Lady Gaga to rally in Maine against 'don't ask' (AP)

PORTLAND, Maine â€" Lady Gaga wants Maine's Republican senators to cast votes this week to help repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.

The Grammy Award-winning pop singer will attend a rally organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network on Monday in Deering Oaks Park, near the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus.

Lady Gaga is expected to stand alongside veterans who were discharged because of the policy, which prohibits service members from revealing if they're gay, the group said. The policy also bars military recruiters from asking about people's sexual orientations.

A proposal to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is attached to the defense authorization bill, which Democrats will try to bring to a vote this week.

Democrats need 60 votes on Tuesday to cut off debate and proceed to the bill, again putting Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine in the role of casting what could be deciding votes in the Senate, said Trevor Thomas, spokesman for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

"We need the support of Collins and Snowe and the best way to get it is to be able to be in their backyard," Thomas told The Associated Press.

Collins previously voted for a provision to repeal the "don't ask" policy in the Armed Services Committee, but she wants "a full and open debate" on the defense authorization bill as well as the ability for Republicans to offer amendments, said her spokesman, Kevin Collins.

Snowe has not decided how she'll vote on Tuesday, a spokesman said Monday.

Lady Gaga recently called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to repeal the policy during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. Gaga is known for her outlandish wardrobe and catchy hits, including "Bad Romance," "Paparazzi" and "Poker Face."

Powered By iWebRSS.com
xbox360 for sale

Safran to buy US biometrics firm for $1.1 bln (AP)

PARIS â€" French defense contractor Safran SA said Monday it will pay $1.1 billion to buy Stamford, Connecticut-based security firm L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. to bolster its presence in the U.S. homeland security market.

Paris-based Safran said the combination of L-1's biometric and enterprise access businesses with its existing U.S. security business, Morpho, will have joint sales of about euro1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), with U.S. sales accounting for almost half of that.

Safran is to offer $12 a share in cash for L-1, whose stock is listed on the New York Stock exchange. The acquisition will help Safran increase its security business' share of total revenue to 20 percent. Safran, which is owned 30 percent by the French government, also builds jet engines for both military and commercial aircraft as well as defense equipment such as navigation systems and drones.

L-1 is separately selling its intelligence services business to British defense contractor BAE Systems for $296 million, BAE said earlier Monday.

BAE says the group is a provider of security and counter-threat capabilities to the U.S. government.

Both deals are subject to approval by U.S. regulators.

Powered By iWebRSS.com
sonos zonebridge

Randy Quaid, wife face burglary charges in Calif. (AP)

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. â€" Actor Randy Quaid and his wife are facing burglary charges in California after the owner of the couple's old house reported they had been living there without permission.

A representative of the property owner called Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies Saturday afternoon to report that squatters had been staying in the guest house illegally. When deputies arrived at the house that evening, they found Randy and Evi Quaid, who said they had owned the property since the 1990s.

The property owner's representative provided documents that showed his client had bought the home in 2007 from a man who had purchased it from the Quaids several years earlier. A contractor showed police more than $5,000 in damages to the guest house that he believed was caused by the Quaids.

Police arrested the Quaids on charges of felony residential burglary and entering a noncommercial building without consent, a misdemeanor. Police also charged Evi Quaid, 47, with resisting arrest.

Bail was set at $50,000 each.

Last September, the couple was charged with defrauding an innkeeper of more than $10,000 as well as conspiracy and burglary after an invalid credit card was used at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Arnie Tolks had said an invalid card also was used at The Biltmore, a luxury resort in Santa Barbara.

Felony charges were later dropped against Randy Quaid, 59. Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper and was sentenced to three years' probation. She was also ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in "LBJ: The Early Years," but he's perhaps best known for his roles in the "National Lampoon's Vacation" movies, "Independence Day" and "Kingpin."

He is the older brother of fellow actor Dennis Quaid.

Powered By iWebRSS.com
buy a xbox 360

Lohan tweets she failed court-ordered drug test (AP)

LOS ANGELES â€" Lindsay Lohan has confirmed on her Twitter page that she failed a court-ordered drug and alcohol screening, and she said that if asked, she is ready to appear before the judge in her case and face the consequences for her actions.

In a series of messages posted late Friday, the actress said "Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test."

She also said, "Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn't go away over night. I am working hard to overcome it." Lohan often posts updates with the account that's verified by Twitter as belonging to the actress.

