Chavez Takes Control of US Pasta Plant

Venezuelan officials accompanied by soldiers have seized "temporary" control of a US-owned pasta producer.

Venezuela says the plant, owned by the big US firm Cargill, had violated regulations on price controls intended to guarantee cheap food for the poor.

The move further increases President Hugo Chavez's hold on the economy, after a series of recent take-overs of private and foreign-owned businesses.

They include a Cargill rice plant, and services companies in the oil industry.

Deputy Food Minister Rafael Coronado said the government would run the factory for 90 days, and would reassess the situation after that.

He said it has not been producing sufficient quantities of a type of pasta sold at cheap, government-established prices. - BBC News Story

It sounds like Hugo Chavez is acting a lot like he is following suit of one President Obama. The Government taking control of Companies in the name of saving the Economy.

So now it makes a lot more since why Obama and Chavez were so cordial to each other in their last meeting.

Civil Liberties Group angry at Obama

Civil liberties groups have reacted angrily to US President Barack Obama's decision to revive military trials for some Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Mr Obama has previously denounced the Bush-era judicial system, but in a statement said new safeguards would ensure suspects got a fairer hearing.

New rules include rejecting statements obtained from harsh interrogations and limitations on using hearsay evidence.

There are still 240 detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mr Obama halted the controversial military commissions as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights. - BBC News Story

Pelosi Backpedalling in Torture Issue

Rebuffed by the Democratic head of the CIA and left hanging by a Democratic White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backpedaled Friday on her claims that the CIA lied to her about water-boarding.

Pelosi issued a statement late Friday shifting her criticism to the Bush administration

– hours after CIA Director Leon Panetta defended his agency against Pelosi’s charges.

“My criticism of the manner in which the Bush administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe,” Pelosi said in a statement late Friday.

But she didn’t back off her central claim, that she wasn’t informed about the use of water-boarding against a key terror suspect in September 2002.

In fact, Democratic insiders said Friday that before Pelosi made her dramatic statement on Thursday, her office dispatched an aide to CIA headquarters to independently verify what she was told during the 2002 briefing based upon notes from the meeting.

“[Pelosi] wouldn’t say what she did without checking it first,” said a Pelosi ally.

Even with Pelosi’s attempts to turn down the temperature, however, the controversy continued. - Politco News Story

White House Keeping Distance Between Pelosi and CIA

The White House wants nothing to do with this Nancy Pelosi fight with the CIA.

Not long after CIA Director Leon Panetta put out a statement sticking by his agency, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dodged a question about whether Pelosi was right in questioning the CIA.

"I think you've heard the president say this a number of times: the best thing we can do is to look forward," Gibbs said. "I appreciate the invitation to get involved in here, but I'm not gonna RSVP,"

Backlash for Obama's Notre Dame Speach

CNN) -- University of Notre Dame senior Emily Toates, like many in the Catholic faith, is angry over her school's decision to give President Obama an honorary degree at this weekend's commencement.

She's doing something about it: skipping the event.

"I do not feel comfortable going and celebrating him as the university hands him an honorary degree -- in a sense honoring his policies," Toates said.

On Sunday, Obama will become one of many sitting U.S. presidents to deliver the commencement address at the Catholic institution. The honor comes much to the chagrin of anti-abortion groups and Catholics protesting the president's pro-choice, pro-stem cell research views.

ND Response, an anti-abortion student group that Toates is working with, will boycott the graduation ceremony in protest. Other anti-abortion groups have started petitions against Obama's appearance and have plans to protest his visit to the South Bend, Indiana, campus. - CNN News Story

CIA Directory - We didn't Mislead Congress - or Pelosi

CIA Director Leon Panetta just sent a stern message to his employees defending the agency against Speaker Nancy Pelosi's criticisms.

His message: We didn't mislead Congress; stay focused on your job.

Panetta's note was sent to reporters via the CIA press office. Here's the key graph:

"Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened."

The full Panetta memo is after the jump. - Politico Story

Wasteful Stimulus Spending

Few places in America are more desolate than Whitetail, Mont., a place where the roads are more likely to be mowed than paved. A border post with Canada located there sees an average of less than two passenger cars per day and only two to three trucks a month, according to the Bureau of Transportation statistics.

But one project in this tiny outpost is about to get a big-city upgrade.

The building that houses the border patrol is receiving $15 million from federal stimulus funds. And it's not just Whitetail. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is getting $420 million in stimulus funds to upgrade small border crossings, almost all of them along the Canadian border. Many of them don't have much more traffic than the border post at Whitetail.

CBP officials say the money is needed to improve security on the border with Canada, but the projects are viewed with suspicion along overcrowded border crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. - ABC News Story

Gingrich Attacks Pelosi - She Lied

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today offered a blistering critique of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s handling of oversight on harsh interrogation tactics, in a major escalation of partisan attacks being aimed at Pelosi.

In an interview with ABC News Radio’s Marcus Wilson, Gingrich, R-Ga., said Pelosi, D-Calif., “has lied to the House” in claiming that she was never briefed by the CIA about the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics.

"I think she has lied to the House, and I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don't think the Speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,” Gingrich said.

He continued: "I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I've seen in my lifetime."

"She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior."

"Speaker Pelosi's the big loser, because she either comes across as incompetent, or dishonest. Those are the only two defenses,” Gingrich said. “The fact is she either didn't do her job, or she did do her job and she's now afraid to tell the truth.” - ABC News Story

Notre Dame has Obama Protesters Arrested

Protesters opposed to President Obama's address to the graduating class of Notre Dame were arrested Friday after they disobeyed rules about staging their demonstration and walked onto the university campus.

Obama is also receiving an honorary law degree on Sunday, a decision that has upset abortion opponents who say the Catholic university is violating its own beliefs by honoring the president.

Protesters were told they could protest all they want in the town of South Bend, Ind., but once they stepped onto Notre Dame property, they would be arrested.

Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes led about 50 people onto the campus. They came across the gate and about 200 yards up the driveway where campus police were waiting. They were peaceful. The police asked the protesters to leave. They refused and were taken into custody. Vans were ready to load them up.

