from U.S. News & World Report

There could be a brand of Bush 101 taught in business schools soon if James Hoopes, the Murata Professor of Ethics in Business at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., gets his way. Just last week, he landed a publisher for Hail to the CEO: The Failure of George W. Bush and the Cult of Moral Leadership. His premise: President Bush, a Harvard University M.B.A. grad, is proof that business schools focus more on leadership than on management. Bush, he says, “talks about values like freedom and democracy in Iraq and tries to pep up his subordinates during Katrina,” like when he told ex-disaster chief Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” But, he adds, Bush “doesn’t do nearly enough managerial work such as planning for the postwar occupation of Iraq or getting the supplies to New Orleans.”

read more at U.S. News & World Report

from Media Matters

On the May 3 edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer observed that Washington is “no stranger to sex scandals,” then provided viewers with examples of scandals involving only Democrats. During the segment, Blitzer was discussing the “DC Madam” scandal that has already led to the resignation of Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias, the first director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Blitzer listed three sex scandals: former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky (1998), former Sen. Gary Hart’s (D-CO) liaison with Donna Rice (1987), and former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills’ (D-AR) involvement with Fanne Foxe (1974). But there have also been numerous — and more recent — sex scandals involving Republicans. For example:

* On September 29, 2006, then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned after ABC News asked him about sexually explicit instant messages to underage former congressional pages. The messages, according to ABC News, were “provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.” The House Ethics Committee later decided not to take any disciplinary action against members of the House leadership who had known of emails sent by Foley to former pages, as these were found to be not quite as explicit as the instant messages. One former page, however, described those emails as “sick sick sick sick sick.”

* In 1999, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-GA) “long-term” affair with congressional aide Callista Bisek — whom he later married — was revealed while he was seeking a divorce from his second wife. In March 2007, Gingrich confessed to the affair.

* In December 1998, during impeachment proceedings against Clinton stemming from the Lewinsky affair, then-House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston (R-LA) admitted to having an extramarital affair. Two days later, Livingston announced he would not seek the speakership and that he would resign from the House in mid-1999. He resigned in March 1999.

* In a November 22, 1992, article, The Washington Post reported that then-Sen. Robert Packwood (R-OR) had made numerous “uninvited sexual advances to women who have worked for him or with him.” Investigations revealed more incidents of sexual harassment and also exposed Packwood’s secret personal diaries. Packwood eventually resigned from the Senate on October 1, 1995, after the Senate Ethics Committee voted unanimously to expel him.

read more at Media Matters

By HAMID AHMED, Associated Press Writer

Two suicide car bombers attacked a market and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramadi, killing at least 20 people and dealing a blow to recent U.S. claims of success in reclaiming the Sunni city from insurgents.

The violence came a day after roadside bombs killed eight American soldiers, including six who died in a single blast in the surrounding province of Diyala. The mounting U.S. casualty toll highlights the dangers facing troops as they take to the streets more as part of a security crackdown in the Baghdad area.

The first attack targeted a public market about noon northwest of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing 10 civilians and wounding about 30, police said.

About 15 minutes later, another bomber detonated his vehicle at a nearby police checkpoint, killing five police officers and five bystanders and wounding 10 others, police said.

The U.S. military has struggled for years to secure Ramadi, the capital of the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province.

The city has shown recent signs of calming, with whole neighborhoods being walled off and military units moving off the major bases and establishing smaller U.S.-Iraqi posts in the most violent areas downtown. But the violence has continued as insurgents fight back for control.

Violence also has surged north of Baghdad, where militants have fled the security crackdown in Baghdad that began on Feb. 14.

A bombing and an ambush in Baqouba, a Sunni insurgent stronghold northeast of Baghdad, killed two soldiers and two policemen Monday as militants apparently step up a campaign against Iraqi security forces.

Read more at YAHOO!

from Yahoo!

French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy plans to waste no time pushing through a weighty package of pro-market, anti-crime reforms - but the first battle is winning a majority in parliament in new elections next month.

