Obama's Homeland Secretary now Using the Word Terror

It's OK to call them terrorists again.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who drew criticism for not mentioning the word "terror" during her first appearance before Congress in February, has reinserted the term into her lexicon.

The former Arizona governor used the term or its variants 23 times Wednesday during a 30-minute speech before the Council of Foreign Relations in New York.

When she testified before the House Homeland Security Committee in February, Napolitano became the first homeland security director not to mention the word "terror." Her predecessor, Michael Chertoff, mentioned terrorism seven times during his address in 2005. Tom Ridge, the agency's first secretary when the department was created in 2003, uttered the word 11 times, according to an Associated Press analysis.

But Napolitano noticeably avoided the term in February, referring to acts of terrorism as "man-caused disasters" instead.

She later admitted that it was part of a larger effort to change the tone in Washington. The Obama administration has also phased out the term "War on Terror," replacing it with the less sinister "overseas contingency operation."

The switch "speaks for itself," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in March.

"It demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur," Napolitano told the German magazine Der Spiegel.

But now, terror is back. So, what's in a name?

Asked Friday what prompted her to start saying "terror" again, Napolitano told FOX News, "I'm not really into labels. What we're talking about is the fight against terrorism in all forms, whether it comes from abroad or indeed is homegrown and what Americans can do to combat it." - FOX News Story

Obama - America's Recovery Due to Stimulus

President Obama said Friday afternoon that new figures showing the Gross Domestic Product contracted at a much lower rate in the second quarter than it did at the start of the year illustrate that the "in the last few months, the economy has done measurably better than we had thought."

The president attributed the improved situation to his nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package, saying progress is "directly attributable to the Recovery Act."

He argued that "important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession."

"Now, I realize that none of this is much comfort to those Americans who are still out of work and struggling to make ends meet," the president acknowledged. "And when we receive our monthly jobs report next week, it's likely to show that we're still continuing to lose far too many jobs."

But he stressed that "today's GDP is an important sign that the economy is headed in the right direction."

Republicans have attacked the stimulus package as wasteful and ineffective, and the White House seized on the new figures to buttress its argument that the massive spending bill is having its intended effect.

In an effort to underscore that argument, the president also noted that new figures show "that the recession we faced when I took office was even deeper than anyone thought at the time. It told us how close we were to the edge." The government had previously calculated that the economy had grown 1.1 percent in 2008 but today revised that number down to 0.4 percent.

The president said he is "guardedly optimistic" about the state of the economy, though he noted that a recovery "won't happen overnight." He said the new figures show that business investment is stabilizing, which he indicated will lead to renewed hiring and, eventually, a feeling among Americans that a true recovery is at hand. - CBS News Story

Every should gather around and thank the almighty Obama for saving us. He is the Great one and behold his wisdom.

Seriously, what a load of crap. The Economy is recovering around the world. Many Nations did not do a stimulus and they are recovering as well. Is Obama claiming credit for those as well?

Rep. Taylor calls Group - Lying Sacks of Scum

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) has called Grover Norquist’s anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform “lying sacks of scum” for lumping him in with other moderate Democrats who support the House health reform bill.

“Americans for Tax Reform are lying sacks of scum, and anyone who knowingly repeats this false information is also a liar,” Taylor said in an unusually blistering statement for a member of Congress.

The incident has so incensed Taylor, he’s pointing out Americans for Tax Reforms past ties to scandalized lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The Americans for Tax Reform release said Taylor had agreed to a “backroom deal” on healthcare.

Um, not so, said Taylor’s spokesman Ethan Rabin.

“I am opposed to the current health care reform bills being debated in Congress,” Taylor says on his web site. “We should not create an expensive new government health program or promise new government health benefits when we have not figured out how to pay the future costs of Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and other federal health programs that were promised by previous Presidents and previous Congresses.”

Taylor is a Blue Dog and several members of the economically conservative coalition on the Energy and Commerce Committee did sign off on a deal with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to move the health care bill out of the committee, Rabin said. But Taylor isn’t even a member of the committee, and he hasn’t changed his view of the bill. - Politico Story

Talk is pretty cheap, lets sit back and see where he stands on the deals that are being cut in the backrooms. If he supports them, then we know who the scum is, if he doesn't then he is right.

Sen. Al Franken Still Mad at Pickens over Swift Boat Ads

Five years after he put his money behind the Swift Boat ads that helped tank John Kerry’s presidential campaign, Senate Democrats

gave T. Boone Pickens a warm welcome at their weekly policy lunch Thursday.

Or at least most of them did.

Kerry skipped the regularly scheduled lunch; his staff said the Massachusetts Democrat “was unable to attend because he had a long scheduled lunch with his interns and pages.”

Sen. Al Franken managed to make time for the lunch – but then let Pickens have it afterward.

According to a source, the wealthy oil and gas magnate and author of “The First Billion is the Hardest” stepped up to introduce himself to Franken in a room just off the Senate Floor after the lunch ended

Franken, who was seated talking to someone else, did not stand when Pickens said hello. Instead, Franken began to berate him about the billionaire’s financing of the Swift Boat ads in 2004.

According to a source, the confrontation grew heated.

Said Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh: “It was a lively conversation.”

Pickens was on the Hill to address the Senate Democratic Policy Committee lunch about his plans to use wind energy to lower the nation’s dependence on oil and gas. But the thought of Pickens being invited to a Democratic event angered some on the Hill and in the liberal blogs.

Pickens’ camp appears unmoved by the drama. “If they have a problem, that’s their problem,” said Pickens spokesman Jay Rosser.

“Boone has clearly moved on and is focused on a mission to solve the foreign oil dependency problem that he believes is a national security and economic crisis that America has to confront. Boone’s grateful for the impressive turnout of Democrats at the Democrat Policy Committee yesterday and for the interest they have shown in helping address this problem.” - Politico

I am sure that Pickens was really concerned that a Freshman Senator who barely if at all won the election is still mad over something that happened years ago.

The good side of it all is that you really get a look at where Franken stands.

Obama Can't Smooth Talk Us Anymore

Barack Obama was a rock star on the campaign trail and his aura went undimmed in his first few months of office. But then he began taking too many curtain calls. The applause subsided, but he kept coming back to center stage to try harder to wow us. He forgot what every star must learn, that you've got to know when to get off that center stage. If you don't have anything new to say, shut up. This applies even to presidents.

He's reaching for applause lines with the same ol' same ol'. So his poll numbers begin to shrink. He pushes, and pushes, a flawed health care scheme without having anything new to add. Then he goes off script to accuse the Cambridge, Mass., cops of behaving "stupidly" in the arrest of professor Henry Louis Gates, and loses the applause of fans in the second balcony.