Perhaps the most dramatic moment happened when Father Norman Weslin of Omaha, Neb., a former army colonel and founder of the Lambs of Christ, refused to leave. He was singing and was carried off on a stretcher, not strong enough to march off on his own. - FOX News Story

Severe Storms to Strike Midwest Again Friday

A storm system passing into the Midwest will create unsettled conditions through much of the Midwest and Southeast today. Cooler air pouring southward across the Plains will clash with warm, moist air flowing northward from the Gulf of Mexico.

As a result, strong thunderstorms will pose a threat from western Texas through southern Michigan and northern Ohio before the day comes to a close. These storms will produce flooding downpours, damaging wind gusts and large hail. The strongest storms will even be capable of producing tornados.

Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Katie Storbeck.

Four (4) Americans Murdered in Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico — The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in this border city, two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The victims, ages 19 to 23 years old, were found tied up on Saturday, but their deaths were not reported earlier because they were under investigation, said Fermin Gomez, an assistant state prosecutor in Baja California.

U.S. consular officials in Tijuana said the victims — two men and two women from the San Diego and Chula Vista areas — were U.S. citizens. The state attorney general's office in Baja, Calif., said one of the women was Mexican. - FOX News Story

Swine Flu Outbreak Number 2?

NEW YORK — Health investigators are trying to figure out why swine flu has spread erratically — moving quickly through a few schools but slowly elsewhere — after an outbreak closed three more New York schools.

The decision on Thursday to shutter the schools follows an outbreak that left an assistant principal in critical condition and sent hundreds of kids home with flu symptoms, in a flare-up of the virus that sent shock waves through the world last month. - FOX News Story

Obama Bailing out Life Insurance Companies

Life insurers are finally getting approval to receive money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which is likely welcome relief for a sector that has been struggling, but continues to raise questions about how the government draws the line in terms of which companies it’s bailing out.

The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG: 14.73, n.a., n.a.%) announced Thursday that it has been given preliminary approval to receive $3.4 billion from TARP’s Capital Purchase Program, while Lincoln National (LNC: 16.27, n.a., n.a.%) announced it is set to receive $2.5 billion. - FOX Business Story

Get in line, who is next to receive Taxpayer funds?

Stimulus Funds go to Dead People

Thousands of Americans are receiving federal stimulus checks in the mail, this week. Only problem: many of them are deceased.

Recently, a Long Island, New York woman was shocked when she checked the mail and received a letter from the U.S. Treasury -- but it wasn't for her.

Antoniette Santopadre of Valley Stream was expecting a $250 stimulus check. But when her son finally opened it, they saw that the check was made out to her father, Romolo Romonini, who died in Italy 34 years ago.

Romonini was a U.S. citizen when he left for Italy in 1933, but only returned to the U.S. for a seven-month visit in 1969.

The Santopadres are not alone. The Social Security Administration, which sent out 52 million checks, said some of those checks mistakenly went to dead people because the agency had no record of their death. That amounts to between 8,000 and 10,000 checks for millions of dollars.

The feds blame a rushed schedule, because all the checks have to be cut by June. But strangely, some of the checks were made out to people -- like Romonini -- who were never even part of the Social Security system. - FOX News

That's our Government hard at work. Another Blunder from the Obama Administration. Rush Rush Rush and spend Billions to save the world. This is the Stimulus Money hard at work to save the economy. Oooops.

Obama Reverses again, Plans to restart Tribunals at Gitmo

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is expected to announce Friday that he will re-institute the military tribunals he initially put on hold, two senior officials told FOX News.

Thirteen detainees have been identified as likely candidates for this approach, and that number may well grow larger, as prosecutors review a number of cases in which the re-instated military commissions could be used.

Administration officials, however, refused to speculate on the precise number of cases that will be adjudicated in military commissions, and they wouldn't confirm an Associated Press report that 10-20 additional detainees in custody at Guantanamo Bay will be subject to these trials. - FOX News Story

Obama Sends CIA Chief to Warn Israel not to Attack Iran

The director of the CIA was recently sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the Obama administration, the Times of London reported on Thursday.

FOX News could not immediately confirm the report.

As Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged on Thursday that Leon Panetta went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the defense minister, that their hawkish new government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.

Concerns have been rising that Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic program, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance maneuvers and is due to hold its largest civil defense drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Panetta that they did not "intend to surprise the U.S. on Iran." - FOX News Story

I am not sure why they would want to let Obama's Administration know anything. First of all I am not sure that they can be trusted to do the right thing, Second, I don't know that Obama has the guts to back Israel against the Mideast. He has spent the first 100+ days blaming America for how we have treated them, would he support an ally against them?

Pelosi Claims of CIA Lied - Drawing Fire on all Sides

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claim Thursday that CIA officials lied to her about waterboarding prompted a sharp rebuke from Republicans, some pushback from intelligence officials and a lukewarm response from at least one high-ranking member of her own party.

Hoping to quell a “what did she know and when did she know it” furor over so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, Pelosi told reporters Thursday that CIA officials “misled” her during a September 2002 briefing by telling her that waterboarding had not been used on terror detainees.

“The only mention of waterboarding in the briefing was that it was not being employed,” Pelosi said during a press briefing. The California Democrat said that the CIA briefers had given her “inaccurate and incomplete information.” Asked whether they’d “lied” to her, Pelosi nodded her head yes.

The Republican pushback came quickly.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking member on the House intelligence committee, called Pelosi’s account “Version 5.0 from Nancy on what happened in that September meeting. - Politico news Story

Chrysler Execs Earning More while Filing for Bankruptcy

Just days after revealing a plan to that would allow the new Chrysler-Fiat partnership to skirt U.S. restrictions on executive pay by having some top Chrysler executives deemed Fiat employees, the automaker filed additional bankruptcy papers today that called for the closure of 789 dealerships -- a quarter of the dealers that sell the company's cars.

