WASHINGTON D.C. – President Obama has launched a new plan to keep kids in school. Puts the pressure of under-performing schools to get their act together!

President Obama shifted his focus to the nation’s school dropout epidemic on Monday. He proposed a $900 million school grant to states and education districts that agree to drastically change their worst performing schools.

“Over 1 millions students don’t finish high school each year,” Obama said during an education event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He went on to add that there may have been a time when kids could leave school and still get a good enough blue collar job to pay the bills, but: “That’s just not the case anymore.”

The $900 million in grants will target states with graduation rates of less than 60 percent. If schools fail to increase those rates they will face the prospect of new principals, new managements, or even outright closure.

“There’s got to be a sense of accountability,” the president added during the event. America’s Promise Alliance sponsored the event which was founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Governator isn’t exactly pleased with the way his fellow Republicans are handling the stimulus package!

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, accused his Republican colleagues of blatant hypocrisy on the stimulus package. He says that they have railed against the jobs bill in public but they have not hesitated to pose for pictures for stimulus-related projects and ceremonies in their home districts.

In his appearance on ABC’s This Week, Schwarzenegger pointed out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in particular for arguing this past week that the stimulus bill hadn’t produced a single “net” job gain.

“I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around, and pushing back on the stimulus money saying, ‘This doesn’t create any news job,’” said Schwarzenegger. “And then they go out and do the photo ops, posing with the big check and the say: ‘Isn’t this great, look at the kind of money I’ve provided for the state and this is money to create jobs, and this has created 10,000 new jobs, this has created 20,000 new jobs, and all those kinds of things.’ It doesn’t match up.”

It’s hypocrisy, said host Terry Moran. “Exactly,” replied Schwarzenegger. He also called for fellow Republicans to work with President Obama to find solutions to the country’s problems.

“I dont want to beat up on my Republican colleagues, but I think it’s kind of politics rather than thinking about only one thing, and this is, how do we support the president?” he said. “How do we support him and do everything we can in order to stimulate the economy?”

A recent report has confirmed that the stimulus bill saved or created up to 2.5 million jobs and economists have agreed that the bill helped prevent a major depression. In addition, a research report by Think Progress found that 110 Republican lawmakers, whom voted against the stimulus, are guilty of stimulus hypocrisy by appearing at various ceremonies in their home states praising stimulus funds for creating jobs.

“Anyone that says this hasn’t created a job, they should talk to the 150,000 people getting jobs in California,” he added, “from the private sector and also from the public sector.”

WASHINGTON D.C. – During last night’s White House meeting, Joe Biden’s forehead gained most of the attention!
Sky News host, Kay Burley, is going to need some time to remove her foot from her mouth. Burley will be forever known for ill-judged remark about Joe Biden’s Ash Wednesday mark.

Burley made her remarks during a discussion with Sky News’ US correspondent following a televised address from Vice President Biden on the state of the US economy. Speaking out loud about the mark, Burley suggested that the vice president might “have walked into a door,” while her co-host suggested that he might have had an accident at the Winter Olympics in Canada.

Burley should have stopped there, but she didn’t. “He’s probably been having a go on those tea trays down the luge or something… It certainly looks like quite a bruise, doesn’t it?” she added, digging her hole just a bit deeper. Fortunately, for her sake, she was informed of her error during the next commercial break and offered her apologies.

“I know that I am a very bad Catholic,” Burley said. “I know now that it is Ash Wednesday and I know that those are ashes on his forehead. I hang my head in shame. I’ll be back in just a moment.”

Check out her blunder below.

NEW YORK, NY – With the crib notes incident behind her, Sarah Palin has voiced her anger over a popular show’s spoof!

The show, Family Guy, recently aired an episode in which they mocked Trig Palin’s Down syndrome. Palin was more than displeased with the episode. She went to her Facebook page and said, “it feel like a kick in the gut.” Her daughter Bristol weighed in on the subject, calling the writers of the show “heartless jerks.”

The episode featured Chris – the Griffin family’s son – bringing home a girlfriend with Down syndrome. The character said that she was daughter of the ex-governor of Alaska.

The animation’s creator, Seth McFarlane, said that the show was “an equal opportunity offender.” He also added, “from its inception, Family Guy has used biting satire as the foundation of its humor.”

Palin added that the issue “begs the question, when is enough enough?”

Check out her interview below.

NEW YORK, NY – Joe the Plumber has a pretty big bone to pick with John McCain and Sarah Palin!

Joe the Plumber, also known as Samuel Wurzelbacher, rose to fame in the 2008 U.S. presidential election as the McCain-Palin campaign used him as a metaphor for middle-class Americans. He was a strong critic of Barack Obama’s small business tax policy.

Well it seems as though Wurzelbacher has changed his allegiances and no longer values McCain. At a benefit for a Pennsylvania Republican state representative Sam Rohrer, he voiced his displeasure. “I don’t owe him s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it.”

He went as far as saying that McCain was “no public servant” and calling him a career politician. He feels as though he was a ploy of the McCain campaign because he happened to be the face of middle Americans. He also stated that he no longer backs Sarah Palin because she is supporting the Arizona Republican’s re-election bid.

Joe the Plumber did have some nice things to say – about President Obama. “I think his ideology is urn-American, but he’s one of the more honest politicians. At least he told us what he wanted to do,” said Wurzelbacher.

