Obama & Democrats fight to Fast Track Health Care

President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress are poised to trample Republican opposition to his health care bill with a controversial legislative tactic known as reconciliation.

The fast-track process would protect Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system from a potential GOP filibuster and limit the Republicans' ability to get concessions. It also would give Democrats far more control over the specifics of the health care legislation.

Under typical Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to advance a bill, but reconciliation would enable Democrats to enact the health care plan with just a simple majority and only 20 hours of debate.

Democrats hold 56 seats in the Senate, and two independents typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy.

Republicans have complained furiously about the prospect of health care reform passing under fast-track rules. But they're not planning to go down without a fight. - FOX News Story

Severe Weather Outbreak Sunday

Widespread thunderstorms, a few of them severe, will break out over a lengthy corridor spanning the nation's heartland Sunday into Sunday night. The area under threat of severe local weather will reach from southwestern and west-central Texas northeastward into southern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois.

With this rash of thunderstorms, severe weather factors will be excessive flooding rainfall and damaging winds. There will also be local large hail, as well as the possibility of a few tornadoes.

Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Jim Andrews.

Majority Opposed to More Investigations on Torture

President Obama and Senate Democratic leaders are opposed to more investigations of how the Bush administration treated terrorism suspects, and 58% of U.S. voters agree with them. A number of congressional Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are pushing for a wider probe.

Just 28% think the Obama administration should do further investigating of how suspected terrorists were questioned during the Bush years, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure. - Rasmussen Story

Reporters Give Gibbs / Obama Mixed Reviews

Robert Gibbs gave White House reporters a "strong A" Friday for their work over the first 100 days of the new administration.

Their report card on him is more mixed.

Although White House reporters praise some aspects of Obama's press shop, there’s grumbling about Gibbs' handling of the daily press briefings, where a handful of television correspondents dominate; griping about press management on the president's European trip; and complaints about Gibbs' tendency not to return e-mail messages.

And for a team that rode to Washington on a lot of talk about "transparency," reporters said in interviews with POLITICO this week that the Obama White House has been awfully opaque.

"I guess it depends what your definition of the word 'transparent' is," said Chuck Todd, chief White House correspondent for NBC News.

Adds Wall Street Journal White House reporter Jonathan Weisman: "I think by the press' definition, they have not been transparent at all." - Politico Story

Obama Administration uses Fuzzy Math to layout Deficit Reductions

Critics say the president's claim to have found "two trillion dollars in deficit reductions" is a bit misleading.

Despite the president's proclamation that his budget avoids the gimmickry his predecessor embraced by, say, not fully budgeting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq within his budget proposals, some say the president is embracing some gimmickry of his own.

The way President Obama's numbers-crunchers find 3/4ths of this $2 trillion savings is by creating a "baseline" wherein the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are fully budgeted for 10 years. They then claim that since they're not going to spend that much over the next ten years, they're saving $1.5 trillion. - ABC News Story

Obama Policies Failing with North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has restarted its nuclear facilities to harvest weapons-grade plutonium, an official said Saturday, just hours after the U.N. imposed new sanctions on the communist state for its recent rocket launch.

The move is a key step away from a 2007 disarmament deal — signed after a 2006 nuclear test — that called for North Korea to disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for much-needed energy aid and other concessions.

"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant has begun," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Harvesting weapons-grade plutonium "will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," he said. - FOX News Story

Debt Day - Sunday April 26th - Government runs out of Money

Debt Day comes early this year. Unfortunately, it's nothing to celebrate.

The symbolic "holiday," which falls on Sunday, marks the point in the fiscal year when government spending exceeds revenue.

In other words, the government will stop making money and start borrowing on Sunday.

And it's coming earlier than ever, according to House Minority Leader John Boehner, who's pointing to Debt Day as yet another symptom of a government he says is spending too much, borrowing too much and taxing too much. Last year's Debt Day fell more than three months later, on Aug. 5.

"All the revenue for this fiscal year will be spent as of Sunday," Boehner, R-Ohio, said. With the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, he said, "everything that happens after Sunday through ... the balance of this fiscal year is going to have to be borrowed from our kids and grandkids."

Boehner penned a column, posted on his Web site, blaming the early Debt Day on an "arrogant culture of spending" and the Obama administration's "borrowing binge."

"In short, about halfway through Fiscal Year 2009, Washington has run out of money," he wrote. - FOX News Story

Obama Spending Spee Creating Major Concerns

In the early months of his presidency, President Obama has shown he isn't afraid to spend billions of dollars on corporate bailouts or to run up trillions of dollars in U.S. debt to battle an economic crisis.

But in doing so, he has initiated the largest expansion of federal government since World War II and set up a massive challenge for his administration -- one that officials are already warning will be fraught with peril.

During the first 100 days of his presidency, Obama has signed a $787 billion stimulus bill into law, proposed an eye-popping $3.6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year, taken over a massive $700 billion Wall Street bailout program and created other billion-dollar programs to help grease the economic wheels.

Analysts call the spending spree "unprecedented" when the nation is not in a declared war, and they say the challenges that accompany it are a logical result.

"You take any organization in the world and you double its size in 90 days, it's going to have a hard time managing that transition," said William Gale, vice president and director of the economic studies program at Brookings Institute. - FOX News Story

US Government looking to Fire another CEO

On the same day the government is set to release the results of its stress tests analyzing 19 financial firms, a report came out that the government is considering giving Citigroup (C: 3.17, -0.03, -0.94%) CEO Vikram Pandit the boot.

Citigroup, which has received or been guaranteed $50 billion of government aid through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has been stirring up a lot of questions about its health.

According to The New York Post, citing sources, regulators are mulling taking steps to show the government is taking a strong stand on banks, which may include removing Pandit. - FOX Business Story

Democrats go after Judge in Torture Memos

Some Democrats in Congress are having a tough time convincing President Obama, as well as their colleagues, to form an independent "truth" commission to probe the evolution of interrogation tactics under the Bush administration.

