Former Titan Star QB - Steve McNair Found Shot to Death

DEVELOPING: Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was killed Saturday in a shooting in Nashville.

A medical examiner confirmed to local FOX affiliate WZTV that McNair was found dead after police responded to a shooting in the city, though the circumstances of the shooting weren't immediately clear, as Nashville police continue to investigate.

McNair, 36, played 13 seasons in the NFL, most of them with the Tennessee Titans organization, which he joined when the team was still the Houston Oilers. He led the Titans to the Super Bowl in 2000, but lost the game to the St. Louis Rams.

Titans owner Bud Adams issued a brief statement Saturday, calling McNair "one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl."

McNair went to the Pro Bowl four times, and in 2003, he was named league co-MVP, along with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. McNair spent his final two years in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens before retiring in 2008. - FOX News

Colin Powell not Thrilled With Obama's Spending Habits

Colin Powell, who broke ranks with the Republican Party last year to endorse Barack Obama, now worries that the president's agenda is increasing the size of government and the federal debt to alarming levels.

"I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," the former secretary of state told CNN in an interview to air Sunday.

Powell offered the president some standard Republican advice:

"The right answer is, give me a government that works, keep it as small as possible," said Powell, who said he stays in touch with Obama and has spoken to him recently.

Obama wants to overhaul the health care system and take on climate change while also helping the country emerge from the recession.

"I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the president -- and I've talked to some of his people about this -- is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all. And we can't pay for it all," Powell said.

"And I never would have believed that we would have budgets that are running into the multi-trillions of dollars, and we are amassing a huge, huge national debt that, if we don't pay for in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great grandchildren will have to pay for it."

It's not a new theme for Powell.

He complained about the government's size and intrusiveness in his 1996 speech to the Republican National Convention. He said then that the nation no longer could afford more entitlements, higher taxes and more bureaucracy. In the interview with CNN's "State of the Union" that is to air Sunday, Powell said he hasn't changed his mind. - FOX News Story

Supreme Court Nominee in Cross Hairs over Discrimination Suits

WASHINGTON - A civil rights group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the 1980s brought several discrimination lawsuits that sought to scrap the results of job tests because too few Hispanics scored well, according to new documents that are fueling GOP criticism of the judge.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund represented Hispanic sanitation workers in New York City who wanted to stop white employees from getting promotions because, they argued, the qualifying exam unfairly disadvantaged minorities. The case unfolded as Sotomayor chaired the organization's board of directors' litigation committee, although there is no evidence that she had any role in the group's decision to participate in the lawsuits, or in formulating or drafting any of their legal arguments.

Still, the case bears strong similarities to a much-discussed case Sotomayor ruled on last year as a federal appeals court judge, which involved the reverse discrimination claims of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who sued after the city threw out its promotion test because too few minorities qualified. A panel she joined ruled against the white firefighters in the case, Ricci v. DeStefano. The Supreme Court reversed the decision last Monday.

The sanitation workers' case and similar ones -- including a series of lawsuits against the New York City Police Department that ultimately resulted in the department consulting with a PRLDEF expert in drafting its job tests -- are detailed in hundreds of pages of new material the group sent the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday. The documents were placed on the committee's Web site. - FOX News Story

North Korea Continues Defiance of UN and Lack of Obama Response

North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.

The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

A senior State Department official told FOX News there is "no reason to doubt these reports we're all seeing."

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday, a fourth around noon and three more in the afternoon. The Defense Ministry said that the missiles were ballistic and are believed to have flown more than 250 miles.

"Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile. North Korea's Scuds are considered short-range, the South's military said. - FOX News Story

Until there is definitive and meaning action against North Korea, you can expect them to continue to show their defiance.

Obama Finding tough Fight in Court over Exec. Power

President Barack Obama’s claims of broad executive authority to carry out the war on terror are drawing fire from an unexpected source: federal judges nominated by President George W. Bush, who asserted the sweeping powers in the first place.

In recent weeks, three different Bush appointees considering cases relating to war-on-terror detainees have rejected arguments from Obama’s Justice Department, which adopted virtually unchanged the positions the Bush administration had staked out.

