• Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop, delivered a four-minute invocation at the Mall on Sunday. Although HBO had exclusive rights to broadcast the invocation it did not make it to air. [Politico]

• Thoroughly reliable source and garbage PUMA blogger Perez Hilton says that Robinson's invocation didn't air because Obama's people told HBO not to air it. [Perez Hilton]
• HBO says that the invocation did not air because of a "planning error." The Inaugural concert began its live broadcast at 2:30pm (ET) and Robinson's invocation started at 2:20pm (ET). The invocation will air in repeats and will stream on HBO.com. [Deadline Hollywood]
• Meanwhile, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 61% of people surveyed said they back Rick Warren as the inaugural invocation pick. [Washington Post]
• Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back yesterday while moving boxes into his new house. He will be attending Obama's inauguration in a wheelchair. [Reuters]
• Meanwhile, on Monday a federal judge lifted an injunction requiring preservation of Dick Cheney's records because she said she expected Cheney to preserve them himself. The injunction was put in place when a group of government watchdogs and historians claimed that Cheney might destroy some of his records. [UPI]
• Blogette Meghan McCain got an exclusive interview with her mother for The Daily Beast. Cindy said that although she "is not bitter" she did think there was a strong bias in the media against her husband, John McCain. [Wonkette, Poynter]
• Last night Obama held a dinner honoring McCain whom he called an American hero and whose bipartisanship he hopes to follow. [MSNBC, The Page]
• McCain has told Fox News that Palin could someday be President. [The Page]
• An effigy of Sarah Palin with a noose around her neck was taken off of eBay on Sunday. This is the same effigy that was protested by the Mayor of West Hollywood when it was hung outside of a West Hollywood home of a professional window dresser and his partner before the election. [UPI]
• George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, died peacefully in his sleep last night. He was 62. [The Onion]
• Nancy Pelosi went on Fox News to say that she wants Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts (for families earning more than $250,000) when they expire in 2010. [Politico]
• Adorable child-reporter Damon Weaver is still looking to lock down a one-on-one with Obama as he covers the inauguration today. [NPR]
• Ha ha: Bush has decided to not pardon Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, for his 2007 conviction in the CIA leak case. [Newsweek]
• Sources say that Obama may quickly issue an executive order to reverse a Bush abortion policy (commonly called "the Mexico City policy") that prohibited funding for international family planning groups that provided, promoted or provided information about abortion services. [CNN]
• Bill Ayers has been denied entry into Canada because of a 1969 conviction during an anti-war demonstration. [MSNBC]
• Oh yeah: in keeping with tradition, Bush left a note for Obama . [MSNBC]

• John McCain is in the midst of a two-day sweep through Pennsylvania with former governor Tom Ridge, who was the first-ever Secretary of Homeland Security, igniting speculation that he'll be McCain's choice for the Veep slot. You might as well just take your shoes off now and leave them off until 2012. [CNN, CNN]
• Actually, never mind. Wear whatever shoes you want, bring your water bottles to the airport and don't worry if you're a minority or a Muslim or anything: President Bush says we don't have any problems. [Think Progress]
• Howard Wolfson says Clinton would've won if Edwards had dropped out because of his problem keeping Little Eddie sheathed in his drawers. Only, you know, probably not. But she definitely would've been if Howard had stopped wearing that ugly sweater. [Newser, HuffPo]

• Clinton will headline the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night — the 88th Anniversary of women receiving the right to vote. That means, if you didn't know, she won't be the VP nominee. [Washington Post]
• The Russians are dividing and conquering Georgia pretty effectively today. That part where they said they wouldn't enter Georgia territory? A total lie, of course. [Associated Press]
• The FBI was reading the emails of reporters for the Washington Post and New York Times without warrants or probably cause or anything. Luckily, mine are so boring the FBI wouldn't bother. [Washington Independent]
• That Preppie Killer guy is headed back to prison for dealing coke because [cue world's smallest violins] he couldn't find a way to support himself after he got out of prison for killing a woman. [CNN]

Filmmaker Documents ‘First Lady Of The Press’ [MSNBC]