So lawmakers who oppose those techniques are looking for the next best thing -- the impeachment of one of the authors of the so-called "torture memos."

Jay Bybee, one of the lawyers who wrote the opinions justifying the tactics, is now a federal judge in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

That should change, some Democrats say.

"I think someone who writes a how-to memo on how to break the law should not be a federal judge," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that gave Bybee a thumbs-up before he was confirmed by the full Senate, argues there never would have been a vote if those memos had been in the record at the time. - FOX News Story

What kind of sense does that make. We disagree with his opinion so we should fire him? How about the Treasury Secretary who runs the IRS that didn't pay his taxes? How easy it is to cast stones, but you better remember the glass house.

Cheney - High Probability of a Terrorist Attack under new Administration

As the New York Times noted this morning, former Vice President Dick Cheney has been a vocal and consistent critic of President Obama since leaving office. That's something of a break from the past: Traditionally, presidents and vice presidents have stayed relatively quiet about the activities of their successors.

Even President Bush – who was often the target of criticism from Mr. Obama during the campaign – has said the new president "deserves my silence." But Cheney, who has been front and center in the debate over the release of the Bush-era interrogation memos and potential prosecutions for devising the interrogation techniques, clearly disagrees. He has gone so far as to suggest that there is a "high probability" of a terrorist attack under the new administration. - CBS News Story

Conficker Virus Finally Attacking - Weeks after April Fools Day

BOSTON — A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning an unknown number of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam, they added.

The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.

Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp. - FOX News Story

Obama Administration to Release Gitmo Detainees in USA

Hill sources tell me that Congressional leaders were told today that Guantanamo detainees from China - the Uighurs - are likely to soon be released into the United States, most likely to the Virginia suburbs. These notifications follow this front page story today in the Los Angeles Times. It is already clear that Republicans are prepared to pounce on this decision. Without referencing today's notifications, Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released a statement this afternoon arguing that the release of the Guantanamo detainees will not make America safer. No word yet from Hill Democrats. Pentagon sources tell ABC's Luis Martinez that the decision is "a toe in the water, not a done deal."

--George Stephanopoulos

---ABC News

There you go America. Change you can Believe in! The Bush Administration believed these people were dangerous enough to keep detained in Gitmo. Obama's Administration believes it is time for Change. They are safe enough to release right onto the Streets of the Good Ole USA.

Say Goodbye to Pontiac

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.

An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.

In its most recent "viability plan" - which will be updated to reflect this new brand cut - Pontiac was not named as one of GM's four "core brands." Those are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. But Pontiac was also not to be killed or sold off, as were Saturn, Saab and Hummer.

Instead Pontiac was to continue on as a "niche brand" focusing on just a few models. - CNN News Story

GM get $2 Billion more in Taxpayer Funds

(AP) The Treasury Department says it has provided General Motors Corp. with another $2 billion in federal loans as the giant automaker struggles to restructure.

The Treasury said that the payment was made to GM on Wednesday and provides working capital to the company.

A government report revealed earlier this week that the Treasury was prepared to provide GM with up to $5 billion more in federal loans and Chrysler with up to $500 million more in bailout support as they race against deadlines to restructure.

GM has until June 1 to complete restructuring plans that satisfy the government's auto task force, while Chrysler has until April 30. - CBS News

Budget Deal in Works to Save Health Care Reform

(AP) President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress have agreed to let his signature $400 tax cut for most workers expire after next year but are moving to give him a better chance at passing his health care bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday that most issues have been resolved in trying to combine different House and Senate approaches into one budget bill. That measure will set the rules on how Congress considers Obama's agenda for the rest of the year.

Lawmakers are rushing to agree on the budget framework in time to give Obama a victory within his first 100 days in office. Late-night talks Thursday produced the framework of a deal that would protect his ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system from a Republican filibuster. - CBS News Story

Dana Perino - Bush-Era Interrogation Program "Effective, Safe And Legal"

On this week's edition of CBSNews.com's Web-only program "Washington Unplugged," Dana Perino, who was White House press secretary under President Bush, called controversial Bush-era enhanced interrogation techniques "effective, safe and legal."

Perino had strongly critical words for President Obama – who she said "made a mess" of the situation – as well as Congressional Democrats, some of whom have called for an investigation into the authorization of tactics such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation.

"We've already said those techniques aren't being used anymore," she told CBS News' Chip Reid. "So what more is there to investigate unless they are on a political witchhunt?"

Perino also suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats should testify in any investigation that does take place, since Members Of Congress "were briefed about the program." - CBS News Story

Specter paying Price for Stimulus?

Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania’s 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republican voters statewide say they’d vote for Toomey while just 30% would support Specter.

Specter is viewed favorably by 42% of Pennsylvania Republicans and unfavorably by 55%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. Those are stunningly poor numbers for a long-term incumbent senator. Specter was first elected to the Senate in 1980. - Rasmussen Story

Polls show Next President expected to be Republican

For the first time since Barack Obama was elected president last November, more than half of U.S. voters (53%) say it is at least somewhat likely that the next occupant of the White House will be a Republican. Thirty-one percent (31%) say it is Very Likely. - Rasmussen Story

Obama - What is his Position on Torture Memos?

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- For someone who insists he is personally opposed to torture, President Obama has a rhetorical knack for it.

This week, Obama tortured the right, left and center with his parsing, hedging, and flip-flopping on newly released Bush-era torture memos and what to do about them.

Along the way, he also tortured logic and consistency, making a total mess of his own position. Only the most die-hard Obama supporters -- those who are invested to the hilt in his presidency and find it hard to see the blemishes -- could deny this.

Obama angered Republicans by releasing the confidential documents, over objections by CIA Director Leon Panetta and Bush administration officials who worried that it would telegraph to terrorists how far U.S. interrogators are permitted to go in trying to extract information.

