Oh, Snap!

WASHINGTON (CNN) – GOP congressional leader John Boehner is brushing off President Obama’s recent joke about Boehner’s famously permanent tan.

At the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner a week ago, the country’s first African-American president said he had “a lot in common” with Boehner who is Caucasian. “He is a person of color,” Obama joked before a massive ballroom of celebrities and Washington journalists. “Although not a color that appears in the natural world,” Obama added, barely able to keep his composure as he delivered the dig.

“As I tell my friends, you only tease the ones you love,” Boehner said responding to Obama Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“Yeah, I enjoy being outside,” Boehner added, trying to explain his persistently tanned appearance.

“I’d rather be heckled than ignored,” the Ohio Republican told CNN’s John King.

Tainted Blood

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Ethiopian immigrant with a history of mental health problems is in custody after being accused of mailing a letter with HIV-tainted blood to Barack Obama when he was president-elect, according to court records.

Saad Bedrie Hussein told investigators that he is an admirer of Obama and that the letter -- containing his photo, an admission ticket to Obama's election night victory party in Chicago's Grant Park and six index cards containing writing and reddish stains -- was his way of seeking government help and tickets to Obama's inauguration.

Hussein, who has HIV, said he "purposely cut one of his fingers with a razor so he could bleed on the letter," according to an affidavit by Terry L. Cullivan, an investigator with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The letter, postmarked December 27 and written in an Ethiopian language, was addressed to Obama at the Illinois Department on Aging in Springfield, Illinois. When the letter was opened two days later, it was found to contain an orange powder, Cullivan said. A state employee then took the letter to another state office, resulting in a two-hour lockdown of the building, affecting more than 300 people, the affidavit says.

During an interview, Hussein was unable to remember what the orange powder was, but tests revealed it to be a drink-mix powder, the affidavit says.

According to the affidavit, during a December 29 interview, Hussein denied mailing any additional letters.

But, the affidavit said, two days later, the Illinois Department of Revenue notified him it had received two similar letters, both with Hussein's return address. One was addressed to the Illinois Department on Aging, and the second to "Emanuel," which investigators believe was intended for Obama aide Rahm Emanuel. Both letters contained what appeared to be dried blood and an orange powder.

The criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Illinois alleges that Hussein "knowingly mailed" the letters containing HIV-infected blood "with the intent to kill or injure another."

In January, a federal judge ordered a mental evaluation of Hussein, saying "there is reasonable cause to believe [Hussein] may ... be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent [and] unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him."

According to court records, Hussein was arrested March 29, 2006, by Chicago police after setting a fire in the middle of a Chicago intersection, waving a Quran in the air and yelling "Allah[u] Akbar" -- Allah is great -- and other words. Hussein "created a standstill in the traffic and refused to comply" with police commands, Cullivan's affidavit says.

Hussein's attorney, public defender Robert J. Scherschlight, could not immediately be reached for comment.

U.S. Postal Service Inspector Peter Rendina said this is the second known case in which a person is alleged to have sent HIV-tainted blood through the mail for malicious reasons. In the other case, which is ongoing, a man sent blood to a person he thought was a business associate.

- original article -

Attacking Chimp A Neighbor of Mine

This is the town next to mine; Stamford, Connecticut, that this took place:
STAMFORD, Conn. – A 175-pound chimpanzee kept as a pet was shot and killed by a police officer Monday after it attacked a woman visiting its owners’ home, leaving her with serious facial injuries, authorities said.
The injured woman, described by police as in her 50s, was taken to a hospital; her condition and identity were not immediately available. The 15-year-old chimpanzee’s owner and two officers also were hurt, though police said the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
The Advocate of Stamford reported on its Web site Monday night that the primate’s owner called 911 and tried to stop the chimp from attacking the woman by stabbing it with a butcher knife.
As emergency crews arrived to treat the victim, the chimpanzee — named Travis — revived and opened the door of a police cruiser. The officer inside fired several shots, killing the chimp, The Advocate reported. (AP)
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Clinic specialists evaluate woman in chimp attack
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Clinic says it may take up to a week to evaluate the injuries a Connecticut woman suffered when a friend's pet chimpanzee mauled her.
The hospital said in a statement Friday that 55-year-old Charla Nash is in critical but stable condition with injuries described as "severe trauma to her face, scalp and hands."
She's being evaluated by a team of plastic surgeons, nurses and eye and bone specialists.
In the statement, her family thanked the medical team and asked for privacy.
Nash was attacked Monday at her friend's home in Stamford, Conn., and was flown to the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday.
Two months ago, the Clinic performed the first face transplant in the U.S.
Hospital officials haven't said if Nash will be a candidate for a face transplant.
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Related News Item: Rupert Murdoch apologizes for chimp cartoon.

Saturday Night Live: Obama Plays It Cool

"This Is Your Victory"

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America..

Rest on this video: