Maldini

But it's too early to the whole race

McCain, Obama new focus of rivals in NH By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer CONCORD, N.H. - The wounded contenders of Iowa took on the presumed leaders of the pack in the New Hampshire presidential primary campaign on Friday, disparaging John McCain as a creature of Washington and signaling that Barack Obama's mantle as the agent of change is ripe for challenge, too. "It will be a different race here," Mitt Romney vowed, bidding to keep his GOP campaign viable. His immediate difference: switching the focus of his criticism from the Iowa winner, Mike Huckabee, to McCain, the Arizona senator staging a 2008 revival in the state he won in 2000. Similarly, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear she considered Obama's positions fair game for criticism. "It's hard to know exactly where he stands and people need to ask that," she said. "I think everybody is supposed to be vetted and tested." Obama, the Illinois senator who punctured Clinton's front-runner status in his convincing Iowa win, appealed to New Hampshire's famously unaligned voters as he invited independents and Republicans into his fold. He borrowed language from McCain, a favorite of New Hampshire's independent voters eight years ago — and, McCain hopes, again now. "If you know who you are, if you know what you believe in, if you know your principles, if you know what you are fighting for, then you can reach out those you don't agree with," Obama told a crowd of more than 1,500, including students, at a Concord high school. "If they are Republicans and independents who are working with me, that makes us stronger." Then, lifting McCain's catch phrase, he added: "We need someone who exercises straight talk instead of spin." He implicitly scolded his two main rivals — Clinton and John Edwards — who have suggested that Obama's conciliatory language is naive and "too nice." "There's no shortage of anger in Washington people," he said. "We don't need more heat, we need more light." Romney attributed Huckabee's Iowa win largely to his background as a Southern Baptist preacher in a state with a decisive bloc of evangelical voters, an element missing in New Hampshire. "It was a wonderful strategy that he pursued effectively," he said. "I don't think that's the strategy that's going to work in every state." In any event, New Hampshire presented a different political alignment, with precious little time for candidates to remake their campaigns and adapt. McCain and Romney have been neck and neck here in pre-Iowa surveys, with Huckabee lagging, while Clinton and Obama have topped polls on the Democratic side. Romney said the message coming out of Iowa was a hunger for change and contended he, not the longtime Arizona senator, could make that happen. "There's no way Senator McCain can come to New Hampshire and say he can be the candidate to change Washington," the former Massachusetts governor said. "He is Washington." McCain called Romney's attacks against Huckabee in Iowa "a little bit desperate. It didn't work in Iowa, I don't think it will work in New Hampshire." Stopping in the eye-care section of the Hollis (N.H.) Pharmacy, surrounded by supporters, McCain recalled his early pressure on the Bush administration to put more troops in Iraq as one example of a career devoted to changing Washington's ways. "I'm most proud of the change I brought about in Iraq that saved American lives," McCain said. "No one else was ready to make that kind of reform. I'm proud to stand here as a person who has reformed and reformed and reformed." Clinton hoped to become her family's newest "Comeback Kid" in a state that revived Bill Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination in 1992. She promised a rally at the Nashua airport that she would answer as many questions as possible about her candidacy in the short run to the primary, and addressed several about her electability after her Iowa defeat. "Anyone we nominate will be thrown into that blazing inferno of a general election," she said. "I've been through the fires, and it makes it far less likely they are going to be able to do to me what they intend to do to whomever we nominate." She was traveling through the state in a lavishly painted campaign bus bearing her latest slogan: "Big Challenges, Real Solutions — Time to Pick a President." Fond words about grass-roots politicking with Iowans and their caucus meetings seemed distant, just a day after the event, as she cast the New Hampshire primary Tuesday as a truer expression of democracy. "This is a primary election," she said. "You're not disenfranchised if you work at night. You actually can come out and vote. You're not disenfranchised if you're not in the state. You can actually send in an absentee ballot. So this is going to be a much more representative electorate because we've got people who are going to be able to express opinions in the way we run elections in America." Huckabee, on the morning talk shows, pitched his tax plan to anti-tax New Hampshire Republicans, and asserted his campaign is about much more than the Christian conservatives who lifted him in Iowa. "What we're seeing is that this campaign is not just about people who have religious fervor," he said. "It's about people who love America, but want it to be better and believe that change is necessary and it's not going to happen from within Washington." Iowa's results tightened the Democratic field — Sens. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd dropped out shortly after the outcome was clear Thursday night. Edwards mounted an energetic, populist campaign only to see himself repeat his 2004 second place finish in Iowa. He vowed to continue, but he trails Obama and Clinton in polls and in money. Clinton sank to third. Edwards portrayed the Democratic race as one between Obama and him. "People are going to decide between a candidate who is not the candidate of money, not the candidate of the status quo, but somebody who will actually fight for the changes we need, and it will be between Senator Obama and myself," he said. On the Republican side, Huckabee enters New Hampshire with little money and little time to mount an adequate come-from-behind surge. And tradition pulls against him. George H. W. Bush in 1980, Bob Dole in 1988 and 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 — all are Iowa caucus winners who lost their New Hampshire primaries. Huckabee's Iowa victory served to keep the GOP contest wide open. He won by 9 percentage points and Romney now faces a reinvigorated McCain. Fred Thompson was looking beyond New Hampshire to South Carolina. And Rudy Giuliani, fading in New Hampshire, was counting on Florida and big state contests on Feb. 5. In Iowa, Thompson held on to a third-place finish over by McCain by fewer than 300 votes, with 96 percent of GOP precincts reporting. McCain spent little time or money there, investing his early hopes in New Hampshire.

IOWA Democratic Party 1-Barack Obama: 37.6% 2-John Edwards: 29.75% 3-Hillary Clinton: 29.47% Republican Party 1- Mike Huckabee: 31% 2-Mitt Romney: 25%

Clinton unbowed by third-place finish By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, claiming to be unbowed by a third-place finish in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, hailed a "great night for Democrats" and said the strong turnout pointed to the sure election of a Democratic president in November. She said she would "keep pushing as hard as we can." But her poor showing here was a searing blow to the former first lady, dissolving her image as her party's inevitable nominee and setting up a critical five-day race to Tuesday's leadoff primary in New Hampshire. Clinton told cheering supporters that she had congratulated caucus winner Sen. Barack Obama and the second-place finisher, former Sen. John Edwards. She promised to take "this enthusiasm and go tonight to New Hampshire." "We're going to keep pushing as hard as we can," she said, with former President Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea at her side. "I am so ready for the rest of this campaign and I am so ready to lead." Iowa Democrats delivered a cautionary tale to the New York senator, an established figure on the public stage who is running to be the first woman president. Caucus goers appeared to reject the central premise of Clinton's candidacy, favoring Obama's message of hope and change over her theme of experience and leadership. More troubling still was her performance among key groups that had been expected to form the core of her support. Entrance polls in the state showed Obama narrowly beating Clinton among women voters, whom her campaign had expected to turn out in large numbers to support her pioneering quest. She also failed to win a majority of voters who called health care their chief concern, despite her long association with the issue. Her candidacy also was swamped by a surge of first-time caucus goers who soundly supported Obama. Projections showed a turnout of 230,000 for Democrats, compared to 124,000 who showed up for Democratic caucuses in 2004. The turnout was nearly twice as large as for the Republicans, whose turnout also was up from four years ago. Clinton stuck with familiar themes in her concession speech, telling supporters she felt confident New Hampshire voters would choose a candidate "who will be able to go the distance and who will be ready on Day One." She was flying to New Hampshire late Thursday night and planned to attend a campaign rally with her husband Friday morning. All the remaining Democratic contenders were to meet in a nationally televised debate Saturday.