But he also disappointed Democrats by ruling out the prosecution of interrogators who might have engaged in what some define as torture and initially suggesting that the lawyers who had advised them wouldn't be prosecuted either because, as Obama said several days ago, "this is a time for reflection, not retribution." - CNN Commentary

Liz Cheney - former VP's Daughter Slams Obama

(CNN) — Liz Cheney, former State Department official and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, defended her father's string of tough comments aimed at President Obama, telling an interviewer that the former VP believes the new president is taking the nation down a "dangerous" path and that he has an "obligation to stand up."

"I think he is concerned that some of the things that we have seen President Obama do, particularly on his overseas trip in terms of not taking the opportunity to stand up and defend America when Daniel Ortega delivers a 50-minute screed against the United States [during the Summit of the Americas]," she told MSNBC in an interview that aired Thursday.

"I think that there's a real concern. I mean, the message that we saw coming out of the last few foreign trips — I mean, forget Republican and Democrat, as an American it concerns me when I have a president that doesn't stand up and say, 'Wait a minute, you know, I'm going to defend the United States of America because we are a beacon of hope for people all around the world,'" she said. - CNN News

Gore - House Proposal will solve Climate change, Economy and National Security

(CBS/AP) Former Vice President Al Gore called a House proposal to curb greenhouses gases blamed for global warming one of the most important bills ever in Congress.

Gore, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on global warming, testified Friday before a House panel. In testimony prepared for delivery, Gore said the legislation will simultaneously solve the problems of climate change, the economy and national security.

The former vice president described the bill as "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced in the Congress," and said it has the moral equivalence of the post-World War II Marshall Plan and civil rights legislation in the 1960s.

He predicted passing it would "restore America's leadership in the world and begin, at long last, to solve the climate crisis." - CBS News Story

If a single bill can do all of that, why in the heck have we passed all these darn stimulus bills and massive budgets? This one bill would have solved all of it and the money could have been spent on this instead.

Obama Now Against Trutch Commision

President Obama rebuffed calls for a commission to investigate alleged abuses under the Bush administration in fighting terrorism, telling congressional leaders at a White House meeting yesterday that he wants to look forward instead of litigating the past.

In a lengthy exchange with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Obama appeared to back away from a statement earlier this week that suggested he could support an independent commission to examine possible abuses, according to several attendees who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could discuss the private meeting freely. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, also seeking to clarify the president's position, told reporters that "the president determined the concept didn't seem altogether workable in this case" because of the intense partisan atmosphere built around the issue. - CBS News Story

More Questions Emerge about Torture Memos and Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she was never told during a congressional briefing in 2002 that waterboarding or other "enhanced" interrogation techniques were being used on terrorism suspects.

But in a story published in the Washington Post in December 2007, two officials were quoted saying that the California Democrat and three other lawmakers had received an hour-long secret briefing on the interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, and that they raised no objections at the time.

The clash of accounts has stirred Republican claims that Democrats have selective and politically motivated amnesia when it comes to who knew what, and when, about the Bush-era interrogation programs. - FOX News Story

Obama Cost Cutting - Laughable

These tough times call for sacrifice. So the Obama administration has embarked on a belt-tightening plan that sounds, to some veteran federal budget watchers, like fodder for a Jay Leno monologue.

The Education Department will eliminate a Bush-era "education policy attaché" based in Paris -- the one in France -- whose annual salary, housing allowance and business expenses exceed $630,000. Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs will forgo their training junkets to hot spots such as Nashville and satisfy themselves with videoconferencing. - CBS News Story

The fact is, this stuff needs to be done. It is absolutely the right thing to do. They need to do anything and everything possible to cut costs.

The Problem is, Obama made this a big part of his first Cabinet Meeting and has tried to sell it as an Earth Shattering move on their part to help with the Massively Growing Budget Deficit. It is not. $100 Million in a deficit that is in the $1 Trillion + range is talking mere saving pennies.

This is not the Bold new Government and this is not real savings. If you were talking $100 Billion then you are making head way. This is like me coming home from and telling my wife that I have cut out $5 from our monthly budget and then touting it as a huge savings for us and a big turning point in our life.

Poll Show - Americans Believe Obama has Endangered National Security

Fifty-eight percent (58%) believe the Obama administration’s recent release of CIA memos about the harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects endangers the national security of the United States. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 28% believe the release of the memos helps America’s image abroad.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of voters now believe the U.S. legal system worries too much about protecting individual rights when national security is at stake. But 21% say the legal system is too concerned about protecting national security. Thirty-three percent (33%) say the balance between the two is about right. - Rasmussen Story

Obama Administration to Release Photos of Prisoner Abuse

The Department of Defense -- on the heels of the firestorm over the release of Bush-era memos on CIA interrogation techniques -- said Thursday it plans to make public at least 44 photos depicting potentially abusive treatment of detainees at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision to release the photos was announced Thursday in a letter filed in a federal court in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2004.

It sets a May 28 deadline for the Department of Defense to produce 21 images that the court in 2006 ordered the government to release and 23 additional related images, as well as "a substantial number of other images" in the Army's possession.

The images were part of the military's investigation of potential abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel at facilities other than Iraq Abu Ghraib, though the photos apparently aren't as shocking as those that set off a prisoner abuse scandal in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Even so, Defense officials say they worry that the new release of photos could set off a backlash in the Middle East against the United States, the Times reports.

The Bush administration had refused to disclose the images after the ACLU's request made in 2003, claiming that the public disclosure of such evidence would generate outrage and would violate U.S. obligations towards detainees under the Geneva Conventions. - FOX News Story

The Obama Administration in it's haste to prove the Bush Administration Tortured Prisoners is ready to set Personal before Country.

This is the Leadership and Change that We Can Believe in!!!!!!

Torture - What did Pelosi Know and When?

Nancy Pelosi denies knowing U.S. officials used waterboarding — but GOP operatives are pointing to a 2007 Washington Post story which describes an hour-long 2002 briefing in which Pelosi was told about enhanced interrogation techniques in graphic detail.

