Jerry Curl

Sen. John McCain on Friday announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, calling her "the running mate who can best help me shake up Washington." "She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second," the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Dayton, Ohio, rally of about 15,000 supporters, who welcomed the surprise pick of the relatively unknown politician with cheers and flags. "She's got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today," McCain said. Palin, 44, told the crowd, "To have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give and I promise nothing less." Palin is a first-term governor who unseated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2006 and went on to defeat former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in

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Bryan Thomas as featured on We Love Guys .

By Pat Bagley

Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket , Mr. Obama announced in text and e-mail messages early Saturday. The choice reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his résumé, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change. Mr. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is familiar with foreign leaders and diplomats around the world. Although he initially voted to authorize the war in Iraq — Mr. Obama opposed it from the start — Mr. Biden became a persistent critic of President George W. Bush’s policies in Iraq. --> File this under day-old news. Sorry about that, kids. I found out via text message at 4am on Saturday but haven't been around a computer all weekend. But

Former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards admitted to an extramarital affair in an interview with ABC News , the network reported Friday. He denied being the father of the woman's child, as had been alleged in tabloid reports. Speaking to the network for a story to be aired Friday night, Edwards acknowledged the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, which began after she was hired to make documentary videos for his campaign, ABC said. He said he has not taken a paternity test, but that the timing of the affair rules out the possibility that he could be her baby girl's father. A former campaign aide has publicly said he fathered the child. Edwards, 55, of North Carolina, told ABC that his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members have known about the affair since 2006. (Via CNN )

By Harry Harrison

--> Tblisi, Georgia : Georgia's president said today that his country is under attack by Russian tanks and warplanes, and he accused Russia of targeting civilians as tensions over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia appeared to boil over into full-blown conflict. "All day today, they've been bombing Georgia from numerous warplanes and specifically targeting (the) civilian population, and we have scores of wounded and dead among (the) civilian population all around the country," President Mikhail Saakashvili told CNN in an exclusive interview. Asked whether Georgia and Russia were now at war, he said, "My country is in self-defense against Russian aggression. Russian troops invaded Georgia." --> Islamabad, Pakistan : President Pervez Musharraf will stage a spirited defense against impeachment charges the governing coalition is pursuing against him, and has no intention of resigning under pressure , his key allies said today. Mr. Musharraf, w

An ecstatic China, an ancient nation so determined to be a modern power, finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night. With world leaders watching from inside the latticed shell of the National Stadium, the 2008 Beijing Olympics began with an opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will. At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month — eight being a lucky number in China — the world looked toward Beijing and the 91,000 people inside the National Stadium. The global television audience was estimated to surpass four billion people. “The historic moment we have long awaited is arriving,” President Hu Jintao said earlier Friday at a luncheon with visiting heads of state, including President Bush. “The world has never needed mutual understanding, mutual toleration and mutual cooperation as much as it does today.” (Via NYT )