Laura - Ling 'Thrilled Beyond Words' By Sister's Release: PHOTO
Revered U.S. newswoman Lisa Ling is "thrilled beyond words" following the release of her journalist sister Laura from a detention facility in North Korea. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton persuaded North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to grant Ling and her colleague Euna Lee a special pardon during a trip to North Korea on Tuesday (04Aug09). Ling and Lee spent five months in captivity after reportedly illegally crossing the Chinese border with North Korea, where they were preparing a report about...

White House OK'd Clinton mission only with caution - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON – The White House approved Bill Clinton 's high-stakes rescue mission only with caution, intent that North Korea not benefit on the world stage. Yet officials now suggest it could mark a fresh start with the volatile regime. The freeing of two Americans on the former president's trip came with no strings attached, the Obama administration insisted Wednesday, and any move to break a stalemate over the reclusive dictatorship's nuclear weapons will have to come from Pyongyang....

Bill Clinton went to N. Korea and laid his mack down: VIDEO
Embedded video from CNN Video The second black President couldn’t get it done, so they had to call up the O.G. How gangsta is that? Yo, there is nobody else in the United States government (that isn’t military) that coulda got those journalists any smoother. It so reminds me of the Jaime Foxx stand up when he was jokin about Bill talkin to Osama:

Bill Clinton Frees US Reporters From Kim Jong-Il's Clutches [Reporters In Peril]
Bill Clinton went on over to North Korea, met the crazy dictator there, and won: North Korea has pardoned Current TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee for their slanders and calumnies.

Panetta at CIA: 'Clean break from past'
by Rebecca Cole The Senate Intelligence Committee has taken up the nomination of Leon Panetta, former congressman from California and onetime chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, for director of the Central Intelligence Agency. While Panetta's confirmation is expected, new questions have arisen this week surrounding the work he has done in the private sector -- collecting speaking fees from firm troubled banks and a company that does business with the Defense...

Steve Bing Flew Bill Clinton To N. Korea
So the former prez could negotiate the release of those two detained U.S. journalists. According to AP, Clinton flew to North Korea on movie producer/director Bing's private jet. Since it's currently illegal for American planes to fly to North Korea, Bing had to iron out details with the U.S. government over several days.

VP DEBATE SPECIAL: Bill Clinton Makes the Case For Joe Biden
Clinton says there’s no better VP choice to help repair our relationships around the world than Joe Biden. It’s hard to argue with Bill on that one.

Bill Clinton Used Vast Web of Business Contacts to Secure Journalists' Release
Former president Bill Clinton's central role in the return of two journalists detained by North Korea has once again cast a spotlight on his vast web of financial and political contacts, a network that troubled senators who weighed whether to confirm his wife as secretary of state.

Kim Jong Platform Shoes (Photo!)
Kim Jong Platform Shoes - Now that Bill Clinton has met with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il, successfully convincing him to release US reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, we can all talk about Kim Jong's platform shoes. Kim Jong Il, an insecure leader who feels the need to puff his hair up in order to appear taller and less unintimidating, wears platform shoes. In case you didn't know it already (We've known this for a while, folks), Kim Jong is insecure and needs to wear shoes that add up to 6...

How Bill Clinton got the job
A reporter's family call was genesis of Clinton’s role as a go-between in international drama.

US journalists return home from North Korea with Bill Clinton
Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two US journalists freed after 140 days in captivity in North Korea, have returned home with Bill Clinton to a tearful reunion with their families in Los Angeles.

Man Offers 40 Goats And 20 Cows For Chelsea Clinton's Hand In Marriage, Hillary Responds
NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan man's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for Chelsea Clinton's hand in marriage may still be on the table – and Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised to convey the "very kind offer" to her daughter. To laughter at a town hall meeting Thursday in Kenya, CNN's Fareed Zakaria asked the U.S. Secretary of State if the Clintons had made a decision on the dowry offer. In 2000, a Kenyan man wrote to then-president Bill Clinton offering the animals in accordance with...

BILL CLINTON TO BRING IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS HOME FROM NORTH KOREA
Former President Bill Clinton has won the release of Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been jailed in North Korea since March on charges of entering the country illegally. The state-run Korean Central News Agency announced that the two women had been pardoned by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and would be allowed to leave the country with Clinton. No mention of Clinton's visit to the country was made by either the North Korean or U.S. governments until the former...

The Wall Street Journal On Clinton's Successful Trip To North Korea: PHOTO
In the wake of Bill Clinton's successful trip to North Korea to secure the release of jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, some Republicans couldn't wait to express their hearty congratulations on a job well done: You get the idea. And perhaps realizing that their rightwing brethren were sounding a little harsh about the safe return of two American citizens who had been imprisoned by a branch of the "Axis of Evil," the Wall Street Journal editorial page decided to be a little more...

