MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) – Marines and Afghan units converged on a dangerous western quarter of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Sunday, with NATO forces facing “determined resistance” as their assault on the southern town entered its second week. Fighter jets, drones and attack helicopters hovered overhead, as Marine and Afghan companies moved on a [...]
NY Times: MARJA, Afghanistan — As American Marines and Afghan soldiers have fought their way into this Taliban stronghold, the performance of the Afghan troops has tested a core premise of the American military effort here: in the not-too-distant future, the security of this country can be turned over to indigenous forces created at the [...]
The Hill: On Obama’s orders per those meetings he mentions… Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber [...]
The Hill: Few expect Thursday’s health summit to generate significant momentum on healthcare reform. But that could be a blessing in disguise for President Barack Obama. Obama needs to deliver some type of game-changer if he has any hopes of reviving the cornerstone of his domestic agenda. And there is little doubt that Obama is [...]
Just who voted, and why? Politico: Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Texas Republican who ran a quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, was the top vote-getter in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll, capturing the support of 31 percent of those who participated in the contest. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The already gloomy conditions of states’ economies are set to worsen, according to preliminary survey findings from the National Governors Association released on Saturday. “The situation is fairly poor for a lot of states around the country. In fact, most states,” Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, who is chairman of the association, said [...]
Times Online: AS befits Britain’s most senior spy, Jonathan Evans is noted in Whitehall for being cool under fire. That quality will be tested this week when MI5’s director-general learns whether his service is about to be engulfed by one of the biggest crises in its 100-year history. For the past 10 weeks a senior [...]
Washington (AP) – -Next week’s televised political showdown in Washington over health care reform will give a resurgent GOP perhaps its most prominent opportunity yet to counter Democrats’ repeated claim that it is the “party of no.” Republicans have argued that they have better ideas on how to provide improved health care to more people [...]
(CNN) — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a stalwart foe of government spending, won a blowout victory Saturday in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll. With participants naming “reducing the size of federal government” as their top issue, the 74-year old libertarian hero captured 31 percent of the 2,400 votes cast in [...]
WAPO: Retired Army Gen. Alexander Haig, who held influential positions in the U.S. military and government and who as White House chief of staff shepherded Richard M. Nixon toward peacefully resigning the presidency, died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore of complications from an infection. He was 85. Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy [...]
Times Online: The soldier breathes loud and fast as he lays a timed charge on an explosive in a Baghdad street. “I want these people to know if they’re going to leave a bomb on the side of the road for us, we’re just going to blow up their f****** road,†he growls, walking away. [...]
New York Times; BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits. Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is expected to publish his healthcare plan as early as Sunday or Monday, combining features of the two Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, congressional aides and healthcare advocates said on Friday. The administration’s bill will aim to jump-start the stalled healthcare overhaul and comes [...]
Fox News: President Obama’s new Muslim envoy Rashad Hussain admitted Friday to once defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group — an admission that contradicts earlier claims from the White House that the quotes had been mistakenly attributed to Hussain. Hussain, named by Obama as an envoy to [...]
