Memorial Day Forecast for Midwest

A cold front will sag southward into the Ohio Valley, Missouri and Nebraska Sunday.

Showers and thunderstorms are likely along and south of the front.

Fortunately from eastern North Dakota to the Great Lakes, mostly sunny skies will prevail.

It will be a little chilly in the Upper Midwest to start the day Sunday with some 30s in northern Minnesota, northernmost Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Patchy frost is possible.

Later in the day, most of the region will be in the 70s and lower 80s, but parts of the Dakotas and Upper Midwest will only see highs in the 60s.

On Monday and Tuesday, an upper-level disturbance, low-pressure area and weak front will traverse the northern Plains and Minnesota.

At the same time with the aforementioned Sunday front stalling in the Ohio Valley and Missouri, the wet southern storm will inch northward from Arkansas into Missouri.

On Monday, only the Great Lakes will escape the rain. On Tuesday, only the Dakotas could be rain free. - Weather.com

Cheney Continues Speaking Tour

(AP) Dick Cheney refuses to be a has-been.

The former vice president's voice appears to carry even more weight than it did in the waning days of the Bush administration.

Some people want him to be quiet and disappear. Others are cheering the public relations tour that Cheney began halfway through President Barack Obama's first 100 days, defending the Bush administration's harsh interrogation tactics and other anti-terrorism policies.

Vice presidents typically fade away quietly.

Not Cheney.

When Mr. Obama released memos detailing Bush-era interrogation techniques and wouldn't completely rule out prosecuting or disciplining former Bush administration officials, Cheney couldn't stay silent.

"It wasn't like on Jan. 21, he planned that he was going to speak out in this way," said Cheney's daughter, Liz, a former State Department official who has traveled extensively with her father. "It was driven by events and I think he will continue to do it if he feels it's important to the public debate."

"You just have to know the way he works," she said. "He was watching what was going on. He knew it was wrong and he knew he had an obligation to say it was wrong." - CBS News Story

Obama / Pelosi Give GOP New Life

The debate in recent weeks over Bush-era anti-terror policies has given Republicans a much needed political focal point at a time when leaders of the minority party in Washington have struggled for a direction, though it remains to be seen whether the party will be able to turn such issues to its lasting advantage.

Some Republicans sense a political revival as they force Democrats on their heels by pressing their arguments on national security, which culminated Thursday with a showdown between President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney delivering dueling speeches.

Republicans also have been hitting hard at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has backtracked after accusing the CIA of lying to Congress about its interrogations of terror detainees.

GOP strategist Scott Reed suggested to the Wall Street Journal that the danger for Democrats is that their recent missteps might turn into a growing series of blunders.

"While the GOP has driven the debate on Pelosi, this was a self-inflicted wound and the beginning of death by a thousand cuts," Reed said.

But Pelosi still has strong support among Democrats, who say she likely will keep her leadership role in the House.

"This is just a dust-up that occurs often inside the Beltway," South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat and chief vote-counter for his party, told the Wall Street Journal. "She's not lost any ground with her caucus."

In their speeches, which came amid intense scrutiny of Obama's plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Obama defended his anti-terror policies while Cheney forcefully claimed they were making the country less safe. - FOX News Story

Milwaukee Police Take Heat on Serial Killer Findings

MILWAUKEE — Within a 3-square-mile area of Milwaukee's north side an unknown man strangled six women police say were prostitutes between 1986 and 2007. But it wasn't until this past week that the city's top cop said recent DNA tests had linked the killings.

Some people in the community, including the women's' families, wonder why it took police so long to discover the DNA link and announce it, and whether some officers' biases against the victims' lifestyles and race kept them from focusing their attention on the crimes.

"Crack whores," is how some officers in past decades referred to prostitutes, said LaVerne McCoy, who retired as a sergeant in January after 25 years in the Milwaukee Police Department.

"They are forgetting that crimes are being committed and this person is continuing to do this because of our attitudes about the victim and that's what our priorities should be: Get this murdering criminal off the street," McCoy said.

Suspicions of a serial killer had swirled for years. A 1997 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article said then-Chief Arthur Jones assigned officers to investigate strangulations of women on the north side after Joyce Mims was found dead in a vacant house. - FOX News Story

Obama Admin Moves US toward Inflation Woes

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told CBS News in March that he saw "green shoots" of economic recovery beginning to sprout, including in mortgages and business lending.

Now it seems like those "green shoots" that were beginning to appear may have been rooted in inflation.

Thanks to a combination of influences, including increased jitters on the part of investors and the Fed's decision to print large quantities of money, there's more reason than there was a few months ago to worry about a spate of inflation.

The U.S. dollar has fallen 10 percent since reaching a three-year high in March. Gold is up, commodities are up, and crude oil prices have roughly doubled this year. And the possibility of a debt downgrade for Britain, one of the few nations with a triple-A credit rating -- has shown that no currency is invulnerable.

Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California, said on Thursday that the United States' own triple-A credit rating will "eventually" be lost as well. "The markets are beginning to anticipate the possibility of" a downgrade, Gross said, according to Bloomberg News.

If this sounds obscure, especially when most of the recent talk has been about deflation, you're not alone. But let's walk through some of the implications: - CBS News Story

Clay Aiken Slams Adam Lamber - Singing is Awful / Frightening

NEW YORK — Clay Aiken is no fan of Adam Lambert.

The "American Idol" also-ran has blasted this season's runner-up on his Web site, mocking Lambert's rendition of "Ring of Fire" as "contrived," "awful" and "slightly frightening."

According to Aiken, he tunes into the show about once a season _ and this year, he caught Lambert's take on Johnny Cash and thought his ears would bleed.

But wait _ there's more. Aiken aims his vitriol on "Idol" itself. He thinks the series showed bias for Lambert over eventual champ Kris Allen and has focused on "slick productions and polished contestants" rather than raw talent.

Aiken lost out to Ruben Studdard in 2003. He's since released several albums, appeared on Broadway and publicly confirmed he's gay. - Huffington Post

Obama - Conversations with Bush

The ongoing spat between the Obama White House and former vice president Dick Cheney has, to a large extent, marginalized the one other figure with serious chips in the current national security debate. George W. Bush has faded into private life with only the rare public utterance. And by ceding the task of defense to the second in command, it's become more and more apparent that, towards the end of the previous administration, Bush and Cheney did not see eye to eye on these matters.

