Approving a resolution by voice vote on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate is now urging President Barack Obama to pardon Jack Jackson, the late black heavyweight champion who was went to prison almost one hundred years ago because of a romantic affair with a white woman.

Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion in 1908, and was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes.

Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential elections, John McCain, sponsored the resolution. Similar resolutions offered in both 2004 and 2008 failed to pass both the House and Senate.

Activist Rusty DePass, a prominent South Carolina Republican, was caught likening FIrst Lady Michelle Obama to an escaped gorilla. Commenting on a report posted to Facebook about a gorilla escape at a zoo in Columbia, SC on Friday, DePass wrote: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."

SC political blogger Will Folks busted DePass, forcing him into an apology. DePass told WIS-TV in Columbia:

"I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest." He added, "The comment was hers, not mine," claiming Michelle Obama made a recent remark about humans descending from apes.

Columbia's mayor, Bob Coble, has called for DePass to issue a proper apology, stating:

"The comment is reprehensible. There's nothing funny about it. What he needs to do is simply apologize in a straightforward manner."

DePass was the former chairman of the Richland County Republican Party, was an early back of George W. Bush, and was the co-chairman of Rudy Giuliani's 2008 campaign in Richland County, the largest county in the state.

DePass, former chairman of the Richland County GOP, was an early backer of George W. Bush and co-chairman of Rudy Giuliani's 2008 campaign in Richland County, the state's largest.

He's baaaaaaaaaack. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the former minister and confidant of President Barack Obama that caused him quite a stir on the campaign trail last year, is ruffling feathers again. Wright is now blaming "them Jews" for keeping Obama from giving him a call.

Wright told the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.:

"Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office.

"They will not let him talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is .... I said from the beginning: He's a politician; I'm a pastor. He's got to do what politicians do."

The White House, wanting nothing to do with another controversy involving Wright, declined to comment. Officials pointed out, however, that the Obamas ditched Wright last year after he made incendiary remarks, including blaming the government for the spread of AIDS.

The former pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago continued:

"Ethnic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing [by] the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don't want Barack talking like that because that's anti-Israel."

During an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday evening, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said that President Barack Obama's spending policies to revive the economy were leading the United States to socialism.

"When you consider that the federal government is about $11 trillion in debt, and we're borrowing more to spend more ... it defies any sensible economic policy any of us ever learned through college.

"It defies economy practices and principles that tell ya 'you gotta quit digging that hole when you are in that financial hole,'" she said.

Palin's comments came on the heels of the White House's acknowledgement that it has spent just 5 percent - or $44 billion - of the $787 stimulus so far. The total is expected to rise sharply this summer.

Palin also launched an attack over the government's take over of the auto industry.

"We're borrowing from China and we consider that now we own 60% of General Motors - or the U.S. government does… But who is the U.S. government becoming more indebted to? It's China. So that leads you to have to ask who is really going to own our car industry than in America."

After some coaxing by Hannity, Palin said "I told ya so."

It's alright to be an out and proud gay or lesbian, but not in the U.S. military. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed with the Obama administration and upheld Pentagon policy which bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

The court said that it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who had been dismissed by the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Earlier, a federal appeals court in Boston threw out a lawsuit that Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans had filed.

Pietrangelo served six years in the army, seven years in the Vermont National Guard, and fought in Iraq in 1991. After the decision was revealed, he said:

"I think this decision is an absolute travesty of justice and I think every judge on this court should be ashamed of themselves. It's nothing short of rubber stamping legalized discrimination, the same way Nazi Germany legalized discrimination against Jews. The Supreme Court is not infallible, they get things wrong, and they got it wrong this time."

President Barack Obama began a goodwill tour of the Muslim world, visiting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. At the same time, a new audiotape surfaced from Osama bin Laden with new threats to the U.S.

In the recording, Bin Laden said that Obama inflamed Muslim hatred towards the U.S. by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants in Swat Valley and block Islamic law in the area. He also claimed that U.S. pressure led to a campaign of "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction" which prompted the exodus of a million Muslims in Swat Valley.

Osama's message was first broadcast on Wednesday on the Al-Jazeera Television network at almost the exact moment Obama touched down in Saudi Arabia.

Just one day earlier, Al Qaeda's #2 man dismissed Obama's trip aimed at repairing U.S. relations with the Muslim world, insisting that the overture is trumped by wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In an audio message posted online, Ayman al-Zawahiri said:

"His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words."

Former vice president Dick Cheney stands apart from the Republican Party on one key issue - gay marriage. Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney said that he is not opposed to gay marriage:

"I think freedom means freedom for everyone," he said in remarks posted on the newspaper's Web site.

People ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."

Cheney famously has a gay daughter, so it is understandable the he is more lax about this issue than his fellow GOP party members. He continued his speech, stating that the issue should be left up to individual states rather than the federal government:

"The question of whether or not there ought to be a general statute that governs this I don't support. I do believe, historically, the way marriage has been regulated is at a state level. It's always been a state issue, and I think that's the way it ought to be handled today."

In the very same speech, Cheney made quite the flub- he confused the names of Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama. While talking about why Osama hasn't been caught, he accidentally substituted Obama's name:

In the same speech, Cheney also confused the names of Osama bin Laden and President Barack Obama.

A Pennsylvania newspaper unwittingly published a classified ad calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama earlier this week, and is now issuing an apology.

John Elchert, publisher of Tthe Warren Times Observer said Friday that the ad which ran Thursday read:

May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!"

For those unaware, all four were Presidents assassinated while in office. Elchert said that the paper's advertising staff had failed to realize the historical connection, and that is how the ad slipped through the cracks and got published.

The newspaper has since turned over information to the police, and the individual who placed the ad is now the subject of a Secret Service investigation.

The Times Observer apologized in a brief note in Friday's paper "for the oversight."

On Tuesday the California Supreme Court upheld a voter approved ban on same sex marriage. However, they also decided that the estimated 18,000 same sex couples who married before the law took effect will stay wed.

The final decision of 6-1 was written by Chief Justice Ron George, which rejected arguements by gay rights activists that the ban revised the state constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it would first need Legislature's approval. The court determined, however, that the people have a right through voting to change their constitution.

The ruling said:

"In a sense, petitioners' and the attorney general's complaint is that it is just too easy to amend the California constitution through the initiative process. But it is not a proper function of this court to curtail that process; we are constitutionally bound to uphold it."

Gay rights activists immediately vowed to resume their fight, and say that they will return to voters as early as next year in an attempt to repeal Proposition 8.