• "It's out of control. There's always a different boy and everyone is worried he's going to pull a Halston." That's an anonymous friend of Marc Jacobs on the increasingly-erratic fashion designer. [Page Six]
  
• Ouch: David Lauren was not invited to his girlfriend (of three years) Lauren Bush's cousin Jenna's wedding. You know, Jenna Bush: Daughter of the POTUS. Apparently the Bush clan think David is too old for Lauren. Oh, and also too Jewish? Awkward. [Rush & Molloy]
  
• Kristin Davis is pissed about the injustices she faced making the Sex and the City movie: "It's in the contract that we get to keep our outfits, which is a fantastic thing, except that, for me, all of my outfits were samples. I kept my running pants, which I love and wear them a lot, but I was like, Where are my clothes?" [E!]

• Blondes need not apply to model for the lookbook for Lindsay Lohan's new leggings line. [Perez Hilton]
• God is dead: Perez Hilton is getting his own clothing line. For Hot Topic. [Celebitchy]
• The New York Giants' Super Bowl Championship ring was designed by their defensive end Michael Strahan, who told jewelers at Tiffany's he wanted a "Ten-table ring": "When I walk into a restaurant, I want you to be able to see it from 10 tables away." Um, thanks but no. [WWD, 1st item]
• And what does Giorgio Armani think about paying the most in taxes in all of Italy? "I was on a beach when I heard that. I'm not concerned with it." [NYDaily News]
• Cindy Crawford: Regrets, she has some: ""I regret that I wasn't wilder," she says. "I was working and I was nervous. I was the one in the corner with the book, being responsible. I can be wild now. I'll sometimes dance on a table for my husband and his friends. But not naked - those days are gone." [Vogue UK]
• China's latest offense: The exportation of fake Nikes. [LATimes]
• Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey says that her permanent plus one Steven Sumner says she was only awarded with an Officer of the British Empire award because, "I shop for Britain. He thinks OBE stands for 'Owns Bloody Everything.'" [WWD, 4th item]
• It's so hard to be Diane Kruger. Of the goings-on after the Met Costume Institute Gala, she says, "I went to that party at Phillipe, which was way too overcrowded, so I headed down to Bungalow, where I danced with Christian Louboutin. That was fun!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• Eva Mendes: Pics of her topless in Italian Vogue here. [Egotastic]
• Donatella Versace is still trying to tell anyone who will listen that her girl Hillary Clinton should wear a dress. [Page Six]
• Karl Lagerfeld's handbag and luggage line is inspired by...Karl Lagerfeld. [Vogue UK]
• Fergie's daughter Princess Beatrice is working at Selfridge's department store during her gap year between high school and uni. How pleb of her. [Telegraph]
• Hermes: Sales up 13.4%. Good for them? [WWD, sub req'd]

This baby-boom news also gives us the opportunity to go back to a tried and true mantra: It's the Republicans' fault! Is it any wonder that the birth rate is increasing (among women of all ages, teens included), when the Bush administration has limited access to abortion and financed abstinence only education? I'm also curious about the decline in contraceptive use. Is it because women are no longer scared of AIDS, so they forgo condoms? Is it because the price of birth control pills has risen?

So which is it, ladies? Is it a cultural shift backwards, in which women need babies to feel complete? Or can we blame President Bush for hating on abortion? Or are women just seeing Angelina look all perfect and shit with Shiloh and want a mini-me for themselves? The barren whores here at Jezebel want to know!

U.S. Experiences Baby Boomlet in 2006 [AP via Los Angeles Times]

Earlier: Having A Baby: Doctors Say Now Or Never; I Say No Fair
Teen Sex Drive Trumps Abstinence Education
Isn't A Subsidy For Birth Control For College Girls Missing The Point?

The victim, known in Saudi Arabia as the "girl of Qatif", certainly experienced "psychological effects." Her husband described her as a "crushed human being" whose myriad health problems have only been exacerbated by the ordeal. According to the Guardian, "Qatif girl" even tried to commit suicide in the aftermath of the attacks — sometime after her own brother tried to murder her. After the controversial sentence was handed down, the Saudi justice ministry explained that "Qatif girl" provoked the attack because she was "indecently dressed." They also ignored a camera-phone video taken by the assailants of the attack, adds the Guardian.

