Pat Dollard

Politico: Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted Wednesday that job creation and deficit reduction will be the central Democratic themes for the coming year – and that public support for health care reform will rebound once a bill has been sent to President Barack Obama. On the divisive issue of Afghanistan, the California Democrat ducked the question [...]

CHICAGO (AP) – One of Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys said Wednesday it was possible the defense could call President Obama to take the witness stand if the corruption charges against the former governor go to trial, but added that it wasn’t clear that doing so would be necessary. Defense attorney Samuel E. Adam said following a [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The estimated time when whites will no longer make up the majority of Americans has been pushed back eight years — to 2050 — because the recession and stricter immigration policies have slowed the flow of foreigners into the U.S. Census Bureau projections released Wednesday update last year’s prediction that white children [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Prodded by President Barack Obama, Senate Democrats won tentative backing from one holdout and worked intensely to satisfy another Tuesday as they grappled with the last, lingering disputes blocking passage of health care legislation by Christmas. Despite the push, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska remained publicly uncommitted — even after a private [...]

NBC: A measure to legalize marijuana in California has enough signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot, advocates say. The Tax and Regulate Initiative has far more than the nearly 434,000 signatures needed to make the statewide ballot, said Richard Lee, well-known Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur and the initiative’s main backer. Campaign organizers say [...]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Industrialized nations must recognize their responsibility for the environmental crisis, shed their consumerism and embrace more sober lifestyles, Pope Benedict said on Tuesday. The pope’s call for more environmental commitments came in his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s annual World Day of Peace, to be marked on Jan 1 and [...]

The Liberal Cesspool (HuffPo): More than 80 percent of Democrats say they believe Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn) should be stripped of his powerful chairmanship in the Senate if he ends up supporting a Republican filibuster of health care reform, according to a new poll. The liberal action groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for [...]

Politico: The White House is encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), which would mean eliminating the proposed Medicare expansion in the health reform bill, according to an official close to the negotiations. But Reid is described as so frustrated with Lieberman that he is not [...]

ABC AU: Inuit communities need funds to adapt to climate change in the Arctic, including measures to build communal deep freezers to store game, an Inuit leader said on Friday. The Inuit, the indigenous people of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Russia, have traditionally hunted for Arctic species from seal to polar bear, whale to caribou. [...]

Let the boycotts begin.

Vaguely counter-productive, don’t you think?

WASHINGTON (AP) – Risking the wrath of Democrats, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., threatened Sunday to join Republicans in opposing health care legislation if it permits uninsured individuals as young to 55 to purchase Medicare coverage. Lieberman, whose vote is critical to the bill’s prospects, expressed his opposition twice during the day: first in an interview [...]

COPENHAGEN (AP) – China, India and other developing nations boycotted U.N. climate talks on Monday, bringing negotiations to a halt with their demand that rich countries discuss much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions. Representatives from developing countries – a bloc of 135 nations – said they refused to participate in any formal working [...]

The Washington Examiner: The economy has been in the dumps for years, but the good times keep on rolling for some favored D.C. employees. City officials have doled out nearly $15 million in bonuses and awards since Mayor Adrian Fenty took office in January 2007, records obtained by The Examiner under the Freedom of Information [...]