Favorable rating for the Democratic Party has fallen to its lowest level

Fifty percent say Obama doesn't deserve re-election, and 26% say he deserves "a great deal" of the blame for the nation's economic problems, double the percentage in July.

USA Today: Seven months before the midterm elections, Americans seem disaffected about nearly everything political.

A majority disapprove of both political parties, their leaders and most members of Congress, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.

Attitudes are reminiscent of those in 1994 and 2006, when control of Congress switched from one party to the other.

The favorable rating for the Democratic Party has fallen to its lowest level since Gallup began asking the question in 1992 —its standing has dropped 14 percentage points since President Obama's election — but the Republican Party fares no better. Three of four Americans say they are dissatisfied with the country's direction.

The good feeling that welcomed Obama with the departure of President George W. Bush seems to have dissipated amid continued concerns about the economy and a growing willingness to hold the new president responsible for the nation's travails.

"If the election were now, we'd have a 'change' election; we'd have a 1994," says Stan Greenberg, pollster for President Bill Clinton when Democrats lost control of the House and Senate that year. Greenberg questions whether Republicans will be in a position to capitalize on voter discontent.

POLL: More blame Obama for economic woes

ELECTIONS: How GOP, Dems hope health care will play 

Americans are unhappy but not apathetic.

In the poll, 62% of registered voters say they are "more enthusiastic than usual" about the election, a level of engagement found during some presidential election years but never before in a midterm.

By Election Day, developments on jobs, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and other events could reshape the political landscape.

"I believe that if we begin to see positive job growth, people's confidence will return, and that will change the dynamic," says Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But, he says, "the Democrats obviously face an uphill climb. The question is the steepness of the hill." (continue reading here)

"A tale of two targets". Great compilation by blogger Sara in Italy. Teaser and Link here. Don't miss it!

"a tale of two targets" by blogger Sara in Italy.

Here's a teaser of some of the things you will find in Sara's post:

Democratic Leadership Committee
(2004):

More here at Sara in Italy

Taliban mocked Obama for visiting Afghanistan like a "thief" in the night

The Taliban mocked U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday for visiting Afghanistan like a "thief" in the night, saying the world leader was too frightened to arrive during the day because of the threat from insurgents.

Obama on Sunday made his first visit to Kabul since taking office nearly 15 months ago, arriving and leaving under the cover of darkness.

Obama landed in the main U.S. air base in Bagram, north of Kabul, and was flown by helicopter to the capital, landing in the heavily fortified presidential palace to meet his counterpart, Hamid Karzai.

After a one-to-one meeting with Karzai, lasting only 25 minutes, and a brief handshake with Karzai's cabinet, Obama was flown to Bagram where he spoke to U.S. troops, ending the whirlwind six-hour trip.

"By making a six-hour unannounced trip to Afghanistan ..., Obama proved that his military strategy and surge of 30,000 troops, his morale-boosting propaganda, have all failed to make a dent," the Taliban said in a statement on their website.

"The mujahideen have driven the enemy further into the corner, to the extent that he (Obama) is now not able to visit Afghanistan in daylight. He comes during the night and hurries back in darkness, ironically acting like a thief."

During his visit, Obama said the Taliban, removed from power by U.S.-backed forces in 2001, were "hunkered down" but that they and their al Qaeda allies were a determined enemy.

"Obama's admission that the Taliban are a determined force in fact exposes the invading Americans' acknowledgement of the fact that the Taliban are waging a resolute struggle with unwavering determination," the Taliban said. (CONTINUES HERE)

More killing in Russia. Suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car in southern Russia killing 9 people.

Two suicide bombers including one impersonating a police officer killed at least nine people and injured 18 others in the southern Russian province of Dagestan on Wednesday, officials said.

The blasts in the North Caucasus region came two days after a twin suicide bombing tore through the Moscow subway, killing 39 and wounding scores.

In Wednesday's attacks, in the town of Kizlyar near Dagestan's border with Chechnya, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car when pulled over by traffic police, regional Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov said.

As investigators and residents gathered at the scene of the blast, a second bomber wearing a police uniform approached and set off explosives, killing the town's police chief among others, said Vyacheslav Gadzhiyev, another ministry spokesman.

Rebels from the North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan and Chechnya, were blamed for masterminding the Moscow attack, but no claims of responsibility have been made.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Russians on Tuesday that he is certain the masterminds of the subway attacks would be found.

Monday's subway bombings, carried out by two women, were the first terrorist attacks in Moscow in six years. They have shaken a city that has been insulated from the violence still raging in the restive southern corner of the country. (SOURCE)

Medical Society Files Lawsuit to Block Health Care

With the president's ink barely dry on the health care overhaul's final fixes, a group of nearly 5,000 American physicians is filing suit to stop the mammoth new law dead in its tracks.

First, do no harm. Second, sue the government.

With the president's ink barely dry on the health care overhaul's final fixes, a group of nearly 5,000 American physicians is filing suit to stop the mammoth new law dead in its tracks.

"I think this bill that passed threatens not only to destroy our freedom in medicine but to bankrupt the country," said Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

The Arizona-based medical coalition filed suit on March 26, arguing that congressional reforms illegally coerce individuals into buying insurance from private companies.

Starting in 2014, anyone who chooses not to buy health insurance faces a small federal penalty, but in 2016 the fine jumps to $695 a year per person or 2.5 percent of overall income, whichever is greater. That means that anyone earning more than $27,800 would be subject to increasing penalties, with a maximum fine of $2,085 per family.

Supporters of the law call it a simple tax meant to shore up coverage nationwide; but the AAPS says the mandate is an "unprecedented overreach" — an unconstitutional grab that rewards insurance companies and allows the federal government to seize private property in violation of the 5th Amendment.

Insurers "will have millions of new, unwilling customers that they wouldn't have gotten," said Orient, an internist based in Tuscon. "They're counting on getting all this new money."

Though legal challenges to the new law are popping up nationwide, the conservative-leaning AAPS is the only medical society to file suit against the health care package. The American Medical Association, the largest physicians' group in the U.S., supported the health care overhaul and lobbied on its behalf.

Orient says she hopes more groups will join her suit, and predicts a shortage of doctors as the medical community adjusts to the new law.