When Obama replaced George W. Bush as the top banana, his speech if not his politics was dramatically refreshing. We were relieved to listen to someone who wouldn't muff his lines, miss a cue or garble the English language. Even those who disagreed with what the new president had to say appreciated his speechifying skills. We became a collective version of Moliere's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," delighted to discover a leader who could speak prose.

But we also discovered that a golden-tongued devil could deceive us with the alchemy of smooth talk at a time when we need straight talk. Great rhetoricians inevitably betray a weakness, small though it may be. That's why the poet John Milton gave Satan the best lines, sprinkled with vivid similes and sparkling metaphors, in "Paradise Lost." All the better to deceive. By comparison, God in His heaven is plain to the point of boring, but the smart reader gets the divine meaning.

Nobody likes being deceived. When the Congressional Budget Office said Obama's health care numbers were wrong and his scheme would cost a lot more than we had been told, some of us grew suspicious. When the accountants at the celebrated Mayo Clinic said the cure was worse than the disease, more of us decided that we didn't want the president's medicine. When the Blue Dog Democrats vowed not to be rushed to such an important decision, a lot more of us began to listen closely to other sides. - Real Clear Politics Story

The House Pelosi Built

If anyone might have the right to revel in a bit of health-care schadenfreude, it’s John Dingell. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman ought to feel lucky he’s foregone the pleasure.

The Michigan Democrat, at least until last year, presided over the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. As such, Mr. Dingell, the House’s longest-serving dealmaker, was positioned to be point man for President Barack Obama’s health-care and climate priorities.

Was. Weary of Mr. Dingell’s slow pace, and impatient with his attempts to unite diverse committee Democrats around legislation, within weeks of November’s election Speaker Pelosi made her move, enlisting some home-town muscle. Fellow California liberal Henry Waxman challenged Mr. Dingell to his chairmanship, and with Mrs. Pelosi’s support, dethroned him. The speaker has been reaping her whirlwind ever since.

The measure of Mrs. Pelosi’s leadership was always going to be her ability to manage an unruly caucus. She was an architect of that diversity, rounding up an unprecedented crew of conservative Democrats to pick off vulnerable GOP seats in 2006 and 2008. These “majority makers” sat uneasily with her liberal wing and her own ideological inclinations, but Mrs. Pelosi initially proved herself savvy. The House Democrats’ debut “Six in ‘06” agenda—minimum wage hikes, cheaper student loans and the like—was carefully crafted to present a united Democratic front.

That restraint has gradually given way to Mrs. Pelosi’s more radical ambitions, and Mr. Waxman enlisted to see that agenda through. He has certainly fulfilled Mrs. Pelosi’s hope that he be the anti-Dingell. And the result of his purist, knuckle-cracking style is that House Democrats flood to recess today on a wave of division, confusion and dismal headlines. “Henry Waxman has been our greatest gift,” chortles one House GOP aide. If Mr. Obama ultimately fails in his top ambitions, he should know early whom to thank.

On the conservative side of the equation, Mr. Waxman has unrelentingly antagonized the rural Democratic members who make up the majority of his committee. He wrote a climate bill without their input, loaded it with provisions that hurt their districts, and left them to vote on Republican amendments designed to inflict maximum political damage.

He ignored requests to wait to see if the Senate could produce, instead forcing a painful floor vote on legislation prior to the July Fourth recess. Members went home to be brutalized by constituents and local employers. - WSJ Story

Obama on The Retreat in Health Care?

WASHINGTON -- Yesterday, Barack Obama was God. Today, he's fallen from grace, the magic gone, his health care reform dead. If you believed the first idiocy -- and half the mainstream media did -- you'll believe the second. Don't believe either.

Conventional wisdom always makes straight-line projections. They are always wrong. Yes, Obama's aura has diminished, in part because of overweening overexposure. But by year's end he will emerge with something he can call health care reform. The Democrats in Congress will pass it because they must. Otherwise, they'll have slain their own savior in his first year in office.

But that bill will look nothing like the massive reform Obama originally intended. The beginning of the retreat was signaled by Obama's curious reference -- made five times -- to "health-insurance reform" in his July 22 news conference.

Reforming the health care system is dead. Cause of death? Blunt trauma administered not by Republicans, not even by Blue Dog Democrats, but by the green eyeshades at the Congressional Budget Office.

Three blows:

(1) On June 16, the CBO determined that the Senate Finance Committee bill would cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years, delivering a sticker shock that was near fatal.

(2) Five weeks later, the CBO gave its verdict on the Independent Medicare Advisory Council, Dr. Obama's latest miracle cure, conjured up at the last minute to save Obamacare from fiscal ruin, and consisting of a committee of medical experts highly empowered to make Medicare cuts.

The CBO said that IMAC would do nothing, trimming costs by perhaps 0.2 percent. A 0.2 percent cut is not a solution; it's a punch line.

(3) The final blow came last Sunday when the CBO euthanized the Obama "out years" myth. The administration's argument had been: Sure, Obamacare will initially increase costs and deficits. But it pays for itself in the long run because it bends the curve downward in coming decades.

Real Clear Politics Story

Cancun Beach Closed by Government, Sand is Stolen

MEXICO CITY — Surprised tourists found their little piece of Cancun beach paradise ringed by crime-scene tape and gun-toting sailors on Thursday.

Environmental enforcement officers backed by Mexican navy personnel closed off hundreds of feet of powder-white coastline in front of a hotel accused of illegally accumulating sand on its beach.

Mexico spent $19 million to replace Cancun beaches washed away by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. But much of the sand pumped from the sea floor has since washed away, leading some property owners to build breakwaters in a bid to retain sand. The practice often merely shifts sand loss to beaches below the breakwaters.

"Today we made the decision to close this stretch of ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand," said Patricio Patron, Mexico's attorney general for environmental protection. "This hotel was telling its tourists: 'Come here, I have sand ... the other hotels don't, because I stole it."'

Patron said five people were detained in a raid for allegedly using pumps to move sand from the sea floor onto the beach in front of the Gran Caribe Real Hotel. The hotel is also suspected of illegally building a breakwater that impeded the natural flow of sand onto other hotels' beaches, he said.

An employee of the hotel's marketing office said nobody was available to comment on the allegations. Authorities said the hotel owner ignored previous orders to remove the breakwater.

A knot of angry tourists gathered around the closed beach.

Some were irked by the sight of police tape and "Closed" signs.