In an interview with C-SPAN that will air in entirety at 10.a.m. Saturday, President Barack Obama acknowledged having had conversations with Bush since leaving office, though he insisted on abiding by "a general policy of keeping confidence with your predecessor."

More telling was that later in the segment Obama offered the slightest bit of rationalization for the past administration's national security policies. And, more to the point, he made note that there were two distinct threads of thought that personified the Bush administration's approach to holding and trying detainees. - Huffington Post Story

GM gets Billions More from Taxpayers - Bankruptcy Looms

NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. said Friday that it has borrowed an additional $4 billion from the Treasury Department, meaning the automaker has now accepted $19.4 billion in loans from the U.S. government.

GM started taking government money in December and said it intended to borrow $2.6 billion more by June 1 and an additional $9 billion after that. But in a regulatory filing Friday, GM said it needed $1.4 billion sooner than originally forecast.

The company didn't publicly disclose how it will use the money but said it provided the information to Treasury officials, and they considered the loan acceptable.

"We appreciate President Obama's and his administration's ongoing support of GM and the domestic U.S. auto industry as we undertake the difficult but necessary actions to reinvent our company," the company said in a written statement.

GM said it now expects to need $7.6 billion in loans after June 1. - FOX News Story

It is pretty sad at how much money we are forking out to GM. Rumor has it that they are heading for Bankruptcy even with the Taxpayer Support.

Obama's Green Energy - Creates more Independence on Foreign Oil

"We all have hope for green energy, but it is going to take time — and in the meantime, oil and natural gas will have to be the bridge to the energy future," says Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute.

Congress lifted its 27-year moratorium on drilling off Florida and the East and West Coast last year, but billions of barrels of that oil remains untouched and off-limits because the Obama administration has postponed development there.

The Obama administration favors green energy and provides generous tax subsidies to wind and solar. By contrast, this week the oil industry complained that Obama proposed hiking their taxes by $70 billion over 5 years, including a $122 million on leases the administration considers non-producing.

"If you penalize oil and gas, and add taxes, it is going to make it much more difficult and more expensive. That means U.S. jobs are exported and we won't get the revenues from royalties," said Landry.

Oil executives fear the lesson of $5-a-gallon gasoline is lost, and that American consumers will pay the price, vulnerable to shortages in the short term and a continued dependence on foreign oil for decades to come. - FOX News Story

While going Green may be the fashionable thing to do, hell it might even be the right thing to do, you can't just jump in and be green immediately. It takes time to develop those technologies. In the mean time you have to solve the short term needs and prepare for the long term.

Not in Obama's world. He has basically said the heck with it, lets do everything now and be damned later. Well as we see with his spending and soon his taxing, we will all be damned.

Solution for Closing Gitmo!!!!

Durbin (IL), Harkin (IA), Leahy (VT), Levin (MI), Reed (RI) and Whitehouse (RI) supported the President on his funding request to close GITMO.

This is so simple I don’t know why no one has thought of it. Divide the number of prisoners, 240 by the number of Senators who voted to fund the closing, 6 and you arrive at 40 per senator. That means Illinois, Iowa, Vermont, Michigan and Rhode Island will get these terrorists. Because both of Rhode Island’s senators voted to fund they win the bonus prize and get 80.

Let’s just see how the voters of those blue states would react to a plan like this.

I am not trying to make light of the situation. These are dangerous people who should never set foot on American soil. But watching the Democrats backpedaling faster than Ginger Rogers doing the Foxtrot demonstrates that their whole national security posturing over the last eight years was just about their hatred and contempt for Bush and Cheney.

I’ll tell you what, they are as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs because they know that any attack on America or American interests abroad will be on their watch. And if the people perceive that they are more interested in “arresting” terrorist killers and reading them their Miranda rights, they will turn on them like a pack of hungry wolves. Regardless of what someone said on The Arena earlier that there is a “public which understands the complexities of security and liberty, and one that is no longer sympathetic to the dichotomous good vs. evil world view advanced for the past eight years”, if there is an attack here watch how quickly good vs. evil returns. - Politico Story

Obama Administration Treatens Candidate NOT to Run

New York's City Hall News reports that President Obama's request that Steve Israel stand down from a New York Senate primary was accompanied by blunter words from Rahm:

According to several sources familiar with the conversation, the White House chief of staff made it very clear to Israel that the administration didn't want him to run and that they would use their considerable political might to ensure his defeat if he did.

Among other things, Emanuel reportedly told Israel that President Obama himself would campaign against Israel throughout the black neighborhoods of New York City if Israel went forward with his primary campaign. - Politico

Obama on Defese for First Time in Presidency

For the first time in his presidency, Americans are getting a glimpse of Barack Obama on defense.

Over the past few weeks, Obama has been back on his heels over torture and terror, issues on which he surely thought he had the upper hand.

And he spent Thursday battling charges from a man he surely thought he had vanquished in November, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

It took some worried calls from Capitol Hill Democrats, congressional aides said, to convince him otherwise – that he needed to give a speech defending his plan for closing the terror prison at Guantanamo Bay, and rebutting Republican claims that the move would endanger Americans where they live.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others made clear “that we’re going to need a lot more cover if we’re going to be able to deal with this issue,” said one Democratic leadership aide. - Politico Story

Now is the test of a good leader. When Biden can say "Look behind you sir, no one is following"

Now Obama has to figure out if indeed his moves on Terror are the correct ones, then how to convince not only the American People, but his own party.

Bush Speech - "It's Liberating" being out of Office

ARTESIA, N.M. -- It was a humbling moment for the former commander in chief: President George W. Bush was walking former first dog Barney in his new Dallas neighborhood when it stopped in a neighbor's yard for relief.

"And there I was, former president of the United States of America, with a plastic bag on my hand," he told a group of graduating high school students in New Mexico on Thursday. "Life is returning back to normal."

Bush, in one of his few public appearances since leaving office in January, told the students that leaving office lifted a heavy burden.

"I no longer feel that great sense of responsibility that I had when I was in the Oval Office. And frankly, it's a liberating feeling," he told seniors from Artesia High School.

He received a warm welcome in the southeastern New Mexico community, the Roswell Daily Record reported. Bush declined interviews and no video cameras were allowed inside.