Conservative Muslim websites are already decrying the pardon, claiming that King Abdullah threw over the tenets of Islam to appease Western critics. Canada came out vocally against Qatif girl's sentence, and although President Bush admitted that he pondered how he would react had Qatif girl been Jenna or Barbara, he never spoke directly to King Abdullah about his concerns.

As for Qatif girl's loyal lawyer, Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, he is still facing a disciplinary hearing for his role in her defense. He is accused of "insulting the Supreme Judicial Council and disobeying the rules and regulations of the judiciary" because al-Lahem brought the case to the media. It's plainly obvious, though, that without international publicity, Qatif girl would have been greeting a New Year filled with corporal punishment.

Saudi King Pardons Rape Victim [NY Times]
Saudi King Pardons Gang-Rape Victim [Guardian]
Saudi King 'Pardons Rape vVctim' [BBC]
Report: King Pardons Rape Victim [CNN]

Earlier:
Saudi Rape Victim: "You Could Say She's A Crushed Human Being"
Justice Minister Claims Saudi Rape Victim Confessed To Extramarital Affair

• Poor Fergie reportedly barfed all over herself while at the Minnesota State Fair. Maybe it was all the fried food on a stick? [Dlisted]
  
• Speaking of Minnesota: Republican Senator Larry Craig got busted by the police for "lewd behavior" in the gentleman's room of a Minnesota airport. Hasn't the Land Of 10,000 Lakes been through enough?! [Crooks and Liars]
  
• Michael Vick is going to jail and rightly so. But lets also remember that we live in a country where the man behind the Katrina debacle, Michael Chertoff, may be getting a promotion. [BBC]
  
• President Bush says that poor little Alberto Gonzalez endured "unfair treatment" during his tenure as Attorney General. [CNN]

• Speaking of Bush, French president Nicolas Sarkozy is starting to sound eerily like him: He's gunning for Iran. Sigh. [NYT]
  
• The U.N., Christy Turlington, and Russell Simmons are banding together to promote some sorta World Peace Through Yoga Day. It's like Sesame Street: One of these things is not like the other. And by that we mean, we've never seen any of those U.N. dudes successfully execute scorpion pose. [ABC News]
  
• "You could feel her bones sticking through. She's on the cusp - she looks good now but if she takes it any further, she's going to start to look ill. She's incredibly compulsive. The Spice Girls' reunion is a huge deal for her and she wants to look her very best for her moment back in the limelight." Alas, this quote isn't about Victoria Beckham, but Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell. Note to Geri: Starvation is not what "Girl Power" is all about. [Malaysia Sun]
  
• Yay for gender equality? Now it's not just women who have to worry about the aftermath of hormone replacement therapy: Men who take testosterone supplements could suffer major kidney damage. [CNN]

• Christina Aguilera is in the family way! Just like with a genie in a bottle, her husband rubbed her the right way. The baby-making way. [E!]
  
• Isaiah Washington's verbal diarrhea of the day: He now says Patrick Dempsey is to blame for his spewing of hate speech. [ABC News]
  
• R.I.P Beverly Sills. And big thanks to our Intro to Opera prof from college, without whom we would not care about Sills' passing. [CNN]
  
• Violent crime in South Africa is at an "unacceptable" level. Do we hear the sweet sound of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee: The Revival? [BBC]

• We all know that Pete Doherty is no fan of rehab. But now he like, totally loves it! Or so he told a judge when faced with the choice of rehab or jail. Rehab is fun! Just ask Lohan, Petey Boy! [BBC]
• President Bush still might pardon Scooter Libby, on top of commuting his sentence? Way to practice small government and morality, Republicans! [CNN]
• Awkward international news item of the day: Japan's defense minister saying that it was sorta okay for the U.S. to have dropped the A-bomb on his country during WWII. And all over the world, people squirm uncomfortably. [NYT]
• Katie Holmes, Rosie O'Donnell, and Anna Nicole (and Larry Birkhead's!) baby were 3 of British tabloid OK's list of the 19 Most Influential Celebrities. We cry for Rosie, to be put in such company. [Yahoo]
• Even senior citizens have to show ID to buy booze in Tennessee now. Which means that those poor, unfortunate college students don't stand a chance in hell. [Slate]
• How does Paris Hilton show how much jail has matured her? By scoring a Hello Kitty t-shirt, of course. [People.com]
• The Dept of Defense's website is down, and thus our regular source for reporting the U.S. casualty reports is thwarted. How do you say "vast right wing conspiracy"? [DoD]
• Wait! Ugh. Reports of 5 U.S. casualties today. [Iraq Coalition Casualties]