Anticipating the closures, more than 100 dealers descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to convince lawmakers that Chrysler should not close its businesses as a cost-cutting measure. Word that the very company seeking to keep them from operating their dealerships had found a loophole to pay executives more than $500,000 annually outraged the car sellers.

"Of course I'm angry," Wade Walker, a Jeep dealer from Montpelier, Vt., said Wednesday.

"It proves these executives are only looking out for themselves and no one else," Walker said from Capitol Hill after meeting with both of Vermont's senators. - ABC News Story

Congress needs to block ACORN's acces to Funds

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann called on Congress Thursday to block ACORN's access to federal housing funds, citing repeated charges of voter registration fraud against the low-income advocacy group.

The Republican congresswoman, flanked by an ACORN whistleblower and an attorney who worked on an ACORN case in Pennsylvania, escalated a media offensive against the group, which is a favorite target of conservatives who claim liberals are unjustly protecting a dysfunctional organization by allowing it access to taxpayer money.

"ACORN, as you know, is no stranger to the spotlight," Bachmann said outside the Capitol. "Yet no matter how many times prosecutors investigate and even indict ACORN and their employees, they emerge unblemished as far as the federal government is concerned from having access to federal tax dollars."

Bachmann, who hit the same themes in an op-ed in the Washington Times on Wednesday, complained that House Democrats killed her amendment to block organizations indicted for voter fraud from receiving federal housing money. She said ACORN has received at least $53 million in tax dollars since 1994, and that she will have new legislation in the coming weeks.

"We simply believe that the bar needs to be very high," she said. - FOX News Story

Pelosi Backed in Corner on CIA Briefings

Republicans said they were stunned Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that she was powerless as minority leader to intervene in the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on terrorism suspects.

Earlier in the day, Pelosi told reporters that the CIA misled Congress on its activities, but she protested that she knew that any complaints by her about the use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics would fall on deaf ears.

Pelosi said in her weekly news conference that she supported a letter drafted in February 2003 by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. -- the new ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel who attended a briefing that month that included discussions on waterboarding -- and sent to the Bush administration, raising concerns over the program.

Harman was the "appropriate person to register a protest," Pelosi said

"But no letter or anything else is going to stop them from doing what they're going to do," she added.

Not so, said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "As a member of the Gang of Four, if the CIA proposes to do something that we think is wrong, we can do something about it. We've done something about," he said. - FOX News Story

Joe Biden - Stimulus is ahead of schedule

In his first quarterly report on implementing the stimulus, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the recovery program is “ahead of schedule in most programs and, due to efficiencies and sound management, many projects are coming in under budget.”

Although some state and local governments want speedier spending, Biden said in the 21-page report: “We set a goal of outlaying 70 percent of Recovery Act expenditures by the end of 2010; after just three months, we have already obligated more than $88 billion.”

A release from Biden’s office says that in the first 77 days of the two-year program (through May 5), “150,000 jobs have been created or saved. ... Over 3,000 transportation construction projects have been funded in 52 states and territories. ... Thirteen states have qualified for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to improve education programs and save education-related jobs.”

The report calculates that an average of $1.1 billion in new spending has been obligated each day since the bill was signed. The administration promises that “both the pace of spending and job creation [are] expected to accelerate significantly in the coming months.” - Politico Story

It's a good thing they are ahead of schedule and it is working so good. Could you imagine the mess if it sucked? I don't see where it is helping.

Violent Storms Kill at Least 1 in Missouri

Violent storms that spawned at least one tornado left a path of destruction in northern Missouri on Wednesday, killing a woman and damaging dozens of buildings.

The city of Kirksville apparently took the hardest hit. Police Det. Sgt. Ron Celian said about 30 to 40 homes were damaged, one was destroyed and an auto dealership sustained significant damage.

Three people were injured near the dealership when their car was blown off the road, State Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Susie Stonner said. - ABC News Story

Obama Reverses Course - Fights Release of "Torture" Photos

In a sharp reversal, President Obama announced Wednesday the administration will not to release hundreds of photos potentially showing U.S. military personnel abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A senior administration official told FOX News that Obama told his legal advisers last week that he did not feel comfortable with the release of the photos because he believes they would endanger U.S. troops, and that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented in federal court.

"Obama would be the last to excuse the actions depicted in these photos," the official said. "That is why the Department of Defense investigated these cases, and why individuals have been punished through prison sentences, discharges and a range of other punitive measures.

"But the president strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan," reads a statement from the White House. - FOX News Story

Here we go again. Another change from the Obama Administration. If these people ever thought something through it would be a miracle. They change their minds more than anyone I have ever seen.

How can anyone ever believe a word the President says? Sure he may say it, he might even mean it, but he has a pattern of changing his mind at any time. There isn't much of belief that he stands behind what he says.

Obama's Dirty Politics in Chrysler Deal

Clifford Asness isn’t a household name or even a likely critic of President Barack Obama.

But there he was, the otherwise obscure manager of AQR Capital Management, performing his best Rick Santelli impression in a recently publicized letter to his investors, waxing sardonic about the president’s recent public attempt to shame Chrysler bondholders into endorsing his administration’s latest scheme to rescue the struggling automaker.

That plan has been widely derided by conservatives and moderates alike who are concerned about its substance and the “dirty politics” employed in advancing it. The Economist — the same magazine that “wholeheartedly” endorsed Obama for president — chided the administration for “trashing creditors’ rights” and overriding “the legal pecking order.”

Obama’s idea is to give the bondholders — who are secured creditors, ordinarily entitled to primacy in a bankruptcy proceeding — 29 cents on the dollar for their investment, while awarding 43 cents on the dollar to the employee health care trust controlled by the United Auto Workers, which, despite being a junior creditor, would also receive a majority stake in the new company. - Politico Story

Another example of Obama's CHANGE. He is bullying people and threatening people to advance his own personal agenda. Not an agenda that will help America, his own personal agenda. An agenda to pay back the Unions that helped him get elected.

I hope that everyone who voted him are proud of what they got.