The crowd gave him multiple standing ovations and after his speech he was presented with a sculpture of an eagle taking flight from a torch. The sculpture will be dedicated at City Hall on Memorial Day in honor of Bush and America's veterans.

Bush invoked an Iraq veteran's story to motivate the students to continue their educations. He described visiting Army Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, a soldier from Oregon who lost both legs in combat.

When he visited Bagge at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Bush told him that someday Bagge would get out of his bed and run.

Then, one day, an aide went into Bush's office and said Bagge was waiting on the South Lawn and wanted to go running with the president.

If Bagge could do that, Bush told the students: "You can go to college." - FOX News Story

Pelosi - Stnads Behind "CIA is Lying" Comment

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she stood by her statement last week in which she accused the CIA of lying to Congress about Bush-era interrogation methods, but then refused to make any more remarks on the topic.

In her first public comments since her accusation last week, Pelosi attempted to tamp down a story that she fueled and now Republicans say she either has to prove or apologize for.

"I have made the statement that I'm going to make on this. I don't have any more to say on this," she said at her weekly news conference. "I stand by my comments. And what we are doing is staying on our course and not being distracted from it."

Pelosi brought backup with her: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and other members of the Democratic leadership flanked her but none of them dared touch the CIA controversy. Instead they took turns talking about every issue under the sun -- the economy, health care, energy policy, credit cards -- except Pelosi's allegations. - FOX News Story

If she stands behind it so wholeheartedly, then why not open an investigation and get down to the bottom line, Either they lied or she lied.

Obama continues Blaming Bush and Complains in "Off the Record" Meeting

Fending off criticism from human-rights and civil-rights groups at a private White House meeting Wednesday, a frustrated President Obama complained about the "mess" he'd been left by his predecessor.

The exchange came during an hour-and-15-minute "off the record" session in the White House cabinet room that highlighted growing tensions between the president and his liberal base. While the White House session was billed as an effort by the president to listen to his critics on the left, some of them left disappointed.

According to three sources who attended the meeting, Obama reiterated his intention to retain a version of the military-tribunal system established to try terror detainees and said his administration will likely end up adopting some form of "indefinite detention" policy to justify holding some selected suspects without trial. Still, Obama brusquely rejected suggestions by some of those present that, in doing so, he was adopting key tenets of Bush-era policies considered unacceptable by his liberal supporters.

"It doesn't help to equate me to Bush," Obama said, arguing that such comparisons overlook important differences between the two administrations' policies, according to several sources attending the meeting. - Newsweek Story

Panetta or Pelosi - One Must Go

It's obvious that either Leon Panetta, Obama's head of the CIA, or Nancy Pelosi, his party's Speaker of the House, has to go. No administration can tolerate a permanent, public civil war between two such high-ranking officials.

Especially when their disagreement stems not from issues of policy but from matters of veracity and credibility, the battle must end in one of their resignations. You cannot have the head of the nation's first line of defense against terrorism calling the Speaker of the House a liar and being attacked by her in turn.

Obviously, Obama cannot fire Panetta. First of all, he just appointed him. And second, to cave in to Pelosi (D-Calif.) would earn him the massive disrespect and disapproval of the very operatives on whom he must depend to keep the nation safe.

Already skeptical of his leftist credentials, the analysts at the CIA would regard it as a massive vote of no confidence if their chief were fired for believing in them.
Like Clinton -- whose draft-dodging made his relationship with the military problematic -- Obama takes office amid reservations about him on the part of the intelligence community. He has taken pains to reach out to both the uniformed and white-collar intelligence officials to smooth his way and win their trust.

Panetta took over as CIA chief under the cloud of his agency's distrust of the man who appointed him. Now he is standing firm for his agency and winning its loyalty and support.
Obama cannot pull the rug out from under him without incurring the agency's permanent animosity. Before Sept. 11, 2001, that may have been an acceptable risk. Now it is not.
But Pelosi is expendable. The job of a Democratic Speaker is to pass the program of the Democratic president. Her ability and track record is measured on a scale of effectiveness. If she is ineffective, she's not up to the job.

There is no way that Nancy Pelosi can be effective while she is engaged in a war of words with the Democratic head of the CIA. - Rasmussen Story

Democrats shut down Investigation into Pelosi

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican push to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects.

The House voted 252-172 to block the measure that would have created a bipartisan congressional panel. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, sponsored the resolution.

"This is partisan politics and an attempt by the Republicans to distract from the real issue of creating jobs and making progress on health care, energy and education," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. - FOX News Story

Hello! It has hardly been a couple of weeks and Pelosi and many of the Democrats were, and still are I might add, for an investigation into the Bush Administration. If that isn't "partisan politics and an attempt to distract from the real issue of creating jobs..." then why should this be?

The Democrats and Pelosi can't have it both ways. Pick your poison, investigate or don't?

Obama Team Disagree on Gitmo Detainees

A day before President Barack Obama lays out his vision for closing Guantanamo Bay prison, two of his top officials Wednesday offered sharply different views about bringing the prisoners onto U.S. soil.

The Pentagon No. 3 official, Michele Flournoy, said the only way the United States can get European nations to accept some of the 240 detainees at the military prison is by agreeing to bring some of them to the United States as well.

But FBI Director Robert Mueller warned Congress that releasing some of the Gitmo prisoners in the United States would raise concerns that they might radicalize others, raise money

for terrorist groups, or carry out attacks.

“The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others," Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee. There is also “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”

Mueller also raised concerns about bringing prisoners to the U.S. and holding them in maximum security prisons, noting that in some gang leaders have run their organizations while in prison. “It would depend on the circumstances,” Mueller said about imprisoning Guantanamo Bay inmates in the U.S., he added. - Politico Story

Banks Repay Loans - Obama Lends them Out Again

Back on Capitol Hill Thursday for his second hearing in two days, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner continued to defend his department's plan to take taxpayer money repaid to the government by bailed-out banks and then use it to help struggling community banks.

On Wednesday, Senate Banking Committee Republicans like Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had expressed concerns that Geithner might use the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program "permanently." The ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services echoed those worries on Thursday.

"Is the TARP going to go on forever?" asked Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., wondering if the recycling of TARP funds could eventually lead to the nationalization of banks. - ABC News Story

Basically what the Obama Administration wants to do is....take the Billions of Dollars approved for the Bailout and keep a never ending fund available at their discretion? When a bank repays it's loan to the Government, they want to put that money back into a pool and loan it out again at their will?