Obama, Huckabee sweep to Iowa victories By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire is where Iowa's Democratic caucus victors get ratified and where its Republican winners get stung. Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee headed into the Granite State on Friday as Iowa's presidential champions, one hoping to ride history's trend and the other eager to break it. Neither can expect it to be easy. Obama is neck and neck in New Hampshire polls with Hillary Rodham Clinton, who finished third in Iowa but has the resources to confront him head on. Will Obama, like Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, use his Iowa victory to catapult himself to victory in New Hampshire? Or will Clinton manufacture a turnaround like her husband did in 1992 and be the new Comeback Kid? Huckabee faces even bigger questions. He has hardly campaigned in New Hampshire where a Republican contest is already in a dead heat between Mitt Romney and John McCain. He enters the state with little money and little time to mount an adequate come-from-behind surge. Iowa's results tightened the Democratic field — Sens. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd dropped out shortly after the outcome was clear Thursday night. John Edwards mounted an energetic, populist campaign only to see himself repeat his 2004 second place finish in Iowa. He vowed to continue, but he trails Obama and Clinton in polls and in money. For Republicans, Huckabee's victory served to keep their contest wide open. He beat Romney by nearly 9 percentage points, a setback for the former Massachusetts governor who now faces a reinvigorated McCain. Fred Thompson was looking beyond New Hampshire to South Carolina. And Rudy Giuliani, fading in New Hampshire, was counting on Florida and big state contests on Feb. 5. An unpredictable factor could be Republican Ron Paul, an anti-war congressman with libertarian views whose legions of volunteers have fanned out across New Hampshire waving placards and knocking on doors in support of their dark horse candidate. Paul has raised a surprising amount of money, further complicating the political calculations in the state. In their victory speeches, Obama and Huckabee struck similar cords and distinguished themselves from their respective fields — portraying themselves as unifiers and change agents who didn't view the world in simply Republican and Democratic hues. "You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington," Obama told his raucous supporters. "To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states. Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation." Huckabee, sounding some of the same economic populist themes that Democrats had often heard from Edwards, said Americans were eager for change. "But what they want is a change that starts with a challenge to those of us who were given this sacred trust of office so that we recognize that what our challenge is to bring this country back together, to make Americans, once again, more proud to be Americans than just to be Democrats or Republicans," he said. "To be more concerned about being going up instead of just going to the left or to the right." Money, a defining measure of candidate strength throughout 2007, turned out to be not so determinative in Iowa. Romney, a multimillionaire who pumped more than $17 million of his own money into the campaign by September, spent about $7 million on ads in Iowa to Huckabee's $1.4 million. Likewise, Edwards remained in the mix with Obama and Clinton even though they broke all fundraising records last year. Obama spent $9 million in television ads in Iowa, Clinton spent $7 million and Edwards spent only $3 million. Romney's and Clinton's inability to win was also a blow to much of the Democratic and Republican party establishment that had lined up behind both candidates. But if money was only secondary in Iowa, it could still be a factor ahead. Romney could tap his wealth again to carry him through New Hampshire and Michigan thereafter. And with Obama and Clinton at the top, the Democratic contest appears to be dominated by two financial titans. As Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said after the results were in: "Our campaign was built for a marathon and we have the resources to run a national race in the weeks ahead." Polls of Iowa voters as they entered the caucuses showed that Obama outpolled Clinton among women, and benefited from a surge in first-time caucus-goers and young voters in what was a record Democratic turnout. Similar enthusiasm in New Hampshire could again favor Obama. Huckabee rode to victory on the strength of born-again or evangelical Christians, who comprised six in 10 Republican caucus-goers. But New Hampshire's Republican electorate is less overtly religious and more fiscally conservative. Even so, Huckabee has a penchant for retail politics and offers a message that is not singularly religious in tone. "The thing you can say about Mike Huckabee is that he has a very different coalition," said Charlie Arlinghaus, a longtime New Hampshire GOP strategist and senior adviser to Thompson. "Giuliani's support comes from moderates and Romney's from conservatives. But Huckabee crosses a lot of lines — socially conservative and economically populist. That's why he was underestimated." While Huckabee's victory over Romney heartened McCain, Obama's win could work against him under New Hampshire's wide open voting system. Obama is likely to attract many Democratic-leaning independents who might have voted for McCain if it appeared that Clinton had sewn up the Democratic contest. "We now have competitive contests on both sides," said New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen. "That could be good news for Romney, who has been counting on this being a primary that is dominated by base Republicans."

Thank you Erin, really big effort:)

Happy New Year from Egypt:santa:

R.I.P:cry:

Benazir Bhutto killed in attack Benazir Bhutto had been addressing rallies in many parts of Pakistan Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack. Ms Bhutto had just addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi when she was shot in the neck by a gunman who then reportedly set off a bomb. At least 15 other people died in the attack and several more were injured. President Pervez Musharraf and his government called on people to remain calm so that the "nefarious designs of terrorists can be defeated." Ms Bhutto had twice been the country's prime minister and had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January. Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, told the BBC her death was a tragedy for "the entire nation". "I can't tell you what the feelings of the people of Pakistan are today," he told BBC News 24 after returning from the hospital where she was brought. It was the second suicide attack against Benazir Bhutto in recent months and comes amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials. Ms Bhutto's death has plunged her party into confusion and raised questions about whether January elections will go ahead as planned, the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says. The PPP has the largest support of any party in the country. Analysts note that Rawalpindi, the nerve centre of Pakistan's military, is seen as one of the country's most secure cities, making the attack even more embarrassing for the government of Gen Musharraf. Scene of grief The explosion occurred close to an entrance gate of the park in Rawalpindi where Ms Bhutto had been speaking. Wasif Ali Khan, a member of the PPP who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital, said she died at 1816 (1316 GMT). Supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog", the Associated Press (AP) reports. Some supporters wept while others exploded in anger, throwing stones at cars and breaking windows. Police confirmed reports Ms Bhutto had been shot in the neck and chest before the gunman blew himself up. Mr Sharif said there had been a "serious lapse in security" by the government. Earlier on Thursday, at least four people were killed ahead of an election rally he himself had been preparing to attend close to Rawalpindi. People were distraught at the scene of the blast Return from exile The killing was condemned by the US, the UK, Russia and France. The attack shows that there are still those in Pakistan trying to undermine reconciliation and democratic development in Pakistan," a US state department official said. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "deeply shocked" by Ms Bhutto's death and called for "restraint but also unity". "Extremist groups... cannot and must not succeed," he added. Russia called on Pakistan's leaders to ensure stability while France spoke of an "odious" act and said it was deeply concerned. Ms Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile in October after years out of Pakistan where she had faced corruption charges. Her return was the result of a power-sharing agreement with President Musharraf in which he granted an amnesty that covered the court cases she was facing. Since her return relations with Mr Musharraf had broken down. On the day of her return she led a motor cavalcade through the city of Karachi. It was hit by a double suicide attack that left some 130 dead.

