Vincent Feli Boy’s Blog

WASHINGTON - President Bush and Democrats controlling Congress continued on course toward a veto confrontation Tuesday as Bush said he would veto any attempt to add a popular veteran benefits bill to his $108 billion war funding request. Bush’s hard line in a Rose Garden news conference could virtually assure a veto of the hotly contested war funding bill. Democrats are likely to add extended unemployment benefits and new education funding for post-Sept. 11 veterans to the war funding bill, along with a few other add-ons.

When asked about the popular plan to increase education benefits for troops returning from Iraq, however, Bush held firm. “I made my position very clear to Congress and I will not accept a supplemental over $108 billion or a supplemental that micromanages the war, ties the hands of our commanders,” Bush said. “We will work with Congress on these veterans’ benefits …. But the $108 billion is $108 billion.” The hard line came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top congressional leaders held a rally for the Iraq war veterans measure on the West Front of the Capitol.

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Marissa says: “OK. Sorry I went MIA, but it has been a crazy week! First things first. We were able to go to a 3D place and see our baby! He is doing well and looks like Judah! I am so excited to meet him I can’t take it! Back to dance land… TWO Dances this week. It has made my mind go insane.

I am doing the SEXY RUMBA and The HOT TANGO. The last 6 couples shot the TV Guide cover this weekend But only the final 5 couples actually get on the cover! So VOTE VOTE VOTE! I can’t believe we have made it this far. Tony is pushing me so hard it’s crazy. I never thought I would be able to do half of the things he gets me to do! It’s soooooo much fun! Here are some cool photos from the week!”.

Honoured post: read there

NEW YORK (AP) - Owen Schmitt, one of the most popular West Virginia University football players in recent memory, is going to be a Seahawk. Schmitt was selected by Seattle in the fifth round of the NFL draft. The one-time walk-on was selected with the 163rd pick overall. The 6-foot-3, 260-pound fullback with a smoothed-down mohawk haircut rose from walk-on to one of the toughest, hardest-hitting players in college football.

He broke at least 10 of his own face masks. Schmitt finished his stellar career in style, rumbling a career-high 57 yards for a touchdown in a Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma in January. • West Virginia University running back Steve Slaton is heading to Texas.

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Another AFC personnel man said he has a much lower grade on Ryan than he did the top three quarterbacks in the 2004 draft - Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. “The numbers show that you’ve only got about a 24 percent chance of hitting above that first line, which is the Manning-Rivers class,” he said. “I don’t see Ryan in their class. It scares me that he could be Alex Smith, Joey Harrington, David Carr, Rick Mirer or Ryan Leaf. I don’t think it’s a situation where, if you draft him, you’re getting Eli Manning. You may have him.

But then again, you may have Joey Harrington. “This guy is not as good as Brady Quinn. Brady’s got a better demeanor. This guy is too perfect. In his interview with us, he tried so hard to impress upon us that he’s the best [quarterback] coming out since Peyton [Manning].

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Students around the country won’t be speaking up this Friday. The “Day of Silence,” sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), is honoring Lawrence “Larry” King, a 15-year-old gay teen who was shot and killed in his Oxnard, Calif., classroom in February. Students from more than 6,500 schools have registered with GLSEN to participate.

To show support for hate crime victims, they’ll remain quiet throughout the day. The annual event gained new visibility with a celebrity endorsement. “What are you going to do to end the silence?” gay singer Lance Bass asked in a public service announcement released last week. “Whoever they are, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, these students will take action because they believe that the bullying and harassment must end.

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Their friendship developed when Marcus played on Jones’ all-star team. A year later, Marcus spent the summer at the Jones house with Ken, his wife, Peri, and son, Casey, who was the same age as Marcus. After spending the summer with them, Marcus asked them to be his godparents in case something happened to his grandmother.

With the blessing of his grandparents, just before Marcus’ 11th birthday, Ken and Peri became his legal guardians. Jones, the head custodian at Pepperell High School, maintains an auto body shop with his father. Peri works at the nearby primary school. To them, Marcus is a son. He calls them Mom and Pop.

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The firm raised the money from investors including the Washington State Investment Board and GE Asset Management, Warburg Pincus said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The New York- based firm surpassed the $12 billion target for the new fund, which is almost twice as big as its previous $8 billion pool. Warburg Pincus raised the money after the surge in U.S. subprime mortgage defaults roiled the credit markets that private equity firms depend on for loans to finance their deals.

Banks are still struggling to clear a backlog of about $230 billion in LBO debt they’ve committed to finance, damping their interest in funding takeovers. ”The firm is well-positioned to perform, particularly in light of today’s turbulent market conditions,” Joseph Dear, executive director of the Washington State Investment Board, said in today’s statement. Buyout firms announced $89 billion of takeovers this year, about a third as much as in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Published Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 4:02 p.m. BAGHDAD - Followers of hardline cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raised the stakes Sunday in the showdown with Iraq’s government, refusing to disband their militia. The U.S. military said 40 Shiite militants were killed in fierce fighting in southern Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, assured visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he will not back down in his confrontation with Shiite militias, even as mortar shells fired from Shiite areas struck the U.S.-protected Green Zone. In a sign of that resolve, Iraqi soldiers took control Sunday of the last stronghold of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in the southern city of Basra, where an Iraqi offensive last month triggered the current wave of Shiite fighting. Al-Maliki, a Shiite, has demanded that al-Sadr disband his Mahdi Army, the country’s biggest Shiite militia, or his followers will not be allowed to run in provincial elections this fall.

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WASHINGTON - The White House defended its $108 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Wednesday, only to be upbraided by senators in both parties for taking a hard line against efforts to add money for domestic programs. At a sometimes combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, White House budget director Jim Nussle chided lawmakers for a “sky-is-the-limit mind-set” regarding “the desire of some in Congress to load up this troop funding bill with tens of billions in additional spending.” Democrats and Republicans alike questioned why U.S. taxpayers should provide an additional $2.9 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq at the same time the Iraqi government’s coffers are overflowing with revenues because of record oil prices.

“Here is a country that’s making billions of dollars at our expense and yet we pay for their reconstruction,” said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. “I’m going to have a very difficult time going home and telling the people of Idaho that we’re going to spend their money while Iraqi money is drawing interest in some bank somewhere in the world,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., noted reports of rampant waste and corruption in Iraqi government ministries and suggested that the Iraqi government match any U.S. reconstruction funds provided in the upcoming war funding bill.

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Bush is requesting $108.1 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30, in addition to the $70 billion Congress approved late last year.

Lawmakers added about $17 billion in domestic spending in approving those war funds. “A bill to fund our troops that are serving in harm’s way should not be transformed into a vehicle for lawmakers to fund domestic programs,” Nussle told the Senate Appropriations Committee. His stand may spark a clash with Democratic leaders, who have suggested using the measure to help stimulate the economy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, favors adding spending for summer-job programs, unemployment benefits and infrastructure spending. Panel chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said he will add spending for roads, bridges and airports to the bill and criticized what he called Bush’s willingness to “reconstruct Baghdad” while refusing to spend “one thin dime” at home.

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