New England Sun-Times

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More than one in three Americans lived in households that received Medicaid, food stamps or other means-based government assistance in mid-2010, according to a new report. And when Social Security, Medicare and unemployment benefits are included, nearly half of the nation lived in a household that received a government check, according to the analysis of third-quarter 2010 Census data done by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a libertarian-leaning think tank. That's more than 148 million Americans. Those numbers are on their way up thanks to the Great Recession and its aftermath, which have pushed record numbers of people onto public assistance programs. In particular, the stubbornly high unemployment rate has left millions of Americans in dire straits. In 2008, one-quarter of people lived in households receiving a government lifeline and about 45 percent a government check, according to the Census Bureau. The nation's safety net h...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Rapper 50 Cent is teaming up with the World Food Program to see firsthand the effects of hunger in Somalia and Kenya. The rap star flew to Dolo, Somalia, on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of women and children have fled there over the last year to flee a devastating famine that killed tens of thousands of people across Somalia. WFP said the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has committed to provide 1 billion meals for the hungry, and is donating to WFP 10 cents from every sale of a new energy drink called Street King that he is promoting. The U.N. last week declared an end to Somalia's six-month famine, though it said tens of thousands of people still need food aid to survive. The British government estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people died from the famine's effects.

A select group of frequent fliers will be able to keep their shoes on and their laptops in their bags as they go through screening checkpoints at major airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said Wednesday. The new expedited screening lanes at checkpoints were first piloted last year at four airports. The agency says they were a great success and is expanding the program to 35 airports in total by the year’s end - covering almost all the nation’s major airports. Passengers in TSA’s PreCheck program have gone through the faster screening more than 300,000 since the pilot began in October, said agency spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. “The people who’ve been through the program are very pleased with it … that’s why we’re expanding,” Ms. Farbstein told The Washington Times. She stressed that even members of the PreCheck program will be randomly subjected to regular screening. “That’s an important element of the program,” she said. TSA is not releasing the number...

LOS ANGELES — She's been a sensation since she's been born, and now Blue Ivy has made her public debut. Five photos of the 1-month-old were posted by her parents — Beyonce and Jay-Z — on a page at the blogging service Tumblr. The pictures at include a close-up of the baby and two of each parent holding her. Blue Ivy is their first child. A statement next to the photos reads, "We welcome you to share our joy." The couple also thanked the public for respecting their privacy. Beyonce and Jay-Z are the latest celebrities to shun big bucks from the tabloid press for exclusive rights to baby pictures and instead post the photos on a public website for free. Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon debuted their twins in the same way last year. Here's the video featuring "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Washington - A video of an angry American father pumping nine bullets from a handgun into his daughter's laptop has gone viral on YouTube and sparked an impassioned online debate over his parenting skills. Tommy Jordan, of North Carolina, explains in the video, which he titled "Facebook Parenting: for the troubled teen" that he was upset by a Facebook post by his 15-year-old daughter in which she complained about her parents. "This is for my daughter, Hannah, and more importantly for all her friends on Facebook who thought her little rebellious post was cute," Jordan says, speaking into a video camera apparently set up on a tripod. Wearing a cowboy hat and smoking a cigarette, the video opens with Jordan sitting in a chair and reading with unconcealed outrage from the Facebook post, in which his daughter complains about having to do chores around the house. "Pay you for chores? Are you out of your mind?" he says. "You don't have tha...

Superbowl 45 was, of course, the most-watched program on television Sunday, February 5th. But the cameo appearance of one Flavor Flav at the end of the game has been the talk of many blogs, newspaper shorts and just about all over the web. New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin was congratulated by a few friends and colleagues after the game, and low and behold... Flavor Flav emerges from the thick crowd and gives his own congratulatory hug to the famous coach. Some news wires question whether the coach knows of Flavor Flav, and vice versa. Some wonder if the Public Enemey rapper-turned-MTV-realty-show-star was just trying his best to be seen. The surprise live hug on national TV had the game announcers by surprise as well, when one announcer says: "Tom Coghlin hugging Flavor Flav. What in the world is happening here?" The other announcer replies: "I Don't know, but I think he knows what time it is with that clock hanging around his neck" Now, concerning t...

 Chrysler's two-minute Super Bowl ad narrated by Clint Eastwood has become politicized. "It's halftime. Both teams are in their locker room discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half," says Eastwood in his singular voice. "It's halftime in America, too. People are out of work and they're hurting and they're all wondering what they're going to do to make a comeback and we're all scared because this isn't a game. The people of Detroit know a little something about this," Eastwood says in the ad, before touting Detroit's comeback. President Barack Obama's senior campaign adviser David Axelrod immediately praised the ad as a "powerful spot" on Twitter, and White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer tweeted, "Saving the America Auto Industry: Something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on." Former Bush White House senior adviser Karl Rove blasted the ad Monday on Fo...