“I also strongly believe that one of the options in the exchange should be a public insurance option,” Obama declared, in what was one of his most forceful statements of support since the health care debate began. “And the reason is not because we want a government takeover of health care. I’ve already said, if you’ve got a private plan that works for you, that’s great. But we want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and it will help keep their prices down.”

The remarks came just several hours after the American Medical Association said it would oppose a public option for coverage. But in a reflection of just how delicate this debate has become, the 250,000 member physician group largely backtracked from its opposition later in the day.By Sam Stein from the Huffington Post. Click here to continue reading.

Forbarackobamaonline.com

Forbarackobamaonline.com

“We’re not going to do any more business in the Senate,” Graham said, his face flushed red. “Nothing’s going forward until we get this right.”

The duo’s bill, which would allow the Pentagon to exempt Bush-era photos from the Freedom of Information Act, was stripped from the conference version of the war supplemental Monday night. In anticipation of trouble, Lieberman and Graham had already inserted the bill into the tobacco-regulatory legislation currently on the floor of the Senate.

By turns sober and furious, the two senators vowed again Tuesday to vote against — and, if possible, filibuster — the troop-funding bill and all other legislation until they get their way. They equated the weapons supplied by the war supplemental spending bill with detainee photos that they said would serve as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and a weapon against U.S. troops.

“If these photos see the light of day, it will be a death sentence to some serving abroad,” Graham said. The removal of the photo amendment, he said, “is one of the most outrageous and irresponsible acts in the history of the Congress.” He said the initial response to the Abu Ghraib scandal was necessary and the punishments meted out were appropriate.

Lieberman, for his part, dismissed release of the photos as “sheer voyeurism” and “disclosure without a purpose.” The Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commissions Act, Lieberman said, are ample enough evidence that the system has been sufficiently reformed.

“Transparency in government is an American value, but it is not without limits, no more than any of the values embraced in our Constitution,” Lieberman said. “The transparency in this case is needless and dangerous transparency.”

Graham said there is consensus among many senators, military officials and diplomats about the need to pass the bill. Even the White House is in support, he said, and helped them draft the bill, remaining supportive of it in conference. Both senators dismissed House Democrats’ concerns about the bill as “naive” opinions held by a “fringe minority.” By Jeff Muskus for The Huffington Post. Click here to read more.
Forbarackobamaonline.com

Road construction employees work on a project funded by the federal stimulus in May in Littleton, Colorado.

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday is presenting to President Obama the “Roadmap to Recovery,” a plan to accelerate the implementation of the $787 billion stimulus plan in its second 100 days.

Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February, vowing the program would create or save 3.5 million jobs. So far, 150,000 jobs have been saved or created by the plan — fewer than that 345,000 jobs lost in May alone.

The White House says as a result of the expedited pace, the recovery plan will create or save more than 600,000 jobs in the second 100 days. But House Republicans, who never supported the stimulus, are saying, “I told you so.”

“Today’s announcement is an acknowledgement that the Democrats’ trillion-dollar stimulus is not working, and the American people know it,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement Monday. Source: CNN.com. Click here to continue reading.

Forbarackobamaonline.com

These officials _ both Democrats and others briefed _ also say top lawmakers in the House are considering imposing a new tax on certain health insurance benefits as one of numerous options to help pay for expanding coverage to the uninsured. No details are available, and these officials stressed that no final decisions have been made.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt a presentation set for Tuesday for members of the House Democratic rank and file.

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

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama is making a mistake on health care by insisting on a government insurance option for the middle class, influential Republicans said in a letter to the White House released Monday.

It could cost him chances for broad support across the political divide, the nine lawmakers, all members of the Senate Finance Committee, warned. Source: The Huffington Post. Click here to continue reading.

Forbarackobamaonline.com

Forbarackobamaonline.com

His most important campaign promises repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the military ban on openly gay and lesbian service-members have not been fulfilled.

And the news, which emerged quietly earlier this year, that he’d supported same-sex marriage back in 1996, then changed his mind, especially rankles. As mainstream Democratic politicians such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) move to support same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates say that the barrier-breaking president looks increasingly odd for opposing what they see as full equality.

“Obama is out of step with his party, which is overwhelmingly in favor of marriage at this stage,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist who is among the organizers of a march on Washington for same-sex marriage scheduled for this fall. “He’s out of step with the next generation.”

Forbarackobamaonline.com

Sotomayor, who grew up in a New York City housing project and went on to Princeton and Yale universities, “says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if she measures up,” Mrs. Obama said at Howard University, chiming in on Sotomayor’s behalf as her husband began a Mideast trip.

It was a subtle but pointed counter to Republicans who have cited Sotomayor’s speeches and writings about how her background affects her work as a judge to question whether she would let her personal biases interfere with her judicial decisions.

Hours earlier, Gingrich told supporters in a letter that he shouldn’t have called Sotomayor a racist, adding that the word had been “perhaps too strong and direct.” But he said the 2001 speech that prompted his remark, in which Sotomayor said she hoped the rulings of a “wise Latina” would be better than those of a white male without similar experiences, was still unacceptable.

Gingrich conceded that Sotomayor’s rulings have “shown more caution and moderation” than her speeches and writings, but he said the 2001 comments “reveal a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system _ that everyone is equal before the law.”

Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the high court.

Gingrich’s comments and similar ones by radio host Rush Limbaugh _ who on Wednesday said Sotomayor would bring “racism” and “bigotry” to the court _ have enraged Sotomayor’s backers and caused problems for GOP figures who have been pushing to bring more diversity to the party.

By:JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS Source:The HuffingtonPost. Click here to continue reading.

Forbarackobamaonline.com

Analysts on Israeli television stations criticized the American president for failing to mention the word terror in his speech even once, opting instead to use violence. While the professionalism and conviction Obama delivered his speech was praised by some Israeli officials, others felt the president’s reference to the Holocaust followed by a direct passage where he spoke of the suffering and humiliation of the Palestinian people was hurtful and unnecessary.

The speech is reported to have been well received within Cairo itself, according to the Washington Post:

The fact that Barack Obama chose Egypt as the location for Thursday’s address to the Muslim world endeared him to the locals, who are always proud to host a foreigner and even prouder when it shows off their history.

Representing a more cynical, but predictable viewpoint is Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who issued a statement Thursday to say that it will take much more than “words, speech and slogan” to repair America’s “ugly, detested and rough” image, according to the AP.

Likewise, a spokesman for Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Ayman Taha, relayed similarly unimpressed sentiments, describing the approach laid out in the speech as “no different from the policy of his predecessor, George W. Bush,” the BBC reports.

Source: Huffington Post/AP |  Stuart Whatle. Click here to continue reading.

Forbarackobamaonline.com