Rush Limbaugh should just shutup and send the president a cigar

While Rush Limbaugh used snide sarcasm to praise President Obama for getting Osama bin Laden, conservative talk-radio host Sean Hannity bit his lip yesterday and actually credited the president on the air.

Of course Hannity qualified it by saying that it was George Bush's policy on torture that made it possible. He was referring to intelligence extracted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libi while in CIA custody that he claims led to one of bin Laden’s couriers in turn leading to Osama bin Laden. Hannity was only partially right.

Delegate tried to ban smoking in legislators' offices

One member of the House of Delegates tried this year to do for his colleagues what they've done for others: ban smoking.

Despite broadened prohibitions in recent years on lighting up around the commonwealth, smoking is allowed in state lawmakers' offices.

An executive order signed in 2006 by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine prohibits lighting up in offices occupied by executive branch agencies, including colleges and universities, and state-owned vehicles.

But the executive branch does not dictate the affairs of the legislative branch, which controls the General Assembly Building.

Smoking ban challenger fails

A pro-smoking campaigner has failed in a new legal challenge against Northern Ireland's ban on lighting up in public.

Senior judges threw out a bid by north Down man Chris Carter to quash his conviction for smoking at the front of Bangor Town Hall.

Mr Carter claimed his rights to privacy and freedom from torture and discrimination were breached by the prohibition.

He alleged that the ban was comparable to restrictions imposed by the Third Reich in Hitler's Germany.

But his case was dismissed because he was not held to have the status of a victim and as no breach of his human rights was established.