"We need to get back to the old-fashioned style of medicine where doctors worked for their patients and patients paid their doctors," she said. (SOURCE)

CNN's prime-time troubles continue as Fox News celebrate

It looks like CNN's prime-time troubles in 2009 have continued over the past few months, as the New York Times reports today that in the first quarter of 2010, its "main hosts [lost] almost half their viewers in a year."

The losses at CNN continued a pattern in place for much of the last year, as the network trailed its competitors in every prime-time hour. (CNN still easily beats MSNBC in the daytime hours, but those are less lucrative in advertising money, and both networks are far behind Fox News at all hours.)

About the only break from the bad news for CNN was that March was not as bad as February, when the network had its worst single month in its recent history, finishing behind not only Fox News and MSNBC, but also its sister network HLN — and even CNBC, which had Olympics programming that month.

CNN executives have long talked about the network's prime-time strategy of going against the grain of increased partisan commentary in the evenings, instead offering up hosts down the political center.

For major news events this year, like the earthquakes in Haiti or Chile, CNN has excelled in pulling its vast international resources to cover the story from a variety of angles. Both Fox and MSNBC, by comparison, have focused more on hot-button political issues and debates, a strategy that seems to be working better in pulling prime-time viewers.

While MSNBC is also down so far in 2010, Fox News continues its ratings success from 2009 -- the network's best year ever -- by now racking up its best quarter ever. (SOURCE POLITICO)

Grim sign for ObamaCare

How ironic that, even as the Senate last week debated the reconciliation "fixes" to ObamaCare, word came that Social Security has reached the so-called tipping point -- years ahead of schedule.
For the first time, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it receives in tax revenue, to the tune of $29 billion.

The reason: Continued high unemployment means there are fewer paychecks from which to deduct Social Security taxes. Meanwhile, many who can't find work are applying for benefits much earlier than they'd planned.
The so-called tipping point wasn't supposed to arrive until 2017, according to current congressional projections.

And it also means that the ultimate day of reckoning -- when Social Security runs out of money unless something is done to stabilize the system -- has been pushed ahead by four years, to 2037.

So is this really the time for the US to be setting out on a trillion-dollar entitlement adventure filled with so many unknowns and untested elements?

And, more important, whose ultimate financial impact on the sky-high -- and still soaring -- national debt is open to so much question?

You'd think not.

But President Obama and congressional Democrats don't seem to have gotten the message.

Which is that even beyond the inherent costs of a system like Social Security, unsettled economic conditions can have a swift and unexpected impact.

Budget estimators predicted that unemployment would average 8.2 percent last year and 8.8 percent this year. Instead, it remains at about 10 percent.

No, Social Security isn't running out of money just yet: Thanks to some fixes a quarter-century ago and past robust economies, the system maintains a balance of $2.5 trillion. But with annual payments now running in the red, that balance will slowly be depleted.

And, by law, Social Security can't pay out more money in any given year than it has in its balance. In other words, it cannot print money.

The same could well hold true for ObamaCare, once its payments fully kick in down the line. (SOURCE)

Democrats Who Switched Vote for Health Bill Request Billions in Earmarks

The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform legislation mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks -- and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual or political payoffs.

The Sunlight Foundation says it plans to track the earmark requests, which were put in one day after health care reform cleared Congress, to see whether they're approved and whether it appears lawmakers are being rewarded for their vote.

"We know that in Congress one of the ways that leadership tries to influence members is through earmarks," said Bill Allison, editorial director at the nonpartisan organization. "So this seemed to us something good to follow."

Stupak and the 10 other Democrats were critical to the success of the health care bill. They were holding out over concerns about funding for abortion coverage but announced the president had assuaged their worries -- with an executive order restricting abortion funding -- the morning of the big vote.

Stupak's office said there's absolutely no link between the earmarks and the health care bill's passage.

"The congressman's vote for health care has no connection to annual appropriations requests," spokeswoman Michelle Benoche said. "Appropriations requests were submitted on Monday, March 22, because that is the deadline of the Appropriations Committee."

She also said his earmark requests this year are in line with prior years, in number and in total amount.

But watchdogs want to know whether there's more to the story.

Since the health care reform push hit its final stretch, numerous sweeteners for lawmakers' districts and states have been found inside the package. Earmark requests are made outside of the health care bill, making them a bit more difficult to link to any vote-trading. But it is precisely that kind of tricky-to-catch deal-making that Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said he and other GOP senators would be monitoring for months to come. (Continues here)

Cantor threat suspect was an Obama campaign donor. DNC will give his donations to charity

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Monday that it will donate money it had received from a man charged with threatening to kill a top Republican.

A DNC official said it was researching contributions made by Norman Leboon, a Philadelphia man charged Monday with threatening to kill House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and donate any money he had donated to charity.

"We are researching the matter, and any donations made to the DNC or the Obama campaign by Mr. Leboon will be donated to charity," a DNC official said.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Leboon had made two, separate donations to then-Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) presidential campaign. The two donations, made in June of 2008, total $505. These are the only federal contributions on record for Leboon. (continues here)

Ricky Martin announces he's gay

In a post made on his website Monday, Pop star Ricky Martin tells the world he is gay.

"Many people told me: 'Ricky it's not important,' 'it's not worth it,' 'all the years you've worked and everything you've built will collapse,' 'many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature.' Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth. Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.

"These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed.," he continued. "Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution. I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am."

In a recent admission noted by Billboard.com, celebrity newswoman Barbara Walters said she regretted trying to corner Martin to be straight about his sexuality in an interview in 2000. She admitted it may have killed his career. "In 2000, I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was," she told The Toronto Star. "A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question."

Walters went on to tell him: "You know, you could stop these rumors. You could say, as many artists have, 'Yes I am gay,' or you could say, 'No I'm not,' or you could leave it, as you are, ambiguous. I don't want to put you on the spot, but it's in your power to do it."

After years as a major pop star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin skyrocketed to prominence in 1999 in the English-speaking world with his album, Ricky Martin.

The first single from the album, Livin' la Vida Loca, hit number one on the charts in several countries, including Canada, the U.S., Britain, India and Russia.

The album sold 22 million copies. (Source)

Women State:  Kudos to Martin! He is a great human being, a loving son and father. He has lead a decent and respectful life and has helped many around the world. He deserves to be openly happy.

