SPB News for Sunday.

Behind Closed Doors: Bush Hauls In $70 Million For GOP in '08

Blogger admits Hawaii birth certificate forgery, subverting Obama claims — Posted on Photobucket and in comments attached to the Daily Kos blog post where the purported Obama birth certificate appears — Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist

Man rips head off Hitler waxwork at Berlin's Madame Tussauds

Iraqi leaders: Iraq to be plunged into 'new war' if Israel or US attacks Iran --Military action 'would destabilise Iraq' Iraq will be plunged into a new war if Israel or the US launches an attack on Iran, Iraqi leaders have warned. Iranian retaliation would take place in Iraq, said Dr Mahmoud Othman, the influential Iraqi MP... George Bush successfully requested $400m (£200m) from Congress last year to fund covert operations aimed at destabilising the Iranian leadership. The most effective of these opponent groups is the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), which enraged the Iraqi government by staging a conference last month at Camp Ashraf, north-east of Baghdad. An embarrassing aspect of the American pin-prick war against Iran is that many of its instruments were previously on the payroll of Saddam Hussein. The dissidents from Arab districts in southern Iran around Ahwaz were funded by Saddam Hussein's intelligence organisations, which orchestrated the seizure of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980 which was supposedly carried out by Arab nationalists from Iran.

SEC Plan Would Allow Shift to Foreign Rules --Bush Accounting Plan to 'Outsource Safety Standards' Federal officials say they are preparing to propose a series of regulatory changes... Critics say the changes appear to be a last-ditch push by appointees of President [sic] Bush to dilute securities rules passed after the collapse of Enron and other large companies. Legal experts, some regulators and Democratic lawmakers are concerned that the changes would put American investors at the mercy of overseas regulators who enforce weaker rules and may treat investment losses as a low priority. Foreign regulators are beyond the reach of Congress.

California's Wildfires Have Scorched 521,000 Acres California wildfires have scorched 526,707 acres (213,151 hectares) as cooler, coastal air and humidity moved into some areas, prompting hope among firefighters that the shift will help tamp down blazes.

McCain adviser Charlie Black defended Helms’ racially-motivated ad.
As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, the late-Sen. Jesse Helms’ ran an ad in his 1990 Senate campaign that preyed on people’s fears about affirmative action. The Politico reports that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) senior adviser Charlie Black, who was advising Helms at the time, strongly defended the ad. When asked if there was anything improper about the ad on the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, Black said, “Of course not.” “Do you approve of that ad, Charlie,” a guest pressed. Black responded, “I advised Jesse Helms to do what he’s always done.” “[T]here is nothing racial about the campaign,” Black added.