Rep. Murtha's Chief of Staff Threatens Opponents

The Republican who challenged Rep. John Murtha in 2008 says a top aide to the embattled Pennsylvania Democrat threatened to have him recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army so he could be court-martialed for engaging in politics while serving in the armed forces.

Bill Russell — who challenged Murtha in 2008 and intends to do so again in 2010 — said Murtha chief of staff John Hugya made the threat during a National Rifle Association event in mid-March.

Ret. Col. Gregory Ritch, a former Army Reserve officer who served as Russell’s commanding officer, said he heard Hugya make a similar threat in January. - Politico Story

Obama in Bed with Union in California?

Federal authorities this week bristled at a suggestion by California officials that an influential union may be pushing the Obama administration to withhold billions of federal stimulus dollars from the state if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

follows through on a plan to cut home health-care workers' wages.

As first reported in the Los Angeles Times, California officials have said that representatives of the Service Employees International Union were given unprecedented access to an April 15 conference call between federal and state officials in which the state was made to justify its plan to slash $74 million from its budget by cutting health aids' maximum salaries by $2 an hour.

State officials, speaking on background, said the cuts were essential to balancing the budget and were surprised that representatives of the SEIU -- one of the country's largest labor unions, and one of President Obama's biggest campaign contributors -- were present on the call. - ABC News Story

Obama recieved tons of money and support from the Union, now they are getting their payback. Obama's Administration is intervening on their behalf and threatening California of witholding Billions in Federal Stimulus Money.

This folks is CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

More Bad News for the Economy - Foreclosures Increase

The number of U.S. households faced with losing their homes to foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April compared with the same month last year, with Nevada, Florida and California showing the highest rates, according to data released Wednesday.

More than 342,000 households received at least one foreclosure-related notice in April, RealtyTrac Inc. said. That means one in every 374 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing last month, the highest monthly rate since the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listing firm began its report in January 2005.

April was the second straight month with more than 300,000 households receiving a foreclosure filing, as the number of borrowers with mortgage troubles failed to abate.

The April number, however, was less than one percent above that posted in March, when more than 340,000 properties were affected. The March data was up 17 percent from February and 46 percent from a year earlier. - ABC News Story

Glimmers of Hope in Economy Still Far down the Road

(AP) Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April, a disappointing performance that raised doubts about whether consumers were regaining their desire to shop. A rebound in consumer demand is a necessary ingredient for ending the recession.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, much worse than the flat reading economists expected. The April weakness followed a 1.3 percent drop in March that was worse than first estimated.

Retail sales had posted gains in January and February after falling for six straight months, raising hopes that the all-important consumer sector of the economy might be stabilizing. But the setbacks in March and April could darken some forecasts because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.

The hope had been that consumers were starting to feel better about spending, helped by the start of tax breaks included in the $787 billion stimulus bill. Households had spent the fall hunkered down in the face of thousands of job layoffs and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. - CBS News Story

Obama's spending and plan for shoring up the economy doesn't appear to be working to this point. They have come out with all of this, "we see signs of hope". Well out here on main street people are still losing their jobs and people are still hurting. Obama has spent Trillions of our dollars and has begun to slowly start raising taxes on us to help pay for his spending and planned spending.

Regardless of what Obama is telling us, there is years of pain ahead for all of us.

Many in Washington Knew of AIG Bonuses Before they Faked Outrage

As American International Group chief executive Edward M. Liddy returns to Washington to face Congress today, new details are emerging about how long federal officials were aware of the company's recent bonus payments to its executives and of how inflammatory the payments could be.

Documents show that senior officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York received details about the bonuses more than five months before the firestorm erupted and were deeply engaged with AIG as well as outside lawyers, auditors and public relations firms about the potential controversy. But the New York Fed did not raise the alarm with the Obama administration until the end of February.

Timothy F. Geithner, who became Treasury secretary early this year, was the head of the New York Fed when it became aware of the bonus details. But his name is not among those of senior New York Fed officials mentioned in the summaries of phone calls, correspondence and other documents obtained by The Washington Post. - Washington Post Story

Pelosi Knew about Waterboarding

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly was told in February 2003 by her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, that waterboarding was used on CIA terror detainee Abu Zubaydah, directly contradicting Pelosi's account that she had never been informed of the technique's use.

According to a report, Sheehy attended a briefing with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., in February 2003 and discussed the CIA's use of waterboarding.

When the aide told Pelosi waterboarding had actually been used on the Al Qaeda terrorist, she didn't object because she was not personally briefed on the matter, an unnamed source confirmed to CNN. - FOX News Story

EPA Plan to Control Greenhouse Gases Could be at cost of Economy

WASHINGTON -- An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could lead to regulating the gases blamed for global warming will prove costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions, according to a White House document.

The nine-page memo is a compilation of opinions made by a dozen federal agencies and departments during an internal review before the EPA issued a finding in April that greenhouse gases pose dangers to public health and welfare.

That finding could set in motion for the first time the regulation of six heat-trapping gases from cars and trucks, factories and other sources under the Clean Air Act.

The document, labeled "Deliberative-Attorney Client Privilege," says that if the EPA proceeds with the regulation of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, factories, small businesses and institutions would be subject to costly regulation.

"Making the decision to regulate carbon dioxide ... is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities," the document says. - FOX News Story

Obama Wants to be involved in How Banks Pay Employees

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has begun serious talks about how it can change compensation practices across the financial-services industry, including at companies that did not receive federal bailout money, according to people familiar with the matter.

The initiative, which is in its early stages, is part of an ambitious and likely controversial effort to broadly address the way financial companies pay employees and executives, including an attempt to more closely align pay with long-term performance.

Administration and regulatory officials are looking at various options, including using the Federal Reserve's supervisory powers, the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission and moral suasion. Officials are also looking at what could be done legislatively. - FOX News Story

Is there anything that Obama doesn't want to run? He is a control freak. He wants to micro-manage anything and everything.

Obama's Stimulus Plan Negated by Biggest Trade Deficit in Years

The US trade deficit rose in March for the first time since July, as sales of exports fell amid the global recession.