Two unnamed officials told the paper that Pelosi, then a member of the Democratic minority, didn't raise substantial objections. - Politico Story

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing.

Pelosi says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the legal justification for using waterboarding — but that they never followed through on promises to inform her when they actually began using "enhanced" interrogation techniques

"In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used. What they did tell us is that they had some legislative counsel ... opinions that they could be used," she told reporters today. - Politico Story

Obama - Now He is Against Going After Bush lawyers

At a White House meeting Thursday, President Obama told Congressional leaders that he thinks it would be a mistake to set up a commission to investigate excesses of the Bush administration’s war on terror.

“The president said that given all that’s on the agenda and the pressing issues facing the country, that a backward-looking investigation would not be productive,” a White House official who attended the session said. “The president was very clear…that he believes it’s important that there’s not a witch hunt.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he asked Obama to release details about what intelligence was obtained from aggressive interrogations.

“The American people deserve to make their judgments about this national security matter based on a full set of facts,” Boehner said in a written statement.

According to Boehner, the president said further disclosures were being discussed by the administration. However, the White House official, who asked not be named, said the president made no explicit statement about a review. - Politico Story

How the Stimulus Dollars are Being Spent

You've heard of the Bridge to Nowhere. You might call this the Airport for Nobody.

The John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport has an impressive $18 million runway made of reinforced concrete that's big enough to land any airplane in North America. The airport also has a $7 million air traffic control tower, a $14 million hanger and $8 million radar. Most of the time, the only thing the airport doesn't have is airplanes.

An average of just 20 people a day flew out of the Murtha Airport last year. But, the airport was just awarded more federal money -- $800,000 in stimulus funds to repave an alternate runway. - ABC News Story

Obama's Stimulus not Saving Jobs

(CBS/AP) New jobless claims rose more than expected last week, while the number of workers continuing to filing claims for unemployment benefits topped 6.1 million.

Both figures are fresh evidence layoffs persist amid a weak job market that is not expected to rebound anytime soon.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000, up from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly above analysts' expectations of 635,000. - CBS News Story

Calls for Resignation of DHS Napolitano

Napolitano on Thursday acknowledged the criticism and reiterated that the extremist report was "not well written" and should not have been released in that form. She said she would meet with the leadership of the American Legion on Friday over the reference to returning war veterans.

But she rebuffed those who say an apology is not enough.

"That's what they're going to get," Napolitano said.

She also corrected her statements on Canada, admitting that she falsely suggested Sept. 11 terrorists crossed over from Canada. "I knew the minute it came out of my mouth it was wrong," she said.

Napolitano first clarified her comments in a written statement that said: "I know that the September 11th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States. There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists have attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States." - FOX News Story

Obama Hasn't Accomplished much on Foreign Policy

Some change doesn't come easy.

President Obama pledged during the 2008 campaign to fix the "failed policies" of the "disastrous" Bush administration. But in his first 100 days in the White House he has not fully thrown off the mantle of his predecessor -- nor shown him to be a failure, foreign policy experts say.

Obama has clashed with George W. Bush on many of the issues that defined the 43rd president's tenure: on commitments in Iraq, engaging with Iran and other enemies, on the harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists.

From his first days in office, Obama set about undoing the architecture of Bush's War on Terror -- objecting to his overarching approach to fighting Islamist terrorism and even to the phrase "War on Terror" itself, which has been shunned by the new administration.

But few of those changes have had a visible effect three months in: the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay was ordered closed yet remains open as Obama plans where to send its inmates; the president has yet to establish a coherent policy on Iran -- following in the Bush administration's frustrated footsteps; and while American troops are being removed from Iraq, most will stay in place until 2010.

Gary Schmitt, director of advanced strategic studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said the 2007 surge of troops in Iraq and the employment of counterinsurgency tactics there made room for a safer withdrawal from the country. "The very fact that he can pull troops out of Iraq and do so in the timeline that he's talked about is evidence of Bush's policy success there," he said. - FOX News Story

Obama Administration Preparing Bankruptcy for Chrysler

The Treasury Department is preparing a bankruptcy filing for Chrysler, the New York Times reports, though it wasn't immediately clear how serious the Obama Administration is about following through with that plan.

The Times, citing sources with knowledge of the process, reports that an agreement was reached with the United Automobile Workers union to protect pension and retiree health care benefits in the planned Chapter 11 filing, which could come next week.

An administration official reached by FOX Business urged caution on concluding a bankruptcy was imminent.

"It should surprise no one that the administration is planning on contingencies, but we remain focused on the goal and engaged with all stakeholders to bring Chrysler and Fiat to a working partnership," the official said. - FOX News Story

Obama & Democrats set to Cram Health Care Through

WASHINGTON -- Democrats moved one step closer Wednesday to using a controversial budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care legislation.

House Democrats went on record again in favor of advancing the legislation while allowing only limited debate, which would hobble the ability of Republicans to wrest concessions on one of Obama's top domestic priorities.

By a 227-196 vote, the House affirmed Democrats' plans to move health care legislation under rules that block Republicans in the Senate from being able to slow progress of the legislation -- or even stop it, through a filibuster.

The vote came as senior House and Senate Democrats negotiated the issue in private talks on the 2010 budget. Republicans are passionately against the idea of putting health care on a "fast track," saying it is too important and too complicated to be rushed through Congress under rules permitting just 20 hours of Senate debate.

But the White House is insisting on having the fast-track process -- known as "reconciliation" under the arcane rules governing the congressional budget process -- available to them, though it claims a preference is for a bipartisan measure. - FOX News Story

You know that something is wrong when there is such a rush to push something through that you don't want to have proper debate and everyone in agreement.

I am going on the record right now, and I will tell you that if this is how they get Health Care through it will be the end of the Democrats rule at the next election cycle. It will end Obama's chances of re-election as well. The American People do want reform, this is not how they want it done. The Stimulus and Bailouts that were passed by Democrats has already bitten them and they haven't learned.