A person familiar with the case, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed the positive test results for The Associated Press earlier Friday. The person declined to specify what substance triggered the positive result, which the source said occurred within the last month.

The failed drug test was first reported by TMZ.com.

The test result could mean a probation violation and more jail time for the 24-year-old actress. In July, Lohan was sentenced to three months in jail followed by three months in rehab after violating probation stemming from a pair of drug and driving under the influence cases filed after two arrests in 2007.

She ended up serving two weeks in jail and another 23 days in an inpatient rehab treatment at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

At a hearing last month, Fox ordered the actress to attend psychotherapy, drug and alcohol counseling as well as random drug and alcohol testing several times a week. Compliance would allow her to return to unsupervised probation in November.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox had threatened Lohan with 30 days in jail for each probation violation.

A hearing would be conducted before Lohan could be returned to jail. Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said no such hearing had been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

___

Online:

http://twitter.com/lindsaylohan

Powered By iWebRSS.com
xbox 360 for sale

Texas man who duped Army gets 6 months in prison (AP)

DALLAS â€" The Texas man who earlier this year tricked the Army into allowing him to join the reserves as a noncommissioned officer has been sentenced to six months in prison and a bad conduct discharge, an Army spokeswoman said.

Jesse Bernard Johnston III received the punishment from a military judge on July 26 after pleading guilty to seven counts of wrongdoing. The charges stemmed from a scheme in which he used fake discharge paperwork to dupe the Army into thinking he was a decorated ex-Marine who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The falsified DD-214 form allowed Johnston, 26, to enter a reserve unit at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station at the rank of sergeant. At the time, the extent of his military experience was six weeks in a 12-week Marine officer candidate program for college students.

After repeated inquiries, The Associated Press received details of the sentence Thursday through an e-mail sent by Lisa Eichhorn, public affairs officer at Fort Rucker in Alabama. Johnston was going through training at Fort Rucker, the Army's primary aviation center, when his scheme was uncovered.

Eichhorn said Johnston added to the deception by wearing two unearned badges and an unearned patch on his uniform at Fort Rucker.

He pleaded guilty to one count of making a false official statement, two counts of larceny, two counts of wrongfully wearing a skill badge and two counts of wrongfully wearing a combat patch.

"Pfc. Johnston's sentence was the result of his decision to unlawfully take credit for honors that other soldiers have worked so hard to rightfully earn," Eichhorn wrote.

The scheme, first reported by the AP in May, prompted the Army to adopt a new procedure for checking the backgrounds of enlistees who claim prior military service. The procedure requires recruiters to verify discharge papers through a military database.

Experts who track cases of so-called "stolen valor" say the incident is the first in which the Army recruiting process was scammed. They say the matter is particularly serious because of the security concerns raised by an unqualified soldier holding a leadership position in war time.

While at Fort Rucker, Johnston received advanced training for use with the Army's Corps Support Airplane Company. That unit, based in Fort Worth, has supplied pilots and intelligence and support personnel for missions aimed at destroying improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

Army Secretary John M. McHugh, in a July 19 letter to U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, said military authorities acted "swiftly and appropriately" once they suspected that Johnston had never been a Marine. McHugh described himself as "deeply troubled" by the incident but said he did not consider it a sign of a more serious problem in the recruiting process.

"We believe that this is an isolated incident and not a larger systematic failure," he wrote.

Coffman, a member of the House Armed Services Committee who served with the Marines in Iraq and the first Gulf War, provided McHugh's letter to the AP. The Colorado Republican has been seeking details about the matter since the AP first reported on it.

A spokesman for Coffman said Friday that the congressman remains concerned about the national security implications of the matter and is continuing to seek information about it.

Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran whose work has exposed numerous military impostors, said a photo obtained by the AP in May showing Johnston in a Marine uniform with a series of medals, including a Purple Heart and the rare Navy and Marine Corps Medal, could merit further prosecution in federal court.

"The military charges against Johnston may address the fraud at enlistment, but they don't address his earlier fraud as a civilian," Sterner said.

Powered By iWebRSS.com
multi room audio system

Bruni book author stands by Michelle Obama anecdote (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) â€" The author of a book on Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on Friday stood by his account of US First Lady Michelle Obama complaining about life in the White House, but admitted she was probably joking.

