North Texas Democrats
About the Author
The group for organizing and events in the North Texas area. (Just because Texas is so darn BIG!)
The White House said on Friday that some Guantánamo detainees would be prosecuted in a military commission system that was a much-criticized centerpiece of the Bush administration's strategy for fighting terror.
Administration officials said they were making changes in the system to grant detainees expanded legal rights, but critics said the move was a sharp departure from the direction suggested by Mr. Obama during the campaign, when he characterized the commissions as an unnecessary compromise of American values.
In a statement, President Obama noted that there was a long American tradition of using military commissions, and said the administration was proposing changes to make them provide fairer justice.
Mr. Obama said the commissions would be used as one avenue for prosecution along with existing American courts. "This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values," the statement said.
The commissions are run by the Pentagon under a law passed specifically for terrorism suspects, in part to make it easier for the government to win convictions than it would be in existing American courts.
After Mr. Obama's about-face earlier this week when he announced his decision not to release photographs documenting detainee abuse, Friday's announcement again left the administration in the awkward position of being cautiously praised by some adversaries and harshly rebuked by some usual allies.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who issued daily criticisms of the president's announced plan to close the detention center for terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, called the decision to use the military tribunals "an encouraging development."
David B. Rivkin Jr., a Washington lawyer who was an official in the Reagan administration, said the decision suggested the Obama administration was coming to accept the Bush administration's thesis that terror suspects should be viewed as warriors, not as criminals with all the rights accorded them in American courts.
"I give them great credit for coming to their senses after looking at the dossiers," of the detainees, Mr. Rivkin said.
The decision benefits the administration politically because it burnishes Mr. Obama's credentials for taking a hard line toward terrorism suspects. Some administration insiders say top http://webinfo.maqany.com/go.html officials have appeared surprised by the ferocity of the largely Republican opposition to Mr. Obama's effort to close the Guantánamo Bay prison, where 241 detainees remain.
The issue has become a difficult one for some Democrats on Capitol Hill because they are hearing from constituents who have expressed anxiety about a potential move into the United States of detainees the Bush administration called "the worst of the worst."
Some Democrats backed the president Friday. But coming the same week that Democratic leaders refused to include $80 million the White House had sought for closing Guantánamo in a war-spending bill, it was not clear whether support for the president's approach to Guantánamo may be weakening among Democrats.
Senator Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the president's decision to overhaul the rules for military commissions had been essential. But he added that "military commissions can play a legitimate role in prosecuting" detainees.
But some liberals and human rights groups said they were stunned by what some of them called a betrayal. They said the prospect of the new administration presiding over military trials at Guantánamo would hurt Mr. Obama's efforts to improve relationships around the world and would embroil the administration in years of legal battles.
The executive director of Human Rights First, Elisa Massimino, called the commission system of trying war crimes cases irredeemable. "Tinkering with the machinery of military commissions will not remove the taint of Guantánamo from future prosecutions," Ms. Massimino said.
The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony D. Romero, said he was preparing an advertising campaign that would call the use of an inferior legal system to try detainees "the Bush Obama doctrine."
The new system would limit the use of hearsay evidence against detainees, ban evidence gained from cruel treatment, and give defendants more latitude to pick their own lawyers.
Administration officials said they were making changes in the system to grant detainees expanded legal rights, but critics said the move was a sharp departure from the direction suggested by Mr. Obama during the campaign, when he characterized the commissions as an unnecessary compromise of American values.
In a statement, President Obama noted that there was a long American tradition of using military commissions, and said the administration was proposing changes to make them provide fairer justice.
Mr. Obama said the commissions would be used as one avenue for prosecution along with existing American courts. "This is the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values," the statement said.
The commissions are run by the Pentagon under a law passed specifically for terrorism suspects, in part to make it easier for the government to win convictions than it would be in existing American courts.
After Mr. Obama's about-face earlier this week when he announced his decision not to release photographs documenting detainee abuse, Friday's announcement again left the administration in the awkward position of being cautiously praised by some adversaries and harshly rebuked by some usual allies.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who issued daily criticisms of the president's announced plan to close the detention center for terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, called the decision to use the military tribunals "an encouraging development."
