Republicans wary of Obama's public health care summit

    February 9, 2010 - 5:21am

    Republicans have said all along they want the health care  debate out in the open and criticized President Barack Obama for holding discussions behind closed doors.

    So Obama proposes a televised summit with Democrats and Republicans and now the GOP says it's not too sure that's such a good idea.

    Republicans have issued a list of "pre-conditions" and -- if they don't get what they want -- they might not show up.

    Some feel Obama and the Democrats are laying a trap and they say they're not going to walk into it.

    Government shutdown continues into second day

    February 9, 2010 - 7:16am

    More than 230,000 federal employees in the National Capital Region stayed home for a second day Tuesday as Washington and the surrounding area tried to dig out of the record-breaking storm that dumped more than two feet of snow over the weekend.

    Taxi drivers collected a $100 "snow fare" over the standard rate for anyone who needed to get to the region's airports and Washingtonians braced for even more snow bearing down on the area.

    "I'm done with city, urban snow life," Washington resident Chis Vaughan told The Associated Press. Vaughan managed to avoid the "snow fare" by bribing a friend with a bottle of wine in exchange for a trip to the airport.

    Discredited 'birther' issue still sells with Tea Party types

    February 9, 2010 - 6:14am
    United States President Barack Obama's birth c...

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    Joe Farah, the bombastic, right-wing extremist who runs WorldNetDaily, tried to interject the long-ago discredited "birther" movement into the Tea Party convention over the weekend.

    Farah devoted 10 minutes of a speech to the convention rehasing the same, tired questions over President Barack Obama's citizenship while overlooking -- as he always does -- the simple fact that the State of Hawaii verified Obama's birth and ended the debate in the eyes of all but the most fanatical zealots.

    His comments irritated blogger Andrew Briebart who told WND's Chelsea Schilling that Farah was barking up the wrong tree.

    Mortgage association couldn't afford its own mortgage

    February 9, 2010 - 4:54am

    You know times are bad when the Mortgage Bankers Association, the outfit that represents more than 2,000 real estate finance companies, can't afford its own mortgage and has to dump its property at a loss.

    The MBA has sold its 10-story headquarters in Washington, DC, for half what it paid for the building just three years ago.

    Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha dead at 77

    February 8, 2010 - 4:47pm

    Rep. John Murtha, the 77-year-old Pennsylvania Congressman who spoke out for veterans but opposed the Iraq war, died Monday of complications from gall bladder surgery.

    Elected to Congress in 1974, Murtha was the first Vietnam war veteran elected to Congress and was known as a rare Democratic hawk when it came to military issues.

    He also skated around ethical issues through much of his Congressional career, escaping indictment in the Abscam scandal and was recently under srutiny for intervening in the defense department contract process on behalf of campaign contributors, a role he could play as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that overseas Pentagon spending.

    Obama to Republicans: 'Can we talk?'

    February 8, 2010 - 6:10am

    President Barack Obama wants to sit down and talk to Republicans and Democrats about health care.

    And he wants to do it publicly.

    Obama said Sunday he will meet with Democratic and Republican members of Congress to try and find a bipartisan solution to health care reform.

    Obama adviser: GOP playing politics with terrorism

    February 8, 2010 - 5:52am

    The top counterterrorism adviser to President Barack Obama struck back at Republican members of Congress Sunday, saying they use national security issues as a "political football" for their own agenda.

    Republicans have pounded the White House for mistakes in the arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, accused of the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

    "Quite frankly I'm tiring of politicians using national security issues such as terrorism as political football. They're going out there, they're unknowing of the facts, and they're making charges and allegations that are not anchored in reality," White House counterrorism adviser John Brennan told David Gregory on NBC's "Meet the Press."

    Palin admits considering a Presidential run

    February 8, 2010 - 5:33am

    Yes, Sarah Palin is considering a Presidential run.

    Yes, she would do it is she thought the country needed her and if she thought it was "right" for America and her family.

    No, we're not making this up.

    False medal claims: Crime or just lying?

    February 7, 2010 - 4:26am

    Is lying about military service and claiming to have won a medal a crime or just bragging that is covered by freedom of speech?

    That's a question facing federal courts right now as they struggle to deal with those who lie about being war heroes.

    The question tests the validity of the Stolen Valor Act, a law passed by Congress three years ago that makes it a federal crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the military. Those convicted face up to a year in jail even if they haven't profited from the lie.

    Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley of George Washington University Law School says the law could violate the First Amendment protections of free speech because it, in effect, makes it illegal for someone to brag.

    "Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under the concept," Turley says.

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