Maria Bachino, a travel agent from Rocha, Uruguay, said by telephone that she had booked a beachfront room in Cancun, only to find herself cut off from the clear, bathub-temperature waters that lure millions to Cancun each year.

"They promised us a beach," said Bachino. "This is very unpleasant, we feel bad. This is intimidating," she said of the armed navy personnel who participated in the raid. - FOX News Story

$2 Billion More for Clunkers

The House hurriedly passed legislation today to add $2 billion in funding to the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

Lawmakers hope the money will allow the cash-strapped program to run at least through September, when Congress returns from its month-long recess.

The Senate will have to pass the bill now but House members go into recess today. The Senate is in session for one more week.

Officials were working hard to gather money for the program, which has been so successful that the $1 billion allocated for it ran out within a week.

The $2 billion dollars will be transferred from an untapped stimulus program, so no new taxpayer money will be involved.

Earlier today, the White House assured Americans that the "Cash for Clunkers" program "is up and continuing to run," at least through this weekend, White House officials said today.

The developments came one day after conflicting government announcements that the program was broke and may, or may not, be suspended.

"If you were planning on buying a car this weekend and using this program, this program continues to run," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "And if you meet the requirements for the program, the certificates will be honored." - ABC News Story

Since we have decided to use Stimulus funding for this program, and it does seem to be pretty popular, why not cancel the bridges to nowhere, the trains that will never be used and the multitude of stupid programs we are wasting stimulus money on and fund this program ongoing.

Stimulus Funds not Fixing Dangerous Bridges

(AP) Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.

President Obama urged Congress last winter to pass his $787 billion stimulus package so some of the economic recovery money could be used to rebuild what he called America's "crumbling bridges." Lawmakers said it was a historic chance to chip away at the $65 billion backlog of deficient structures, often neglected until a catastrophe like the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed two years ago this Saturday.

States, however, have other plans. Of the 2,476 bridges scheduled to receive stimulus money so far, nearly half have passed inspections with high marks, according to federal data. Those 1,123 sound bridges received such high inspection ratings that they normally would not qualify for federal bridge money, yet they will share in more than $1.2 billion in stimulus money.

The wooden bridge built in 1900 carrying Harlan Springs Road in Berkeley County, W.Va., is one of the nation's unsafe structures not being repaired. About 2,700 cars cross it every day. But with holes in the wooden deck and corroded railings and missing steel poles, only one car at a time can travel the 300-foot rickety span.

The bridge is an example of how Mr. Obama's call to spend recovery money quickly - on "shovel ready" projects to get people back to work - has clashed with other goals of the stimulus, such as targeting high-unemployment areas and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. State transportation officials say the need for speed makes it hard to funnel money into needy counties or to take on extensive bridge repairs that can involve years of planning and construction. - CBS News Story

Democrat Undecided on Sotomayor

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont) has been getting a lot of heat from liberals upset over the way his push for a bipartisan compromise over health care reform that may not include a "public option."

Now the furor from the left may increase due to comments Baucus made to The Hill newspaper.

Baucus, the chair of Senate Finance Committee, told the paper that he doesn't know yet how he'll vote on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court when it comes to a vote to the full Senate next week.

"I have no idea," Baucus told the paper. He said that he has been too busy with the health care legislation to pay attention.

Baucus said: "I haven't paid any attention and I haven't announced [a position]…I've been so busy with health care. It's under consideration. I'll certainly know when I vote, but right now I can't tell you."

The Hill speculates that a call from National Rifle Association to oppose Sotomayor may be a factor in the lack of firm support from some Democrats from conservative states.

Baucus voted in favor of Bush Supreme Court nominee John Roberts but against another Bush pick, Samuel Alito.

If Baucus decides to vote against Sotomayor's nomination, he'll be the first Democrat to announce his intention to do so. On the flip side, five Republicans have indicated their intention to vote in favor of the nomination. - CBS News

Cash for Clunkers Will Continue - For Now

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- This much seems certain about the Cash for Clunkers program: Consumers are happy to take government rebates to buy new cars.

Other than that, confusion reigned Friday morning.

The fate of the $1 billion trade-in program was up in the air over concerns that it may have already burned through its funds less than a week after it was officially launched.

And it was unclear how much longer car buyers would be able to trade in clunkers after reports surfaced on Thursday night that the program would be suspended.

On Friday, the Obama administration said it was working with Congress to try to get more money and that Clunkers deal certificates would be honored through the weekend.

"The program will be in place" for anyone who had been planning to make a car purchase this weekend, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN. "This program appears to be a success for car buyers, car dealers, car companies and taxpayers."

One of the program's main champions in Congress, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told CNN that the Michigan, Ohio and Indiana congressional delegations are working on a $2 billion extension of Clunkers program. - CNN News Story

Another Government Program that if Congress has their way will go way over budget.

Although, I think it will be a boost to the economy, and will get money going into the car companies and hard hit Michigan, is this program worth the Billions of Dollars in Debt we are taking on?

Polls Showing Big Dangers for Democrats

A smart Democrat points out the most alarming number, to his party, in the poll of Virginia voters Survey USA released today.

It's not the top line, which has McDonnell up by 15 percentage points. It's what the pollster figures as the composition of the electorate: 52% McCain voters, 43% Obama voters.

Obama carried Virginia with 51% of the vote, so the pollster's data suggests that -- if voters are responding accurately to questions about their plans to vote in the governor's race -- the electorate that Obama activated -- young and African-American voters primarily -- will sink back into passivity in the off years. Black voters were 20% of the electorate last November; they're 17% in that survey.

There are two ways to read this: The poll's sample is off; or this is a danger sign for Democrats heading into the midterms,. If the latter, it may affect legislators' calculations about how closely to align themselves with the president. - Politico

Obama's Numbers Lower than Either Bush at Same Time

A slew of recent polls showing President Barack Obama’s job approval ratings at essentially normal levels and a partisan divide reasserting itself suggest that the political landscape was not as dramatically transformed last November as Democrats had hoped.

The question now is whether those numbers will impede the president’s ability to achieve the transformative goals he set out for himself, particularly in the area of health care, where members of Congress crucial to his success may feel they have to respond to shifting public opinion.

After months of showing sky-high job approval ratings, polls from major newspapers and from the Pew and Gallup organizations this week gave Obama the lowest numbers of his presidency. He is less popular than either George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush at this point in their presidencies, though more popular than Bill Clinton was after seven months in office.