Philadelphia Man Charged With Threatening to Kill Eric Cantor

A Philadelphia man was charged Monday with threatening to kill House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a week after the Virginia Republican said his campaign office was shot at in the aftermath of the health care bill passing Congress.

Local reports said the bullet that shattered a window at Cantor's office last week turned out to be a stray that had been fired into the air -- but the federal charges filed Monday detailed how Cantor was allegedly threatened in an apparently separate incident.

Norman Leboon, 38, was charged after he allegedly recorded and posted on YouTube a video in which he threatened to kill the congressman and his family.

"My Congressman Eric Cantor, and you and your cupcake evil wife," the video said, according to the complaint. "Remember Eric ... our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you're a Lucifer, you're a pig, a greedy f---ing pig, you're an abomination, you receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations."

Cantor's office released a statement saying he was notified of the threat over the weekend and that he was "deeply grateful" to law enforcement for their help.

"Law enforcement officials informed Congressman Cantor that the threat was determined as credible and they were responding accordingly. The congressman was later notified that an arrest was made and a suspect was in custody," the statement said. (Continues here)

STORY IS ALSO HERE AT CBS 

Women suicide bombers kill dozens in Moscow Metro attacks

At least 34 people were killed and dozens more injured when female suicide bombers attacked two Moscow metro stations at the height of rush hour this morning.

The first blast came at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow at 0756 (0356 GMT) killing 22 people.

The headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is located above the station which is just yards away the Kremlin.

Around 45 minutes later at 0838 (0438 GMT) the second explosion happened at Park Kultury station, killing at least 12 more people. "There are killed and injured," a security source said.

The blasts were caused by two women wearing belts packed with explosives, Moscow's chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin told reporters.

Surveillance camera footage posted on the Interbet showed motionless bodies lying in Lubyanka station lobby and emergency workers treating victims.

Passengers, many of them in tears, streamed out of the station, one man exclaiming over and over "This is how we live!"

No group immediately took responsibility for the blasts, but suspicion is likely to fall on Chechen militants and other groups from Russia's North Caucasus, where Russia is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency.

Russian emergencies ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said the first explosion happened as a metro train stopped at the Lubyanka station that was packed with peak hour commuters.

"The blast hit the second carriage of a metro train that stopped at Lubyanka," she said. Commuters were killed both on the platform and in the carriage and at least 10 people were wounded, she said. (Continues here)

Two explosions blasted Moscow's subway system! Terrorism is suspected.

MOSCOW (AP) - Two explosions blasted Moscow's subway system Monday morning as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 37 people, emergency officials and news agencies said.

Russia's top investigative body said terrorism is suspected in the blasts, although there was no immediate confirmation of how the explosions happened.

Moscow Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said the dead in the first blast on included 14 people inside the train and another 11 people on the platform at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency.

A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later. City police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said at least 12 people were killed in that blast.

The last time Moscow was hit by a confirmed terrorist attack was in August 2004, when a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a city subway station, killing 10 people. (SOURCE AP)

BY NOW, Obama administration was supposed to have a plan to reform Fannie and Freddie

BY NOW, the Obama administration was supposed to have a plan to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the "government-sponsored" mortgage finance enterprises (GSEs) that have been under federal control -- and absorbing $126 billion in federal cash -- for the past 19 months.

But last week Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee that all he can promise is a "public comment" period starting April 15, in which the various housing interest groups -- and there are a lot of them -- can submit their ideas. Thereafter, at an unspecified "time of greater market stability," legislation can be drafted, introduced and passed.

In short, after a year of discussion, Mr. Geithner promises more discussion.

To be sure, there are reasons for this delay. The political system, already overtaxed by the health-care debate and a looming battle over regulatory reform, might not be able to handle another partisan war. Housing remains fragile, with a huge "shadow inventory" of soon-to-be foreclosed properties poised to flood the market and not nearly enough private capital available to take the place of Fannie and Freddie's limitless credit line with the Treasury.

Still, there is no shortage of good ideas for restructuring Fannie and Freddie, and it's not clear that a few more months of debate will produce any brilliant discoveries. Presumably, everyone now recognizes that the old "government-sponsored" model encouraged excessive risk-taking, with private parties reaping the gains and taxpayers stuck with the losses.

he new model must abolish this fatal confusion. The country can probably get away with waiting until 2011 to do that, but not much longer. The worst possible outcome would be that housing lobbies succeed in using Mr. Geithner's "comment" period to limit the scope of reform. (Continue reading here)

No wonder he went to Afghanistan!

Rasmussen - Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16 (see trends). 

The President enjoyed a modest bounce in the polls following the passage of health care legislation last week. However, his Approval Index rating is now back to where it was last Sunday, just before the House voted in favor of his health care plan. All the bouncing of the past week has come among Democrats. There has been virtually no change in the opinions of Republicans and unaffiliated voters.

While many if official Washington consider the Tea Party movement to be a fringe element of society, voters across the nation feel closer to the Tea Party than to Congress. Voters also tend to see the Tea Party Members as better informed and more ethical than Congress.

CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president's budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

"An additional $1.2 trillion in debt dumped on [GDP] to our children makes a huge difference," said Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "That represents an additional debt of $10,000 per household above and beyond the federal debt they are already carrying."

The federal public debt, which was $6.3 trillion ($56,000 per household) when Mr. Obama entered office amid an economic crisis, totals $8.2 trillion ($72,000 per household) today, and it's headed toward $20.3 trillion (more than $170,000 per household) in 2020, according to CBO's deficit estimates.

That figure would equal 90 percent of the estimated gross domestic product in 2020, up from 40 percent at the end of fiscal 2008. By comparison, America's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 109 percent at the end of World War II, while the ratio for economically troubled Greece hit 115 percent last year.

"That level of debt is extremely problematic, particularly given the upward debt path beyond the 10-year budget window," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

For countries with debt-to-GDP ratios "above 90 percent, median growth rates fall by 1 percent, and average growth falls considerably more," according to a recent research paper by economists Kenneth S. Rogoff of Harvard and Carmen M. Reinhart of the University of Maryland.

CBO projected the 2011 deficit will be $1.34 trillion, not much different from the administration's estimate of $1.27 trillion. However, CBO's estimate of the 2020 deficit at $1.25 trillion significantly exceeds the administration's $1 trillion estimate. (Continue reading here)

Pakistan-born cabdriver in Chicago accused of helping al-Qaeda

A Chicago taxi driver born in Pakistan was arrested Friday on two charges of providing material support to terrorists -- allegedly attempting to funnel money to al-Qaeda and discussing an attack on a U.S. stadium.

