a lawsuit against the government, seeking reinstatement and damages.
The case was filed by attorney John B. Wells on behalf of former Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt in the U.S. Court of Federal claims.
Since his removal, Klingenschmitt has been leading the PrayInJesusName.org ministry.
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CAMPAIGN FOR 'PERSONHOOD' AMENDMENT 'EXPOSES OPPOSITION DECEIT'As Mississippi citizens voted and rejected on the state's controversial "personhood" amendment today, attorneys and legislators rebutted allegations made by the abortion industry.
Initiative 26 "merely offers a definition of a person that is inclusive of unborn children," said Initiative 26 attorney Russell Latino at a press conference in Jackson, Miss. "It does not, itself, outlaw abortions."
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LESLEY STAHL OF CBS NEWS GETS 'JACKED' ON '60 MINUTES'Jack Abramoff, onetime power broker for the elite of Washington, D.C., is holding no punches in exposing corruption on Capitol Hill and warning it may run deeper and wider than most Americans can even imagine.
"People are under the impression that the corruption only involves somebody handing over a check and getting that favor, and that's not the case," Abramoff told CBS's Lesley Stahl. "The bribery, call it, because ultimately that's what it is, that's what the whole [lobbying] system is ... it is done every day, and it is still being done.
"The truth is there are very few members [of Congress] who I could even name or could think of who didn't at some level participate in that," he said.
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SURVEY: SEXUAL HARASSMENT PERVASIVE IN GRADES 7-12 It can be a malicious rumor whispered in the hallway, a lewd photo arriving by cell phone, hands groping where they shouldn't. Added up, it's an epidemic - student-on-student sexual harassment that is pervasive in America's middle schools and high schools.
During the 2010-11 school year, 48 percent of students in grades 7-12 experienced some form of sexual harassment in person or electronically via texting, email and social media, according to a major national survey being released Monday by the American Association of University Women.
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COUPLE'S BREAK-UP AT BURGER KING BECOMES TWITTER SPECTACLEBreaking up is hard to do. It's even harder when you discover that, unbeknownst to you, your emotional moment was broadcast live across Twitter, for all the world to see.
That's the lesson learned by two now-former lovers who had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to prolific Twitter user Andy Boyle at a Burger King in their hometown of Boston.
As the young couple's argument last Monday over ending their marriage became heated enough to catch the attention of their fellow restaurant patrons, Boyle, a Web developer for the Boston Globe, took to Twitter.
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BILL CLINTON THINKS PRESIDENTS SHOULD GET 3 TERMSFormer President Bill Clinton criticized the two-term limit on the presidency during an appearance on Morning Joe, noting that leaders of states with parliamentary governments have benefited from a lack of term limits.
Host Joe Scarborough raised the topic.
"Shouldn't a president be able to take two terms, take time off, and run again?" he asked the former president. "Yes, I do, I believe that should be the rule," Clinton answered. He made clear, however, that such a change could not apply to him. "I think that as a practical matter, you couldnt apply [the change] to anyone who has already served," Clinton said, adding "I've always thought that should be the rule -- not to affect me or anyone who has served, but going forward."
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VOTERS LINKED TO 'NATION-CHANGING' VIDEO ON LIFEA link to a movie project that in just a matter of a few weeks has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and has been viewed on YouTube in numbers well surpassing a million now has been sent to some 600,000 potential Mississippi voters who will decide tomorrow whether to declare that human life begins at conception - the "personhood" amendment.
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OCCUPY PROTESTS PLAGUED BY REPORTS OF SEX ATTACKS, VIOLENT CRIMEA rash of reports of sexual assaults at Occupy Wall Street protests across the country has both police and activists raising red flags.
Nearly a half-dozen assaults have been reported at Occupy camps, including three at the New York City protests, which have prompted protesters to set up a "women only" tent in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to provide a safe haven.
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OBAMA AGAIN SIDESTEPS CONGRESS WITH HEAD START ORDERPresident Obama unveiled the latest installment of his "we can't wait" campaign against Congress on Tuesday, this time issuing new rules governing the early childhood education program Head Start.
During a trip to a Head Start center near Philadelphia, Mr. Obama toured classrooms and then spoke to a group of local teachers and educators about what he said was congressional inaction on education initiatives.
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BOSTON GLOBE REPORTER WITHHOLDS OBAMA FILEA Boston Globe reporter sympathetic to Barack Obama apparently received favored access to the immigration file of the president's father.