In each case, the Bush-appointed judge said the executive branch was overstepping its authority and claiming more powers than the law allowed.

“It took a while for the courts to turn on George Bush. Obama’s not getting that same period,” said Jonathan Turley, a liberal legal analyst at The George Washington University

. “The fact that these are Republican appointees tends to add an exclamation point to their decisions.”

“Even Republican judges are seeing through the arguments and the idea that the war on terror justified depriving prisoners of constitutional protections,” said Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The irony, of course, is that Democrats railed against Bush for what many saw as a power grab in the months and years after the Sept. 11 attacks — when Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney asserted vast executive branch authority to wage wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to hold prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. In the years since, courts from the Supreme Court on down have begun to pare back that authority, saying in several high-profile rulings that Bush overstepped his bounds.

Since taking office, Obama has adopted many of these broad claims to executive authority as he’s inherited the war on terror from the past administration — but he is now facing some of the same legal constraints that Bush began to encounter in his closing years in office, sometimes in sharply worded decisions that show some courts have decided it’s time to rein in executive power. - Politico Story

It is pretty ironic that Obama spends so much time bashing on Bush for his war on terror, then he adopts the same policy. What the heck is that?

It is only fitting that he is being thwarted by the courts, the Bush Courts. We all heard him say how he would CHANGE, well they are holding you to it. Now is the time for the two faces to morph into one, and decide what you are going to do Mr. President.

You can't preach one way, then do it the opposite. Make a decision and stick to your guns.

FOX News owns 1-10 in Top 10 Nielson Ratings

As MSNBC and CNN battle for second place, second-quarter Nielsen numbers show the network's programs now rank one through 10 in total viewers on cable news.

Since Obama came into office, Fox has continued not only winning, but doing so at unprecedented levels. As the Hollywood Reporter noted last week, the network is having its"best year yet," with the competition in the ratings shifting from not only the news networks but all of basic cable. Indeed, Fox came in 3rd this quarter, behind only USA and TNT.

Across the board, already top-rated shows are up by percentages in the 30s and 40s. But Glenn Beck, who takes aim at the administration repeatedly, is proving an even bigger draw since coming over from HLN: His 5 p.m. slot is up 110 percent from last year. Such a trend shows commentators like Beck can thrive in the opposition.

From TVNewser:

8pm - O'Reilly Factor — 3,188,000
9pm - Hannity — 2,341,000
5pm - Glenn Beck — 2,053,000
10pm - On the Record — 1,950,000
6pm - Special Report — 1,889,000
7pm - Fox Report — 1,757,000
11pm - O'Reilly Factor — 1,579,000
9am - America's Newsroom — 1,399,000
4pm - Your World — 1,389,000
3pm - Studio B — 1,169,000

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann came close to cracking the top t, having attracted 1,159,000 viewers during the second quarter. - Politico

What Now? Democrats reach 60 Votes

(CNN) -- The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate.

After the Watergate scandal in 1974, Democrats trounced Republicans in the mid-term elections, getting 61 seats in the Senate and 291 in the House.

In the Senate, they adjusted the rules to make it harder for Republicans to filibuster (reducing the magic number from 67 to 60 to invoke cloture, which ends debate). In the House, they passed all kinds of reforms to take power away from senior members and give it to junior members. And Congress mandated that the American people embrace the metric system.

The metric system idea never really caught on, and although the pain of Watergate afflicted Republicans for another two elections, they eventually pulled themselves out of their deep hole, with some good ideas and a charismatic leader, who promised to restore America to greatness.

Democrats have once again reached the magic number of 60, as Norm Coleman finally threw in the towel against the one-time joke writer for Saturday Night Live, Al Franken. - CNN Story

Is Obama's Plan really Working?

WASHINGTON -- Construction spending fell more than expected in May, a sign the problems facing the nation's builders are far from over.

The Commerce Department says construction spending dropped 0.9 percent in May, nearly double the 0.5 percent drop that economists expected. Adding to the signs of weakness, activity in the past two months was revised lower.