The man known by many as Joe the Plumber has certainly gotten the most out of his 15 minutes of fame. He has become a motivational speaker and has used the stage set in front of him to speak about the issues that are important to him. He’s been asked to support more than 200 politicians but to date has only shown support for five. For someone that was never in the spotlight, Joe the Plumber has certainly become a hot commodity.

WASHINGTON – Two vice presidents have touched gloves and started a battle of words!

Current Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Dick Cheney have engaged in a war of words with the only thing the two can agree on being how wrong each believes the other is. Biden made appearances on both CBS’ Face the Nation and NBC’s Meet the Press, while Cheney appeared on ABC’s This Week.

The two political figures clashed on a number of topics, with the most dominant issue being the war on terror and the United States stance on national security. Cheney has been a frequent critic of the Obama administration. Back in December, Cheney said of Obama, “I think on his part he does not have the kind of commitment to the private sector that most of us have lived with in the past,” and that’s just a small sample.

“It’s the mind-set that concerns me,” Cheney said of President Obama’s handling of national security. He also criticized Obama’s order to outlaw “enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding.” Cheney is also a strong proponent of the possibility of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil on the scale of 9/11.

Biden, who is on record for calling Cheney the most dangerous vice president in history, disagree completely with the idea of another 9/11 type of attack. “I always underestimate the way Dick Cheney approaches things,” Biden said on Face the Nation. “The reason it’s unlikely is because we have been relentless, absolutely relentless in isolating al Qaeda.”

This is a war of words that certainly sees no resolution anytime soon. The vice presidents will continue to disagree and throw jabs at one another’s respective administrations. Check out a taste of their exchange below.\

NEW YORK, NY – Two of today’s biggest media personalities exchanged some verbal blows!

What was intended to be a casual discussion and debate about politics turned into a heated confrontation with verbal assaults and sarcastic quips. Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show”, and Bill O’Reilly, host of “The O’Reilly Factor”, lost their scripts and got into their own agendas. Not to anyone’s surprise, Obama can be indirectly blamed for this. The tense moments unfolded when Obama’s performance in his first year as President was the topic of discussion and then quickly turned into a debate about the fairness of Fox News Channel.

While the debate was certainly spirited, it did not lack its moments of humor and light-heartedness. In one of the better exchanges of the night, O’Reilly asked Stewart if he would be “shocked” to discover that a “Democratic” poll found Fox to be the most trusted news channel on television. Stewart, not to be outdone, countered with, “Are you shocked that an Internet poll said I’m the most trusted newscaster in America?”

Stewart’s opinions lie in that he believes Fox News Channel has a tendency to cut away from coverage that doesn’t fit the network’s narrative. The network has an official stance as part news, part opinion entity and Stewart feels that certain shows such as Glenn Beck’s and OReilly’s are not news. O’Reilly countered by pointing out that Fox News Channel’s coverage of the Massachusetts’ recent special election return was the most balanced.

The exchanges kept going throughout the interview but no real feelings were hurt. The debate was between two great minds in today’s world of politics, news, and opinions. Both made great points and both got their share of jabs in. Check out the intense debate below.

NEW YORK, NY – TV political commentator Chris Matthews made a controversial statement during his State of the Union coverage.

Chris Matthews hosts the nightly TV show “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on news channel MSNBC. Like the rest of the cable news networks, MSNBC had a number of its commentators discussing President Obama’s State of the Union address last night.

As Matthews was explaining his appreciation for Obama’s speech, he made a very odd statement:

“You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.”

Despite Matthews’ attempts to clarify the statement, many are appalled by the implications of his statement about African Americans in general.

NEW YORK, NY – A gun manufacturer has been providing weapons to the U.S. military with bible codes on them!

Trijicon is a Michigan-based manufacturing company that makes high-powered rifle sights. It currently holds a $660 million multi-year contract with the military to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marines.

It has been discovered that the sights have coded references to New Testament passages about Jesus Christ!

A number of codes have been found. One is JNN8:12, which references the book of John, Chapter 8, Verse 12, which states, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Another reads 2COR4:6, which states, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

It is prohibited in the military to proselytize any religion in Iraq or Aghanistan, especially in light of criticsm that America was on a religious crusade against Islamic radicals.

Trijicon is not denying the existence of the codes. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing, said the codes “have always been there.” The tradition began with its founder, Glyn Bindon, who was a devout Christian. Munson said the codes were only now being brought up by a group that is “not Christian.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Army has said they were unaware of the inscriptions, and are discussing how to proceed. Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that fights for separation of church and state in the military, said, “It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws.

“It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles,” he continued.

NEW YORK, NY – A photo has surfaced of former President John F. Kennedy on a boat filled with naked women!

TMZ, a celebrity gossip website, has obtained a copy of the photo, which features a man who look suspiciously like John F. Kennedy.

It appears to have been taken in the 1950s, and shows a boat with a man lying on his back. Two naked women are seen sunbathing above him, and two other naked women are seen on the side of the boat.

Multiple forensic photo experts have examined the print and believe it is authentic. The timing would also match up with a two-week boating trip JFK took in August, 1956, during which he was rumored to be “entertaining” women.

It is unknown who took the original photo, but somehow it ended up in the hands of a car dealer on the East coast. He reportedly bragged to his friends about it, but never took it out. After passing away 10 years ago, one of his sons inherited it, who presumably passed it on to TMZ.

At the time, JFK was only a Senator. If the photo had ever been released, he would most assuredly have never become President!

Head over to TMZ’s website to see a high-resolution version of the photo.