In writing her biography of Barack Obama's father, Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs had access to what appears to be the father's unredacted Immigration and Naturalization Service file. The documents cover the time Barack Obama Sr. arrived in Honolulu in 1959 until he was forced to leave the United States in 1964.
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FIRST LADY: BEING MARRIED TO BARACK IS 'SCARY'Michelle Obama told high school students taking part in a mentoring program at Georgetown University on Tuesday that being married to the president can be scary at times, because he makes the family get out of its comfort zone.
The first lady urged students not to let fear guide them after a student asked about being worried about going away to college.
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JOE PATERNO VOWS TO PRAY FOR "POOR VICTIMS." BOYS RAPED IN SHOWERS WOULD HAVE PREFERRED CALL TO COPS 10 YEARS AGO.During a windowside chat this evening, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno told a crowd of admirers gathered on his front lawn that he and his wife are praying for the "poor victims" that "got involved with some of the problems that were talked about."
Speaking from inside his home, the 84-year-old Paterno remarked that, "There's been some criticism of the way we've handled some of the poor victims. You know, my wife and I we have 17 grandkids from 16 to 3 and we pray for them every night. We're gonna start praying for those kids that got involved with some of the problems that were talked about."
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VICTIMS DOUBLE IN PENN STATE CASEIt was an emotional Tuesday night in Happy Valley, and there were lots of developments in the Penn State child sex scandal.
Sources tell FOX 29 News that, since a press conference on Monday, the number of potential victims has more than doubled in the case.
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GOVERNMENT FINES JAILED BORDER PATROL AGENT'S FAMILYAfter successfully winning a two-year prison sentence against U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jesus E. Diaz Jr., the Justice Department is now trying to collect a $6,870 fine from his wife, saying it should be paid "immediately" - even though the judge signaled she would have a grace period.
In a notice sent last week the Justice Department said the fines were imposed by the court that found Agent Diaz guilty and sentenced him to prison for improperly restraining a 15-year-old suspected of drug smuggling.
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EDDIE MURPHY DROPS OUT OF OSCARSOnly three months before the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and ABC are almost back to square one.
Hours after Brett Ratner rendered his resignation as Oscar producer in the fallout of racy-bordering-on-vulgar public comments and the use of an anti-gay slur, Eddie Murphy has stepped down as host.
The move is not entirely unexpected given that Ratner was the one who brought in his Tower Heist star Murphy, and Deadline noted that Ratner's exit Tuesday gave Murphy the perfect chance to bow out.
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RON PAUL: OBAMA PRESIDENCY ON THE VERGE OF BEING A "DICTATORSHIP"Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says President Obama's continued use of the executive order "brings the modern presidency dangerously close to an elective dictatorship."
"That is arrogant," Paul said of Obama frequently using the executive order function as of late. "It is flaunting the Constitution and the whole principle of how we're supposed to operate. The idea they can just do this and take over the legislative function and brag about it -- and Congress does nothing and the courts do nothing about it, it's very, very bad."
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AIR FORCE MISHANDLED REMAINS OF WAR DEADFederal investigators said Tuesday that they had uncovered "gross mismanagement" at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary that cares for America's war dead after whistleblowers reported horror stories of lost body parts, shoddy inventory controls and lax supervision.
The Air Force admitted that the Dover mortuary misplaced a dead soldier's ankle and another set of remains that had been stored in a plastic bag. Employees also sawed off the damaged arm bone of a Marine so he could fit in his uniform and coffin - but did not tell his family.
Military officials said the incidents resulted from the strain of handling thousands of dead bodies, some with gruesome injuries that made it difficult to prepare remains for burial.
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BREAKING NEWS: DEMS WALK AWAY FROM SUPER COMMITTEEListen to Senator Rand Paul on The Sean Hannity Show. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM: WHY US IS DOING FIRST NATIONAL TEST NOWToday at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday Americans watching television or listening to the radio will see and hear a familiar sounding message: "This is a test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test...."
This 30-second audio tone and message will sound like emergency test messages that local television and radio stations have broadcast for nearly 50 years. But Wednesday's test will be the first time the federal Emergency Alert System - a last resort means for the president to address the country in a national emergency - has been tested on a national basis.