Obama’s level of support now neatly matches the number of voters who elected him — with 52 percent of Americans approving of his job performance, while 42 percent disapprove, according to an average of major surveys. At the same time, Republicans are acting like Republicans again — nearly 80 percent of them disapprove of Obama’s performance — and disapproval among independent voters is growing steadily. - Politico Story

So Mr. Change is losing all his accalades. He was the Great Mesiah, the Savior. Well, it looks like he is just a Democrat and a very Liberal one at that. His approval is lower than either of the Bush's at the same time in their Presidencies, and the don't show any quick recovery.

Well, well, well.

Cash for Clunkers Suspended - $1 Billion Taxpayer Dollars Gone in a Week

(AP) The government plans to suspend its popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases, congressional officials said Thursday.

The Transportation Department called lawmakers' offices to alert them to the decision to suspend the program at midnight Friday. The program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which administers the program, declined comment.

Congress last month approved the Car Allowance Rebate System program, known as CARS, to boost auto sales and remove some inefficient cars and trucks from the roads. The program kicked off last Friday and was heavily publicized by car companies and auto dealers.

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system, prompting the suspension.

A survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet approved by NHTSA, or nearly 13 trades per store. It raised concerns that with about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program.

"There's a significant backlog of 'cash for clunkers' deals that make us question how much funding is still available in the program," said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the dealers association. - CBS News

How nice of all of us tax paying citizens to put up our hard earned cash to help people get rid of those old clunkers and get a new vehicle.

Tornado Update Memphis, TN

FAST FACTS:

• Tornado produced 70 mph winds
• Thousands without power
• 50 homes damaged

(Memphis 7/30/2009) Emergency officials held a news conference Thursday night, briefing the public on the amount of damage left behind from a tornado.

Crews gathered at the Shelby County Office of Preparedness about 8:00 p.m. Officials say the Wolfchase area was hardest hit. Three major businesses suffered the brunt of the storm.

Not far from there, 50 homes were damaged at the Countrywood Subdivision. MLGW crews and public works were all out in full force, beginning the clean-up from this tornado that produced 70 mile an hour winds.

Fire crews answered dozens of calls for downed trees, power lines, and flooded streets. Memphis Police responded to several accidents near Germantown Parkway and I-40. But officials say overall, we were actually pretty lucky.

"The good news is there were no reports of injuries, no loss of life," said Bob Nations of the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency.

Stay tuned to WREG, we expect another briefing from officials in the morning. - WREG

GOP / Blue Dogs Win Pause in Health Care Debate

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A key Senate committee won't vote on its compromise health care overhaul plan before the upcoming month-long August recess, giving Republicans and some conservative Democrats their desired slowdown in congressional action on President Obama's top domestic priority.

The announcement by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, followed weeks of painstaking negotiations by six panel members -- three Democrats and three Republicans. It's been the only bipartisan health care legislation being crafted so far.

Under pressure from Democratic leaders to complete their work before the August break, the senators instead insisted they needed more time to come up with a proposal acceptable to both parties.

"It'll be a lost opportunity if Democratic leaders in Congress and the administration force action on health care legislation that's not ready because of the complexity of the issue and the high stakes in getting it right," said a terse statement by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, one of the Republican negotiators, before the decision to hold off on a full committee vote.

Political acrimony over the issue also was evident on the House side as well Thursday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California signed off on a key component of a health care deal reached with conservative Democrats, triggering a backlash by liberal Democrats over what they called a weakened government-funded public health insurance option.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the two most powerful congressional Democrats, also launched new attacks on private insurance companies that they blamed for increasing health care costs in order to make larger profits.

"They are the villains in this," Pelosi told reporters, labeling industry practices as "immoral," while Reid noted that the health care industry was exempt from antitrust regulation and made 450 percent profit in the past decade. - CNN Story

Reports of Tornado Touchdown in Memphis, TN

Intense tornadic thunderstorms have been tracking northeast out of east Arkansas this afternoon.

The following text was taken from the text on National Weather Service

TORNADO WARNING for Shelby CO. TN (Memphis): AT 443 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A TORNADO NEAR ELMORE PARK...OR NEAR BARTLETT...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THIS STORM HAS HAD POSSIBLE DAMAGE REPORTED IN MIDTOWN MEMPHIS.

and moments later

* AT 454 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A TORNADO NEAR CORDOVA...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. TORNADO DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED IN CORDOVA OFF OF GERMANTOWN PARKWAY NEAR INTERSTATE 40 INTERCHANGE.

A tornado watch is in effect for all of northern Mississippi and west Tennessee; this is a developing situation and we will update as more details become available!! - Tornado Videos.net

Banks Payout More in Bonuses than Net Profit

(CBS) Several financial giants that received federal bailout money in the last year paid out bonuses to employees in 2008 that greatly exceeded the amount of profit generated by the banks, according to a study on executive compensation released by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Thursday.

Despite claims by bank executives that bonuses are tied to the company's performance, the report states that "there is no clear rhyme or reason to how the banks compensate or reward their employees."

Cuomo's investigation "suggests a disconnect between compensation and bank performance that resulted in a 'heads I win, tails you lose' bonus system."

According to the report:

Goldman Sachs, which earned $2.3 billion last year and received $10 billion in TARP funding, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses in 2008 - more than double their net income.

Morgan Stanley, which earned $1.7 billion last year and received $10 billion in bailout funds, handed out $4.475 billion in bonuses, nearly three times their net income.

JPMorgan Chase, which earned $5.6 billion in 2008 and received $25 billion from the government, paid out $8.69 billion in bonus money.

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch lost a combined $54 billion last year. They received a total of $55 billion in bailouts and paid out $9 billion in combined bonuses. ($5.33 billion for Citigroup; $3.6 billion for Merrill Lynch, which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America.) - CBS News Story

Highway Trust Funds Going to Bicycle Trails instead of Bridges?

Two Republican senators are accusing the federal government of misusing $78 billion in Highway Trust Funds on scenic beautification and other low-priority projects rather than committing money to essential programs to restore major highways and bridges.

Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma say the Government Accounting Office report released Thursday shows that the nearly bankrupt fund wasted billions over the past five years when it should have been using money earned by the federal fuel tax to maintain the nation's highways and bridges.

"Congress has wasted billions of dollars on low-priority projects like bike paths while bridges are in disrepair. In today's economy, it's inexcusable to continue business as usual when Congress could be supporting state priorities that would save lives, save taxpayer funds, create jobs and truly stimulate the economy," Coburn said in a written statement.

The Highway Trust Fund -- created in 1956 to maintain the country's highways and bridges -- allocated $2 billion to preserve 5,547 facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, including $878,000 for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge for a Minnesota town of 847 people.