Bhutto's Death Poses Dilemma for US Thursday December 27, 2007 2:46 PM By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration scrambled Thursday with the implications of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination after having invested significant diplomatic capital in promoting reconciliation between her and President Pervez Musharraf to stabilize its key nuclear armed, anti-terrorism ally. While awaiting formal confirmation of Bhutto's death in an attack on an election rally in Rawalpindi, U.S. officials huddled to assess the impact of Bhutto's passing just two weeks before legislative elections in the turbulent nation in which her party was expected to do well. ``Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally,'' said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. ``It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy.'' At least 20 others were killed in the blast that took place as Bhutto left a political rally where she addressed thousands of supporters in her campaign for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections. Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said, ``The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred.'' A party security adviser said that Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up. U.S. intelligence officials were mobilized on the reports, but the CIA would not immediately offer confirmation of Bhutto's assassination. ``We're still looking into it, to make sure we have all the facts,'' said CIA spokeswoman Michele Ness. In Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is vacationing, there was no immediate comment, although a statement was planned. Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile Oct. 18. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury. The United States had been at the forefront of foreign powers trying to arrange reconciliation between Bhutto and Musharraf, who under heavy U.S. pressure resigned as army chief and earlier this month lifted a state of emergency, in the hope it would put Pakistan back on the road to democracy. Bhutto's return to the country after years in exile and the ability of her party to contest free and fair elections had been a cornerstone of Bush's policy in Pakistan, where U.S. officials had watched Musharraf's growing authoritarianism with increasing unease. Those concerns were compounded by the rising threat from al-Qaida and Taliban extremists, particularly in Pakistan's largely ungoverned tribal areas bordering Afghanistan despite the fact that Washington had pumped nearly $10 billion in aid into the country since Musharraf became an indispensible counter-terrorism ally after Sept. 11, 2001. Irritated by the situation, Congress last week imposed new restrictions on U.S. assistance to Pakistan, including tying $50 million in military aid to State Department assurances that the country is making ``concerted efforts'' to prevent terrorists from operating inside its borders. Under the law, which provides a total of $300 million in aid to Pakistan and was signed by President Bush on Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also must guarantee Pakistan is implementing democratic reforms, including releasing political prisoners and restoring an independent judiciary. The law also prevents any of the funds can be used for cash transfer assistance to Pakistan, but that stipulation had already been adopted by the administration. Despite the congressional move, Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs who had been instrumental in engineering the Bhutto-Musharraf reconciliation, said he had little doubt that the administration would get the money.

By SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writers RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said. The death of the 54-year-old charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections into chaos and created fears of mass protests and violence across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism. The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser. At least 20 others were killed in the attack. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. "At 6:16 p.m., she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital. "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said. Bhutto's supporters at the hospital exploded in anger, smashing the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit. Others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. But some of Bhutto's supporters at the hospital began chanting, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf," referring to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto's main political opponent. A few began stoning cars outside. "We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," Malik said. Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and opposition leader, arrived at the hospital and sat silently next to Bhutto's body. Hours earlier, four people were killed at a rally for Sharif when his supporters clashed with backers of Musharraf near Rawalpindi. Bhutto's death will leave a void at the top of her party, the largest political group in the country, as it heads into the parliamentary elections. It also fueled fears that the crucial vote could descend into violence. Pakistan is considered a vital U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists including the Taliban. Osama bin Laden and his inner circle are believed to be hiding in lawless northwest Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan. In Washington, the State Department condemned the attack. "It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy," deputy spokesman Tom Casey said. The United States has for months been encouraging Musharraf to reach an accommodation with the opposition, particularly Bhutto, who was seen as having a wide base of support in Pakistan. Her party had been widely expected to do well in next month's elections. Educated at Harvard and Oxford universities, Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. Her father, who also served as prime minister, was executed in 1979 two years after his ouster in a military coup. Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18. On the same day, she narrowly escaped injury when her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted in a suicide attack that killed more than 140 people. At the scene of Thursday's bombing, an Associated Press reporter saw body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park, where Bhutto had spoken. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded people. Party supporter Chaudry Mohammed Nazir said two gunshots rang out when Bhutto's vehicle pulled into the main street. Then there was a big blast next to her car. Police cordoned off the street with white and red tape, and rescuers rushed to put victims in ambulances as people wailed nearby. The clothing of some victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies. Police caps and shoes littered the asphalt. Hundreds of riot police had manned security checkpoints around the venue. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she came back to the country. In November, Bhutto had also planned a rally in the city, but Musharraf forced her to cancel it, citing security fears. In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, where Musharraf stays and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.

#1. "I really am not the kind of guy that sits here and says, 'Oh gosh, I'm worried about my legacy.'" — President GEORGE W. BUSH, when asked about his falling approval numbers and mounting criticism of the Iraq War during an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes (Jan. 14, 2007) #2. "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country." — MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, president of Iran, responding to a question about the treatment of gays and lesbians in Iran during a visit to Columbia University in New York City (Sept. 24, 2007) #3. "This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period. — San Francisco Giants slugger BARRY BONDS, after breaking Hank Aaron's Major League Baseball all-time home-run record with his 756th career homer amid rampant speculation that he has used steroids. Bonds has always denied that he ever "knowingly" used performance-enhancing substances, but he was indicted in November for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury about using them (Aug. 7, 2007) #4. "If you didn't like Darfur, you're going to hate Baghdad." — Gen. DAVID H. PETRAEUS, warning of the consequences of an early troop withdrawal from Iraq (Aug. 14, 2007) #5. "This is it. This is where it all ends. End of the road. What a life it was. Some life." — Virginia Tech gunman CHO SEUNG-HUI, in a chilling video he made and sent to NBC News before killing 32 people and committing suicide in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history (Apr. 16, 2007) #6. "I don't think they're piling on because I'm a woman. I think they're piling on because I'm winning." — HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, on intensifying criticism by rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination (Nov. 2, 2007) #7. "The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton. We have to ask ourselves what is going on here?" — AL GORE, in an interview with the British paper The Sun, before adding that he believes in 10 years it will be too late to save the planet (June 18, 2007) #8. "I spent the better part of the past three months enduring criticism that is normally leveled at some kind of genocidal tyrant." — RUPERT MURDOCH, News Corp. owner, on the outcry over his purchase of the Wall Street Journal (Aug. 8, 2007) #9. "Hello, Condoleezza Rice? You have me to deal with now." — A MASKED HAMAS GUNMAN, joking into the telephone of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after taking control of his government compound (June 15, 2007) #10. "Why don't you just shut up?" — KING JUAN CARLOS, of Spain, to Hugo Chávez at a summit in Chile after the Venezuelan President called former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar a fascist (Nov. 10, 2007)