Important Legislation requires that it be bipartisan. If you do it on party line vote, you pay the price. No Legislation is perfect and when you pass it on a party line vote, when the imperfections are exposed the party that passed it pays the price. The bonuses for AIG Execs fell squarely on Obama and the Dems. It was a party line vote for a majority of the bailout and they got the fall out. They passed the massive 90% tax on those bonuses in a party line vote. When it came out that it would cripple the Economy Recovery, they got the fall out.

That is why bipartisanship is so important. That is also why if this goes forward in this manner, it will be the Dems who will pay at the polls in the next election cycle.

Obama Caught again in Position over Torture Memos

President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.

In the most recent instance, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged in a memo to the intelligence community that Bush-era interrogation practices yielded had "high-value information,” then omitted that admission from a public version of his assessment.

That leaves a top Obama administration official appearing to validate claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that waterboarding and other techniques the White House regards as torture were effective in preventing terrorist attacks. And the press release created the impression the administration was trying to suppress this conclusion.

The president, who has said he wants to focus on the future rather than litigate the past, also opened himself to distraction and attack by retracting the earlier assurance by top officials that they had no plans to prosecute lawyers for former President George W. Bush who approved the “enhanced interrogation” program. - Politico Story

I know that he Chief of Staff said he labored over whether to release the memos. It sure seems like he doesn't really have a plan or know what the heck he is doing. He changes his mind more than anyone I have ever seen. Even his own Administration seems lost, they issue conflicting statements and memos.

Pelosi New about Wiretap on Rep. Jane Harman

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed Wednesday that the National Security Agency briefed her "a few years ago" about wiretapping Rep. Jane Harman, but she never told her California colleague.

Roll Call newspaper on Capitol Hill reported that Pelosi said the NSA did not tell her what was picked up on the call but it wasn't her decision whether to discuss the tape with Harman..

"It was not my position to raise it with Jane Harman," Pelosi told reporters at a lunch with another newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor. "In fact, I didn't even know if what they were talking about was real. All they said was that she was wiretapped. - FOX News Story

Supreme Court to hear Reverse Discrimination Case

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a Connecticut firefighters' civil rights case that has the potential to change hiring practices nationwide.

The court will weigh whether New Haven's decision to scrap a promotion exam because too few minorities passed violates the civil rights of top-scoring white applicants.

The discrimination lawsuit was brought by 20 white firefighters — one also is Hispanic.

The city argues going ahead with the promotions based on the test results would have risked a lawsuit claiming the exams had a "disparate impact" on minorities. - FOX News Story

I know that this is a touchy subject. But come on. What if the situation would have been reversed, and only the African Americans scored good and Whites and Hispanics scored poorly. Would they have thrown out the exam?

Clinton Takes Shot at Cheney

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seized on an opportunity Wednesday to take a shot at Dick Cheney in front of a House committee, telling lawmakers that she did not view the former vice president as a "particularly reliable source" on issues of torture.

Clinton offered a sarcastic reply when asked about Cheney's request this week to declassify documents showing the "success" of some widely condemned, harsh interrogation techniques launched by former President Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source," Clinton said with laughter before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. - FOX News Story

It concerns me that the Secretary of State would be laughing about such a serious thing. Regardless of what this Administration would like to believe, there are bad people out there that want a shot at the USA. For them not to take it seriously is very concerning.

Is Obama putting Image over Safety?

President Obama says he wants to give America's image abroad a facelift, but Republicans on Capitol Hill say they are worried it will come at the expense of national security.

The president over the past few days has warned that his country is losing its "moral bearings" and must deploy the "power of our values" to stay on the "better side of history."

He cited these reasons in abolishing the interrogation tactics outlined in Bush-era memos declassified last week and opening the door for prosecutions against the lawyers who wrote those memos.

But top Republicans warn that Obama is placing America's image abroad over its safety at home.

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said former CIA chief Michael Hayden is right in saying that Obama's treatment of the interrogation programs could have a chilling effect on agents' ability to operate in the field.

"It lessens security," Hoekstra told FOXNews.com. "If you've got an intelligence community that's unwilling to take a risk and being very timid ... guess what? You don't have an intelligence community. You've got a bureaucracy." - FOX News Story

ABC News Typo - Bush Administration Officials Blamed for @@@@ Abuse

Senate Report Details Pentagon Role in Tortures

Sen. Levin blames senior Bush-administration officials for shiting abuse blame. - ABC News

I had to post this Headline from ABC News. The keyboard can be your enemy.

Click on Picture to see a bigger snapshot of the Screen.

Chrysler & Treasury at Standoff With Banks

With the future of Chrysler hanging in the balance, the Obama administration is locked in a standoff with some of the nation's largest banks over repayment of the automaker's debt, according to a New York Times report Wednesday.

The Treasury Department presented secured debtholders with a plan that would repay them 15 cents on the dollar, or about $1 billion – roughly the recent trading level of Chrysler's debt, the report notes.

The White House wants to see Chrysler enter a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat, or risk going out of business.

But the offer was rejected by the banks, led by JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. They are seeking 65 cents on the dollar for their debt and a 40 percent stake in a re-engineered Chrysler.

The U.S. has said the automaker must reduce its debt in order to continue receiving government aid and avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The bank steering committee, which also includes Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, represents 45 financial firms that hold $6.9 billion in Chrysler debt, claim the automaker's restructuring plans require too much sacrifice on the part of creditors and not enough on the autoworkers' union, reports the Times. - CBS News Story

Top Democrats Facing Ethics Questions

Allegations of ethics violations by a handful of Democrats in recent months reached something of a crescendo this week as two prominent members of Congress were accused of corruption.

California Rep. Jane Harman denied allegations that she offered to help seek reduced charges for two pro-Israel lobbyists suspected of espionage in exchange for help from a pro-Israel donor, also suspected Israeli agent, in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give Harman a key chairmanship.

And California Sen. Dianne Feinstein denied that she devised legislation that helped her husband get a federal contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.