All of this while we have record deficits in the Government Spending. Good Plan Obama!

Obama Vs. Cheney - Whos is Better at Protecting the USA

(CBS) It was a debate separated by an hour in time, ten blocks on the map, an election, and profound ideological differences.

America heard President Obama this morning from the National Archives and former Vice President Dick Cheney, a half mile away at the offices of the American Enterprise Institute.

They laid out the stark differences in their approaches to the interrogations of terrorists and the treatment and trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

They both renewed their commitments to keeping America safe, but made it clear they thought the other's strategy would have the opposite effect.

It’s hard to imagine a more elevated setting for the President’s remarks. He spoke from the Mt. Olympus of American democracy - the great rotunda of the National Archives - surrounded on three sides by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (though documents in the display cases today were facsimiles, to protect the originals from the harsh TV lights).

He was bluntly critical of his predecessor’s policies calling them "a series of hasty decisions...based upon fear rather than foresight."

In an ordinary conference room at AEI, the conservative think tank, Cheney said made no apologies for what he called "the comprehensive strategy" he said the Bush Administration developed "to make certain our nation never again faced such a day of horror."

To Obama, that strategy included breaches of America’s core values in the methods of surveillance, interrogation and detention of terror suspects.

To Cheney, the policies reflected powers derived from Article II of the Constitution and from the Joint Resolution of Congress authorizing the use of "all necessary and appropriate force" to protect the American people. - CBS News Story

For a man who preached Change and looking forward, Obama sure does spend an awful lot of time blaming somebody else and defending himself and his ideas.

A person once told me, If you have to put somebody else down to justify yourself then you aren't doing something right. BINGO!!!! I think this President is beginning to believe his own BS.

If you feel the need to change something, change it. It is your perogative, you are in charge. There is absolutely no benefit to saying you are changing it because the guy who had your job before you blah blah blah.

Obama vs. Cheney - Speeches Today

President Barack Obama plans to say in his speech Thursday that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values, according to an administration official.

Obama will also renew his pledge to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying he will honor the commitment he made in the first week of his presidency.

In a remarkable split-screen presentation of opposing world views, former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak on the exact same topic moments after Obama finishes. Cheney is appearing at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where the audience will watch the president on large TV screens.

Cheney will say: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.”

Cheney will argue that his intent is not to look backward, but will say that a truthful telling of history is necessary to inform our choices going forward. “Though I'm not here to speak for George W. Bush, I am certain that no one wishes the current administration more success in defending the country than we do,” Cheney will say. “What I want to do today is set forth the strategic thinking that drove our policies.”

Both the president and Cheney will rest a good part of their case on effectiveness, with the president saying the last administration’s approach to fighting terror was not effect, and Cheney arguing that those programs are the reason there has been no second Sept. 11. - Politico News Story

This will be an interesting day for America. Obama will give a speech about the Bush Administrations handling of the War on Terror, followed by a speech by Cheney defending their policy.

It will be good for America to hear the unedited versions of both. The only bad part is that we will get what the media spin machine will give us.

Poll Shows Cheney and Bush Favorable Ratings Climbing

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Dick Cheney prepares to give a major speech on the battle against terrorism, a new national poll suggests that favorable opinions of the former vice president are on the rise.

But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Wednesday morning, indicates that a majority of Americans still have an unfavorable opinion of Cheney.

Fifty-five percent of people questioned in the poll say they have an unfavorable opinion of the former vice president. Thirty-seven percent say they have a favorable opinion of Cheney, up eight points from January when he left office.

In the past two months the former vice president has become a frequent critic of the new Administration in numerous national media interviews.

“Is Cheney’s uptick due to his visibility as one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration? Almost certainly not,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Former President George W. Bush's favorable rating rose six points in that same time period, and Bush has not given a single public speech since he left office.”

The poll suggests that 41 percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the former president, with 57 percent viewing him unfavorably.

The survey’s release comes just a few hours before Cheney speaks out Thursday on the war against terror during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington based think tank. Sources tell CNN that the former vice president is expected to defend the Bush Administration’s handling of the war on terror and challenge the Obama Administration’s attempt to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted May 14-17, with 1,010 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points. - CNN Story

Cheney to Offer Praise and Answers to Obama

Former Vice President Dick Cheney today will offer some praise for President Obama in addition to a strong defense of Bush administration national-security policies, in a speech that will be delivered just minutes after Obama outlines his approach to key issues in fighting terrorism.

Cheney will make his national-security speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute immediately following President Obama's 10:10 am ET speech at the National Archives.

"When President Obama makes wise decisions," Cheney will say, "he deserves our support. When he mischaracterizes the decisions we made, he deserves an answer."

"The responsibilities we carried belong to others now. And though I'm not here to speak for George W. Bush, I am certain that no one wishes the current administration more success in defending the country than we do. We understand the complexities of national security decisions. We understand the pressures that confront a president and his advisers..."

"Right now there is considerable debate in this city about the measures our administration took to defend the American people -- and especially about our methods of gathering intelligence. What I want to do today is set forth the strategic thinking that drove our policies..."

Cheney has told AEI that he won't start his speech until Obama is finished. Large television screen will bring Obama's speech live to Cheney and his audience at AEI.

Among Obama's "wise decisions,” according to Cheney: his approach to Afghanistan and his decision not to release the detainee abuse photos. - ABC Story

More Taxpayer Dollars ($7.5 Billion) for GMAC

DETROIT--The U.S. Treasury Department is preparing to announce as early as Wednesday that it will invest an additional $7.5 billion in lender GMAC LLC in a deal that could allow the U.S. government to hold a majority stake in the Detroit-based auto finance company, the Detroit News reported.

GMAC, which also provides loans for consumers to buy General Motors Corp (GM: 1.43, 0, 0%) and Chrysler LLC vehicles, has been in talks for several weeks to secure additional capital, the newspaper said.

The U.S. Treasury declined to comment. A GMAC spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Reuters Television recently that the administration will provide substantial support to GMAC, a vital provider of financing for buyers of U.S.-made cars.

Treasury and U.S. banking regulators have said GMAC needs to raise $11.5 billion to fill a capital hole it could face if the economy were to deteriorate further. - FOX Business Story

Obama is buying a Major Stake of GMAC with our money. I am sure it is just another too big to fail scheme to control more of the US Market.