The deficit, the difference between what the US exports and imports, grew to $27.7bn (£24.6bn) from $26.1bn in February, the Commerce Department said.

The value of exports fell 2.4% to $123.6bn, the lowest level since August 2006. Imports fell 1% to $151.2bn.

The politically sensitive deficit with China increased to $15.6bn in March from $14.2bn in February.

Earlier China reported that its export sales in April were down 22.6% on the same month a year ago.

China has been the country with the largest trade surplus with the US for more than a decade.

There have been repeated calls in Congress for a crackdown on what critics see as unfair trade practices in China.

'Permanent drag'

Economists had forecast an even larger increase in the trade deficit to $29bn.

Some experts believe the size of the deficit outweighs any benefits from the government's $787bn stimulus package, aimed at boosting the economy.

"At 2.4% of GDP, the trade deficit subtracts more from the demand for US goods and services than President Obama's stimulus package adds," said Peter Morici, former chief economist at the US International Trade Commission.

"Moreover, the lift from the Obama stimulus is temporary, whereas the drag from the trade deficit is permanent." - BBC News Story

Obama spent Trillions of our Tax Dollars and drove up the deficit to record levels, and now we are seeing and hearing from economist exactly what many tried to say before he did it. Now we know, that money was spent without a real plan in place. The Obama Administration said that the Economic Foundation was made of sand and he was set to replace it, and he is. The problem is, sand looks like a better option.

Freddie MAC Seeking more Federal Aid

US mortgage giant Freddie Mac saw a loss of $9.9bn (£6.5bn) in the first three months of 2009 and said it would ask for a further $6.1bn in state aid.

The request for more federal help is the firm's third since it was taken over by regulators in September, taking its aid total to about $51bn.

Soaring levels of missed mortgage payments and falling home prices had led to soaring losses, it said.

Along with Fannie Mae, the firm holds more than half of US mortgages.

Defaults

In February, President Barack Obama doubled Treasury funding to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to $200bn each as part of his plan to tackle the housing crisis. - BBC Story

Funny how you haven't heard a whole lot about this here from our Media. But hey, across the pond, the BBC has it. Obama's team isn't doing much of a job running this financial institution.

Obama has sold the American People a whole lot of talk and not much substance, now we are starting to see the results of the Obama Plan, or lack there of on both counts.

Danger Growing in Obama Administration

Something bad and dangerous is happening in Barack Obama's America.

The powers that the Obama administration claimed in order to arrest the financial crisis and mitigate the recession are being used and abused in ways that are underming the legal and financial stability of the United States. Investors: You are warned.

The first warning was the attempt to snatch Chrysler's assets away from their rightful owners to pay off administration friends and supporters.

The Obama plan to save Chrysler would have sold Chrysler's most valuable assets into a new company co-owned by the U. S. and Canadian governments, Fiat and the United Auto Workers (UAW) -- with the UAW getting the biggest piece, 55%.

Senate Set to Block Obama Nominee

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate Democratic leadership is preparing to lose a vote Wednesday morning on the confirmation of David Hayes as Deputy Secretary of Interior. If that happens, it would be the first time Congress voted to reject one of President Barack Obama’s nominees.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, told CNN that Democrats believe Republicans will vote in lockstep to block Hayes’ nomination, and therefore, it will fail.

Republican objections to Hayes appear to have little to do with him or his qualifications, and more to do with an Obama administration policy.

Specifically, Utah Republican Robert Bennett has been leading his party’s opposition to Hayes because of an Obama decision to cancel oil and gas leases in Utah.

“This is not about Hayes,” Bennett spokeswoman Tara Hendershott told CNN.

She says Bennett is blocking Hayes because the Department of Interior “has not provided any information he requested regarding the secretary’s unilateral decision to cancel the oil and gas leases.” - CNN News Story

That is so sad for poor little Obama's Nominee. Now the Obama Administration and the Democrats can see what it is like when the other shoe falls.

With the Obama Administration it is all about what you have done for me lately. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Mr. Obama, what have you done for me lately. Oh yea, YOU WON. Well maybe not this time.

Proposed Afghan Commander part of Tillman Cover Up

The parents of slain Army Ranger and NFL star Pat Tillman voiced concerns Tuesday that the general who played a role in mischaracterizing his death could be put in charge of military operations in Afghanistan.

In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Pat Tillman Sr. accused Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal of covering up the circumstances of the 2004 slaying.

"I do believe that guy participated in a falsified homicide investigation," Pat Tillman Sr. said.

Separately, Mary Tillman called it "imperative" that McChrystal's record be carefully considered before he is confirmed.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has complete confidence in McChrystal, whom he hopes can be confirmed by the Senate before month's end. - ABC News Story

Did Roughing up Detainees Save Lives?

Richard Cohen may have hit upon the journalistic equivalent of that proverbial "eureka moment." In his Tuesday piece, the Washington Post columnist raised the question that became the cyber equivalent of catnip for the political blogosphere: What if Dick Cheney was right?

"Sacrilege!" screamed the left. "Told you so," countered the right. As for the rest of us, well, we're left with both feet planted firmly in mid-air.

I suppose that Cohen's liberal pedigree insulates him somewhat from critics accusing him of being a toady for the Bush administration's treatment of detainees accused of being terrorists, sort of a Nixon goes to China defense. I say "somewhat" because the torture question has become a touchstone issue for opponents of the Bush administration.

What really got under their skin was Cohen's question whether Cheney's statements about the efficacy of waterboarding, beatings and other techniques euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation" might be true.

That ran against the growing conventional wisdom that harsh interrogation don't work very well. Keep someone in a stress standing position for two or three days over a period of months and they'll tell you anything to get some shut eye.

"Yet," Cohen said. "I have to wonder whether what he is saying now is the truth -- i.e., torture works."

Cohen had to expect the inevitable blowback-and it was not long in coming. At The American Prospect, Adam Serwer, ripped Cohen for being hopelessly muddle-headed about the topic.