The fund also allotted $850 million for 2,772 "scenic beautification" landscaping projects along interstate highways from 2004 to 2008, according to the GAO report.

The report also found that $488 million of the fund's dollars went toward "behavioral research" to study and improve safe driving, while $28 million was used to fund the nation's transportation museums.

And $121 million was used to fund 63 ferry projects and ferry terminal facilities, which included $1.6 million for a ferry boat program in Oklahoma featuring morning cartoon cruises with Bugs Bunny on the ferry's flat screen television, the report found. - FOX News Story

Health Care Stalls in Finance Committee

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is no longer promising that the Finance Committee will finish work on the health care reform bill before the start of the August recess, as the bipartisan committee negotiations have stalled.

On Thursday afternoon, Reid would only say he was “cautiously optimistic” that the committee would complete its work before the end of next week when the summer break begins.

“Significant progress has been made,” he said. “I still feel that we can move forward.”

But a morning session between the three Republicans and three Democrats did not happen as expected, and no further meetings have been scheduled – an unusual break from the daily talks that have been ongoing for weeks. There was confusion among Democratic and Republican staff as all sides tried to figure out where the talks stood.

“We're trying to do some really crazy stuff on a really short time frame," Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), a member of the Finance committee, said Thursday. "This is a train wreck.”

The three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are under increasing pressure from their leadership not to cut a deal anytime soon, according to sources, and that message has been delivered frequently in recent weeks.

Baucus wanted to show progress on the negotiations before the August recess, either announcing a deal or releasing the framework of a bill.

But Republicans decided — once again — that they did not want to operate on the Democratic timeline, a GOP aide said. Enzi and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) huddled privately Wednesday night with their colleagues, and in an unusual move, they kicked their staff out of the meeting.

"The Democrats' rush to produce a bill outline before recess was based more on political needs than policy progress," the aide said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. "The naked political motivations made negotiations all the more difficult. - Politico Story

Democrats Call Foul over Investigation into VIP Mortgages

Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad, accused of accepting VIP mortgage rates offered only to the powerful and well-connected, suggest their latest public relations problems were caused by one Republican: Rep. Darrell Issa.

In interviews with POLITICO, the two senators questioned whether Issa (R-Calif.) used a private deposition by former Countrywide Financial employee Robert Feinberg to push GOP attack lines that Dodd and Conrad knew that they were receiving lower-than-normal mortgage rates. Both senators slammed Issa for conducting a freelance investigation into their mortgages and never contacting them for their side of the story. Dodd and Conrad have denied getting any sweetheart deals on their mortgages.

“Wouldn’t you be surprised if there were an investigation into you and nobody ever asked you for your comment or your answer? Wouldn’t that surprise you?” said Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat and chairman of the Budget Committee. “I find it very odd to be investigated and never given a chance to give my side of the story. I think that’s unusual.”

Dodd, one of the most vulnerable Democrats facing reelection in 2010, said: “This is just too coincidental.” Asked if he’d spoken to Issa, the Connecticut Democrat said, “I don’t even know the man. I don’t know him.” - Politico Story

Well, I don't know if I would call that foul or surprising. I can recall hundreds if not thousands of times that I have heard both sides making attacks and trying to open investigations without getting the other side of the story. Welcome to politics in America. You have been around long enough to know how the game is played.

Obama's Justice Dept. Drops Suit against Black Panthers

The third-ranking official at the Obama Justice Department approved a decision in May to drop a civil complaint that accused three New Black Panther Party members of intimidating voters on Election Day last year, The Washington Times reports.

The newspaper reported that Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli was consulted on the matter before approving a decision in May to reverse course and drop the complaint.

The decision was made despite the fact that Justice lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division had pursued the complaint for five months and had recommended sanctions against the party and three of its members for their actions in Philadelphia in November. The government had already won a default judgment against them in federal court.

The Washington Times, citing records and interviews, reported that these lawyers were told by their bosses in late April to seek a delay even though they were in the final stages of their work.

The delay reportedly was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after meeting with Perrelli and discussing the case.

The Justice Department, however, disputed the allegations in the article, saying it distorted the decision-making process.

"There's nothing new here," a Justice official told FOX News. "Heavier innuendo, but no new facts. They're distorting the decision-making process, relying on Perrelli as Assistant Attorney General that oversees the civil rights division, (therefore) he made the call. Not true. Top career (officials) in the civil rights division made the decision." - FOX News Story

Health Care Support Falling Fast

The longer the Democrats' health care plan sits on the table, the less the American people seem to like it, several recent polls suggest.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted over the weekend found that more people think President Obama's health care proposal is a bad idea than a good one.

According to the poll, 42 percent of respondents said it's a bad idea while 36 percent said it's a good idea. The split is 47 percent to 37 percent against the plan among those with private insurance.

That's a big change from just last month, when those surveyed were almost evenly divided over the plan. The survey asked 1,001 adults with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

The new survey, taken July 24-27, was the latest to show enthusiasm is waning for the kind of health care reform that members of Congress have been negotiating during weeks of intense sessions on Capitol Hill.

House and Senate leaders have conceded that no bill will reach the floor before lawmakers go on their August recess, meaning the earliest Congress can vote on health care reform is September.

In the interim, Democrats plan to continue to press their case with constituents in a bid to keep up momentum and retain support when they return from break.

That could be a challenging task. - FOX News Story

Your Tax Dollars - Stimulus Funds Make Porn?

The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night "pervert" revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco.

The NEA was given $80 million of the government's $787 billion economic stimulus bill to spread around to needy artists nationwide, and most of the money is being spent to help preserve jobs in museums, orchestras, theaters and dance troupes that have been hit hard by the recession.

But some of the NEA's grants are spicing up more than the economy. A few of their more risque choices have some taxpayer advocates hot under the collar, including a $50,000 infusion for the Frameline film house, which recently screened Thundercrack, "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla."

"When you spend so much money in a short amount of time ... you're going to have nonsense like this, and that's why the stimulus should never have been done in the first place," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste.

Click here for a full list of all of the NEA's Recovery Act grants.

Williams said such support for the arts is a luxury at a time when the president and Congress have been telling the public to make sacrifices to manage the recession.

"When taxpayers see this, they realize that's just a bunch of hot air," he told FOXNews.com.

Some members of Congress raised alarms as the stimulus bill was being drafted and approved, but President Obama, while admitting there were problems with the $787 billion legislation, stressed the need for immediate action to resuscitate the economy.

"We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said at the time.