Raja Lahrasib Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, does not pose an imminent danger to Americans, prosecutors said. But they said Khan, 56, had claimed he knew Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistan-based extremist leader with close ties to al-Qaeda.

Kashmiri faces criminal charges in the United States for allegedly conspiring with another Chicagoan, David C. Headley, to kill employees of a Danish newspaper that published derogatory cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

The court papers in Khan's case describe a March 11 phone call in which he appeared to discuss attacking an unnamed U.S. stadium in August with bombs that go "boom, boom, boom, boom."

Authorities sent an undercover agent to meet with Khan and give him $1,000 to send to Kashmiri, the court papers said.(SOURCE)

Where is the promised Peace and world love?

U.S. troop deaths double in Afghanistan

KABUL (AP) — The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum.

Israeli soldiers leave Gaza after fierce clash

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip Saturday after some of the fiercest gunbattles with Palestinian militants in the Hamas-run territory since last year's military offensive.

Israeli troops used bulldozers to "remove infrastructure used by terrorists to attack soldiers" before the early morning withdrawal, a military spokeswoman said. Gaza militants, meanwhile, fired a rocket into southern Israel on Saturday, but no injuries were reported, the military said. Two others fell short of Israeli territory. The violence began Friday when soldiers patrolling the border crossed into Gaza after spotting Palestinians planting explosives near the fence with Israel.

Korea tensions over claims that warship was sunk by torpedo

A South Korean navy ship was sunk yesterday in what was feared to have been a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine.
Several of the 104 crew were killed and others were missing last night.
The drama, close to the disputed sea border between the two Koreas, raised concern that growing tensions between them could escalate into conflict.

N. Korea vows 'nuclear strikes' in latest threat

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's military warned South Korea and the United States on Friday of "unprecedented nuclear strikes" over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country.

In Iran, Leader assails hypocrisy in US approach

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Sunday the actions of the United States run counter to its call for establishing amicable relations with Iran.

"The new [US] administration and president claimed interest in just and fair relations; they wrote letters and sent messages ... saying they are willing to normalize relations with the Islamic Republic, but in practice they did the opposite," the Leader said in a Nowruz address to Iranians in the holy city of Mashhad.

Looks like Heath Care honeymoon is over in Obama approval polls

RASMUSSEN:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends). 

GALLUP:

If it looks like an ACORN and acts like an ACORN ...

Republicans say they know an ACORN when they see it, and just because the community activist organization says it's disbanding, that doesn't mean it's gone.

"Just as criminals change their aliases, ACORN is changing its name," California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a written statement. "But make no mistake about it, just because they change their name, doesn't mean anything has really changed at all."

Issa led an investigation into the group, which announced on Monday that it is closing after a series of undercover videos last year showed its employees offering tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute, tarnishing the group's reputation and crippling its source of funding.

The congressman said ACORN's announcement is just another scheme designed to get its hands on taxpayer funds.

"As this most recent presidential election has showed us, just because you profess change, doesn't mean you're going to change," Issa said. "The bottom line is, whatever they decide to call themselves, they are still the same corporation with the same board, staff and people. Ultimately, the real question is: aside from their name, what is really going to change?"

ACORN's board decided to close state affiliates and field offices by April 1, with some national operations continuing to operate for at least several weeks before they shut down for good, spokesman Kevin Whelan told The Associated Press. While the group's political operations, including its much-criticized voter registration efforts, will close, the housing unit will remain open.

But most of the 20 chapters of ACORN are organizing under new names, a source within the group told Reuters.

Several of its largest affiliates, including ACORN New York and ACORN California, already broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to shed their parent organization's tarnished image and restore revenue that ran dry in the wake of the video scandal.

But the only difference between the new groups and ACORN is the names, Issa said. The groups are keeping the same employees and the same tax identification numbers. For example, Issa said, Affordable Housing Centers of America was formerly ACORN Housing. The new corporation has the same tax ID and employee identification number as ACORN Housing, which received millions of dollars in funding from the Department of Housing Urban and Development. (CONTINUES HERE)

Obama's friends land new TV gig

Michaele and Tareq Salahi caused an embarrassing security flap at the White House when they finessed their way into a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh without a formal invitation and were photographed shaking hands with President Barack Obama.

The Virginia couple were auditioning for a part in "The Real Housewives of D.C." and had been followed by a camera crew earlier in the day.

The Daily Beast, citing sources close to the TV series, said Bravo has now decided to go ahead with the show premiering in July. Bravo could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The Real Housewives of D.C" would be the latest in the hit reality franchise which has profiled the lives of wealthy society women in New York, Atlanta, Orange County and New Jersey, turning many of them into minor celebrities. (SOURCE)

Little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program.

Under-reported and the under the radar of most lawmakers, the program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care.

The Congressional Budget Office expects the government will collect $109 billion in premiums by 2019.

Supporters say the program will relieve pressure on Medicaid and should help keep us out of nursing homes by enabling Americans to save for something most will eventually need -- assistance in eating, bathing or dressing in their old age.

Opponents say the provision is little more than a short-term revenue fix that will eventually add to the federal deficit.

"This is a scary proposition where the government passed a huge new entitlement program with gimmicks and tricks and the American people don't know they will be automatically enrolled in it by their employer if they don’t watch out," said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Nunes says Republicans were blindsided by the provision because they were unable to see the final bill until the very end. But Democratic supporters say the provision, which was championed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, should not be controversial. (continue reading here)

Al Maliki loses election in Irak!

BAGHDAD – Results released by Iraq's election commission show a secular challenger has beaten the country's prime minister in parliamentary elections, positioning him to be the first to try to form a government.

The full election results show former prime minister Ayad Allawi winning 91 seats, edging out Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as results were released Friday for Iraq's 325-seat parliament.

The results mark a serious setback for al-Maliki but do not necessarily guarantee Allawi the prime minister's post, only the right to try to form a coalition government.