"It really takes a startling lack of self-awareness to write a column about how you "know" that no longer torturing people has made America less safe, only to write another thumbsucking column a few weeks later innocently asking, "I have to wonder" whether torture works. Somehow, Richard Cohen can write several columns on the same topic without realizing he's contradicted himself. "

But Cohen's piece followed Sunday's "Face the Nation" interview with Bob Schieffer, where Cheney said that he knows of a couple of CIA memos supporting his argument that roughing up prisoners saved many lives.

"That's what's in those memos," Cheney said, adding that the documents refer "specifically about different attack planning that was underway and how it was stopped." - CBS News Story

Democrats Trying to Stop Ethics Inquiries

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats on Tuesday stopped a Republican plan to force a campaign finance inquiry that likely would have investigated several influential Democrats. It was the eighth time since late February that the Republican move was halted.

One of the biggest recipients has been the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania.

The vote was 215-182 to stop consideration of a GOP resolution to initiate a House ethics committee inquiry. It called for an investigation into campaign contributions to House lawmakers by recipients of pet project money and their lobbyists.

Democratic leaders spoke to some of their newer members privately last month, to stop them from voting for the Republican initiative. Tuesday's vote showed they made little headway.

Twenty-nine Democrats voted with the Republicans on Tuesday in an unsuccessful effort to keep the GOP initiative alive and allow the investigation to begin. The first time the resolution was considered, in late February, 17 Democrats supported it. - FOX News Story

Hearings on Torture to Include Investigating Pelosi

The House majority leader reluctantly agreed Tuesday that congressional hearings should investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi's assertion that she wasn't informed, more than six years ago, that harsh interrogation methods were used on an Al-Qaeda leader.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called Republican challenges to Pelosi's assertion a diversion from the real question of whether the Bush administration tortured terrorist suspects. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the controversy should be resolved.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- and sleep deprivation.

While Democrats want the hearings to focus on what they call torture, Republicans have tried to turn the issue to their advantage by complaining that Pelosi and other Democrats knew of the tactics but didn't protest. Pelosi was briefed in 2002 while on the House Intelligence Committee.

Hoyer, asked at a news conference whether Democrats were inviting political problems for themselves by holding hearings, said, "I think the facts need to get out. - FOX News Story

Obama & Biden not on Same Team with Credit Cards?

As President Barack Obama champions credit card reform at just about every turn, it raises the question: Where’s Joe?

Vice President Joe Biden has said almost nothing about credit card reform, which Obama made a cornerstone of his weekly radio address and will highlight again at a town hall in New Mexico on Thursday.

Biden is in an awkward position. As a Senator, he was one of the few Democrats who tried to stop some of the credit card reforms his boss is now pushing.

Obama’s sharp tone for credit card companies makes Biden’s silence that much louder. Americans “have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties, and hidden fees that have become all-too common in our credit card industry,” the president said in his weekly address.

Biden spokesman Jay Carney told POLITICO: “The vice president fully supports these reforms.”

But he hasn’t always. Biden voted against a proposal to require credit card companies to better warn consumers of the financial consequences of only paying the minimum payment. (Obama supported it.) He also sided with credit card companies on a bill that made it harder for people to declare bankruptcy – known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. - Politico Story

Pelosi's New Story on Terroism Torture - I Couldn't Object

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned in early 2003 that the Bush administration was waterboarding terror detainees but didn’t protest directly out of respect for “appropriate” legislative channels, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.

The Pelosi camp’s version of events is intended to answer two key questions posed by her critics: When, precisely, did she first learn about waterboarding? And why didn’t she do more to stop it?

Pelosi has disputed a CIA document, released last week, that shows she was briefed in September 2002 on the “particular” interrogation techniques the United States had used on Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah. Pelosi has said she was told then only that the Bush administration was considering using certain techniques in the future — and that it had the legal authority to do so.

But there’s no dispute that on Feb. 4, 2003 — five months after Pelosi’s September meeting — CIA officials briefed Pelosi aide Michael Sheehy and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on the specific techniques that had been used on Zubaydah — including waterboarding. - Politico Story

Democrats Claim CIA out to Get Them

Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.

“I think there is so much embarrassment in some quarters [of the CIA] that people are going to try to shift some of the responsibility to others — that’s what I think,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was briefed on interrogation techniques five times between 2006 and 2007.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said he finds it “interesting” that a document detailing congressional briefings was released just as “some of the groups that have been responsible for these interrogation techniques were taking the most criticism.”

Asked whether the CIA was seeking political cover by releasing the documents, Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said: “Sure it is.” - Politico Story

Maybe they are out to get you. You have been using them to go after their operatives and the Bush Administration. So in all fairness, the CIA is releasing the rest of the story. You all knew exactly what was going on and had no objections, now you are trying to forget that part, and go after the Bush Administration for Political Gain.

Liz Cheney Blasts Obama for Siding with Terrorists

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs Liz Cheney, took to the television airwaves today to assail the decision by President Obama to release photographs, as ordered by a judge, showing detainee abuse by American soldiers and/or CIA operatives in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I have heard from families of sevicemembers, from families of 9/11 victims, this question about, you know, 'When did it become so fashionable for us to side, really, with the terrorists?'" Ms. Cheney said on Fox News Channel. "You know, for us to put information out that hurts American soldiers?"

Cheney said Obama administration officials "seem only to be interested in releasing things that really paint America in a negative light, and don't give the American people a full picture of what went on." - ABC News Story

From Day 1 Obama has done everything in his power to paint the US as a bad Country. Blaming almost everything that is wrong on the US and the Bush Administration. From the Economy to the War on Terrorism to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

At some point, you have to stop and remember that it was the Terrorists who started the war! It was greed and the lack of discipline on many peoples part all around the globe.

Medicare Says NO to Virtual Colonoscopies

(CBS) Medicare announced Tuesday it will not pay for so-called "virtual colonoscopies."

In 2006, 200,000 of them were performed in the United States. Overall, Americans have more than 14 million colonoscopies every year, and doctors agree doing more would save thousands of lives.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports the government's rejection of the latest high-tech approach was a big disappointment to many advocates of colon cancer prevention.

Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society says, "The American Cancer Society believes that virtual colonoscopy, or CT colonography, ought to be available as one of several options for colon cancer screening."

In a traditional colonoscopy, a fiberoptic instrument is used to examine the lining of the colon and remove polyps. In virtual colonoscopy, images of the colon are generated by a noninvasive body scan. Both have a similar detection rate for significant polyps; traditional colonoscopy usually costs at least twice as much. - CBS News Story

You want insight into how Nationalized Health Care will work? Well, here is a perfect example. They tell you what you can and can not have done. The Government! This is what everyone wants Obama to pursue? Are you out of your mind?

Senate Trying to Raise your Taxes - On Soda

The Senate Finance Committee today is hearing proposals on how to pay for President Obama's proposed universal health care plan, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion. Among the proposals, as Consumer Affairs reports: A three-cent tax on sodas as well as other sugary drinks, including energy and sports drinks like Gatorade. Diet sodas would be exempt.

"While many factors promote weight gain, soft drinks are the only food or beverage that has been shown to increase the risk of overweight and obesity, which, in turn, increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and many other health problems," Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is pushing the idea, said in his testimony. "Soft drinks are nutritionally worthless…[and] are directly related to weight gain, partly because beverages are more conducive to weight gain than solid foods."

According to Jacobson, "Beverage companies market more than 14 billion gallons of calorie-laden soft drinks annually. That is equivalent to about 506 12-oz. servings per year, or 1.4 servings per day, for every man, woman, and child." - CBS News Story

Trump gives Miss California Thumbs Up

(AP) Miss California USA can retain her crown even though she failed to reveal she had posed in her underwear as a teenager, pageant owner Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Carrie Prejean appeared by Trump's side as he made the announcement at New York's Trump Tower.

Trump also defended the answer that Prejean gave at last month's Miss USA pageant when she was asked her view of marriage by judge Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger. She said she believes marriage is between a man and a woman.

"It's the same answer the president of the United States gave; it's the same answer many people gave," Trump said. "She gave an honorable answer; she gave an answer from her heart." - CBS News Story

Now finally someone has come out and said what needed to be said all along. It is a shame that her own pageant didn't stand behind her, and that too many people listened to Judge Moron.

Way to go Donald.

Seniors Skipping Graduation with Obama to Hold Prayer Vigil

The University of Notre Dame is allowing a group of seniors to hold a prayer demonstration on school grounds on Sunday, graduation day -- to protest President Obama's controversial visit, which the students say undermines the school's Catholic identity.

"The university isn't sponsoring it, but we've approved it," university spokesman Dennis Brown told FOXNews.com on Tuesday.

The demonstration -- spearheaded by the student group ND Response -- is in protest of the honorary law degree Obama will receive during Sunday's commencement. The group claims that by honoring Obama, the university is sanctioning his positions on abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which the Catholic church opposes.

"In defense of the unborn, we wish to express our deepest opposition to Reverend John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.'s invitation of President Barack Obama to be the University of Notre Dame's principal commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary degree," the group states on its Web site.

ND Response has planned a prayer vigil on the university's South quadrangle during commencement to "bear prayerful witness" to Obama's speech, graduating senior Michele Sagala, who plans to attend the vigil, told FOXNews.com. - FOX News Story

Video of Attack on Rush Limbaugh

Obama Government Burrowing almost $.50 for Every Dollar it spends

(AP) With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year.

The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion - about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.

As the economy performs worse than expected, the deficit for the 2010 budget year beginning in October will worsen by $87 billion to $1.3 trillion, the White House says. The deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps.

For the current year, the government would borrow 46 cents for every dollar it takes to run the government under the administration's plan. In one of the few positive signs, the actual 2009 deficit is likely to be $250 billion less than predicted because Congress is unlikely to provide another $250 billion in financial bailout money. - CBS News Story

Obama Joins Laughter as Comedian Wishes Rush's Kidneys would Fail

Comedian Wanda Sykes pulled no punches as she skewered conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondents' Dinner -- but her morbid cracks set some guests' cringe-meters off the charts.

Sykes accused Limbaugh of treason, compared him to Usama bin Laden and wished for his physical collapse as she roasted the favorite target of liberals Saturday night at the Washington Hilton.

"Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you're saying, 'I hope America fails,' you're like, 'I don't care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq.' He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason," Sykes said.

"He's not saying anything differently than what Usama bin Laden is saying," she continued, before addressing the guest of honor, President Obama. "You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight."

The crowd groaned, Obama smiled and Sykes may have noticed a little discomfort in the room.

"Too much?" she asked.

But then she piled it on:

"Rush Limbaugh, 'I hope the country fails' -- I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? ... He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs."

Obama joined the crowd in laughing at the crack about Limbaugh's "kidneys." - FOX News Story

What Happened to Swine Flu?

In less than a week we went from daily updates from the Health Department, leading stories on every News Channel, Briefings from the Obama Administration and the Highest Alerts from the WHO to absolutely nothing.

You don't hear a thing about it. A person died over the weekend from complications to Swine Flu and it didn't even make the top of the news. What happened?

It is pretty clear that as fast as this disappeared from the News, that it was a drastic Over-reaction from our Government. They created a panic across the US. Schools were closing everywhere, the VP was telling people not to travel, Obama was requesting Billions to fight it. What did we have? We had panic! Hospitals and Doctors were overwhelmed. Everywhere you looked the US Government had the "Sky is Falling" mentality.

What did we actual have, a flu that is no more dangerous than the same flu that goes around every single year. Nice Job. What happens when we really do have a Health Emergency? How many will remember this "Crying of Wolf"?

Afghan Militants using Chemical Weapons

(AP) The U.S. military says it has documented 44 cases where militants in Afghanistan have used white phosphorus in attacks or where the weapons have been found in caches.

Maj. Jenny Willis says insurgents are using white phosphorus in mortar attacks and in homemade bombs.