Robert Roy Britt LiveScience Managing Editor LiveScience.comThu Dec 20, 7:20 PM ET Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry. In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight. "We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients," said Dr. Aaron Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media." And so here they are, so that you can inform your doctor: Myth: We use only 10 percent of our brains. Fact: Physicians and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It's sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, the new paper points out. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas. The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential, Carroll figures. It also doesn't jibe with the fact that our other organs run at full tilt. Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Fact: "There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water," said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, "fluid" turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count. Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death. Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it's impossible. Here's what happens: "As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting," Vreeman said. "The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit." Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker. Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here's the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that's just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn't been bleached by the sun. Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest. Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy. Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn't contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. This myth is fueled by the fact that turkey is often eaten with a colossal holiday meal, often accompanied by alcohol — both things that will make you sleepy. Myth: Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals. Fact: There are no known cases of death related to this one. Cases of less-serious interference with hospital devices seem to be largely anecdotal, the researchers found. In one real study, mobile phones were found to interfere with 4 percent of devices, but only when the phone was within 3 feet of the device. A more recent study, this year, found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. To the contrary, when doctors use mobile phones, the improved communication means they make fewer mistakes. "Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true," said Vreeman said. "But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false."

Thanks:) It's very prejudice list :thinking:

46 Fall Out Boy Infinity on High (Island) Infinity is emo as prime entertainment: Giant pop-rock songs with confectionery choruses and some new tricks — the lead single rides a grinding dance beat that evokes Trent Reznor rocking a prom. Pete Wentz and Co. are easy to poke fun at. But given that no one else of their ilk made a pop record this likable in 2007, they're also hard to duplicate.[/url] 47 Band of Horses Cease to Begin (Sub pop) In indieland, 2007 was a year when skinny ties and wiggy haircuts gave way to the time-honored beard and flannel. As befits beard-and-flannel guys, Band of Horses promise heartfelt songs, but unlike so many of their peers, they have the craft to deliver. This music is simultaneously downcast and sky-cresting, the guitars tangling with sad melodies as if it really matters. And in songs like "Is There a Ghost" and "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands," it does. 48 Mavis Staples We'll Never Turn Back (anti —) Half a century after the Staple Singers scored a hit with the gospel promise "Uncloudy Day," equal rights is still a relative concept in America. Here, Mavis Staples measures how far we've come and have yet to go in these hymns and blues, many of them traditional civil-rights anthems like "We Shall Not Be Moved." The dirt-road feel of Ry Cooder's production and the argumentative stab of his Pops Staples-style guitar suit the purpose in Mavis' voice and the emancipation spirit she brings from the records she made with her family years ago, at the height of the fight. 49 Dropkick Murphys The Meanest of Times (Born & Bred) The only band ever to lose a lead singer to the Boston Fire Department has honored that working-class spirit as it expanded its Celt-punk lineup to seven and kept writing songs that not only describe cycles of struggle and escape in their white-ethnic Boston suburb of Quincy, but sound like them — the nearest America's ever gotten to its own oi band. Al Barr and Ken Casey compete shout for growl on blowouts like "Famous for Nothing," and "The State of Massachusetts" is as furious a tribute to single motherdom as any hip-hopper has ever spat. 50 Britney Spears Blackout (Jive) Emerging from her SUV wreck of a life, "It's Britney, bitch" or her digital facsimile consorts with a smaller-than-usual cohort of producers on an album sure to be remembered as a monument of deranged techno-pop amorality. The heroes here are Timbaland-apprentice Danja (debut single "Gimme More"), Swedish popmeisters Bloodshy and Avant (prime cut "Piece of Me") and the phalanx of lyricists who provided the first "confessional" lyrics Justin's ex ever needed.