Debate Liveblog III: Townhall Without Pity
Karen Tumulty, Michael Grunwald and I will be liveblogging tonight's debate again at the usual address. Learn it, bookmark it, live it. As you know, tonight's debate will be a townhall, a format that allows for back-and-forth with voters, intermingling among candidates and questioners, and freewheeling exchanges. Oh, actually: it will allow for none of those! By agreement of the two campaigns, there are to be no followups. No reaction shots of audience questioners. (This last, presumably, is to avoid

Steve Bing Paid For NKorea Flight: PHOTO
WASHINGTON - A businessman says a wealthy Hollywood producer paid for the flight that carried former President Bill Clinton and two American journalists home from North Korea. Marc Foulkrod, chairman of Avjet Corp., the company that manages the plane, said the aircraft is owned by Stephen Bing, a longtime Democratic donor and fundraiser. Bing raised at least $100,000 for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, in addition to giving the personal maximum $2,300. The Clinton...

Wealthy Hollywood producer paid for Clinton's North Korea flight
WASHINGTON) — A wealthy Hollywood producer paid for the flight that carried former President Bill Clinton and two American journalists home from North Korea, a California businessman confirmed today. Stephen Bing, a close Clinton friend and longtime Democratic fundraiser, is the plane's owner, said Marc Foulkrod of Burbank, Calif., chairman of Avjet Corp., the company that manages the aircraft. Foulkrod said the Federal Aviation Administration "at the highest levels" cleared the flight...

Freed journalists home in US after NKorea pardon: PHOTO
Two American journalists jubilantly reunited with family and friends early Wednesday upon returning to the United States with former President Bill Clinton , whose diplomatic trip to North Korea secured their release nearly five months after their arrests. The jet carrying Euna Lee and Laura Ling , reporters for Al Gore 's San Francisco -based Current TV, and Clinton arrived at Burbank 's Bob Hope Airport at dawn. Clinton met with communist leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday to secure the women's...

White House OK'd Clinton mission only with caution
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House approved Bill Clinton's high-stakes rescue mission only with caution, intent that North Korea not benefit on the world stage. Yet officials now suggest it could mark a fresh start with the volatile regime. The freeing of two Americans on the former president's trip came with no strings attached, the Obama administration insisted Wednesday, and any move to break a stalemate over the reclusive dictatorship's nuclear weapons will have to come from Pyongyang....

How Bill's Trip Came About
It is hard to imagine a stronger signal of Bill Clinton's celebrity status than North Korea's explicit demand that they would release the two jailed American journalists provided he come visit. Back-door dealings for their release began sometime in the spring, when the U.S. started pressing the North Koreans via the Swedish ambassador. Eventually, the prisoners' families were allowed to regularly speak with them on the phone. During a conversation in mid-July, the North Koreans conveyed their...

You Betcha! Sarah Palin isn't simply ratings ... [Sarah Palin]
You Betcha! Sarah Palin isn't simply ratings gold when Tina Fey is playing her. The vice presidential debate last night was the most-watched VP matchup ever, even surpassing by 33% the Obama/McCain debate from last week. According to THR, 69,989,000 viewers tuned in, which makes it the biggest debate audience since 1992, when Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Ross Perot all faced off. Palin has since had all three men fired. [THR] 5:00 PM on Fri Oct

Your Grievance For the Next Four Years: "Voter Fraud" [Predictions]
If the Democrats pull this off and win the presidential election, the Republican "noise machine" will not simply give up and devote themselves to charity. They will need to undermine and delegitimize President Obama as much and as loudly as possible, non-stop, for the entirety of his term. Early predecessors of this strategy include claims that John Kennedy stole the 1960 election with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's corrupt machine and reminding everyone that Bill Clinton didn't win a majority of the vote i

Who Will Write This Year's 'Making of the President'? [Books]
Honestly? We'd rather read a book-length history of the Hillary Clinton campaign written by Josh Green than read another word about McCain and Obama. But let's take a look at the people currently working on their own novelistic takes on the waking nightmare that has been 2008 thus far! The Observer reports on the contenders: Michael Takiff, on oral historian. He's writing a Bill Clinton biography (though maybe it's been shelved). He's a Nation-contributing lefty, who once also tried to write a book about

Stephen Bing & Elizabeth Hurley: Bing fathered Hurley's son (photos)
Stephen Bing is a billionaire and Hollywood producer. Bing has been a staunch supporter of Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party and the Clinton Foundation. Bing supplied his private jet for Clinton to fly to North Korea. Clinton helped to bring home the jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Stephen Bing was named by Elizabeth Hurley as the father of her son, Damian Charles. Hurley was pregnant with Damian in 2001. A DNA test has proven beyond doubt that Bing is the father of Damien Charles....

Lisa Ling on Sister Laura: Shes 'Really Anxious' to Eat Fresh Food: PHOTO
TV journalist Lisa Ling , along with the husband of her newly freed sister Laura Ling , spoke candidly Wednesday about the condition of the journalists on their first day back home from North Korea. Lisa Ling described her sister as being "exhausted," revealing what she's looking forward to: "She said she's really, really anxious to eat fresh fruit and fresh food. She was telling us how there were rocks in her rice…she's just anxious to eat fresh food. I know that there will be a sushi...