U.S. documents show that the most recent attack where militants used white phosphorus was last Thursday, when a NATO outpost in Logar province was hit with two rounds of white phosphorus fire. Most troops in Logar are American.

White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable material that leaves severe chemical burns on flesh. Using it to illuminate a target or create smoke is allowed under international law, but rights groups say its use over populated areas constitutes a war crime. - CBS News

I call for an immediate hearing by the Democrats and a special Investigator. If this is a war crime then we had better go after those bad bad people. Oh wait a minute, we only do that in the US. It is war. We aren't fighting another Country, but an Ideal and Culture.

Maybe Pelosi was briefed on this. We better check.

Economist not Seeing as Rosy Future as Obama Administration

An NYU economics professor tabbed "Dr. Doom" for his dire predictions of an impending financial meltdown in the U.S. back in 2006 has yet to don the rose-colored glasses government officials have been wearing lately.

In a reference to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment that he sees "green shoots" sprouting in the economy, Dr. Nouriel Roubini told CBS' The Early Show Monday, "I see green shoots. I also see yellow weeds."

Roubini based his less-than-upbeat outlook on the decade of excessive spending that preceded the meltdown of the credit markets, as well as the unemployment rate which he forecasts hitting 11 percent by 2010. - CBS News

Hearings into Torture, Must Include Pelosi

For Democrats pushing an investigation into potential criminal wrongdoing in the war on terrorism, the GOP now has a two-word response: Nancy Pelosi.

Republicans say new revelations about a CIA briefing Pelosi received in 2002 have given them their best shot yet at blocking a sprawling probe into Bush administration interrogation techniques by allowing them to insist that its targets would include the speaker of the House.

“If someone is going to schedule hearings, I believe that the first witness should be Nancy Pelosi,” Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking member on the House intelligence committee, told POLITICO. “Clearly, she was involved in policy formulation.”

According to records released last week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Pelosi and other congressional officials were told in 2002 that enhanced interrogation techniques had been used on terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah. The report appeared to contradict Pelosi’s claims — made earlier and again after the report was released — that she had been told only that such techniques might be used in the future, not that they had already been used.

According to a 2005 Justice Department memo released this year by the Obama administration, Zubaydah had been waterboarded 83 times by the time Pelosi was briefed in 2002. - Politico Story

Obama Has made the World Less Safe

In a rare spectacle, the former vice president warned that his successors have made the world less safe.

Due to the Obama administration's reversal of Bush administration policies on harsh interrogations and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Vice President Dick Cheney said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program, "in the future we're not going to have the same safeguards we've had for the last eight years."

Continuing the unusual broadside, he added, "They have moved to take down a lot of those policies we put in place that kept the nation safe for nearly eight years from a follow-on terrorist attack like 9/11."

The broadside by a politician well-known for his low profile forced the president's national security adviser to fire back.

"I don't believe that," James Jones told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" program. "The Obama administration inherited a situation at Guantanamo that was intolerable." - ABC News Story

Obama's Afgan War

Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of failing to abide by a high moral "standard" as it carries out military operations in his country, while a top security official said the United States will not meet Karzai's demand to end air strikes.

National Security Adviser James Jones said such a concession would be "imprudent."

In separate interviews on the Sunday morning news shows, Karzai and Jones aired lingering tensions between the United States and Afghanistan -- allies in the fight against extremists -- despite a string of photo ops and work sessions with officials from both countries this past week. Karzai, along with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, met with President Obama Wednesday in Washington.

The Afghan president, on NBC's "Meet the Press," warned about the danger of failing to address an issue that is quickly becoming a wedge -- civilian casualties. He said the Afghan public still believes in the cause of defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda but that "there is a limit to all of that" when civilians are being killed. - FOX News Story

Obama's Apology World Tour

During the 2008 presidential race, then-President George W. Bush took heat for seeming to criticize Barack Obama as an appeaser during an address to Israel's parliament.

It was considered poor form to take shots, direct or indirect, at a U.S. dignitary while overseas.

But since taking office, Obama has made a habit of using overseas podiums to delicately jab at his predecessor by apologizing and expressing regret for American behavior in recent years.

While the move could yield diplomatic fruit by easing tensions between the U.S. and nations that felt sidelined during the Bush administration, Republicans have also criticized the president for using the world stage to scold his own country.

The following is a list, in reverse chronological order, of the Obama administration's overseas apologies and clarifications to date: - FOX News Story

Al Qaeda no longer in Afghanistan - Why are We?

The head of U.S. Central Command said Sunday that Al Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan, with its senior leadership having moved to the western region of Pakistan.

Gen. David Petraeus said affiliated groups have "enclaves and sanctuaries" in Afghanistan and that "tentacles of Al Qaeda" have touched countries throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. But he said the terrorist group has suffered" very significant losses" in recent months, and agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent assessment that there is no Al Qaeda based in his country.

Still, he said he believes Usama bin Laden and his No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri remain in charge of the terrorist network.

"They surface periodically. We see communications that they send out," Petraeus said - FOX News Story

Obama claims that we had to pull out of Iraq, he says that we were not there because of Al Qaeda. We aren't fighting Terrorist there, he says.

So why are we in Afghanistan?

Cheney - Interrogations Saved Thousands of Lives

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that intelligence operations under the Bush administration potentially saved "hundreds of thousands" of lives and suggested that President Obama would "sacrifice" Americans by dismantling the counter-terrorism tools of his predecessor.

The former vice president, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," escalated his defense of Bush-era tactics in the War on Terror while turning up his criticism of President Obama's approach to that fight. He specifically touted the success of controversial surveillance and interrogation programs used after the Sept. 11 attacks.

And he renewed the call he made last month for the administration to declassify memos that he claims show U.S. officials, by using "enhanced" interrogation techniques on terror suspects, learned information that saved lives.

"I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives," Cheney said, claiming he has "no regrets" about the actions of the administration. He called the federal government's efforts since 2001 "one of the greatest success stories of American intelligence." - FOX News Story