But the latest cases, which involve Democrats, did not make the same splash that corruption allegations did a few years ago, when Republicans were on the receiving end of the finger-pointing.

Some Republican analysts attribute the difference to timing.

Democrats have benefited from an "Obama media cycle," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, who served as an aide to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.

Reporters are struggling to keep up with the Obama administration and all the crises it's grappling with, Bonjean told FOXNews.com.

In addition, he said, the media and the public have become more desensitized to allegations of corruption against lawmakers after the ones against Republicans. - FOX News Story

I don't know if it is so much that people are desensitized, as it is that the Media just don't go after the Democrats like they do Republicans. Just last year it was all over the news about Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska with the Ethics Case against him, but he was a Republican.

I also think that if this was 3 years from now in an election cycle, you would see much more coverage of this.

Obama starting to see Trouble in the Polls

Although Obama's Approval overall remains relatively high (54% in the latest Rasmussen Poll) the keys are in the quick rise of people who Strongly Disapprove of him.

The biggest losses for the President have come from the Younger Crowd. Persons 35 years of age or younger.

The biggest problem for Obama has been the big spending and bailouts.

Even though the Media continues to portray his every move as great, many Americans are beginning to read between the lines. The mistakes that are being made and continue to be made by this Administration. The Memo Release - Most people can read between the lines that it was nothing more than a Partisan Attack on the former Administration. The failure to Accomplish anything on the European Trip. The President (although he looked good, and was greeted well) got nothing that he was asking for.

Fidel Castro - Obama Misinterpreted Overtures

HAVANA -- Fidel Castro said Tuesday that President Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States and bristled at any suggestion Cuba should free political prisoners or reduce official fees on money sent to the island from the U.S.

Raul Castro touched off a whirlwind of speculation that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw in nearly a half-century of chilly relations last week, when he said Cuban leaders would be willing to sit down with their U.S. counterparts and discuss "everything," including human rights, freedom of the press and expression, and political prisoners on the island.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she welcomed the "overture," while Obama responded at the Summit of the Americas by saying Washington seeks a new beginning with Cuba. But he also said that Cuba should release some political prisoners and reduce official taxes on remittances from the U.S. as a sign of good will.

That appeared to enrage Fidel Castro, 82, who wrote in an essay posted on a government Web site that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations." - FOX News Story

Freddie MAC CFO Found Dead

The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead in his home Wednesday morning of an apparent suicide, Fairfax, Va., police have confirmed to FOX News.

Kellermann, a 16-year veteran of the mortgage loan guarantor, was reportedly discovered by his wife.

Fairfax police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings said police were called to the Northern Virginia home outside Washington, D.C., in the early morning hours. He was found in his basement.

Kellermann, 41, was named acting chief financial officer in September 2008 and was a member of the company's leadership team reporting directly to CEO David M. Moffett, who resigned last month.

According to his bio, as acting chief financial officer, Kellermann "is responsible for the company's financial controls, financial reporting, tax, capital oversight and compliance with the requirements" of congressional legislation known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. That law was a response to financial scandals like Enron and was intended to make corporate boards more accountable. - FOX News Story

Billions More in Bailout for Auto Industry

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. could get as much as $5 billion more in federal loans, while Chrysler LLC could get $500 million as they race against government-imposed deadlines to restructure, according to a government report filed Tuesday.

The quarterly report by a special inspector general on the auto industry and bank bailout programs says the money will be made available for working capital. GM has until June 1 to complete restructuring plans that satisfy the government's auto task force, while Chrysler has until April 30.

A person briefed on the plans said Tuesday that the exact amount of the loans have not been finalized and will be worked out with the companies. The person asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. - MSNBC Story

It's funny how early on Obama was out in front of all the Cameras pushing these bailouts. Now it seems these things are happening behind closed doors and in relative quiet. More and more often in the era of Open and Transparent Obama Government you are seeing the story with the person wishing not to be identified. Wonder why? Is this Administration Transparent?

Obama's Intel Chief - Interrogation Techniques Worked

WASHINGTON - President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.

“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday. - MSNBC Story

How come with all of the coverage on this subject, We had to dig hard to find this information. Why isn't it covered more?

Obama Asks for $80 Million to Close Gitmo

President Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for including $80 million to close Guantanamo in a massive funding request to fight America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $83.4 billion request to Congress was submitted on April 9, when lawmakers were on break over the Easter holidays.

Tucked into the 99-page bill were a few paragraphs about Guantanamo — including a request for funds for foreign countries that accept prisoners. U.S. efforts to have other countries take in detainees have largely been a flop — stoking fears the men will end up in America.

"The administration needs to tell the American people what it plans to do with these men if they close Guantanamo," U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. He pointed out that two years ago the Senate voted 94-3 against sending detainees to the U.S. - ABC News Story

Here you go President, You said you were looking for $100 Million in cut, I give you $80 Million in one swoop. Now, don't be stupid. Why are we paying other Countries to take our Prisoners. If you don't think they should be tried in court, let them go in Iraq or Afghanistan and the Military can take care of them when they attack again.

Obama White House Claims Most Productive President Since FDR

WASHINGTON -- The Obama White House doesn't "subscribe to the legitimacy" of the 100-day metric for presidential progress, but is mighty satisfied with the new president's accomplishments.

"This isn't Biblical," a senior White House adviser said of the 100-day marker. "You don't do 100 days and rest."

Even so, this senior official, a long-time adviser to the president who spoke on the condition he not be quoted by name, said "you would be hard-pressed to find another administration that's done so much in such a short period of time. It's been a very productive 100 days."

For most of the 45-minute session the White House adviser spent with a small group of reporters, the suggestion that Obama had been more productive than Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his first 100 days (the president whose scale of activity first generated 100-day assessments of subsequent presidencies) was left on the table. When asked if that was the proper interpretation, the adviser said Obama's had been the most productive since FDR. - FOX News Story

You gotta give it to the President and his staff, they are not short on slapping themselves on the back. But, A Wiseman once told me that when you start believing your own BS, thats when you are in trouble.