The results were based on numbers released by the election commission and compiled by The Associated Press. The commission released the seat allocation province-by-province and did not include an overall number of seats won by each coalition.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Results released so far in Iraq's parliamentary election show Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki trailing his main rival, former prime minister Ayad Allawi. (continues here)

Shout for freedom in Gloria Estefan's Miami March honoring Cuba's Ladies in White. Watch thousands of people march for Cuba's release of political prisoners.

Thousands of people from different countries marched peacefully yesterday in Miami's famous 8th Street (Calle 8).

In the video below, a mix of scenes of marches in Cuba and of yesterday's march in Miami. You will be able to see the violence directed at these ladies in Cuba for peacefully claiming the freedom of their husbands, sons or brothers imprisoned for simply speaking against the Castro brother's dictatorial regime.

The background song, sung and composed by famous Cuban-American Marisela Verena, claims "Libertad" (Liberty) for the Cuban people.

The Miami March, led by Gloria Estefan, took place simultaneously with a March in Cuba by the brave Ladies in White.

Amnesty International demands change after Cuba dissident's death

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a 42-year-old bricklayer and the first Cuban prisoner to die on a hunger strike in decades. He had been protesting poor treatment in Cuban prisons and was one of 55 prisoners of conscience who have been adopted by Amnesty International in Cuba. 

"On March 16, 2010, a team of human rights activists from the US, Europe and Latin America launched a campaign calling for the release of all of Cuba's political prisoners, a number estimated to be upward of 200. To date, the petition has been signed by over 35,000 people in more than 100 countries (including, with great difficulty, from within Cuba) and from all over the political spectrum. Among the notable signatories are Nobel, Oscar, Grammy, Pulitzer and Cervantes prize winners and hundreds of prominent journalists, scientists, politicians and human rights activists.

If you live in a place where you have the right to voice your opinion, then sign this petition. Orlando Zapata Tamayo died demanding that right for himself, his fellow prisoners and his fellow Cubans. Your signature can help make sure no one else has to".

IF YOU VALUE LIBERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS, PLEASE SIGN !

Your Signature to Free Cuban Political Prisoners

Netanyahu humiliated after Obama 'dumped him for dinner'

For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”.

Left to talk among themselves Mr Netanyahu and his aides retreated to the Roosevelt Room. He spent a further half-hour with Mr Obama and extended his stay for a day of emergency talks to try to restart peace negotiations. However, he left last night with no official statement from either side. He returned to Israel yesterday isolated after what Israeli media have called a White House ambush for which he is largely to blame.

Sources said that Mr Netanyahu failed to impress Mr Obama with a flow chart purporting to show that he was not responsible for the timing of announcements of new settlement projects in east Jerusalem. Mr Obama was said to be livid when such an announcement derailed the visit to Israel by Joe Biden, the Vice-President, this month and his anger towards Israel does not appear to have cooled.

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, cast doubt on minor details in Israeli accounts of the meeting but did not deny claims that it amounted to a dressing down for the Prime Minister, whose refusal to freeze settlements is seen in Washington as the main barrier to resuming peace talks.

The Likud leader has to try to square the rigorous demands of the Obama Administration with his nationalist, ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, who want him to stand up to Washington even though Israel needs US backing in confronting the threat of a nuclear Iran.

“The Prime Minister leaves America disgraced, isolated and altogether weaker than when he came,” the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz said. (CONTINUE READING HERE)

Gloria Estefan Leads Damas de Blanco March Today

The march may only be five short blocks, but the message is a strong one: peace in Cuba.

At 6 p.m., Gloria Estefan will lead a group of peaceful protestors in a march to support Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White), a group of wives and mothers whose relatives are in prison for opposing Fidel Castro's government.

After the march, which will begin at Beacom Blvd. between 7th and 8th Streets and go from 22nd to 27th Avenues, Estefan is expected to thank participants, read a poem and sing the Cuban and U.S. national anthems.

Anyone participating is aked to where white and walk in silence. Shirts, which will be replicas of the ones used in Cuba by the Damas de Blanco, will also be made.

After seeing women protesters dragged through the streets in Cuba, Gloria Estefan figured the best way to fight the injustice was to dress in white and carry on the march.

"Cubans and non-Cubans alike that live in liberty need to take the opportunity at this moment in history to come together and show them that we care," Estefan said at a press conference, "We are all united in the love and the need for a free Cuba and freedom for the Cuban people that are enslaved right now on the island."

The protest is expected to be peaceful, unlike the one held in Havana on March 17, when the Ladies in White were attacked by Cuban police, dragged into buses and hauled away. (Source)

Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) protesting in Cuba

Cuban police grabbed members of the opposition group "Ladies in White" by their hair, dragged them into a bus and drove them away to break up a protest march on Wednesday.

The white clothes the women traditionally wear were smeared with mud as they resisted policewomen forcing them into a bus. Government protesters shouted insults at them for the second day in a row.

The march was the third this week by the Ladies in White who are protesting the 2003 imprisonment of their husbands and sons, most of whom are still in jail.

The seventh anniversary of the crackdown, known as the "Black Spring," is Thursday, when the women said they will march again.

On Wednesday, they attended a mass in the working class neighborhood of Parraga and began walking toward the nearby home of dissident Orlando Fundora, who began a hunger strike last week.

As the 30 or so women walked along carrying flowers, about 200 government supporters marched alongside, separated by security agents.

"Worms, get out of here. Viva Fidel! Viva Raul!" the government supporters shouted, referring to former president Fidel Castro and his brother, current President Raul Castro, the only leaders Cuba has since the 1959 communist revolution.

For their part, the women shouted "Freedom" and "Zapata lives." Orlando Zapata Tamayo, an imprisoned dissident died from an 85-day hunger strike on February 23 and has become a rallying point for Cuba's opposition. His mother, Reyna Tamayo, took part in the march.

Cuba has been condemned internationally for Zapata's death and its treatment of another hunger striker, Guillermo Farinas, who has been in a hospital receiving fluids intravenously since he collapsed on Thursday.

Fundora, a former political prisoner, was also said to be in hospital after beginning his hunger strike a week ago. 

CNN Poll: Majority think government poses threat to citizens' rights

Washington (CNN) -- A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.

The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: Only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of independents and nearly seven in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.

According to CNN poll numbers released Sunday, Americans overwhelmingly think that the U.S. government is broken, though the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what's broken can be fixed.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted February 12-15, with 1,023 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall survey. (SOURCE CNN)

Media shocked!