31 Because of the Times Kings of Leon (RCA) Sometimes a band can be too tight. Compared with the rigid, chunky fury of their previous records, the Followills' third album opens with a shock: groove. "Knocked Up" is extended, rolling funk noir with the guitars snarling behind the pulse, and the new-daddy worry and wonder in Caleb's bark is like a chorus of wolves. Kings of Leon were a dynamic band from jump street. But the fuzzy goth of "On Call" and the depth of attack in "McFearless" — U2-style reverb, stuttering soprano-distortion guitar — show them exploring the dynamics within garage-quartet basics with pop-sonics flair. 32 Maroon 5 It Won't Be Soon Before Long (Geffen) Songs About Jane made Adam Levine a certified pop star, putting his soulful croon all over the radio and helping him get dates with a slew of Hollywood hotties. On this even-better followup, his mates came up with music to match his self-assuredness. The sound was both tougher and sweeter — no simple thing. "Makes Me Wonder" was a dance-pop kiss-off that seemed cribbed from some boy-band hit, but there and throughout, the candy-coated shell concealed a yearning for sex, affection, romance — whatever's handy — that was more wild than dark. These are vivid tunes that young girls can love and grown-ups can respect. 33 Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ray Price Last of the Breed (Lost Highway) The antique glow of this collaboration — which opens with the three singers swapping lines at a vintage Bob Wills gait in "My Life's Been a Pleasure" — is etched with the grizzly candor of old country-music soldiers who know the road behind them is longer than the stretch ahead. The harmonies are weathered, sometimes wandering, and there is an old-photo-album lyricism to the Floyd Tillman, Cindy Walker and Lefty Frizzell songs on these two CDs. But Nelson, Haggard and Price revisit them with confidence and an affection for the truths and memories they still hold. This is country music with none of the modern trimmings — no Kiss-style power chords or SUV-cowboy flash. But it is big and rich in every other way. 34 Chris Brown Exclusive (Jive) The day Chris Brown was born, the Number One song was Madonna's "Like a Prayer," and that's the level of hyperemotional pop he reaches for on Exclusive. He begins with a shout-out to the old-school D.C. go-go scene in "Throw'd," and then he settles into his T-Pain-assisted tenderoni jam "Kiss Kiss," a fantastic blast of teen steam. The "Irreplaceable" sound-alike "With You" is a ballad that coasts on acoustic guitar and Brown's heart-on-sleeve vocals — this sophomore album is where an R&B prince hitherto known best for his dancing stakes his claim as a singer. He's the only pop star out there right now who can both hang with T-Pain and show up on Sesame Street, and he's going to be around for a while. 35 Feist The Reminder (Cherry Tree) The most eagerly awaited folk-pop album of the year, in the weird-Canadian-girl division, The Reminder is like a summer of discovery at art camp, and it does a whole lot more than live up to the promise Leslie Feist showed on Let It Die. She broke on through with "1234," written for her by New Buffalo's Sally Seltmann, which got her into coffee shops and upscale shoe stores everywhere. Feist reaches out with gorgeously lovelorn ballads, including "The Park" and "My Moon My Man." "I'll be the one who'll break my heart," she sings over wild-card acoustic strumming on "I Feel It All": "I'll be the one to hold the gun." The girls cheered and the boys swooned. And then on "Sealion," she turns an old Nina Simone song into a modern-day ring shout with hand claps, cheap electronics and crescendoing guitars. 36 Alicia Keys As I Am (J. Records) Keys' ever-deepening vocal power is the first thing you notice on As I Am. When she's on, she makes all the other girls on the radio sound like they're yakking away on The Hills. As I Am, her third album and the third she's named after herself, is predictably introspective and mellow. It sounds like she's spent quality time lately with Aretha's Spirit in the Dark and decided to make her own version. "Wreckless Love" floats on soul clouds, "Teenage Love Affair" gives new meaning to "feeling you," and "Go Ahead" is a killer. But for most of the album, Keys is happy to get over on her voice, and that's exactly what makes As I Am such a physical pleasure. 37 Down Over the Under (Down) Ex-Pantera singer Phil Anselmo now has a full-time job in this former side project, and it's about time. His backwoods-devil growling in "Never Try" and "Beneath the Tides" attest to his victories over hard drugs and the viciously public breakup of Pantera. But Anselmo's avenging Southern soul comes fortified with double-guitar dynamite — the harmony riffing and hellhounds' debate of Kirk Windstein and Corrosion of Conformity's Pepper Keenan — that sounds like it crept out of a Louisiana swamp. 38 Imperial Teen The Hair the T.V. the Baby & the Band (Merge) Polymorphous indie pleasure-seekers trade noise for sweetness, and stick with guitar parts that merge both rhythm and melody and sexuality and vulnerability. Singing about the point in your life when you trade late-night drinking for early mornings at the gym has never sounded so cool. 39 Dr. Dog We All Belong (Park the Van) Five Philly dudes drawing on cheap-sounding keyboards, mock-choral accompaniments and a seemingly endless supply of great melodies. There were big doses of whimsy (the hippie-esque, singsong "Way the Lazy Do") and agitation (the desperate, brokenhearted "Die Die Die") in their pop kaleidoscope. One minute it sounded like Elton John fronting the Band, the next it made clear how much Bowie had ripped off from the Beatles. 40 Amy Winehouse Back to Black (Universal) The Motown mimicry is astute — Mark Ronson, who produced half of this album, knows his Holland-Dozier-Holland. But Amy Winehouse, the British tabloid train wreck of the year, writes and sings of the addictions in these songs (men, the worst kind of good times, the cold comfort of tears on a pillow) with a brassy, intensely personal sorrow that is true blues, not nouveau soul. The sex and loss are brutal and explicit in the title song, an effect made more haunting by Ronson's echoes of the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go." But when Winehouse crows, "I told you I was trouble," in "You Know I'm No Good," it's hard now not to wish that she was just acting. 41 Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) Kevin Barnes has Lindsay Buckingham's knack for melodic overkill and ingeniously fussy hooks, and singing about divorce with all his over-the-top weirdness on display, he's put his Tusk and his Rumours on the same album. "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" may be the funniest sex song anybody came up with all year, with space-glam synths, mega-twee harmonies and the plea, "I've got a tigress back at home." And every single song is funny, which matters a lot when you're singing about love pains. 42 Wilco Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) "I'm more hopeful than I used to be," singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy said last spring of his songwriting for Wilco's sixth studio album. "It's just easier to hear now — there's less static." Sky Blue Sky comes with weirdness, like the freakout-guitar bursts in the middle of the iridescent-California glow of "You Are My Face." But Wilco's recent ascension to avant-rock celebrity belied Tweedy's deeper roots in the bared-nerve contemplation of folk and country music. In the elegant whirl of "Either Way" and the hopeful waltz "What Light," the scarring, confrontational distortion of 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004's A Ghost Is Born has been replaced by a psychedelic grace and communal warmth both in the music — guitarist Nels Cline brings the Stephen Stills, Jerry Garcia and John Cipollina — and Tweedy's lyric optimism. America's next Sonic Youth have now become our new Grateful Dead.[/url] 43 Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist (Warner Bros.) Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the only original members in this resurrection, make an art-pop roar worthy of the Pumpkins crown. Corgan piles on guitar overdubs with philharmonic zeal and Siamese Dream-era smarts on searing songs about the suffocating chaos of life and politics in America. 44 Peter Bjorn & John Writer's Block (Wichita) Like many good indie boys, these three Swedes sound a little beaten down by romance. But on their third album, they translate their love-zonked melancholy into warm, Sixties-derived folk pop that feels instantly familiar and improves on repeated listens. The little frills — modest keyboard atmospherics, meticulous harmonies, even the whistled hook on "Young Folks" — all seem perfectly placed, but the real appeal is the slew of clear, simple melodies that stick around in your head like a bad houseguest. 45 Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (RCA) This album opens with the best blast of power-rock Foos since 1997's The Colour and the Shape — the bam, shred and wolf-boy chorale of "The Pretender" — then wanders all over, like a multiband anthology written and played by the same four guys. But in most of their incarnations here, the Foo Fighters deliver winners, including the sugar-bomb glam of "Long Road to Ruin" and the soft-loud drama of "Let It Die," which updates with thrills and craft the sound that Dave Grohl once made with a band called Nirvana. To be continued