But he presumably didn't intend to have stimulus money help fund the weekly production of "Perverts Put Out" at San Francisco's CounterPULSE, whose "long-running pansexual performance series" invites guests to "join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun." - FOX News Story

Obama's Health Care Support Slipping Fast

WASHINGTON -- Support for President Barack Obama's health-care effort has declined over the past five weeks, particularly among those who already have insurance, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found, amid prolonged debate over costs and quality of care.

In mid-June, respondents were evenly divided when asked whether they thought Mr. Obama's health plan was a good or bad idea. In the new poll, conducted July 24-27, 42% called it a bad idea while 36% said it was a good idea.

Among those with private insurance, the proportion calling the plan a bad idea rose to 47% from 37%.

Declining popularity of the health-care overhaul reflects rising anxiety over the federal budget deficit and congressional debate over the most contentious aspects of the legislation, including how to pay for it. The poll also shows concern over the role of government in determining personal medical decisions.

Trying to regain momentum, Mr. Obama is shifting his pitch to new consumer-protection rules for insurance companies, part of a bid to win over Americans who already have coverage.

David Axelrod, one of the president's top advisers, acknowledged that the White House's months-long focus on controlling medical costs hasn't worked. "Consumer protections are a lot more tangible," he said.

On Wednesday, Democratic leaders in the House reached accord with conservative party members to move their bill through the last of three committees, although the full House won't vote on the measure until at least September. "Failure is not an option," said California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman. - WSJ Story

Obama Can't Talk the Talk, But Can't Legislate

Aura dazzles, but argument gets things done. Consider the debate on the Democrats' health care bill and the increasingly negative response to Barack Obama's performance. Democrats have the numbers to pass a health care bill -- 256 votes in the House, 38 more than the 218 majority; 60 votes in the Senate, enough to defeat a filibuster. But they haven't come up with the arguments, at least yet, to put those numbers on the board. It's something not many predicted that bright January inauguration morning.

We knew that day that Obama was good at aura, at generating enthusiasm for the prospect of hope and change. His inspiring speeches -- the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Des Moines, the race speech in Philadelphia, the countless rallies in primary and caucus and target states -- helped him capture the Democratic nomination and then win the presidency by the biggest percentage margin in 20 years.

But it turns out that Obama is not so good at argument. Inspiration is one thing, persuasion another. He created the impression on the campaign trail that he was familiar with major issues and readily ticked off his positions on them. But he has not proved so good at legislating.

One reason perhaps is that he has had little practice. He served as a legislator for a dozen years before becoming president, but was only rarely an active one. He spent one of his eight years as an Illinois state senator running unsuccessfully for Congress and two of them running successfully for U.S. senator. He spent two of his years in the U.S. Senate running for president. During all of his seven non-campaign years as a legislator, he was in the minority party.

In other words, he's never done much work putting legislation together -- especially legislation that channels vast flows of money and affects the workings of parts of the economy that deeply affect people's lives. This lack of experience is starting to show. On the major legislation considered this year -- the stimulus, cap-and-trade, health care -- the Obama White House has done little or nothing to set down markers, to provide guidance, to establish boundaries and no-go areas. - Real Clear Politics Story

Obama Again Uses Fear to Sell Plan

On the campaign trail last year, Barack Obama promised to end the “politics of fear and cynicism.” Yet he is now trying to sell his health-care proposals on fear.

At his news conference last week, he said “Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage, or lose their job. . . . If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction.”

A Fox News Poll from last week shows that 84% of Americans who have health insurance are happy with their coverage. And because 91% of all Americans have insurance, that means that 76% of all Americans will be concerned about anything that threatens their current coverage. By a 2-1 margin, according to the Fox Poll, Americans want coverage from a private provider rather than the government.

Facing numbers like these, Mr. Obama is dropping his high-minded rhetoric and instead trying to scare voters. During last week’s news conference, for example, he said that doctors routinely perform unnecessary tonsillectomies on children simply to fatten their wallets. All that was missing was the suggestion that the operations were conducted without anesthesia. - WSJ Story

Obama Continues Nose Dive in Polls

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That’s the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama (see trends).

Forty-nine percent (49%) now say that America’s best days have come and gone. Just 38% believe they are still to come. Thirty-four percent (34%) say the country is heading in the right direction. Seventy-five percent (75%) want the Federal Reserve to be audited.

.....

Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That is the lowest level of total approval yet recorded for this President. Fifty-one percent (51%) now disapprove. A plurality of voters now believe the President views American society as unfair and discriminatory.

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama's numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That's because some of the President's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. - Rasmussen Reports Poll

AG - Homegrown Terrorism Threat Increasing

Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC News in an exclusive interview today that he is increasingly concerned about Americans becoming radicalized and turning to terrorism.

"I mean, that's one of the things that's particularly troubling: This whole notion of radicalization of Americans," Holder told ABC News during an interview in his SUV as his motorcade brought him from home to work. "Leaving this country and going to different parts of the world and then coming back, all, again, in aim of doing harm to the American people, is a great concern."

Holder said the ever-changing threat of terror and the pressure to keep up with it weighs heavily on his mind as he tries to ensure that the government has done all it can to anticipate the moves of an unpredictable enemy.

"In some ways it's the most sobering part of the day," Holder said of his morning intelligence briefing, in which he gets the latest report on the landscape of "the organizations, the people who are bound and determined to do harm to our nation." - ABC News Story

It may weigh heavy on your mind, but you must just hope and pray that nothing happens on your watch. Obama has effectively tied the hands of the people tasked with protecting us and you can bet that if something happens their will be heads rolling. Obama will lay the blame anywhere possible to take it off of him. He is the President of Blame someone (anyone) else but him.

Obama's Town Hall on Health Care

TOWN HALL TAKEAWAYS: Here's what you need to know from President Obama's town hall late Wednesday afternoon at a Kroger supermarket in Bristol, Va. --

- The president repeatedly charged his critics with spreading "misinformation," declaring: "We've gotta overcome all the fear tactics and misinformation that is out there and just fix it."

- Obama praised the Kroger chain for trying to put more employees on health insurance plans -- and said he wanted to "level the playing field" among businesses. "I won't name any names," Obama continued, but "it's fair to say" that Kroger's competitors are not providing similarly good health coverage.

- Asked if he would be willing to put his own family on a public plan, Obama replied: "Yes."

- When a woman asked Obama to shoot down a rumor that elderly Americans, like her 90-year-old mother, could be forced to switch plans, Obama complied: "It isn't so...Medicare will continue to be in place. We're not going to mess with Medicare." - Politico

If your not messing with Medicare, how are you saving all this money through medicare to pay for Socialized Health Care?