The pundits are shocked by the recent attacks on Democrats who signed Obama's Health Care Bill. Wolf Blitzer said that he didn't remember ever listening to such violent phone messages as the ones being left on Democrat's answering machines.

Violence should never, never, be justified but unfortunately, we have seen it on both sides of the aisle. The media, however, puts all the blame on Tea Partiers, Republicans and of course, Sarah Palin. Just out of curiosity I decided to do a Google search on violence aimed at Republicans. Here are just a few of the stories I found:

Man's Finger Bitten Off in Scuffle at Health Care Rally

Republican HQ's Vandalized, Workers Threatened 

Brick Thrown Through Window Had Anarchy Symbol

Bush's campaign office in Spokane burglarized, vandalized

Texas Man Sentenced for Possessing Molotov Cocktails During Republican National Convention

A Texas woman faces trial this month in Austin on charges she threatened to kill a government informant who infiltrated an Austin-based group that planned to bomb the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last fall. 

Chris Matthews on October 13: You guys see Live and Let Die, the great Bond film with Yaphet Kotto as the bad guy, Mr. Big? In the end they jam a big CO2 pellet in his face and he blew up. I have to tell you, Rush Limbaugh is looking more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet. But we'll be there to watch. I think he's Mr. Big, I think Yaphet Kotto. Are you watching, Rush?

CNN published a column  by Roland Martin on February 11 with the headline, Time for Obama to go ‘gangsta’ on GOP.

Martin concluded the article with a plea for Obama to emulate the violent tactics of the Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss Al Capone.
    Obama’s critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let ‘em know that if they aren’t with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.

The Huffington Post followed-up with their own call for gangland violence against Republicans with the publication on February 14 of a column by David Bourgeois with the title, Obama Better Start Breaking Kneecaps.

Bourgeois concludes his article with this call for gangland violence.

    You’ve given it your best shot, you’ve tried numerous times to talk with the Republicans, to negotiate, to meet them halfway on every single matter before the American people. But they hate you for many reasons. It’s time you break kneecaps (bold in original). It’s time to destroy the Republican Party. They don’t deserve a seat at the table when all they want to do is score political points by being the Party of No.

In case the message wasn’t clear, Huffington Post illustrated the call to violence with a wooden baseball bat with Obama’s first name on it in large letters.

Obama Says "Argue With Neighbors, Get In Their Face"

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said.

LAS VEGAS - "A man accused of threatening a Nevada Republican Party official with a rifle was arrested Tuesday in a vehicle in which police found swords, knives, a shotgun, shells and a flare gun, authorities said.Matthew Hunter Kramer, 31, did not resist officers who arrested him on a warrant issued after the April 3 confrontation at state Republican Party offices in Las Vegas. It wasn't clear why he was not arrested earlier.

Tires slashed on 20 GOP vehicles, Milwaukee police report
The tires of 20 cars and vans rented by the Republican Party to carry voters to the polls were slashed, Milwaukee police said today. The discovery was made at 6:30 a.m., said Sgt. Mark Wroblewsk

Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando
2 People Receive Minor Injuries During Protest

Local 6 News learned that most of the protestors were from the AFL-CIO and were taking part in one of 20 other coordinated protests around the country.

Swastika Burned Into Grass On Bush-Cheney Supporter's Lawn
Someone burned an 8-foot-by-8-foot Nazi swastika on a home's lawn near where Bush-Cheney signs were posted. The vandals used grass killer to spray the symbol.
Several nearby homes were vandalized -- all were within a two-block radius on the West Side, near Ice Age Trail, News 3 reported.

(CNN) -- Police in Sarasota, Florida, arrested a man accused of trying to run down Rep. Katherine Harris and her supporters with a car Tuesday, a police spokesman said.
"I was exercising my political expression," Seltzer told police, according to the report.

1975 President Gerald Ford Shooting & Assassination Attempt 

Nathan Winkler of Tampa, Fla., was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking in March 2005 for allegedly terrorizing a mother who had a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on her car.

Gainsville, Fla., Democrat David P. McCally was charged with battery after he allegedly barged into a local GOP office, assaulted a cardboard cutout of President Bush, and punched a local Republican chairman in September 2004.

Newt Gingrich receives death threats

CBS News Poll: Most Want GOP to Keep Fighting on Health Bill. Even 41 % Democrats agree.

A CBS News poll released Wednesday finds that nearly two in three Americans want Republicans in Congress to continue to challenge parts of the health care reform bill.

The Senate version of the legislation was passed by the House Sunday night, and President Obama signed it into law on Tuesday. The House also passed a separate reconciliation bill, which cannot be filibustered, that is now being debated in the Senate. That bill would make changes to the bill already signed into law.

Senate Republicans are now challenging whether the bill is truly a budget reconciliation bill (which is what makes it filibuster-proof) and inserting amendments designed to slow down passage. Republican attorneys general are also planning to challenge the constitutionality of the law.

The poll finds that 62 percent want Congressional Republicans to keep challenging the bill, while 33 percent say they should not do so. Nearly nine in ten Republicans and two in three independents want the GOP to keep challenging. Even 41 percent of Democrats support continued challenges.(Source)

Gaps start showing in Health Reform Bill

Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.

Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.

Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.

However, if a child is accepted for coverage, or is already covered, the insurer cannot exclude payment for treating a particular illness, as sometimes happens now. For example, if a child has asthma, the insurance company cannot write a policy that excludes that condition from coverage. The new safeguard will be in place later this year.

Full protection for children would not come until 2014, said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, another panel that authored the legislation. That's the same year when insurance companies could no longer deny coverage to any person on account of health problems.

Obama's public statements have conveyed the impression that the new protections for kids were more sweeping and straightforward.

"This is a patient's bill of rights on steroids," the president said Friday at George Mason University in Virginia. "Starting this year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to purchase health insurance, some for the very first time. Starting this year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions."

And Saturday, addressing House Democrats as they approached a make-or-break vote on the bill, Obama said, "This year ... parents who are worried about getting coverage for their children with pre-existing conditions now are assured that insurance companies have to give them coverage -- this year."  (continue reading here at Yahoo News)

No Girls Allowed? The women-only dinners have continued, too -- just not with the president.

President Obama's inner circle has a few token women, but the image of a testosterone-heavy team is fueled by reality, say some close to the White House.