16 Les Savy Fav Let's Stay Friends (Frenchkiss) After a decade of wowing the circuit with singer Tim Harrington's uncool theatrics and everybody's art-garage barrage, this Providence, Rhode Island-spawned, Brooklyn-based quartet suspended operations in 2005. But LSF didn't break up, and as if they planned it that way, their first true album in six years is their very first where true tunes undergird angular noise. "Has your skin grown thick from bands that make you sick?" the opener inquires, then goes on, "Well, this is where it stops." And by the time they declare themselves "hills all filled with gas and gold," they've proved they were just getting started. 17 The White Stripes Icky Thump (Warner Bros) A return to the firewall fuzz of 2003's Elephant, Icky Thump is simply Delta-garage wallop made from the fewest, finest ingredients: the tube-amp guitar squeal and frantic falsetto vocal in "I'm Slowly Turning Into You"; Meg White's John Bonham-size drumming, sounding like a jail door slam, in the busted-immigrant song "Icky Thump." And if you think Jack White has no sense of fun to go with his power-chord Skip James, go to the cover of Patti Page's Fifties hit "Conquest" for a fat slap of Mexican Zeppelin 18 Lucinda Williams West (Lost Highway) West is an album perfect for communing with yourself at three in the morning — the sound of one of rock's great songwriters getting her demons out, and still challenging her fans. Producer Hal Willner brings in jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and violinist Jenny Scheinman, who add a contemplative darkness to Williams' roots sound, and the music flows like the Dead in a country mood, particularly the pained psychedelic longing of "Unsuffer Me." Williams' cracked voice brings to mind her hero, Bob Dylan, fighting for air on Time Out of Mind. "Fancy Funeral" — about planning her mom's service and ending up thinking the money would have been better spent on groceries — might have been the year's saddest, simplest song. Except Williams tops it with "Are You Alright?" in which she hopes an ex-lover is making out OK. 19 Devendra Banhart Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (XL) This freak-folk-scene daddy is not as bombed on vintage Laurel Canyon cool as he looks. Devendra Banhart cultivates this nirvana party aura with deliberate loving, soaking his songs in Brazilian tropicalia, the contact high of David Crosby's 1970 album If I Could Only Remember My Name and the casual communion of Dylan and the Band on The Basement Tapes. "Sea Horse" runs wonderfully long, from bedroom-folk om to Crazy Horse-guitar rumble, and a part of "Tonada Yanomaminista" sounds like the Doors at sea. Stoned corn like "Shabop Shalom" makes Smokey longer that it should be, but most of this excess is a guaranteed buzz. 20 Melissa Etheridge The Awakening (Island) Etheridge has always had passion to burn. But there is a special urgency to the classy folk pop of her first studio album since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Etheridge is the fighting picture of health and hope as she hits and holds the high note in "California." There is intense reflection too in the quiet lessons of "All There Is" and the guilt of "An Unexpected Rain." In the latter, when Etheridge sings, "I've come so far in my Kansas dancing shoes," you hear every mile. On the rest of the album, you hear the thanks — and the determination to keep going. 21 Nine Inch Nails Year Zero (Interscope) The secret of Trent Reznor's return to form and then some isn't its sci-fi plot or digital appurtenances. It's how skillfully and radically it connects extremes of tune and noise. By naming the enemy — there are some out there who aren't convinced "Capital G" is George Bush, but that's OK, he can be God too — Year Zero compels Reznor to reach out into the real world and thus transcend the part of his nihilism that's a tragedy of body chemistry. The rest of his nihilism is a tragedy of social forces from which he provides cathartic if temporary relief. 22 Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full (Hear Music) McCartney's first album for the EMI of coffee shops is at once briskly modern and obsessively retrospective. "Only Mama Knows" has the punch and drive of a Kings of Leon torpedo. It also sounds like a son of "Jet." With McCartney's mandolin up front, the jaunty, minimalist "Dance Tonight" sounds like a Chemical Brothers rhythm track — with Bill Monroe on top. But the long view in these songs is also in the way the mid-sixties McCartney marvels at the mid-Sixties Beatle in the mirror in "That Was Me" and the natural, poignant cracks in his sunset-years voice in "You Tell Me." 23 1990s Cookies (Rough Trade) The View got the hype; Babyshambles got the tabloid ink. But it was 1990s — a power-jangle trio from Scotland with family-tree connections to Franz Ferdinand — that made the great, rowdy Brit-pop album of the year. 1990s know the right people: Cookies was produced by ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler; Edwyn Collins, once of arch-pop Scots Orange Juice, provided vintage studio gear. But the coltish jump and pub-choir vocal harmonies of "You Made Me Like It" and "Cult Status" were all 1990s 24 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand (Rounder) Led Zeppelin's golden god made two sets of headlines this year: with his old band's reunion and this collaboration with bluegrass princess Alison Krauss. They harmonize with natural worry and warmth against a midnight-Mississippi chill in songs by Tom Waits, the post-Byrds Gene Clark and country singer Mel Tillis. And Townes Van Zandt's abject jewel "Nothing" is Zeppelin's "Kashmir" reset in Death Valley, with distorted guitars and Krauss' sustained, funereal bowing hanging over Plant's riveting, moanlike final judgment. 25 Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight (Warner Bros.) Now in their early thirties, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda are still angry young men, only now they're as riled up about world affairs as personal turmoil — "The Little Things Give You Away" and "Hands Held High" are as vociferous as any anti-Bush screed 2007 produced. They've broadened their sound a little, too, adding cooler keyboard textures, but with co-producer Rick Rubin in tow, their metallic crunch is as brutal and efficient as ever, and the tunes still feel as cathartic as a good punch to your bedroom wall. 26 Miranda Lambert Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Columbia) Tough-talking, straight-shooting, self-examining Lambert made the best album to emerge from Nashville since years started with "19." The fast ones surprise because usually Nashville rocks so macho. The slow ones surprise because Nashville rockers rarely know the difference between sodden and serious. Lambert is serious. She's also funnier than a crutch upside your head. 27 Lil Wayne Da Drought 3 (Young Money Entertainment) There's only one rapper alive who'd try to get away with talking shit like "I get my Emmett Till on/In a New Edition I get my Johnny Gill on." And you know Lil Wayne won't let go of the rhyme until he's also gotten his ice grill, tip drill and Buffalo Bill on. Weezy was the undisputed king of hip-hop this year, running his crazy mouth on one underground mix tape after another. Da Drought 3 was easily the best, two jam-packed discs of Weezy cruising to Anita Baker and smoking weed by the acre. 28 The Apples in Stereo New Magnetic Wonder (Yep Roc/Simian) There's always been something twee about Elephant 6 founder Robert Schneider's de facto Beatles tribute band — as the name indicates, their aesthetic has been very much late Beatles, with alt guitars mixed in. Here, prominent organ sounds, including a few Mellotron interludes, gesture endearingly toward an early-Seventies schlock that subsumes the music's high-end and spiky bits. Schneider's voice has deepened a little too. Hypercatchy songs about encountering the eternal and getting your head together, not necessarily in that order. 29 Mary J. Blige Growing Pains (Geffen) Having turned R&B pledger and pleader for 2005's The Breakthrough, the once and future Queen of Ghetto Soul re-repositions herself for a fickle marketplace by re-refurbishing street-tested moves. Kicking off with a defining track in which she and Busta Rhymes urge dark-skinned homegirls not to fret about the size of their chests and derrieres, she's a big sister to believe in. Sure, it's calculated. But praise the Lord that she arrived at this answer, rest assured that it's always been her natural mode, and be hereby informed that the songwriting is her finest in years. 30 Youssou N'Dour Rokku Mi Rokka (Nonesuch) The Senegalese mbalax master's third album for Nonesuch sticks to the method that has served him well since he parted from crossover-conscious Sony a decade ago. A mite polite, a mite curatorial, the label merely insists that he conceive each album acutely and provide full translations and transliterations in return. On Rokku Mi Rokka, N'Dour bows to the Malian music just north, long a hotter commodity in the world-music market. Given his voice, his melodies and his deft balance of Western guitar-bass-traps-horns-synth and African percussion-marimba-xalam, this supremely dedicated artist is just about guaranteed to satisfy completely and excite enough. To be continued