No Photo's of Biden in Federal Buildings?

Regular visitors to federal buildings may have noticed recently that the familiar photographs of former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney have been replaced with a photograph of President Barack Obama alone.

So where's Joe Biden?

When the old photographs were "removed and respectfully disposed of" from 8,600 federal facilities January 20, the new ones were expected to be in place by March, according to the Federal Times. But while Obama's official portrait (below) was readied during inauguration and promptly distributed, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, Sahar Wali, said they're still waiting.

"t's my understanding that we haven't physically actually gotten them yet," she said, referring me to Biden's office.

But a spokesman for Biden, Jay Carney, said GSA has the picture.

The photo "was approved several weeks ago and is in GSA's hands now," he said. "I don't believe they are waiting on us. I think the process of getting the photos produced, framed and hung takes a bit of time." - Politico

Obama Administration to Announce Their Anti-Terror Approach

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to outline Wednesday the Obama administration's domestic approach to preventing terrorist attacks -- a strategy that will rely in large measure on refining and expanding initiatives launched under President George W. Bush.

How to keep the U.S. safe and foil terrorists are charged issues that took a central role in last year's presidential campaign, when then-Sen. Barack Obama criticized the Bush administration's tactics. But Napolitano, in an interview this week, signaled that the Obama administration isn't contemplating a wholesale revision of the agencies or programs created under Bush to further anti-terrorism efforts.

One element of Napolitano's approach, for example, will be the expansion of a pilot program started during the Bush administration to train police to report such suspicious behavior as the theft of keys from a facility that keeps radiological waste.

It is part of a much broader effort to significantly increase cooperation between her agency and state and local governments across the nation. Her aides say this is one area where her efforts will significantly exceed those of her predecessors in the Bush administration.

Napolitano also will call for deeper civic involvement and awareness to prevent attacks. She is also expected to discuss efforts to work more closely with foreign governments, from sharing airline-passenger data to intelligence about potential plots.

"We live in a world now where no one department of government can be held to be the sole repository of protecting security," Napolitano said in an interview Monday night. "There is a role to be played at every level." - FOX News

Congress Wants $700 Million for Wild Horses

Taxpayers could be on the hook for $700 million if a measure to put wild horses back home on the range passes Congress.

A bill that would save wild horses and burros in the western United States from controlled killings and set aside millions of acres for them is heading to the Senate after passing the House of Representatives this month.

But the price tag, at a time of economic recession and gaping deficits, has some lawmakers champing at the bit to bridle the movement to finance and save these symbols of the American West.

"People have lost their jobs. They can't keep their homes. And the answer to people losing their homes is -- let's go spend $700 million for homes and welfare for wild horses," said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.

"The leaders of this Congress have more concern for creating a home for horses than jobs for Americans," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Wild mustangs and burros have been under federal protection for nearly 40 years, but the fast-growing population has become unmanageable. - FOX News Story

Obama's Political Beer Choice for White House Meeting

(CNN) — The upcoming White House meeting with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and the Cambridge police officer who arrested him earlier this month appears to have touched off a fresh debate all on its own: what kind of beer should be served?

Earlier this week the White House indicated each man would drink the beer of their choice — Bud Light for President Obama, Blue Moon for the police officer, and perhaps Red Stripe or Beck's for Gates.

But one Massachusetts congressman thinks another beer entirely should be served: Boston's own Sam Adams.

In a letter to Obama dated Wednesday, Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal strongly urges the president not to drink Budweiser, now owned by a Belgian company. Nor should the White House consider serving Miller or Coors, Neal writes, both owned by a United Kingdom conglomerate.

Instead, the White House should serve the three men — all with ties to Massachusetts — the local favorite, not only because of its popularity in the region but also because it remains the largest American-owned and brewed beer, Neal says.

But Sam Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch told NPR if it was up to him he would make a special beer just for the event.

"I'd make a blend of ingredients from all over the world. Which is certainly what's represented there with the three participants," he said. "I would blend those ingredients together artfully and harmoniously, because that's really what we all hope for." - CNN

GOP Health Care Bill Released

Members of the Republican Study Committee are putting forward their own piece of legislation for health care reform, a summary of which was provided exclusively to CBSNews.com's Washington Unplugged.

While Democrats are focusing on creating something like a government-sponsored health insurance plan and regulating the health insurance market, the Republican "Empowering Patients First Act," which Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) will introduce tomorrow, instead promotes the individual insurance market as well as employer-based markets. Instead of focusing on regulating private insurers, the plan would in fact give them more freedom to work across state lines. Republicans say the plan will be paid for by reforms of defensive medicine, creating a more efficient health care system, and overall reductions in non-defense government spending.

"Liability reform has to be one or the hallmarks of a bill," Price told CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson today on Washington Unplugged. "We make certain we pay for our bill by making this a priority." - CBS News Story

Obama's Health Care Failure Mirrors Clinton's

Barack Obama may have learned the wrong lesson. The president's strategy for overhauling American healthcare was supposed to be crafted with a keen eye to the deficiencies of the Clinton Administration's reform efforts in the early 1990s. Where the Clintons had micromanaged the contents of their colossal bill, Obama would lay out broad principles and let Congress do the detail work. Where the Clinton plan had withered on the vine after months of criticism, Obama's would move through Capitol Hill at a pace fast enough to prevent a critical mass of hostility from gathering. But Obama's ideological inclinations seem to have blinded him to an even greater lesson from the Clinton fiasco: don't abandon your moderates.

What the Obama team failed to realize about Clinton's setback was that details and deadlines were merely tactical setbacks rooted in a larger strategic deficiency: the failure to produce a reform package that would unite the Democratic majorities in Congress and attract some measure of Republican support. As a result, the White House is repeating Clinton's mistake of holding fast to a plan that unites the opposition while fracturing the majority. They are presently failing coalition-building 101. - Real Clear Politics Story

Obama's Agenda Threatens Economic Recovery

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Barack Obama promised universal health care and a mass conversion to green energy when he launched his presidential campaign. On that frigid February day in 2007, the economy was growing at a 2.8% clip. Obama stuck to the same promises a year later when he won Iowa, as the housing market was slumping into recession. And energy and health care were the twin pillars of his acceptance speech in Denver, 18 days before Lehman Brothers collapsed.