Construction rose 0.6 percent in April, lower than the 0.8 percent originally reported. A March increase of 0.4 percent was replaced with a decline of the same amount. That left the April gain as the only increase in the past eight months. - FOX News

Can Politics get anymore Childish than New York Politics?

One state senator's urge for a Coca Cola led to the latest fracas inside the New York State Capitol building in Albany on Tuesday.

As state Democrats convened around noon to hold a one-party session, Republican Sen. Frank Padavan of Queens walked through the chamber on a hunt for the soda machine -- a caffeine quest that would later result with him being tallied as voting with the Democrats.

Padavan reportedly claimed he was taking a short-cut to the members' lounge, but the 31 Democrats seized the opportunity to count him as their 32nd vote and unanimously passed 125 bills in three hours with Republicans absent -- the latest attempt to break the 3-week-old stalemate that has caused a power struggle in Albany.

Democrats won a majority in New York's state legislature in January following years of Republican control over the state Senate. But in an effort to toss power back to the GOP, two rebellious Democrats -- Sen. Pedro Espada of the Bronx and Sen. Hiram Monserrate of Queens -- switched parties June 8 to join the Republicans. Monserrate, however, has since rejoined the Democrats, creating a 31-31 stalemate in the Senate.

Among the bills passed Tuesday were a measure to permit Nassau County to use bonds to pay termination payments instead of laying off county workers and a proposal to increase Suffolk County's hotel-motel tax.

Republicans blasted the Democrats' inclusion of Padavan as fraudulent, while Democrats insisted the bills had been lawfully passed.

"They stooped to new lows today by conducting a mock session that they had no authority to call," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. "They resorted to fraud to justify their legitimacy and in the process impugned the reputation of a member who has served 37 years. And they have kept us from doing the people's business these last three weeks because they refuse to accept what happened on June 8th."

New York Gov. Paterson has said he will not sign any of the bills into law -- citing Padavan's seemingly unintentional presence in the chamber on Tuesday. Padavan, who has been in the state Senate for 36 years, reportedly claims he left the chamber before any bills were voted on.

"My only motive was to get in the lounge and get a Coke or cup of coffee," Padavan said in interview with Newsday. "I was not in there when the session began. To say otherwise is totally untrue." - FOX News

New York Democrats - Grow up!

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, May be the Most Ineffectual Governor in the Country

With the possible exception of Mark Sanford, it's difficult to imagine a governor in the United States who has become more ineffectual than Jim Doyle.

I'm not talking about "ineffectual" as it applies to getting his cronies in the State legislature to give him what he wants in terms of the monsterous budget that he's signing today. I'm talking about ineffecutal when it comes to things that matter to everyday people - like saving their jobs!

The statewide unemployment rate is 8.7 percent. The unemployment rate is 9 percent in the Milwaukee area, 9.2 percent in Wausau, 9.5 percent in Sheboygan and a staggering 12.9 percent in Janesville. Even in Madison, an area where employment is propped up by government jobs that almost never go away, the unemployment rate is 6.2 percent.

To put this in perspective, the Milwaukee area alone lost nearly 45,000 jobs in the last year!

The biggest problem though is that Doyle seems completely and totally unable to stop the job losses.

First, there was the decision by Thomas Industries to move 400 good paying jobs from Sheboygan for Louisianna. In this case, it appeared that Doyle couldn't even be bothered to intervene personally - choosing instead to watch high speed trains in Spain and high end golf at the Masters.

Second, there was the decision by General Motors to bail on Janesville once and for all. In contrast to the Thomas Industries debacle, Doyle did make an effort to save 1500 jobs in Janesville. Unfortunately for Janesville, it seems that Doyle was used mostly as a bargaining chip by GM to extract more concessions from Michigan.

Now comes the battle for Fond du Lac's largest employer, Mercury Marine. - 620WTMJ's Jeff Wagner

Why Pass something into Law, When you Haven't Read it?

Michael Jackson's Will

FOX News has Obtained a Copy of Michael Jackson's Will.