Torture Memo Prosecution Unlikely

President Obama answered the call of the left Tuesday by opening the door for prosecution of the Bush administration lawyers who wrote the so-called "torture memos," which cleared the way for the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods when questioning suspected terrorists.

But that doesn't mean those attorneys will end up facing prison sentences any time soon.

Some legal analysts doubt the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder have the stomach for taking on their predecessors. And others question whether the Justice Department would pursue a case that amounts to prosecuting a legal opinion.

"My prediction is you'll never see prosecutions," said Doug Burns, a former federal prosecutor. He said Obama was merely backpedaling Tuesday to blunt the political backlash he was facing from the left.

Though the president has said that CIA agents will not be charged for following legal guidelines for interrogations, some Democrats have pushed him to support prosecution of the lawyers who drafted the legal ground for such interrogations. Obama said Tuesday that he will defer to Holder on those potential charges.

But if Holder goes down that road, it will be unprecedented, legal analysts said.

"It would really be a very, very difficult case to make," said Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer and former official in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy. - FOX News Story

When I think that Obama can't be any less of a leader, he sets me straight. Pandering to the Left by saying he is open to prosecution then putting his tail between his legs puts it off onto the AG to decide. Be a Leader. Yes or No, do you support prosecuting members of the previous Administration?

Government to Big and Powerful - Poll Says

Sixty percent (60%) of Americans say the federal government has too much power and too much money, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Just nine percent (9%) say the government has too little power and money. Twenty-four percent (24%) believe the government has about the right amount of both.

Not surprisingly, the Political Class sees things a lot differently. While 85% of Mainstream Americans say the government has too much power and money, just two percent (2%) of the Political Class agree. Nearly one-our-of-four members (24%) of the Political Class, in fact, believe the government has too little money and power, but 68% say it has about the right amount of each.

While slightly more than half of those working for both the government and private industry say the government is too big, 79% of entrepreneurs feel that way.

The findings follow last week’s “tea party” protests against higher government spending and the threat of higher taxes. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the tea parties, but the Political Class strongly disagrees. - Rasmussen Story

Miss California Still taking Flak over Gay Marriage Answer

Answering judge Perez Hilton's question about gay marriage, Prejean said: "I think it's great Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be, between a man and a woman."

On the "Today Show" this morning, Prejean defended her answer.

"I knew at that moment after I answered the question, I knew, I was not going to win because of my answer, because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God," she said. "I wouldn't have answered it differently. The way I answered may have been offensive. With that question specifically, it's not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct." - ABC News Story

I still can not understand what all the hoopla is about. She was asked a stupid question and the judge intended to put her on the spot. She answered it honestly and truthfully with her beliefs. She didn't give him the answer he wanted and he is out bashing her all over the place.

The bottom line is that Perez Hilton is a moron. Don't ask a stupid question like that if you can't handle the answer. We live in America, everyone is entitled to their opinions. Most people don't agree on everything, and that is OK. I think she did a great job, it is disheartening that a Judge can go out and bash your name and reputation because you don't share his view point.

Clean Coal - Dirty Lie?

"Clean coal is a dirty lie," says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it "indentured servants" of the coal industry.

Despite a series of expensive false starts and failures, President Obama proposed $3.4 billion in stimulus legislation to fund continued research on "clean coal" projects.

"Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes, it does not exist," says former Vice President Al Gore.

The coal industry has been running a multi-million dollar advertising blitz to promote the theory that coal can be made clean, using one of Obama's campaign speeches in its television commercials.

Click here to see the coal industry's commercials featuring President Obama. - ABC News Story

Pirate to be Tried as Adult in New York

(CBS/AP) A federal judge in New York has determined that the sole survivor of a pirate attack on an American cargo ship off the Somali coast is an adult.

On Tuesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued in a New York courtroom over whether Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse is a juvenile or an adult. Muse's age has been reported to be 15 or 18.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck closed the hearing for a time for fear that Muse is a juvenile. He later allowed reporters back in and told them he had decided Muse wasn't under 18.

Before court officers closed the courtroom to the media, Muse was asked if he understood that two federal defenders were being assigned to his case because he reported having no financial resources. Muse said through an interpreter: "I understand. I don't have any money."

He cried and sobbed audibly when his attorneys mentioned contacting his family in Somalia. - CBS News Story

If you are going to do the crime, be prepared to do the time. Whether or not he is an adult, if you are going to take hostages and demand ransoms and threaten to kill someone, you best be prepared for the time when you are caught.

Show no pity on this criminal. He should be tried and sentenced to the max. Send a signal to the others that this won't be tolerated.

Regulation on Internet Coming Soon?

The days of an open, largely unregulated Internet may soon come to an end.

A bill making its way through Congress proposes to give the U.S. government authority over all networks considered part of the nation's critical infrastructure. Under the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009, the president would have the authority to shut down Internet traffic to protect national security.

The government also would have access to digital data from a vast array of industries including banking, telecommunications and energy. A second bill, meanwhile, would create a national cybersecurity adviser -- commonly referred to as the cybersecurity czar -- within the White House to coordinate strategy with a wide range of federal agencies involved. - FOX News Story

Who is the President of Venezuela - Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez has cultivated a world image of a cuddly, mischievous leftist.

But behind the softy socialist persona is a ruthless politician, a Venezuelan president whose regime is described by the U.S. State Department and others as one of the world's leading abusers of human, political and social rights.

Chavez's transgressions since taking office in 1999 have amounted to much more than merely throwing insults, as he did at former President Bush at the opening session of the 2006 U.N. General Assembly. It was there that Chavez described the American president, who had spoken one day earlier, as the "devil" whose sulfur stench remained at the podium. - FOX News Story

Obama - Chavez Handshake, What is the Cost?