1 M.I.A. Kala (Interscope) M.I.A.'s second album was an international block party with a sonic imagination nobody else could match all year. The Sri Lankan-born U.K. rapper's inspirations run all over the globe, with a Day-Glo sensibility rooted in the Native Tongues hip-hop of the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, but with the political rage of Public Enemy. She dips into Sri Lankan temple music, Bollywood disco, the Pixies, New Order, the Clash, Wreckx-N-Effects — sometimes she even sounds like the old U2 record where they let the Edge rap. Kala explores worldwide war zones, talking about third-world democracy and "putting people on the map that never seen a map." Yet M.I.A. remains a criminal-minded art freak with a true rock & roller's love of flash and sensation and irresponsible shit-talking. And are those Pink Floyd's cash registers she samples? Cool. 2 Bruce Springsteen Magic (Columbia) Magic comes on like the album Springsteen's been building up to for the past five years, since he revitalized his sound on 2002's The Rising. These songs are Springsteen at his toughest and most focused, going for the grimly detailed style of Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska. He's sung about some of these characters before; the Vietnam vet of "Born in the U.S.A." gets a bonfire funeral in "Gypsy Biker," and the New Jersey Turnpike loner of "State Trooper" seems to show up in "Radio Nowhere," still asking his car radio the question: "Is there anybody alive out there?" The big themes are marriage and America as well as the constant repair they both demand. 3 Jay-Z American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella) Jay-Z hasn't sounded so fired up since The Blueprint, and like that classic, American Gangster is tripped out on a Seventies-funk fantasia. The Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield samples provide a bittersweet soundtrack to the old-school hustler fatalism of the lyrics. Jigga's dense wordplay may follow the Denzel Washington movie, but that doesn't get in the way of his original concept, which is himself and how bad he is ("Ya boy is off the wall, these other niggas is Tito"). The music makes him larger than life — the nutty organ solo in "Success," the Miami beatbox in "Party Life" and, above all, the unstoppable horn riff in "Roc Boys." 4 Arcade Fire Neon Bible (Merge) An ocean of sound, shaped into songs about religion run wild, weather gone haywire, privacy under siege and other coming bad times. The majestic sweep and sense of purpose recall U2 or Springsteen, neither of whom ever achieved the Cure-like intimacy that comes so naturally to these indie community builders, a seven-piece band that makes joyous noise out of fear and foreboding. 5 Kanye West Graduation (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) Graduation wasn't as revelatory as Yeezy's first two records, which redefined hip-hop's borders. This one was merely the year's most high-impact work, full of Daft Punk samples, Jay-Z samples, flashy disco, a Lil Wayne cameo, hooks galore and catchy rhymes that mixed self-examination and high-life swagger. By now, complaints about Kanye's arrogance seem totally passé Not only is his braggadocio justified, it seems his ego leads him to work as hard as any pop musician out there, and fruits of that effort are both his and ours to enjoy. 6 Radiohead In Rainbows (inrainbows.com) The steal of 2007 — a lot of folks spent more for a gallon of gas than they were willing to pay for downloading this album — was already one of the highlights of 2006, when Radiohead debuted much of In Rainbows in concert, including the gnarled-riff riot "Bodysnatchers," the circular tension of "Nude" and "Videotape," with Thom Yorke's haunted voice and piano tangled in stumbling percussion and emotional rewind. Radiohead haven't sounded this aggressive and infuriated — so rock & roll — since OK Computer, an achievement that will be worth the usual retail price when In Rainbows comes out on CD in January. 7 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver (Capitol/DFA) This is the kind of album where your favorite song changes week to week. Is it the punk-funk political goof "North American Scum"? Or is it "Someone Great," which mourns a dead relationship with a startlingly sincere electropop tribute to the Human League? How about "All My Friends," where piano, guitars and synths build into a hotblooded epic on the scale of David Bowie's "Heroes"? All over SoS, rhythms turn into hooks and hooks turn into beats, until there is no difference between the two. LCD's James Murphy has always been a studio whiz, but even his biggest fans never dreamed he'd make a masterpiece like this. 8 Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight (Warner Bros.) The big, bright pop-rock record these ex-indie-rockers always had in them, Under the Blacklight found Jenny Lewis cooing seductively and belting out manicured choruses amid meaty, danceable beats and stylistic flourishes like Latin bounce and horn sections. The music was as inviting as you'd expect from a band dubbed the new Fleetwood Mac, but there was darkness in Lewis' lyrics — this is an album with four songs about dangerous sex (the one about prostitution doubles as a selling-out parable). The whole package suggested talented young people out to reach a bigger audience without leaving their brains behind. In that, they succeeded. 9 Against Me! New Wave (Sire) On this major-label debut, these Florida punks truly capitalize on the righteous anger they have long been known for, turning out tight, gloriously propulsive raveups that aren't afraid to be a little catchy. Though Tom Gabel's wordy, throat-shredding bellow suggests emo-punk bloodletting, his songs are simply better than almost anything you'd hear on Warped Tour. And while longtime fans thought the band's major-label deal reeked of corporate compromise, Gabel delivers a load of agitprop that is anything but tepid — including the meta-anthemic protest anthem "White People for Peace" and "Stop!" a barnburner about getting off your ass and making a difference that cribs from Dolly Parton's "Jolene." 10 Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) Spoon are an indie-rock band only in the most literal sense. They record for an independent label and know what it's like to be kicked around and thrown away by a major. But the dirty-twang, pop-hook pow of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is gloriously commercial. Singer-guitarist Britt Daniel has more than a little '67-Beatles maniac in him, peppering his songs here with koto, flamenco guitar and mariachi brass. In fact, for a Texas band, Spoon sound a lot like the very British, mid-Eighties XTC — with the right amount of gravel in their paisley. 11 John Fogerty Revival (Fantasy) The Creedence man has never lost his most sustaining strength, which is the warmth and grit of his voice. He might be the most universally beloved living American rocker of the Sixties, simply because something in that voice speaks to us of endurance, compassion, digging in for the long haul. You can hear that all over Revival, especially in "Creedence Song," where he sings about making peace with his cantankerous past. "You can't go wrong/If you play a little bit of that Creedence song" — can't argue with that. And when he snarls about the government, he reminds you he's still the guy who wrote "Fortunate Son" and "Don't Look Now." 12 Bright Eyes Cassadaga (Saddle Creek) Twenty-seven-year-old Conor Oberst has been honing his craft since thirteen, and this was the record we'd all been waiting for him to make: a magnum opus with songs about love, self-medication and alienation, plus loads of mandolin, fiddle and rambling Americana, Cassadaga was both sprawling and largely bullshit-free. From the apocalyse-heralding hoedown "Four Winds" to "Cleanse Song," a painfully gorgeous meditation on a friend's addiction, Oberst's loose, memorable tunes and lyrics about crises both personal and global are consistently engaging — the work of a Major Artist digging deep and trusting his instincts. 13 Lily Allen Alright Still (Capitol) A showbiz kid singing pop ditties with cheerful Jamaican and New Orleans underpinnings in a talky, tuneful, disarmingly normal-sounding voice, Lily Allen is no formal original. Her low-gloss production could even be called trad. Yet there's never been anyone like her. By now we've seen plenty of girls who stick up for themselves with some cheek. But they're generally either wildly defiant like Courtney or too ready to compromise like Missy. Allen knows female pride has become a round-the-way attitude — a simple fact of life. Every one of these eleven memorable songs has the same sense of inevitability. 14 Gogol Bordello Super Taranta! (Side One Dummy) Ukrainian-born Eugene Hutz tours as if the world was America and his immigrant band was the JB's. Gogol Bordello's second straight masterwork proves again that you needn't rock the classics to celebrate your sacred European heritage. Their intercontinental funk claims Gypsy roots, with violin and accordion swallowing guitar. Like Arcade Fire, their fiercely articulated music turns the mess of the world into rage and joy. Unlike Arcade Fire, they're out to steal your girlfriend. Or boyfriend. 15 Common Finding Forever (Geffen) The high point is "The People," an epistemological investigation of hustling that connects balling to the everyday struggle of being black in America. But with Kanye producing most tracks and guest shots from D'Angelo and Lily Allen, this blast of sunshine and soul has plenty more highs. To be continued