Late last year, President Obama summoned the highest-ranking women on his staff to a dinner at the White House so he could ask them a question: Should he be worried about a nagging perception that his administration was a testosterone-fueled boys club?

The dinner led to the formation of an informal group of women at the White House -- a women's club of sorts -- to help female advisers navigate the upper echelons of the administration.

The boys club story line had been around since the days of the Obama presidential campaign, which was run by a tight inner circle of mostly male advisers, many of whom came with Obama to the White House.

Women fill several top jobs in the White House. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend of the president, is considered one of his closest aides. Melody Barnes oversees Obama's domestic agenda. And Nancy-Ann DeParle runs the White House health care policy team, a position that aides say has put her in closer contact with the president than nearly anyone else in the administration.

Still, more than a year into Obama's term, the most recognizable faces of the administration, the people the president is most often seen huddling with in the Oval Office and the Situation Room, are men: most notably, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and senior adviser David Axelrod, along with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who joined the Obama team after the election.

"It's cemented a perception that isn't based in reality," said Anita Dunn, the former White House communications director who now serves as an outside adviser for the administration.

The boys club image gained currency from a slew of men-only basketball games and rounds of golf hosted by the admittedly sports-obsessed president, which drew criticism from women's advocates.

It was one of those all-male basketball games, held on the White House grounds in October, that raised the complaints to a crescendo. Though Obama publicly called the criticism "bunk," privately he was concerned and wanted to know whether the senior women working for him thought there was a problem.

On Nov. 5, the president invited the top women on his staff to a dinner to discuss the criticism lighting up the blogosphere. The president insisted on keeping the dinner on his schedule despite the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, earlier in the day.

One senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner, said the women assured the president they weren't clamoring for an opportunity to lace up their sneakers and hit the hardwood. But they did make the point that the basketball games and golf rounds gave men an opportunity to bond and establish a level of comfort with the president that may not be afforded to the women who only saw him in formal settings.

Still, the all-male basketball games and golf outings have continued. Only one woman, domestic policy director Barnes, had been invited to play a round with the president around the time of the November dinner.

The women-only dinners have continued, too -- just not with the president. (CONTINUE READING HERE)

Home Loan Modification Program (HAMP) likely to be a failure says Bailout Watchdog Report.

Even if the loan modification program ends up with 1.5 million to 2 million homeowners with new, more-favorable terms on their loans, "the program will not be a long-term success if large amounts of borrowers simply re-default and end up facing foreclosure anyway," the report said.

Neil Barofsky, the Treasury's Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said the Obama administration's $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has a definition of success that is "essentially meaningless."

Barofsky noted that when HAMP was launched in the first few months of 2009, Treasury proclaimed the program would help up to 3 million to 4 million at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosure.

More recently, the Treasury has said the 3 million to 4 million figure refers to how many homeowners would receive offers of a trial modification, not how many homeowners get an actual long-term modification.

"To be meaningful, Treasury's goal for HAMP must relate to how many people are helped to avoid foreclosure; because offers standing alone do not actually assist homeowners, it is simply not a useful measure," Barofsky wrote.

DELAYING FORECLOSURES?

In its latest monthly report, Treasury said there were 1,003,902 active loan modifications through February and 168,708 of those have been made permanent. That was up from 946,735 active loan modifications and 116,297 permanent loan modifications through January.

But just 2.8 percent of the 6 million borrowers with loans delinquent more than 60 days have had their loan modifications made permanent through February.

And the number of homeowners with loans delinquent more than 60 days is rising far faster than the number of loans being made permanent each month.

"If HAMP ends up being a foreclosure mitigation program that merely delays foreclosures rather than preventing them, the program will be of questionable value, particularly in light of the huge investment of taxpayer funds," Barofsky wrote. (See full article)

Obama's brother could not get a US visa

Possibly due to his criminal past, the Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama could not get a US visa in time for a planned tour to publicise his book.

Delays in fixing a visa application date for Mr George Obama, along with the US embassy’s rejection of his publisher’s request for an expedited review, may have reflected US officials’ desire not to embarrass President Obama by explicitly barring his relative from entering US.

The US embassy in Nairobi may also have been keen not to seem to be giving preferential treatment to a visa applicant that is a blood relation of their president.

Another possibility is that Mr George Obama simply became ensnared in the protracted bureaucratic process familiar to many Kenyans who seek clearance to visit the US.

Under State Department rules, the president’s half-brother could have been deemed inadmissible to America for reasons arising from his arrest and detention on separate charges of drug possession and armed robbery.

Citing privacy considerations, the State Department declines, as a matter of policy, to comment on individual visa cases. Asked a few weeks ago to comment on his visa denial, Mr George Obama, who lives in Nairobi’s Huruma slum, refused to answer directly. “I didn’t feel like going,” he said in an interview. “I don’t like travelling,” he added.

The US embassy was reluctant to comment on the issue. “I’m sorry we do not comment on individuals’ visa applications,” said Mr John Haynes, the embassy public affairs officer. (continue reading here)

Tea Party Protesters Dispute Reports of Slurs, Spitting Against Dem Lawmakers

A man was arrested for spitting on a congressman. No, he was let go.

Protesters shouted the "n-word" at black lawmakers. Witnesses say it never happened.

A gay congressman was called a slur. Yet he was accused of swearing at someone in the crowd before that.

These are the conflicting claims that have emerged from the series of tense encounters lawmakers say they endured with Tea Party protesters on Capitol Hill Saturday, in the final raucous hours before Congress approved the health care reform bill.

Claims that the protesters hurled anti-gay and racist epithets at them tore through the blogosphere in the run-up to the vote and were used to decry the protests, but Tea Party supporters are challenging those accounts, saying they didn't hear them, or at least that those responsible were not part of the Tea Party protest.

"Never did I hear any type of racial slur," said William Owens, a black Tea Party activist from Nevada who joined in the D.C. protests Saturday.

Here's what is known about Saturday's run-ins:

Several black lawmakers say that as they were walking by protesters on their way to a procedural vote on Capitol Hill, a group of demonstrators shouted at them and called them the n-word.

"They were just shouting, harassing," Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a legend of the civil rights movement, said.

In addition, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a black congressman from Missouri, said he was spit on by someone in the crowd who was later detained.

Plus someone shouted a gay slur at Frank in the hallway of a House office building.