Just think about were America would be without all of the Obama Spending. Just think how much better off we would be if we had wasted so much money saving all of these businesses from themselves. If we had just let them fail, file for bankruptcy and then put a fraction of the money that we wasted were it actually would have done some good.

Ahhhhhh. What could have been.

Air Quality Improved Significantly under President Bush

As the Obama administration considers further steps to fight air pollution, a recent report from a Washington think tank shows that air quality in the United States has improved significantly over the last decade.

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research analyzed data collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and concluded that levels of numerous gases linked with air pollution have fallen off since 2001.

Among the findings: Carbon monoxide decreased by 39 percent, ozone by 6 percent, and sulfur dioxide by 32 percent.

"Pick any category you want and pollution levels are generally lower than they were seven years ago," said Steven Hayward, the policy analyst who authored the report, titled "Index of Leading Environmental Indicators," for the conservative think tank.

"(Environmental groups) said air pollution was out of control, but this was always more about politics than it was fact," Hayward said. - FOX News Story

Democrats Finding Errors in CIA Reports

WASHINGTON -- New questions surfaced Wednesday about the accuracy of a CIA document meant to settle who in Congress knew about severe interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.

Three new errors appeared to emerge in the CIA's matrix of 40 congressional briefings on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Those techniques include waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, which President Obama has called torture.

The CIA acknowledged one of the errors but continued to stand by its version of events in the other two cases.

The briefing chart, widely leaked to the news media two weeks ago, was compiled by the CIA at the request of members of Congress after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed in April that the CIA failed to tell her at a September 2002 briefing that waterboarding had been used against a prisoner. - FOX News Story

Democrats are going to nit-pick the briefing memos to find any miniscule error that they can. It is an attempt to find several minor errors to be able to come back and say that there are so many errors that the memo's can't be believed. It is an old legal trick.

Bottom line is, Pelosi was well aware of the Interrogation Techniques that were taking place and did nothing to stop it. She now wants to claim that she was unaware because she wants to paint it as torture. She knows that she can't blame the Bush Administration and Republicans if everyone knows that she was aware of it and did nothing.

Senate Vote is Blow to Obama's Gitmo Plan

(CBS/AP) In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States.

Democrats lined up with Republicans in the 90-6 vote that came on the heels of a similar move a week ago in the House of Representatives, underscoring widespread apprehension among Mr. Obama's congressional allies over voters' strong feelings about bringing detainees to the U.S. The president readied a speech for Thursday on the U.S. fight against terrorism.

For symbolic effect, the speech will be at the National Archives where the Constitution is displayed, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid.

Mr. Obama has vowed to close the prison by January 2010, and the Senate's vote was not the final word on the matter. It will be next month at the earliest before Congress completes work on the legislation, giving the White House time pursue a compromise that would allow the president to fulfill his pledge. - CBS News Story

Calls for FBI to Investigate CIA / Pelosi Argument

A growing chorus of Republican lawmakers is calling for an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's accusation that the CIA lied to Congress about Bush-era interrogation techniques.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, when asked if a probe was under way, told Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Wednesday that he needed a referral before launching an investigation into the allegation.

So Issa offered one.

"If the CIA is lying to any of us -- and I've been briefed many times by them as a member of the Intelligence Committee -- it puts me in a position of not being able to do my job properly," he said.

Mueller said he would consult with the Justice Department on whether he should investigate the charges.

The exchange is the latest development in a controversy that began with Democrats seeking to hold Bush officials accountable for enhanced interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects. But Pelosi's contradicting statements on if and when she was briefed on the methods have given Republicans ample ammunition in the partisan conflict.

Rep. Steve King, R-Ill., also called on Mueller to initiate an investigation. - FOX News Story

GOP Wants to unseat Harry Reid

For nearly six years, Republicans have had Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid in their crosshairs, hoping to secure for the four-term Nevada senator the same stunning fate as his predecessor, Tom Daschle, who failed to win re-election in South Dakota in 2004 despite his role as the Senate's top Democrat.

But here's the rub for Republicans hoping for another historic upset: They haven't found a challenger to take on the reigning majority leader.

"You can't beat anybody with nobody," said Ted G. Jelen, a political scientist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Even so, Reid is being painted as a "super-spending partisan" by critics and has close ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who's under fire for casting the CIA as liars. Republicans are convinced that Reid is vulnerable in next year's election.

"He does have an image problem," Jelen told FOX News. "A well-financed credible challenger could give him a lot of trouble." - FOX News Story

Obama Bringing Gitmo Detainee to US for Trial

WASHINGTON -- A top Al Qaeda suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.

Ahmed Ghailani would be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the U.S., and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose the decision, told The Associated Press the administration has decided to bring Ghailani to trial in New York. He was indicted there for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa -- attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

Ghailani, a Tanzanian, is a high-value detainee captured in Pakistan in 2004 and transferred to the U.S. detention at the U.S. naval base in Cuba two years later.

The official said the administration plans to announce Thursday morning that Ghailani will be brought to trial for the embassy attacks.

The decision on the first U.S. trial of a Guantanamo detainee comes as President Obama faces pressure from across the political spectrum on his plan to close the detention center by January 2010. Democrats have said they want to see the president's plan for closing the base before it funds the effort, and Republicans are fighting to keep Guantanamo open.

Some lawmakers have already voice opposition to bringing Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial, even in heavily guarded settings. - FOX News Story

That is such a good idea. Let's bring them here were we put a big target right on America. You not only give the terrorist a chance to get at their comrad, but they can attack America and Americans right on America's very own soil.

Iran Test Fires Missle - Nukes in 1-3 Years

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran test-fired a new advanced missile Wednesday with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to strike Israel and southeastern Europe.

The announcement will not reassure the U.S. government, coming just two days after President Barack Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama said he expected a positive response to his outreach for opening a dialogue with Iran by the end of the year.

"Defense Minister (Mostafa Mohammad Najjar) has informed me that the Sajjil-2 missile, which has very advanced technology, was launched from Semnan and it landed precisely on the target," state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. He spoke during a visit to the city of Semnan, 125 miles east of the capital Tehran, where Iran's space program is centered. - FOX News Story

Obama's diplomacy is doing wonders with our enemies. His rhetoric about how wrong the Bush Administration was in the way it handled Iran, well I don't see the Obama Administration doing anything better.