Both the White House and the French embassy in Washington firmly denied Thursday that Obama had told Bruni that she found life as first lady to be "hell", as recounted in the biography "Carla and the Ambitious".

But journalist Yves Derai, co-author of the book with Michael Darmon, told AFP that the pair stood by their account of the March 31 dinner at which the two first ladies allegedly had the exchange.

"We maintain this account but in terms of interpretation I think the Americans are overanalysing this. It was an exchange that was in a jokey tone, not serious. It was an informal dinner, relaxed," Derai said.

"I won't reveal my sources, of course."

Obama's reported comments stirred a minor media storm in Washington after the news website The Drudgereport linked to a story in the British tabloid The Daily Mail that focused on the alleged exchange.

The French embassy announced that Bruni-Sarkozy distanced herself from the account and that Obama had not used the phrase attributed to her. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs relayed the French statement on his Twitter feed.

Powered By iWebRSS.com
xbox 360 sale

Pentagon's 2nd-engine estimate sparks debate (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) â€" A new government report boosts the case for completion of General Electric Co's alternate engine for the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee said.

The issue has become a political hot potato for President Barack Obama, who has vowed to veto any legislation that would fund the second engine over Pentagon protests.

The radar-evading warplane is the U.S. military's biggest acquisition program, projected to cost up to $382 billion for 2,457 aircraft through 2036.

Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corp unit, builds the engine powering early-production F-35s. GE's interchangeable unit would vie for the market, valued at $100 billion over coming decades.

Lawmakers for years have rejected Pentagon efforts to end the alternate program, touting the benefits of competition and aiming to preserve manufacturing jobs in their districts.

A September 15 report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the audit and investigative arm of Congress, found that the engine being built by GE and minority partner Rolls Royce Group Plc of Britain may cost less than $2.9 billion, the Pentagon's estimate.

GE contends it needs about $1.8 billion in additional funding.

Anything tending to cut the near-term costs of the competitive engine "would tend to tip the economics in favor of competition," Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said in a statement on Thursday.

More than 3,000 F-35s are projected to be bought by the United States and partner nations. Lockheed Martin Corp is building three F-35 versions. It says the fighter will replace at least 13 types of warplanes, initially for 11 nations.

Obama, in a May 28 statement, said he stood squarely behind Defense Secretary Robert Gates' repeated efforts to kill the alternate engine on the grounds it was unnecessary and unaffordable. Gates is campaigning to shift roughly $100 billion over five years from what he views as wasteful and duplicative spending. He would use the savings to update the U.S. arsenal.

Obama's veto threat came just after the Democratic-led House of Representatives adopted its version of a fiscal 2011 defense spending bill that included $485 million for the second engine so that it may ultimately compete for orders.

Proponents say it will save money in the long run by forcing rival suppliers to pare prices as they compete for sales. A second engine is also a kind of insurance policy in case of a snafu that might otherwise ground the entire F-35 fleet.

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee, in its version of a 2011 Defense Department spending bill, included no money for the alternate engine, siding with the White House and Pentagon. The matter still faces a vote in the full Senate.

House-Senate differences on the matter will have to be resolved before a final bill may be sent to Obama.

The Government Accountability Office, in its new report, cast doubt on the Pentagon's projection that GE's engine would require $2.9 billion more in taxpayer funding over the next six years to get to the point where it could compete in 2017.

This does not entail "the same level of fidelity and precision normally associated with a detailed, comprehensive estimate," the report said.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is a second-engine advocate, said he considered the GAO's observations as adding to "economic arguments in favor of competition."

The Defense Department noted in response that the GAO had provided examples of ways in which the Pentagon's $2.9 billion estimate could be too high, and suggested it had unduly played down a 50-50 chance that this could just as well be too low.

"... it is generally silent with respect to a number of plausible scenarios in which the estimate of the cost would be higher than the $2.9 billion figure," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said by email.

More than $4 billion has been invested in the F-35's development by eight U.S. partners: Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Turkey, Canada, Norway and Denmark.

Credit Suisse, in a note to investors Thursday, said the GE/Rolls Royce engine probably would lose its funding given the Pentagon's budget belt-tightening "and Gates' extreme opposition" to it.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Matthew Lewis, Gary Hill and Bernard Orr)

Powered By iWebRSS.com
wireless home music