Click Here

Republicans Take a 2 Point Lead in Generic Balloting

Republican congressional candidates rebounded this week and pulled ahead again of Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. The last time the GOP held a lead was in early May.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 41% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 39% would choose the Democratic candidate - Rasmussen Story

Supreme Court Nominee Losing Support

A heavily publicized U.S. Supreme Court reversal of an appeals court ruling by Judge Sonia Sotomayor has at least temporarily diminished public support for President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted on the two nights following the Supreme Court decision, finds that 37% now believe Sotomayor should be confirmed while 39% disagree.

Two weeks ago, the numbers were much brighter for the nominee. At that time, 42% favored confirmation, and 34% were opposed. - Rasmussen Story

Obama's Numbers Continue Downward

Obama Polling shows More Strongly Disapporve than approve

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 31% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-three percent (33%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That matches the lowest level yet recorded (see trends).

Over the past two weeks, the Presidential Approval Index has stayed in a narrow range between +2 and -2. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 60% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. - Rasmussen Reports Story

North Korea Backing Down?

(CBS/AP) The North Korean ship Kang Nam has turned around and is heading back toward the south coast of China, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

The ship, which left a North Korean port on June 17, is the first vessel monitored under U.N. sanctions that ban the regime from selling arms and weapons-related material.

It is currently in the vicinity of the Parcel Islands 100 miles off Vietnam, Martin reports, adding that there is no specified reason as of now for why it has changed course.

"With still no long range missiles on the launch pads and no time to get them ready for a July 4 launch, it would appear the temperature is being lowered," Martin said of North Korea's threats to launch missiles at Hawaii on the U.S.'s Independence Day.

"If the ship is on its way back, it would mean that Resolution 1874 is taking effect and causing the North to retreat," Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told the Korea Herald. - CBS News Story

Ron Paul getting Support to Force Complete Audit of Federal Reserve

All of a sudden, Congress is paying close attention to Ron Paul.

The feisty congressman from Texas, whose insurgent "Ron Paul Revolution" presidential campaign rankled Republican leaders last year, now has the GOP House leadership on his side -- backing a measure that generated paltry support when he first introduced it 26 years ago.

Paul, as of Tuesday, has won 245 co-sponsors to a bill that would require a full-fledged audit of the Federal Reserve by the end of 2010. - FOX News Story

Why wouldn't you? This is a no-brainer. The absolute only reason for a no vote on this is that you know that there is something to hide.

Housing Prices Continue to Fall

Housing prices across the nation continued to decline in April, according to the benchmark S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, however the pace of decline moderated with some metro areas posting positive gains.

According to the Case-Shiller Index, home prices in the 20-city index fell 0.6% in April while home prices fell by 18.1% compared to the same period a year ago.

While a decline of home prices by 18.1% might be considered horrendous by any account, the pace of the decline has moderated considerably since record 19.4% decline in January.

“While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun; it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the committee that oversees the index, said in a statement. - Fox News Story

I find this so fascinating. Just last Month, My City decided to send everyone a letter letting us know that we have all been re-accessed. My house has grown in value by $60,000 in the past 5 years. Pretty damn good since every house in my neighborhood is selling for far less than what they paid for it in the past 5 years.

Calls Begin for Investigation on EPA Suppression of Climate Report

A top Republican senator has ordered an investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency's alleged suppression of a report that questioned the science behind global warming.

The 98-page report, co-authored by EPA analyst Alan Carlin, pushed back on the prospect of regulating gases like carbon dioxide as a way to reduce global warming. Carlin's report argued that the information the EPA was using was out of date, and that even as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased, global temperatures have declined.

"He came out with the truth. They don't want the truth at the EPA," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a global warming skeptic, told FOX News, saying he's ordered an investigation. "We're going to expose it."

The controversy comes after the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, one that Inhofe said will be "dead on arrival" in the Senate despite President Obama's energy adviser voicing confidence in the measure.

According to internal e-mails that have been made public by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Carlin's boss told him in March that his material would not be incorporated into a broader EPA finding and ordered Carlin to stop working on the climate change issue. The draft EPA finding released in April lists six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, that the EPA says threaten public health and welfare. - FOX News Story

EPA Buries 98 Page Report against Global Warming

The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government, according to a series of newly disclosed e-mail messages.

Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data."

The EPA official, Al McGartland, said in an e-mail message to a staff researcher on March 17: "The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward... and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision."

The e-mail correspondence raises questions about political interference in what was supposed to be a independent review process inside a federal agency -- and echoes criticisms of the EPA under the Bush administration, which was accused of suppressing a pro-climate change document.

Alan Carlin, the primary author of the 98-page EPA report, told CBSNews.com in a telephone interview on Friday that his boss, McGartland, was being pressured himself. "It was his view that he either lost his job or he got me working on something else," Carlin said. "That was obviously coming from higher levels." - CBS News Story

High Court Overturns Sotamayer Decision Rules in Favor of Firefighters

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a group of white firefighters in Connecticut were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision endorsed by high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

The 5-4 ruling poses a potential complication to Sotomayor's nomination, with confirmation hearings set to start in July. Already, supporters and critics of Sotomayor are seizing on the decision in an effort to defend their stance.

In the high-profile, controversial case, white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., argued they were discriminated against when the city tossed out the results of a promotion exam because too few minorities scored high enough on it.

Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the opinion in favor of Frank Ricci and his fellow firefighters who sued the city of New Haven.

"The city's action in discarding the tests violated (federal law)," the Supreme Court majority wrote Monday, adding that the city's "race-based rejection of the test results" could not be justified.

The city argued its action was prompted by concern that disgruntled black firefighters would sue. But that reasoning didn't hold sway with the court's majority.

"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify the city's reliance of race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," the court ruled. - FOX News Story

Obama's Polling Numbers Still Down and Falling

Over the past few weeks, Obama has watched his polling numbers slide as more people strongly disapprove and fewer people strongly approve of him.

He still however holds a relatively high Approval, but it is a bad time to be slipping in the polls when he wants to push his agenda.

Violence Increases Greatly as Troops Prepare for Withdrawl in Iraq

(CBS/AP) On June 30, U.S. troops will withdraw from patrolling Iraqi cities. This is making many Iraqis and the American troops nervous. In the last week more than 250 have died in various attacks and bombings, and fears are growing about increased sectarian violence and terrorism once U.S. troops pull back.

Iraqi security forces bolstered checkpoints and banned motorcycles from the streets of Baghdad as they prepared today for more violence before this week's withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the capital and other cities and towns.

Despite the increased checks, a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy in eastern Baghdad wounded six bystanders. It was unclear if anyone in the convoy was injured, police said. A car bomb also exploded in the parking lot of a police academy in western Baghdad, killing one police officer and wounding six others, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Iraq's main Sunni political bloc joined Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in describing the June 30 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal from urban areas as a turning point for the country. For the U.S., June 30 is also a turning point, and despite the uptick in violence, U.S. officials stand firm the withdrawal date.

"Iraqi forces are ready to take over this nation," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill told CBS News correspondent Chip Reid. "What we are doing is implementing our obligation under the security agreement with Iraq," Hill continued. "We have worked very hard for this day. The U.S. has the world's greatest fighting force and the greatest trainers. We have every confidence we can do this."

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top military commander in Iraq, said the attacks ahead of Tuesday's pullout were aimed at diverting attention from the progress made by Iraqi security forces as well as local and national government. "We've seen constant improvement in the security force. We've seen constant improvement in governance. And I believe this is the time for us to move out of the cities and for them to take ultimate responsibility," Odierno said.

Reporting from Baghdad, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan found that there is a lot of "grey area" in the security agreement.

"After a week of talking to U.S. and Iraqi soldiers on the ground here, it's stunning how much hasn't been worked out this close to the deadline," Logan said. "One example is what will happen to the U.S. trainers that will still be embedded with Iraqi forces in the cities. The U.S. military insists it still has the right to defend itself under the agreement, but if these U.S. trainers are attacked, in theory the U.S. would have to ask for Iraqi permission to send in reinforcements to help them. - CBS News Story