Were is the great Leadership and the Diplomacy that Bush was so sorely missing? Obama had this all figured out.

Milwaukee Police Investigating Serial Killer

MILWAUKEE -- The search is on for a serial killer as investigators add a new victim to the list of those slain by the unknown killer.

Police said Monday that besides the six deaths already linked to the killer, they were investigating 24 more cold cases with common threads.

On Wednesday, they added a seventh victim who was found dead in 1995.

Florence McCormick was found strangled to death in the 600 block of West Locust Street in 1995.

Her case relates to others that date back to 1986. Those slayings include those of Deborah Harris and Tanya Miller -- two deaths that happened just a day apart.

The case also includes the 2007 death of Ouithreaun Stokes. Investigators said the slayings mostly happened in the same general area and that all but one of the victims was a prostitute. All but one of the victims was strangled, as well. - WISN News Story

Health Care Reform is Dangerous Territory for Obama

(CNN) -- We know what the president wants when it comes to health care reform. We know what Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Henry Waxman want. And we know what interest groups really want from any health care reform effort.

But what do the American people want when it comes to comprehensive health care reform?

Stanford University, in a new comprehensive study, has tried to find out. Its Center on Longevity commissioned a huge qualitative and quantitative study to dig deeper into what the people really want from health care reform.

The study included discussions among professors and other experts, small-business owners and human resource managers. Stanford's pollsters then did an online survey of more than 2,000 registered voters, getting their reactions to six detailed proposals: three on cost containment and three on access.

What the study found suggests that the Obama administration should tread carefully when it plots its legislative strategy on health care.

For example, most people are pretty satisfied with their own health care. According to the survey, although 68 percent believe that the health care system does not work well for the public at large, 62 percent of Americans feel that it works well for them personally. - CNN Story

GOP to Take on Obama - Honeymoon is Over!

Republican

National Committee Chairman Michael Steele vowed Tuesday that the GOP will confront President Barack Obama more aggressively and directly, regardless of his popularity in the polls.

“We are going to take the president head-on. The honeymoon is over. The two-party system is making a comeback, and that comeback starts today,” Steele said in remarks to an RNC meeting in Maryland.

“The president is personally popular. Pity the fool who paid for a poll to figure that out,” Steele said. “So…what’s the loyal opposition to do with this popular president? We are going to speak truth to power. We are going to speak directly, and we are going to take him on.”

Steele said that he has heard from many advisors suggesting that he take on less popular Democrats than the president, but the RNC chair said that the party will no longer “avoid confronting” Obama. - Politico Story

Senate Puts Brakes on Gitmo Closing

President Barack Obama's promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison suffered a blow Tuesday when his allies in the Senate said they would refuse to finance the move until the administration delivers a satisfactory plan for what to do with the detainees there.

As the Senate took up Obama's request for money for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats reversed course and said they would deny the request for $80 million for the Justice and Defense departments to relocate the 240 detainees at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They would also indefinitely bar the government from transferring of any of the facility's prisoners into the United States, though the ban could be relaxed in subsequent legislation.

A vote is expected Wednesday on an amendment by Sens. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and James Inhofe, R-Okla., that would put the restrictions in the war-funding measure. - ABC News Story

People are opening their eyes and seeing that maybe Obama the Mesiah isn't the great savior after all. You can't just swoop in and say no to everything that your predecessor did without a plan.

Milwaukee Police Form Task Force in Serial Killings

(CNN) -- Police in Milwaukee are working to track down a serial killer linked to at least seven unsolved homicides dating back more than two decades, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials in the Wisconsin city have matched the unknown man's DNA with seven women -- six prostitutes and a runaway involved in the drug trade. The deaths occurred between 1986 and 2007.

"Six of the victims were women who were working as prostitutes -- high-risk behavior that makes them vulnerable to crime," authorities said.

Police believe the killer had sex with the runaway, but she was killed by someone else.

The developments have prompted officials to form a local, state and federal task force to investigate the homicides. A state lab is working to determine whether the DNA of at least 23 other slain prostitutes matches that of the killer.

"In the past, we might have linked some of these homicides through their method of operation, but theory has given way to technology," said Edward Flynn, the Milwaukee police chief. "Within the last couple of weeks, we have been able to confirm a link."

Flynn, who described the killer as an "unknown suspect who conducts his business in secret," said the investigation would require tips from the community. - CNN News Story

Pelosi Still Taking Heat - Leading Dems Defending Her

ABC News’ Rick Klein and Dean Norland report: Leading House Democrats are lining up to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her widely publicized dispute with the CIA -- while Republicans turn up the pressure on her to retract her accusation that intelligence officials lied to her.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said today that Pelosi continues to enjoy “solid” support within the caucus. He voiced full support for her side of the story -- attempting to put to rest suggestions of a split inside of Democratic leadership.

“I believe the speaker. I believe the speaker when she says that she was not specifically briefed on the types of -- very polite term -- enhanced interrogation techniques, that were being employed,” Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters at his weekly press briefing.

“Republicans are going to stay on it as long as you guys keep printing it, as long as it keeps to be a television item,” he added. “Not about the substance, but about the distraction. As long as you want to feed on it, the Republicans will continue to feed you. That's the way it is.”

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner is demanding that Pelosi either produce evidence that the CIA misled Congress about interrogation techniques, or retract her accusation. - ABC News Story

Democrats Backtracking on Gitmo

Senate Democrats threw cold water on President Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center Tuesday, pulling money for the closure from a $91 billion war spending request and publicly opposing the transfer of any detainees to U.S. soil.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats not only oppose the release of detainees into the United States but also oppose the transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons.

"We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States," he said, adding: "Part of what we don't want is for them to be put in prisons in the United States. We don't want them around in the United States."

On top of that, Senate Democrats decided to pull $80 million from the war spending request -- money Obama had requested to close the detention facility by Jan. 22, 2010.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley later walked back part of Reid's statement.

"He's not going to do anything until we get a plan from the president." Manley said. He said "the leader is leaving the door open to detainees being transferred to American prisons, should the administration put forward a plan to do so."

