Frank D Demola

With Monday’s surprise announcement that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) will retire next year, Washington is abuzz about who could be tapped to replace him on the powerful House Financial Services Committee, better known as the banking committee.

Watch Frank Lloyd Wright's incredible house in Bear Run, PA, be built from the ground up before your eyes - foundations, framing and all - then take a brilliant tour around, above, below and inside of this masterpiece. I have rarely seen such gorgeous animation, and the subject matter couldn't have been better chosen.

EA Games' Frank Gibeau was less-than-complimentary to Blizzard's World of Warcraft this past week, saying that the older game "feels more like doing a shopping list at times" than EA and Bioware's upcoming The Old Republic title. But Blizzard's Frank Pearce is a little nicer to his competitor, saying in an interview that he'd love to see another popular MMO arrive. "This is a game that has an opportunity to grow the MMO market if done right," he said, "and therefore is very important to the industry as a whole, not just EA."

Being dubbed the "Beastie Boys Bandit" by Portland Police is more than a little flattering for a serial bank robber who looks more like Frank Zappa than Mike D, MCA or Ad-Rock. Regardless, that's what they're calling him and he's supposedly knocked-off five banks since last summer.

Holy Obi-Wan Kenobi! “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher claims the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked her some pretty frank questions while dining out with the star and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). According to published excerpts from Fisher’s new book, “Shockaholic,” the entertainer, best known for her role as Princess Leia, was fresh out of her first stint in rehab and on a date with a then single Dodd back in 1985. Kennedy joined the pair at dinner in D.C..

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is disturbed by the monopolistic power of the ratings agencies—and still determined to curb their abuses, as he tried to do last year with an amendment to the Dodd-Frank banking reform bill. - 2011/08/12

Marine Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich has filed a defamation lawsuit against Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.).

Why retired "Only Ones" would need the ability to wreak such mayhem is left even more murky. Representative Carolyn "What's a Barrel Shroud?" McCarthy (D-NY) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) might be able to explain--their respective bills to ban full capacity magazines are justifed by the same kind of rhetoric ("The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly"), but both bills exempt current and retired officers from the ban. If California lawmakers introduce legislation either to ban private ownership of "assault weapons" by cops, or to all

Liberal Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who made a fine show in the GOP presidential primaries last year, find common ground today on hemp farming.