[London, July 1. Image via Splash]

• There is no justice in the world: President Bush has commuted Scooter Libby's jail sentence. [MSNBC]
  
• Pam Anderson is 40. And we are speechless. [People]
  
• Looking for a little real estate to invest in? How about Dracula's castle in Transylvania? It's the summer home that comes with vampires! (Garlic bulbs not included). [ABC News]
  
• A border collie named Smooch saved two drowning kayakers. And up in heaven, Lassie smiles. [USA Today]

• We actually screamed, "Holy shit!" out loud when we (thought) we saw a headline reading, "Bill Hits Hillary On Campaign Trail". Though that misreading would still have been less shocking than if we'd read it as "Bill Hits On Hillary On Campaign Trail." [BBC]
• It's official: Salman "No Longer Hiding Despite The Fatwa" Rushdie and Padma "Please Pack Up You Knives, Top Chef Contestants" Lakshmi have split. [CNN]
• Eva Peron (and Patti Lupone?) would be proud: Argentina's First Lady is running for president in her own right. And somewhere in Iowa, Hillary Clinton feels threatened. [NYT]
• Want to sleep less soundly tonight? Read on: That foiled London car bomb was designed to ensure female casualties. [Slate]
• Speaking of casualties, there have been 12 in the U.S. military since Friday. [DoD]

• Just a few hours after President Bush vetoed another bill in favor of stem-cell research, ABC News is reporting that women undergoing fertility treatments would be willing to donate their unused embryos to research if given the opportunity. [ABCNews]
  
• In the shithole that is Iraq,
  there's been a significant rise of displaced women undergoing illegal abortions. [Salon]
  
• Speaking of the Middle East, the public stoning of an Iranian woman accused of adultery has been delayed, perhaps (and hopefully) indefinitely. [Salon]
  
• Proof that the rest of the Western world is often a lot more reasonable than the U.S.: In the U.K., government experts are recommending that all young girls be vaccinated against HPV... and there's nary a conservative uproar about it! [Guardian]

Q: Mr. President, first of all, I want to thank you for the opportunity you give to me and to Albanian public for this interview. And I have just a simple question in the beginning. What is the reason of including Albania in this European tour this time?
THE PRESIDENT: That's a fascinating question. ... I've been impressed by your leadership. I have met your leaders at different times —

Q: Impressed in what sense?
THE PRESIDENT: In the sense that they're committed to common values with the United States, that they believe in certain freedoms, and that people ought to be given a chance to live in a free society.

Q: Yes, this is a historical visit. And Albanians hoping to get a — to receive an invitation at summit to join NATO in 2008. How realistic this Albanian expectation is, according to you?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, my message to the Albanian government and the Albanian people is, first of all, thank you for your interest in joining NATO.

Q: And let's get to the hardest point: Kosovo. I mean, in the beginning of the week, you just had a phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and you agreed with him to rediscuss Kovoso's future once again. And people are worried about that.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me make it clear what I did say.

Q: Because everybody is worried about that.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, they ought to be worried about it. It's a difficult issue.

Q: So in case of a Russian veto next month at Security Council, does U.S. have a plan B for Kosovo?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, plan A is to try to make plan A work.

Q: Yes, but is the plan A —
THE PRESIDENT: I know, but you're asking me to think hypothetically. It happens, by the way, with the United States press, too.

Q: Yes. And let me ask one childish question, because it is your first time in Albania, and everyone is wondering, what does come to your mind when you heard the word, Albania?
THE PRESIDENT: Beautiful coastline, interesting history, Muslim people who can live at peace.

Uh, yeah, until the next time a Ponzi scheme erupts into civil war.

Whitehouse.gov