Reid's comments nevertheless revealed how uneasy Democrats are with the yet-to-be released details for a closure plan. When asked about the change in tone, a senior Senate Democratic leadership aide said, "Members of the caucus were sick of getting walloped by Republicans over this phony, made-up issue." - FOX News Story

Maybe there are some people ready to put a stop to some of the Stupidity in Washington. You just can't fix Stupid.

Obama Refuses to Meet with Nevada Governor

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has been denied a meeting with President Obama when he is in town next week to attend a fundraiser for Sen. Harry Reid at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Gibbons had demanded a sit-down meeting following Obama's controversial statement that companies shouldn't book trips to Las Vegas if they have received federal bailouts and claims statements he made that were critical to Nevada and have caused economic damage to convention business and tourism business in the Silver State.

In a statement Gibbons put out Monday, the governor said Obama's quote that "you can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime" was seen by many as an insult to Las Vegas and as a message to companies across the nation to stay away from Las Vegas for corporate meetings and conventions.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports over 400 conventions and business meetings scheduled to take place in Las Vegas recently have cancelled. These cancelled events translate into 111,800 guests in Las Vegas and over 250,000 "room-nights." The cancelled conventions and meetings have cost the Las Vegas economy over $100-million, not including gaming revenue, according to the statement from Gibbons' office.

"I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this Administration," Gibbons said. "President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments. President Obama is coming to Las Vegas to raise campaign cash for Senator Harry Reid, apparently our money is good enough for the President, but our tourism, jobs, and economic future are not. This is politics, pure and simple, President Obama stood for change, but all he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada." - FOX News Story

This isn't a big shock to anyone who has followed this Administration since they began their Campaign. If you speak out against Obama, then you will pay. They will hold up funding or refuse any of your requests or do whatever they can to blackmail you.

Obama is not a good leader. He is a dictator of sorts, he will dictate to you what you should and shouldn't do, and if you don't fall into line then you will be shunned.

Change you can believe in.

Democrats Stand Behind Pelosi

WASHINGTON (CNN) –As congressional Republicans continued Monday to stoke the flames over Speaker Nancy Pelosi's accusation the CIA lied to her about waterboarding, House Democrats appeared to be standing behind their leader.

One of Pelosi's closest allies in the House, Connecticut Democrat John Larson, acknowledged to CNN that the Speaker's news conference last week could have been better, but insisted there hasn't been any fallout among Democrats.

"Perhaps it wasn't one of her best press conferences. But certainly everyone in this caucus stands behind her to be the lead in our caucus. I don't know if it could have been done better or not, but our caucus is entirely behind her, " Larson said.

Several Democratic sources tell CNN that privately, some congressional Democrats are baffled by Pelosi's decision to escalate the controversy last week by going after the CIA.

But Larson, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, also said he's spoken to members over the weekend and that they are "solidly behind the Speaker." - CNN

That is exactly the Problem in Washington, even when the person flat out lies, cheats, steals or whatever they stand behind them. By God, get out there and hold them accountable. There isn't going to be change in Washington until 'We the People' make change. People like Pelosi need to be booted to the curb, Oh YES there are Democrats and Republicans that need to be kicked right out on their butts.

Obama's Stimulus Story - Now the Truth

Early this year, as the U.S. Congress prepared to debate a $787 billion spending bill that's better known as the stimulus plan, President Barack Obama claimed that immediate action was necessary to prevent unemployment from skyrocketing.

"Experts agree that if nothing is done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits," Mr. Obama said in a January 24 radio address. "If we do not act boldly and swiftly, a bad situation could become dramatically worse." The same month, his economic advisors released a report saying that, without the stimulus, unemployment would hit around 8.5 percent by April 2009, and 7.8 percent with it.

We know what happened next: a Democratic Congress quickly approved the legislation. But what may not be as obvious is that even with the stimulus, current unemployment is far worse than the Obama administration had predicted: it's already 8.9 percent.

In the last few days, a marked-up version of that chart has rocketed around economics and public policy blogs, with some administration critics arguing it showed the stimulus was unnecessary. (For perspective, the stimulus' generous $787 billion is roughly 60 percent of the total revenue that the IRS collects each year from Americans' personal income taxes, or almost seven times the entire GDP of New Zealand.) - CBS News Story

Obama sold his bill of goods to everyone who thought he was the Great Mesiah. Without his bold plan and swift action things were going down the crapper. It was all Bush's fault and he was here to save us all from the Evil Doer George W. Bush.

Well, now we know, he is just another Politician that is full of it up to his eyes. He got the Billions of our dollars and threw them right down the crapper. Who is going to save us next?

GM Bondholders Getting the Shaft?

You keep reading about the GM bondholders holding out, slowing up the works, gumming the wheels of progress. Ninety percent of us must agree by May 26 to a swap deal for GM common stock or else the company files for bankruptcy. Forget bloated union contracts, foreign competition and decades of decline -- it's the bondholders that will drag down GM. Unless we take one for the team.

It's a real hustle down the aisle for a deal that, as a former Miami resident I can say, blows like a hurricane. And though Chapter 11 bankruptcy seems unavoidable, weary bondholders -- it's been a rough ride, people -- are expected to leap in front of each other to swap out our notes for stock shares that may soon be meaningless.

Oh yes, there's also an under-publicized 1-for-100 reverse stock split attached to the offer. And the company rounds down each fractional share while converting your notes. The well-publicized 225 shares for every $1,000 of principal actually ends up being two shares. Two shares, not 225.

Such a deal!

Here's my personal slice of the choices facing GM bondholders. If you see me on the street, feel free to buy me a beer and commiserate over my losses.

In 2006, I inherited GM promissory notes with original principal value of $62,500. Some of them dated back to the 1940s, when my grandfather the banker scraped up the bones to invest in the rising auto company. The market value on the bonds, what I could get for selling them in 2006, was about $40,000. - CBS News Story

This is Obama's America. Screw the man who has propped up these fledgling car makers for years and reward the Unions that have helped drive them into the ground. Makes perfect sense to me!?

Twins have Seperate Dads - Uh Oh!

A Texas mother of twins got the shock of her life when doctors revealed that her 11-month-old boys do not have the same father.

Mia Washington decided to get some expert advice when she and her partner noticed that twins Justin and Jordan had different facial features.

Paternity tests then revealed what had happened — two eggs had been fertilized by two different sperm and there was a 99.99% chance the twins had different dads.

