For all of those who questioned why President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, (me included) there's a bright side.

Several very worthwhile charities will benefit from the $1.4 million award that comes with the prize, including six groups that help kids get to college, Haitian relief efforts and the place where soldiers killed overseas are returned to.

Even Obama was stunned that he won the prize. It is normally awarded for those who have accomplished a great feat. The committee, however, gave Obama the prize for "changing the tenor of international politics and for pursuing goals Obama says will require worldwide effort, such as nuclear disarmament and reversing global warming," the AP writes.

A lot of America's goodwill and standing in the international community had been squandered by former President George W. Bush, when Obama took office. We invaded Iraq under completely false pretenses and refused to cooperate with the rest of the world on global warming. Our president, with his many gaffes, was not taken seriously around the world. Even the election that put Bush in office was questioned.

Obama was able to change that. He's articulate, thoughtful, knowledgeable and has traveled and lived outside of this country. He is able to explain his decisions and is an impassioned speaker. However, at the time of the award, many thought that was the extent of Obama's appeal.

The man who was accused of allegedly raping five of his daughters, three of whom who bore six of his children is finally unmasked. He is award-winning director Aswad Ayinde, aka Charles McGill. Ayinde is most noted for directing the "Killing Me Softly" video by The Fugees.

Really Detroit? Is it becoming clearer now why the city filed for bankruptcy, why they didn't have enough money to bury their own dead, why Kwame Kilpatrick can only "put a little something down" on his million-dollar debt he owes the city?

Ha! Take that, Glenn Beck!

Just when you thought ACORN suffered its death blow by populist nonsensical cable network bufoonery, a Brooklyn, N.Y., judge lets everyone know that Congress had no business punishing the group before any guilt had been determined.

Thank goodness we have something in this country called "rule of law/" and America's actually getting better at it. That means you really can only be punished if you've done something wrong, and that's what U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon ruled on Wednesday, regarding a government request that funding to ACORN be blocked.

In a suburb of Washington D.C., a Germantown teacher was forced to apologize to a student after telling her she was dressed like a prostitute.

Friends and family describe Sharif Mobley as a "good Muslim" who never displayed any violent tendencies. He held down a job and has a wife and a daughter.

But authorities tell a different story. They say Mobley, 26, was recently picked up in Yemen and is a suspected member of the same al-Qaida group that tried to blow up an airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day. And there are more and more Americans joining overseas terrorist groups. According to the Associated Press:

His case surfaces days after charges of terrorist connections were brought against Colleen LaRose, an American-born woman known as "Jihad Jane" who lived for years in Pennsylvania.....U.S. officials fear that Yemen is becoming the next significant terrorist staging ground because of signs that lower-level al-Qaida operatives have been moving into the country, and the Pentagon has proposed spending $150 million to help Yemen battle insurgents....Americans are valuable to terrorist groups, in part because they can travel without arousing much suspicion."The U.S. passport is the gold standard," said Fred Burton, a former U.S. counterintelligence agent who is now a vice president at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company in Austin, Texas.

Mobley graduated from high school in 2002 and organized religious pilgrimages to Mecca. Mobley's former high school friend, Roman Castro, said he knew something was awry when, after returning from the army, Mobley said: "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer!"

Mobley's parents deny the charges against their son.

Responding to pressure from critics, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recused himself from the probe of New York Governor David Paterson. Cuomo's approval ratings have started to decline, and he is believed to be avoiding further damage. Cuomo is also the man most expect to replace Paterson in the governor's office.

Cuomo chose Judith Kaye to take his place as the independent counsel leading the investigation into allegations that Paterson illegally took World Series tickets or had inappropriate contact with a woman who accused one of Paterson's aides of domestic violence. Cuomo openly cited the politics of the investigation to be the reason he has to be careful.