How much will President Obama’s handshake with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez cost the U.S.? Despite Chavez’ bombastic rhetoric about his socialist revolution, the reality is that Venezuela is going broke. While the president’s overtures to Chavez at the recent Summit of the Americas have been greeted ecstatically by many in the media, there has been little attention as to why Chavez may so desperately crave rapprochement. (And guess what? It appears to have nothing to do with Obama’s politics.) What has also been absent from press coverage is any perspective on just how our relations with Venezuela became so frosty in the first place. The implication is that George W. was just a big old grump and couldn’t get along with his neighbors.

Surprise! Even the notoriously friendly Bill Clinton ran afoul of Chavez. When Clinton visited Columbia in 2000 to bolster U.S. support for that struggling country’s war on drug cartels, Chavez warned against intervention and refused to sign Plan Columbia, all the while openly backing the insurgents.

Before hailing Obama’s handshake with Chavez as a feat of statesmanship, perhaps we need a reality check. Why has the U.S. fallen out with Venezuela? Is it just our aversion to being branded a terrorist or murderous state? Or is it Chavez’ attack on the democratic institutions of Venezuela that has soured relations with this ever-more-powerful ruler? - FOX News Story

Note the handshakes. Is this some brotherhood shake or something? Doesn't look much like a Presidential Handshake.

Abdul Dishes on American Idol

MCFADDEN: So were you consulted before they added the fourth judge?

ABDUL: Well, yes, you want to know when? I just got out of this hospital this past August. I had three days to pack and go on the road. I found out on the way to the airport.

MCFADDEN: To this season's auditions?

ABDUL: To go to the first city.

MCFADDEN: Well, I wouldn't say that's consultation.

ABDUL: That's being informed. Nor was Randy. Randy found out hours before me and …

MCFADDEN: Were you mad?

ABDUL: I thought that respectfully all of us as a group, maybe we could even figure this out together, and I was surprised because Simon has always been against the fourth. We've had guest judges come in before, and he banned that from happening anymore. - ABC News Interview

For all the American Idol Faithful, this is a must read Interview.

California Democrat Wants Wiretaps Released

A former member of the House Intelligence Committee is asking the Justice Department to release transcripts of her recorded conversations involving two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of espionage.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday, saying she wants to make public all materials involving her.

She asked Holder to investigate why federal authorities were recording her conversations and why the conversations were leaked to the media. Harman denied any wrongdoing.

News reports said that the National Security Agency intercepted phone calls between Harman and a supporter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She reportedly was overheard agreeing to seek favorable treatment from the Bush administration for the two AIPAC lobbyists. - FOX News

Obama Leaves Decision to AG Whether to Prosecute Bush lawyers

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is leaving the door to open to possible prosecution of Bush administration officials who devised harsh terrorism-era interrogation tactics.

He also said Tuesday that he worries about the impact of high-intensity hearings on how detainees were treated under former President George W. Bush. But Obama did say, nevertheless, he could support a Hill investigation if it were conducted in a bipartisan way.

Obama has said he doesn't support charging CIA agents and interrogators who took part in waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, acting on advice from superiors that such practices were legal. But he also said that it is up to the attorney general whether to prosecute Bush administration lawyers who wrote the memos approving these tactics. - FOX News

Obama and GOP do Battle over Obama's $100 Million Budget Cut

President Barack Obama’s move to trim $100 million from his administration was met on Monday with mockery by congressional Republicans, who cast the cuts as laughably small within the multitrillion-dollar budget the president has proposed.

The White House shot back that Republicans had no room to talk about fiscal prudence, pointing out that it was their party that left Obama with yawning deficits.In other words: game on. - Politico Story

YAWNING DEFICITS! Are you kidding me? Talk about deficits, have you read any of the reports about the Obama Budgets? See Story

This is a fight that the GOP can most definitely win. Obama has increased Government spending my mass amounts. Not for the Economy either. Now he wants a small cut just to sell the idea that he is cutting back. The sad part is that many Americans don't pay attention and will think that he indeed is cutting spending. The GOP needs to show the facts and fight this battle.

McCain Wants Obama Administration to Apologize to Veterans

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is calling on the Obama administration to apologize to veterans over a recently released Department of Homeland Security report warning that “right-wing extremists” will attempt to “radicalize returning veterans.”

“The last people on earth we need to worry about are our veterans,” McCain said during an interview Monday night with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren. “It’s insulting.”

“Timothy McVeigh didn't learn to make that huge bomb while he was in the military. He learned it afterwards,” McCain added. “So to point out one veteran who committed an act of atrocity I think is outrageous.”

“As a veteran and having thousands and thousands of friends of mine who are fellow veterans, I think a real apology is owed throughout the administration,” he said. - Politico Story

It shouldn't be that hard for the Obama Administration to do. Apologize to it's own people. Every since he took office he has been apologizing to everyone else all around the world. Why not take a minute and apologize to your own people.

By the way, while your at it. Apologize to my kids and Grand kids (not born yet) for the mess that you are going to leave them with.

Lieberman - Release of Memos a Bad Idea

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman has been a good Democratic soldier since Barack Obama covered his back during the kick-him-out-of-the-caucus imbroglio earlier this year.

But the hawkish independent, who questioned Obama's experience level from the podium of the RNC last summer, is taking issue with the administration's release of the torture memos, telling Fox host Greta Van Susteren it was "a bad idea" that helps America's enemies.

The transcript:

VAN SUSTEREN: Again, the whole business about the torture memos being released by the Obama administration -- good idea or bad idea?

LIEBERMAN: I thought release of the memos was a bad idea.

The President of the United States as the commander in chief has the right to decide what kinds of tactics he wants to use with detainees who we believe are associated with terrorism and what kinds he does not want to use. Congress legislated on that. I was a cosponsor with Senator McCain of the anti-torture provisions we put into law.

But once you start to take internal memos that have been designated as top secret --

VAN SUSTEREN: Even if it's -- first of all, is waterboarding torture?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. It's a terrible thing to do...

Why do I think it was a mistake to give it out? I wasn't necessary. It just helps our enemies. It doesn't really help us. - Politico Story