Vladimir Putin His final year as Russia's President has been his most successful yet. At home, he secured his political future. Abroad, he expanded his outsize—if not always benign—influence on global affairs . Why We Chose Putin In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower, juggled its pride in hosting next summer's Olympic Games with its embarrassment at shipping toxic toys around the world; and when J.K. Rowling set millions of minds and hearts on fire with the final volume of her 17-year saga—one nation that had fallen off our mental map, led by one steely and determined man, emerged as a critical linchpin of the 21st century. Russia lives in history—and history lives in Russia. Throughout much of the 20th century, the Soviet Union cast an ominous shadow over the world. It was the U.S.'s dark twin. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia receded from the American consciousness as we became mired in our own polarized politics. And it lost its place in the great game of geopolitics, its significance dwarfed not just by the U.S. but also by the rising giants of China and India. That view was always naive. Russia is central to our world—and the new world that is being born. It is the largest country on earth; it shares a 2,600-mile (4,200 km) border with China; it has a significant and restive Islamic population; it has the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and a lethal nuclear arsenal; it is the world's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia; and it is an indispensable player in whatever happens in the Middle East. For all these reasons, if Russia fails, all bets are off for the 21st century. And if Russia succeeds as a nation-state in the family of nations, it will owe much of that success to one man, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. No one would label Putin a child of destiny. The only surviving son of a Leningrad factory worker, he was born after what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War, in which they lost more than 26 million people. The only evidence that fate played a part in Putin's story comes from his grandfather's job: he cooked for Joseph Stalin, the dictator who inflicted ungodly terrors on his nation. When this intense and brooding KGB agent took over as President of Russia in 2000, he found a country on the verge of becoming a failed state. With dauntless persistence, a sharp vision of what Russia should become and a sense that he embodied the spirit of Mother Russia, Putin has put his country back on the map. And he intends to redraw it himself. Though he will step down as Russia's President in March, he will continue to lead his country as its Prime Minister and attempt to transform it into a new kind of nation, beholden to neither East nor West. TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse. It is ultimately about leadership—bold, earth-changing leadership. Putin is not a boy scout. He is not a democrat in any way that the West would define it. He is not a paragon of free speech. He stands, above all, for stability—stability before freedom, stability before choice, stability in a country that has hardly seen it for a hundred years. Whether he becomes more like the man for whom his grandfather prepared blinis—who himself was twice TIME's Person of the Year—or like Peter the Great, the historical figure he most admires; whether he proves to be a reformer or an autocrat who takes Russia back to an era of repression—this we will know only over the next decade. At significant cost to the principles and ideas that free nations prize, he has performed an extraordinary feat of leadership in imposing stability on a nation that has rarely known it and brought Russia back to the table of world power. For that reason, Vladimir Putin is TIME's 2007 Person of the Year.

This thread is dedicate to Paolo Maldini Maldini to draw career to a close AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini has announced that he will retire from football at the end of the season, ending one of the most decorated careers in recent times. World triumph The 39-year-old defender revealed his decision following Milan's 4-2 triumph against CA Boca Juniors to lift the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. Following the game, which resulted in his 26th honour with Milan, he said: "This victory is so great because it's really hard to play with a great team like Milan when you are 39 years old like me. No regrets "This club have always given me the possibility to play for important trophies and today I feel very satisfied with what I have done. I can quit playing without any regrets or sorrow. I have had all the things I could ask for in my career," added Italy's most capped international, with 126 appearances to his name prior to his last outing in 2002. Glittering career Maldini has lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup five times – during a career that began with his debut in 1985 – the most recent of which being last May's 2-1 win against Liverpool FC in Athens. Now in his 23rd campaign, he has appeared a record 604 times in Serie A, scoring 28 goals and winning the Italian title on seven occasions. He also won five UEFA Super Cups, one Italian Cup, four Italian Super Cups and three world club titles. Milan will retire Maldini's No3 shirt at the end of this season but it could be seen again if one of his sons makes the senior side, something that is a possibility with his eldest, Christian, part of the Rossoneri's youth squad. Ancelotti praise "I'm proud of being part of a club that always win something important," Maldini continued. "I'll quit playing next June but until that moment I will enjoy every match I play even if I feel pain in my knee, but I won't postpone my retirement." Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti added: "Maldini has shown what a great champion he is today. He is 39 and has returned to play on the left flank without problems. This shows his personality. Players like him give confidence to the whole team." ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved. <DIV id=secondaryContent>

AC Milan beat Boca Juniors 4-2 today to become the first European winners of the FIFA Club World Cup. A double from Filippo Inzaghi and goals from Alessandro Nesta and Kaka earned the Italians a deserved victory at the International Stadium in Yokohama, where a sell-out crowd was treated to a fitting climax to a thrilling tournament. It took Carlo Ancelotti's side 21 minutes to make the breakthrough. Kaka drove at the Boca defence and after his shot was blocked, he instinctively and superbly drove the ball into the path of Inzaghi, who did not require a second invitation to slot the ball home from six yards. From the restart, though, Boca quickly moved the ball up the other end and Rodrigo Palacio nodded home to level the scores. Play resumed at a frenetic pace following the interval and within five minutes, Nesta's stunning volley restored Milan's advantage. A couple of menacing runs from the lively Kaka threatened to add to their lead, while only the post denied Hugo Ibarra a superb, long-range equaliser. With Kaka in inspirational form, though, Milan began to dominate proceedings and it was the Brazilian who made it 3-1 just after the hour mark, slotting through the goalkeeper's legs from a tight angle after a purposeful charge down the left flank. The 25-year-old, a candidate to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award at tomorrow's Gala, then supplied a second goal for Inzaghi in the 71st minute. A Massimo Ambrosini own goal reduced the deficit with time running out, but the day belonged to AC Milan, who succeeded where the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United (both 2000), Liverpool (2005) and Barcelona (2006) had failed. Viva Milan:D

Albums I need more information on: Kiki Pau - In Your Bedroom Vesta Varro - Exit Here Vesta Varro- Exit Here was released on 8th June 2007

I also like Silversun Pickups but their album Cranavas released on 2006 not 2007, tell me if it ok to put it because I will put it too:)

My List 1- Linkin Park- Minutes To Midnight 2- Serji Tankian- Elect The Dead 3- Editors- An End Has a Start 4- Interpol- Our Love To Admire 5- Arcade Fire- Neon Bible 6- Jimmy Eat World- Chase This Light 7- Radiohead- In Rinbow 8- Athlete- Beyond The Neighbourhood 9- The Killer- Sawdust 10- Kenna- Make Sure The See My Face

You mean the faster British army get out of Iraq, the worst