Doctors at the DNA lab in Dallas, Texas had never seen such a result.

Washington later admitted she had had an affair and got pregnant by two different men at the same time.

"Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me, she told myfoxdfw.com. “I'm very shocked." - FOX News Story

Obama Team Rebranding Washington

Global War on Terror is out -- "overseas contingency operation" is in.

Terrorist attack is out -- "man-caused disaster" is in.

Since the new administration took office, Washington has been consumed, on both sides of the aisle, by a kind of re-branding madness. This marathon in semantics has had a variety of tactical purposes, depending on who's got his Sharpie on the dictionary.

The Obama administration, through a string of delicate shifts in terminology, has softened -- or at least obfuscated -- the essence of the war against Islamic extremism.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, arguably the Washington equivalent to Madonna of re-branding, delivered an entire set of testimony without using the word "terrorism." She says she prefers "man-caused disasters."

And the administration as a whole phased out the term "Global War on Terror." "Overseas contingency operation" became the tag that is now used in budget documents to explain where billions of taxpayer dollars are going.

Napolitano told the German magazine Der Spiegel she's avoiding such hot-button words like "terrorism" to demonstrate the administration's desire to "move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave even less of an explanation, telling reporters in March that the name switch for the War on Terror "speaks for itself." - FOX News Story

Going After Bush Officials for Waterboarding Got A Lot Harder Today

Going after the Bush administration just got harder.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled Monday that several high-ranking government officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, cannot be sued for alleged abuse in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The decision could put a damper on attempts to sue Bush-era officials for their involvement in anti-terror programs that critics say trampled on the rights of detainees.

The Court's ruling against Javaid Iqbal -- a Pakistani who filed suit against Ashcroft and Mueller claiming they were responsible for his arrest and mistreatment after Sept. 11 -- affirmed the high burden of proof required to bring such a case and upheld long-standing immunity protections given to government officers for their official duties.

The decision upheld that government officials generally are liable only for their own misconduct, and not the misconduct of their subordinates. This could have wide-ranging implications for other cases against Bush administration officials.

"It's just reiterated long-standing precedent on what it takes to (hold) the government itself responsible," said John Eastman, dean of the Chapman University School of Law. "There are certain criteria." - FOX News Story

Pelosi - Shut Up or Apologize!

It's week two and Republicans aren't about to let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's accusation that the CIA lied to Congress slip between the cracks.

House Minority Leader John Boehner told FOX News on Monday that "the ball is in the speaker's court." If she is accusing the CIA of lying, she "needs to come forward, either present evidence or do an apology, and let's get this behind us."

"Lying to Congress is a crime. Purposely misleading Congress is a crime. And if the speaker is accusing the intelligence community of lying to her or purposefully misleading her, then she ought to present that evidence, turn it over to the Justice Department, have them prosecute it," Boehner said.

But Boehner did not call for Pelosi's ouster.

"Let's not get too far down the road here. I'm not going to take anything off the table, but I do believe that -- that the ball is in her court. And she has to either put up or have an apology and move on," he said.

Pelosi caused a stir last week when she accused the CIA of misleading Congress about its use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terror detainees, particularly on Abu Zubaydah. - FOX News Story

Supreme Court says NO to Lawsuit of Top Law Enforcement Officials

Top law enforcement officials cannot be sued for alleged abuse of Muslims in the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 5-4 decision means that the officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and current FBI Director Robert Mueller, are immune from such a lawsuit.

Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim, personally was looking to sue Ashcroft, Mueller and others for their actions after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The allegation is that the officials unlawfully targeted Muslim men for detainment. Iqbal was one of those men -- he later pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy and eventually was deported to Pakistan.

Iqbal spent nearly six months in solitary confinement in New York in 2002. He had argued that while Ashcroft and Mueller did not single him out for mistreatment, they were responsible for a policy of confining detainees in highly restrictive conditions because of their religious beliefs or race.

But the government argued that there was nothing linking Mueller and Ashcroft to the abuses that happened to Iqbal.

The court on Monday overturned a lower court decision that let Iqbal's lawsuit against the high-ranking officials proceed. - FOX News

Mexicos Drug War in the US

(CNN) -- Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, a 54-year-old drug cartel leader whose nickname means "Shorty," is the most wanted man in Mexico. He's also one of the most wanted men in the United States.

For five years, the State Department has kept a $5 million bounty on his head, calling Guzman a threat to U.S. security.

Guzman, who leads the Sinaloa cartel, is a key player in the bloody turf battles being fought along the border.

He recently upped the stakes, ordering his associates to use lethal force to protect their loads in contested drug trafficking corridors, according the Los Angeles Times.

The cartel's tentacles and those of its chief rival, the Gulf cartel, already reach across the border and into metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; and Charlotte, North Carolina, Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Joseph Arabit told a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee in March.

"No other country in the world has a greater impact on the drug situation in the United States than Mexico does," said Arabit, who heads the DEA's office in this year's border hot spot, El Paso, Texas. - CNN News Story

Earth Quake hits Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — A moderate earthquake jolted the Los Angeles region late Sunday, shattering glass, setting off alarms and fraying nerves. There were no reports of any major injuries or damage.

The magnitude-4.7 quake hit at 8:39 p.m. about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles and three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was followed minutes later by at least three smaller aftershocks, with the largest registering at magnitude-3.1.

The quake jiggled the greater Los Angeles region for about 10 to 15 seconds and was felt as far south as San Diego, said USGS seismologist Susan Hough. - FOX News Story

Obama support eroding in Left Wing

When President Barack Obama speaks to the Notre Dame commencement Sunday afternoon, television cameras will search the sea of graduates, looking for turned backs and defaced mortar boards that abortion opponents will likely use to register their disagreement with the president.

But the attention to protests from conservatives who don’t support Obama – and almost certainly never would – could obscure the far more significant political threat he now faces.

Barely four months into his presidency, Obama is confronting growing dissatisfaction among members of his liberal base, who feel spurned by a series of his early decisions on issues ranging from guns to torture to immigration to gay rights.

The list got longer last week as Obama reversed his earlier decision to release photos of detainees abused in U.S. military custody and announced plans to try some terror suspects before military commissions – though on the campaign trail he railed against earlier versions of the tribunals.

A few, like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, have even hurled the left’s ultimate epithet – suggesting that Obama’s turning into George W. Bush. - Politico News Story