As one of the most disciplined, on-message politicians of our time, President Obama hasn't wavered from his audacious plans to remake entire business sectors. But when wavering is what the U.S. economy seems to do best these days, the President confronts a new question: Does his own agenda threaten to choke off the economic recovery that he also promises -- and that will define much of his legacy? Both of his legislative campaigns for the fall, health-care reform and the cap-and-trade plan to curb carbon emissions, could put new burdens on a weak economy. Even supporters of the initiatives fear a GDP hit. "It's a big gamble," says Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com, a proponent of health-care reform, about that initiative's impact on growth. - CNN Money

Obama in Trouble in Polls

Nearly one-out-of-two U.S. voters (49%) now say the nation’s best days are in the past, a five-point jump from last month and the highest level of pessimism on this question in a year.

But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% still say America’s best days are in the future, a finding that has held steady since April.

The negative finding tracks along with growing public disenchantment with President Obama, whose overall approval ratings have now fallen below 50% in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Unhappiness also continues to grow over the president’s economic policies, although most Americans still blame President Bush for the bad economy. - Rasmussen Reports Poll

Blue Dog Democrats holding Party Hostage

A pack of dogs has emerged in the House of Representatives, and they are demonstrating just how "alpha" they can be.

The "Blue Dog" Democrats -- a group of fiscally conservative representatives who account for 52 seats in the House -- are demanding that the massive bill to revise existing health insurance plans will provide an affordable government option for small businesses and competitive pricing to keep private insurers in business.

The group met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in closed-door meetings for more than seven hours Tuesday night, but a compromise between the Blue Dogs and party leaders was not struck.

"No agreement's been reached," Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a member of the Blue Dog coalition, said after Tuesday's late-night negotiations. "We leave each meeting with a little bit of progress."

Ross, who said health care is growing at twice the rate of inflation, added: "We want to squeeze everything we can out of our broken and inefficient health care system."

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. -- also a member of the coalition -- said negotiations have been "very, very hard" because of the tight deadlines that had been set. Harman said that while members of the group share the same concern over reducing cost and lowering drug prices, they disagree on "specifics."

"Democracy with a little 'd' is working. It may not be pretty, but it is noisy," she said. - FOX News Story

GOP Could be Set for Midterm Recovery

Democrats giddy with possibilities only six months ago now confront a perilous 2010 landscape signaled by troublesome signs of President Barack Obama’s political mortality, the plunging popularity of many governors and rising disquiet among many vulnerable House Democrats.

The issue advantage has shifted as well, with Democrats facing the brunt of criticism about the pace of stimulus package spending, anxiety over rising unemployment rates and widespread uneasiness over the twin pillars of Obama’s legislative agenda: his cap-and-trade approach to climate change and the emerging health care bill.

Bolstered by historical trends that work in the GOP’s favor — midterm elections are typically hostile to the party in power — and the prospect of the first election in a decade without former President George W. Bush either on the ballot or in office, Republicans find themselves on the offensive for the first time since 2004.

None of this is to say that the Democratic congressional majorities are in serious jeopardy. The GOP has suffered some significant setbacks, ranging from headline-grabbing personal indiscretions to Sen. Arlen Specter’s party switch, and it continues to be plagued by an inability to present its own new ideas.

Yet the possibilities GOP officials now imagine are a dramatic shift from the bleak prospects that the 2010 midterm elections presented for the party at the beginning of the year. - Politico Story

Mall Management Company Censors Kiosk Owner and Kicks Them Out

The owner of kiosk that sells conservative merchandise in a North Carolina mall won't get to continue pushing "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers after his lease expires Friday.

The Concord Mills mall decided not to renew its contract with Loren Spivack, who fought to stay in business in the shopping center.

Spivack says his kiosk, Free Market Warrior, is being nudged out for purely political reasons.

After meeting with officials from the Concord, N.C., mall Tuesday afternoon, the two sides could not reach an agreement to keep the 8-foot-long kiosk where it was.

"Mr. Spivack has not agreed to remove the objectionable merchandise and will be moving out of Concord Mills at the end of his lease," a statement from the mall said.

Spivack told FOXNews.com that mall officials specifically asked that three bumper stickers and a T-shirt believed to be linking President Obama with terrorism be removed from the kiosk, including one that read, "Obama Wins and They Celebrate in Iran, Do You Get It?"

Four employees at the kiosk will lose their jobs at the end of business on Friday, Spivack said, but he'll continue selling the merchandise online.

"It was a very difficult decision," Spivack told FOXNews.com. "I really don't want to [leave the mall], but I was even less comfortable having this corporation essentially dictate which criticisms could be made." - FOX News Story

Democratic view of ACORN

We are all familiar with the highly partisan and blatantly dishonest attacks on the low and moderate income advocacy group ACORN that dominated Fox News election coverage last Fall. Republican Right Wing partisans have remained loyal to their absurd talking points after the November election and continue to intentionally spread lies about the ACORN organization that all progressives, Democrats, labor activists and reformers should actively refute.

These politically-motivated attacks on ACORN are based on two ridiculous ideas.

The first ridiculous idea is that this relatively small group of relatively poor individuals somehow is responsible for the mortgage crisis and the collapse of the economy. After decades of Reagan-Bush Republican mismanagement, Wall Street greed, assaults on unionized labor, unsound tax policies, unfair trade policies, disastrous healthcare policies, runaway corporate corruption, huge sweetheart government contracts going to Republican connected corporations and absurd financial deregulation, we need to understand that the structure of our economy needs serious fundamental reform. Reagan-Bush Republicanism ruled the market economically and politically to create the economic crisis.

The economic collapse has many more serious fundamental causes than just the collapse of the mortgage market. Income inequality, speculation, ending anti-usury laws, not enforcing anti-monopoly laws and excessive credit card debt can be added to the previous list of root causes underlining the current economic crisis. The Republican Right bears most of the responsibility for this situation. ACORN bears none! - OpEdNews

Not at all sure as to what the heck this person was talking about, but I had to put this out. This is the type of thinking that is totally and absolutely out in LEFT FIELD!!!

WOW!!!

Public Support for Health Care Bill Gone

Americans are fairly evenly divided on the health care reform proposals working their way through Congress, but most remain convinced that the plans will raise costs and hurt the quality of the care they receive.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% are in favor of the reform effort proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats while 49% are opposed. Those figures include 25% who Strongly Favor the plans and 41% who are Strongly Opposed.

The specifics of what will be in a health care reform plan remains hotly debated in Congress at the moment. When a final proposal emerges, it is possible that support could move significantly in either direction.

Currently, 76% of Democrats favor the proposal and 76% of Republicans are opposed. Among the unaffiliated, 35% are in favor and 60% are opposed. Notably, just 16% of unaffiliateds Strongly Favor the legislative effort while 47% Strongly Oppose it. - Rasmussen Reports Poll