"President Bush met with the president of China at the White House. The arrival ceremony was interrupted by a protester who started yelling, 'Stop the persecution, stop the torture!' President Bush had to ask, 'Which one of us are you talking to?'" --Jay Leno

"I still ride the mountain bike primarily to help settle the soul and to burn off the excess energy one gets when you're living life to its fullest," Bush told an Associated Press reporter who accompanied him on the ride.

A long convoy of SUVs and off-road vehicles rumbled behind the group, carrying medics and security agents with machine guns.

One of the bicycle-borne agents had mapped out the route, and he was the only person who knew where to turn when the road forked. Bush, however, made plain he was in charge. "Drop back," the commander in chief ordered the agent, with a thumb over his shoulder.

The president explained later that he cherishes both the solitude and the social aspect of mountain biking.

"Generally when I ride it is the one time when I feel alone, even though I know people are behind me," he said. "I ask people a lot of times not to be in my line of vision because all I can see straight ahead is, you know, space."

Terry Davis, a retired U.S. Marine whose son was killed while on duty in Iraq, acknowledges a supportive motorist down the road from the entrance of the Marine Corp Air Ground Combat Center Sunday, April 23, 2006, in Twentynine Palms, Calif. President Bush visited the base Sunday as part of his four day trip to California. (Photo/Ric Francis)

"Al Gore is coming out with a movie about global warming called 'An Inconvenient Truth.' It's described as a detailed scientific view of global warming. President Bush said he just saw a film about global warming, 'Ice Age 2; The Meltdown.' He said, 'It's so much better than that boring Al Gore movie.'" --Jay Leno

The president's schedule called for him to pitch his immigration reform plan to the Orange County Business Council in Irvine, Calif. The Los Angeles Times reported one of the GOP's best-known local figures, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, planned to skip the speech.

"I don't want to be behind him looking glum and not applauding," Rohrabacher said.
 

"I, first, wish Laura were here. She’s not, of course. About four people (going) through the photo-op line indicated that they kind of would rather have Laura here than me."
 

For now, there are still few answers as to what two Texas men were doing with more than $500,000 in cash at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday, but investigators insist there was no terrorist activity involved.

A group of state troopers and investigators from the FBI are continuing to investigate the bizarre incident, in which two men from Houston, Donald R. Kingsby, 29, and William Lewis Jr., 28, went to the plant to pick up tools for Bechtel Corp., a contracting company doing work for the plant's $300 million upgrade.

Big Dog - Politics of Hope Purveyor

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Beginners luck: A 235 carat diamond, the size of a hen's egg, was uncovered by a small South African mining company only a few weeks after launching operations. Nare Diamonds Ltd said it uncovered the gem on April 19, 2006 after resuming mining in March at the Schmitsdrift mine 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the country's historic diamond centre of Kimberley. Photo by Nare Diamonds Ltd

Peace.