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AIR FORCE MISHANDLED REMAINS OF WAR DEAD, PROBE FINDSFederal investigators said Tuesday they uncovered "gross mismanagement" at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary that cares for America's war dead after whistleblowers reported horror stories of lost body parts, shoddy inventory controls and lax supervision.
The former mortuary commander and two other senior officials have been disciplined - but not fired - in response to separate investigations conducted by the Air Force Inspector General, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that also received the whistleblower complaints.
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BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT ARMED WITH PESTICIDE A San Diego-area teller was confronted by a bank robber carrying not only a semi-automatic pistol but also a white plastic pesticide sprayer.
FBI agents and San Diego County Sheriff's Department investigators released images Monday of a bank robbery suspect carrying an unusual weapon.
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LESLEY STAHL OF CBS NEWS GETS 'JACKED' ON '60 MINUTES'Jack Abramoff, onetime power broker for the elite of Washington, D.C., is holding no punches in exposing corruption on Capitol Hill and warning it may run deeper and wider than most Americans can even imagine.
"People are under the impression that the corruption only involves somebody handing over a check and getting that favor, and that's not the case," Abramoff told CBS's Lesley Stahl. "The bribery, call it, because ultimately that's what it is, that's what the whole [lobbying] system is ... it is done every day, and it is still being done.
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SURVEY: SEXUAL HARASSMENT PERVASIVE IN GRADES 7-12 It can be a malicious rumor whispered in the hallway, a lewd photo arriving by cell phone, hands groping where they shouldn't. Added up, it's an epidemic - student-on-student sexual harassment that is pervasive in America's middle schools and high schools.
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CONRAD MURRAY HOUSED IN JAIL MEDICAL WARD FOR PROTECTIONDr. Conrad Murray was being housed Tuesday in a medical section of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, where he was being kept away from the general jail population for his own safety, the Sheriff's
Department reported.
A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for less than two days before convicting the celebrity doctor in Jackson's 2009 death.
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SMOKIN' JOE FRAZIER DIES OF LIVER CANCERJoe Frazier had to throw his greatest punch to knock down "The Greatest."
A vicious left hook from Frazier put Muhammad Ali on the canvas in the 15th round in March 1971 when he became the first man to beat him in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden.
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WH'S DALEY DEMOTED WEEKS AFTER SAYING HE'LL LEAVE IN 2012William M. Daley was hired to help resuscitate Barack Obama's presidency after deep Democratic losses in 2010. Ten months into his tenure as chief of staff, Mr. Daley's core responsibilities are shifting, following White House missteps in the debt-ceiling fight and in its relations with Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
On Monday, Mr. Daley turned over day-to-day management of the West Wing to Pete Rouse, a veteran aide to President Obama, according to several people familiar with the matter. It is unusual for a White House chief of staff to relinquish part of the job.
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HOLDER REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE FOR MURDER OF BORDER AGENT; SAYS FAST & FURIOUS DIDN'T LEAD TO DEATHAttorney General Eric Holder tells Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that he has not apologized to the family of Brian Terry, the U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered by a weapon used in the Fast & Furious operation now being investigated. When given the opportunity to do so at today's Senate hearing he would not apologize.
Holder also says that Fast & Furious did not directly lead to the death of Agent Brian Terry. "It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast & Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry," Holder said today.
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HOLDER: 'FAST AND FURIOUS' TACTICS WILL NOT BE TOLERATEDAttorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the controversial tactic that allowed illegal guns to be smuggled to Mexico "should never have happened, and it must never happen again."
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder hit hard at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives practice that has tainted his tenure at the Justice Department, and led to some Republican calls for him to resign.
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CLINTON: PRESIDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SERVE A THIRD TERMFormer President Bill Clinton tells MSNBC's "Morning Joe" he thinks presidents should be able to serve more than two terms. Transcript:
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: "So we talked a couple years ago and I asked you a question at the end about whether guys like you should be able to run again because I will guarantee you, we will get back to the office and we will be flooded with e-mails and responses on twitter, people will say 'Why can't this guy run for president in 2012?' And of course you can't because Republicans didn't want there to be another FDR back in the 1940s. But shouldn't it though, shouldn't a president be able to take two terms, take some time off and then run again? Shouldn't Americans have that choice?"
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: "Yes, I do. I believe that should be the rule. And I think as a practical matter, you couldn't apply to anyone whose already served. But if going forward, I personally believe that should be the rule."
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