Sarkozy, a pro-American conservative and an immigrant’s son, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53.06 percent to 46.94 percent with an 85 percent voter turnout, according to final results released early Monday.

The win gave Sarkozy a strong mandate for his vision of France’s future: He wants to free up labor markets, calls France’s 35-hour work week “absurd” and plans tougher measures on crime and immigration.

“The people of France have chosen change,” Sarkozy told cheering supporters in a victory speech that sketched out a stronger global role for France and renewed partnership with the United States.

read more at YAHOO!

Here are a few stories you may have missed over the weekend.

Cancer Survivor, 75, Skis To The North Pole

NEW YORK - The bone-numbing trek to the North Pole is riddled with enough perils to make a seasoned explorer quake: Frostbite threatens, polar bears loom and the ice is constantly shifting beneath frozen feet.

But Barbara Hillary took it all in stride, completing the trek to the world’s northernmost point last month at the age of 75. She is one of the oldest people to reach the North Pole, and is believed to be the first black woman on record to accomplish the feat.

Hillary, of Averne, N.Y., grew up in Harlem and devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism. At 67 and during retirement, she battled lung cancer. Five years later, she went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba.

Dead Sea Drying Up

Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians are slowly pushing through the tangle of their disputes and suspicions in a race to save a biblical and ecological treasure, the Dead Sea.

The famously salty sea, which lies at Earth’s lowest point, is shrinking. It has receded by some three feet a year for the past 25 years, and Jordan and Israel warn that if the trend continues, it will vanish by 2050 along with its unique ecosystem, defeated by river diversions, mineral extraction and natural reasons, like evaporation.

A crucial project to boost the water level by piping in water from the Red Sea has long been held up by disputes between Israel and its Palestinian and Jordanian neighbors.

New Spider-Man Movie Smashes Record

Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero’s latest adventure, “Spider-Man 3,” smashed box-office records with $148 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6 million set last summer by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony’s “Spider-Man 3″ broke the single-day box-office record, also held by “Dead Man’s Chest” with $55.8 million in its first day.

Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, “Spider-Man 3″ has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film’s worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.

In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002’s “Spider-Man,” which had held the debut record until “Dead Man’s Chest” opened.

Roger Clemens Returns Yet Again

Roger Clemens returned to the New York Yankees, making a dramatic announcement to fans from the owner’s box during Sunday’s game against the Seattle Mariners.

At the end of the seventh-inning stretch, Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans to turn their attention to the box, where Clemens was standing with a microphone. As the video scoreboard in right-center showed Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner made the announcement himself.

“Well, they came and got me out of Texas and I can tell you it’s a privilege to be back,” Clemens said. “I’ll be talking to y’all soon.”

Clemens, who will turn 45 in August, agreed to a $28 million, one-year contract that will start when he is added to the major league roster, most likely in three to four weeks.

Naked Man Superglued To Exercise Bicycle

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday.

SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg.

“The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut,” SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911, as saying.

The man was rescued about three hours later when his partner arrived home, SAPA said.

Doctor Finds Spiders In Boys Ear

ALBANY, Ore. - These guys weren’t exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop. What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy’s ear - “like Rice Krispies” - ended up as an earache, and the doctor’s diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.

“They were walking on my eardrums,” Jesse Courtney said.

One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader’s left ear canal. His mother, Diane Courtney, said her son insisted he kept hearing a faint popping in his ear - “like Rice Krispies.”

Dr. David Irvine said it looked like the boy had something in his ear when he examined him.

When he irrigated the ear, the first spider came out, dead. The other spider took a second dousing before it emerged, still alive. Both were about the size of a pencil eraser.

Jesse was given the spiders - now both dead - as a souvenir. He has taken them to school and his mother has taken them to work.

“It was real interesting, ’cause, two spiders in my ear - what next?” Jesse said.

Have a great week!

Jimmy