"Today's protests against health insurance reform saw a rash of despicable, inflammatory behavior," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.

Now here's where those accounts are called into question:

Though the claims of racist epithets against Lewis and other congressmen drew a lot of media attention, witnesses say they never heard such language and YouTube videos have surfaced that show protesters booing and shouting "Kill the Bill" but not shouting the n-word.

Kay Fischer, a protester from North Carolina, said she was watching the black lawmakers walk by and, like Owens, heard nothing of the sort. (CONTINUES HERE)

Palin's Reality Series Headed To Discovery

Sarah Palin has been actively shopping a reality show to networks and cable channels since early March. Variety is now reporting that Discovery Communications has bought the series, called "Sarah Palin's Alaska," for in excess of $1 million per episode.

Hosted by the former governor of Alaska, the show will reportedly focus on the characters, traditions and attractions in the U.S.'s northernmost state. Palin had been shopping the series with producer Mark Burnett, the reality show guru behind "Survivor" and "The Apprentice." After meetings with ABC, CBS and NBC did not produce a deal for the travelogue show, Burnett and Palin turned to cable, with Discovery and A&E emerging as front-runners. A&E reportedly dropped out of the running, leaving Discovery as the winner.

At press time, MTV News' request for comment had not yet been returned by Discovery.

The travelogue show fits well with much of Discovery's programming, which includes other nature-based shows like "American Loggers," "Man vs. Wild" and "Deadliest Catch," which is also shot in Alaska. Palin also appeared in the 2008 Discovery documentary "Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod," which was shot before she was selected as the Republican vice presidential candidate.

The specific Discovery Communications channel — or channels — on which Palin's show will air remains unknown. In addition to the Discovery Channel, the company owns channels like TLC, Animal Planet and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which is set to launch in January of 2011. Winfrey famously interviewed Palin on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last November.

The former governor of Alaska is currently a political analyst for Fox News.  (SOURCE)

Netanyahu firm on tonight's speech: "Jerusalem is not a settlement.It is our capital.". Mentions Obama only once.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is delivering a defiant reply to the White House in a speech to the pro-Israel group AIPAC this evening, responding to American attempts to damp down their harsh words with an insistence on Israel's right to construct housing in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, who apologized for the announcement of new housing in Jerusalem during Joe Biden's visit ten days ago, does not reprise his apology, according to prepared remarks. Instead, he reminds the White House that the new housing -- though a thumb in the eye -- did not actually violate any commitment he'd made, as any settlement freeze always excluded Jerusalem.

"The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied.The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied," Netanyahu says. "The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today.Jerusalem is not a settlement.It is our capital."

"Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement.Therefore, building them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu returned in his speech to familiar themes: The historic assaults on the Jewish people, his theoretical desire for Palestinian independence, and the sole fault of Palestinian leaders in preventing it.

"Peace requires reciprocity .It cannot be a one-way street in which only Israel makes concessions. Israel stands ready to make the compromises necessary for peace. But we expect the Palestinian leaders to compromise as well," he says.

Netanyahu concluded with a short tribute to the American-Israeli relationship, mentioning President Obama once and thanking him, and Congress, for military cooperation.

But his speech also included a clear rebuttal to Israelis and American Jews who have pleaded with him to mend his relationship with the White House.

"The future of the Jewish state can never depend on the goodwill of even the greatest of men. Israel must always reserve the right to defend itself," Netanyahu says.

Read his full prepared remarks here.

A first in CNN poll: majority of Americans disapprove of Obama's job performance.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday, 51 percent of respondents disapprove of Obama's job performance and 46 percent approve of it.
Full results (pdf)

Obama's approval rating has dropped steadily each month since December, when it was 54 percent. His highest approval rating in a CNN poll was 76 percent in February 2009 shortly after he took office.

The new poll was conducted before the House on Sunday narrowly approved the Obama administration's signature domestic policy proposal: health care reform.

The measure, which Obama plans to sign on Tuesday, represents the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted more than four decades ago.

In fact, health care was the policy area that drew the second highest negative rating, with 58 percent registering disapproval. The highest negative rating was 62 percent for his handling of the federal deficit.

While his performance ratings have slid, Americans personally like Obama. The poll found that 70 percent of respondents approve of him as a person, and only 25 percent disapprove.

On the economy overall, 54 percent disapprove of his work and 43 percent approve. He scored well for his handling of the environment and education, as well as on national security.

"Obama scores some of his best numbers on 'commander-in-chief' issues - Afghanistan, Iraq, and terrorism," said Keating Holland, CNN polling director. "In January, 51% approved of Obama's handling of Afghanistan; that number is now 55%, an indication that the public has a positive view of the latest military offensive in that country."

The CNN poll was conducted on March 19-21 through telephone interviews with 1,030 adult Americans. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (Source CNN)

States launch lawsuits against healthcare plan

Less than 24 hours after the House of Representatives gave final approval to a sweeping overhaul of healthcare, attorneys general from several states on Monday said they will sue to block the plan on constitutional grounds.

Republican attorneys general in 11 states warned that lawsuits will be filed to stop the federal government overstepping its constitutional powers and usurping states' sovereignty.

States are concerned the burden of providing healthcare will fall on them without enough federal support.

Ten of the attorneys general plan to band together in a collective lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.

"To protect all Texans' constitutional rights, preserve the constitutional framework intended by our nation's founders, and defend our state from further infringement by the federal government, the State of Texas and other states will legally challenge the federal health care legislation," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, in a statement.

The Republican attorney generals say the reforms infringe on state powers under the Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, who plans to file a lawsuit in federal court in Richmond, Virginia, said Congress lacks authority under its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce to force people to buy insurance. The bill also conflicts with a state law that says Virginians cannot be required to buy insurance, he added.

"If a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person by definition is not engaging in commerce," Cuccinelli said in recorded comments. "If you are not engaging in commerce, how can the federal government regulate you?"

In addition to the pending lawsuits, bills and resolutions have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures seeking to limit or oppose various aspects of the reform plan through laws or state constitutional amendments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

So far, only two states, Idaho and Virginia, have enacted laws, while an Arizona constitutional amendment is seeking voter approval on the November ballot. But the actual enactment of the bill by President Barack Obama could spur more movement on the measures by state lawmakers. (Read more here)