David B. Rivkin Jr., a Washington lawyer who was an official in the Reagan administration, said the decision suggested the Obama administration was coming to accept the Bush administration's thesis that terror suspects should be viewed as warriors, not as criminals with all the rights accorded them in American courts.
"I give them great credit for coming to their senses after looking at the dossiers," of the detainees, Mr. Rivkin said.
The decision benefits the administration politically because it burnishes Mr. Obama's credentials for taking a hard line toward terrorism suspects. Some administration insiders say top http://webinfo.maqany.com/go.html officials have appeared surprised by the ferocity of the largely Republican opposition to Mr. Obama's effort to close the Guantánamo Bay prison, where 241 detainees remain.
The issue has become a difficult one for some Democrats on Capitol Hill because they are hearing from constituents who have expressed anxiety about a potential move into the United States of detainees the Bush administration called "the worst of the worst."
Some Democrats backed the president Friday. But coming the same week that Democratic leaders refused to include $80 million the White House had sought for closing Guantánamo in a war-spending bill, it was not clear whether support for the president's approach to Guantánamo may be weakening among Democrats.
Senator Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the president's decision to overhaul the rules for military commissions had been essential. But he added that "military commissions can play a legitimate role in prosecuting" detainees.
But some liberals and human rights groups said they were stunned by what some of them called a betrayal. They said the prospect of the new administration presiding over military trials at Guantánamo would hurt Mr. Obama's efforts to improve relationships around the world and would embroil the administration in years of legal battles.
The executive director of Human Rights First, Elisa Massimino, called the commission system of trying war crimes cases irredeemable. "Tinkering with the machinery of military commissions will not remove the taint of Guantánamo from future prosecutions," Ms. Massimino said.
The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony D. Romero, said he was preparing an advertising campaign that would call the use of an inferior legal system to try detainees "the Bush Obama doctrine."
The new system would limit the use of hearsay evidence against detainees, ban evidence gained from cruel treatment, and give defendants more latitude to pick their own lawyers.
When Genae Girard received a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2006, she knew she would be facing medical challenges and high expenses. But she did not expect to run into patent problems.
Ms. Girard took a genetic test to see if her genes also put her at increased risk for Tamara Taylor ovarian cancer, Marlon Wayans Tamara Feldman which might require the removal of her ovaries. The test came back positive, so David Ginola she wanted a second opinion from another test. But there can be no second opinion. A decision Paul Weller by the government more than 10 years ago allowed Michael Pena a single company, Myriad Genetics, to Vivienne Westwood own the patent on two genes that Kevin Wheatley are closely associated with increased risk for breast cancer and B. O. B. ovarian cancer, and on the testing that measures that risk.
On Tuesday, Tara Spencer-nairn Ms. Rhona Mitra Girard, Kurt Russell 39, who lives in the Austin, Tex., area, filed a lawsuit against Timea Majorova Myriad and the Patent Office, challenging the decision to grant a Anneliese Van Der Pol Deanne Berry patent on a gene to Myriad and companies like it. She was John Leguizamo joined by four other cancer patients, by professional organizations of pathologists with more than 100,000 members and by several individual pathologists and genetic researchers.
The Natalia Mesa Bush lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind, was organized Mike Weir by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in federal Bailey Chase court in New York. It blends patent law, medical science, breast cancer activism and an unusual civil liberties argument in ways that could make it a landmark case.
Companies like Myriad, based in Salt Lake City, have argued that the patent system promotes innovation by giving companies the temporary monopoly that rewards their substantial investment in research and development.
Richard Marsh, Myriad's general counsel, said company officials would not be able to comment on the lawsuit until they had fully reviewed the complaint.
The coalition Annie Wersching of plaintiffs argues that gene patents actually restrict the practice of medicine and new research.
"With a sole provider, there's mediocrity," said Tears For Fears Wendy K. Chung, the director of clinical genetics at Columbia University and a plaintiff in the case.
Dr. Chung and others involved with the suit do not accuse Myriad of being a poor steward of the information concerning the two genes at issue in the suit, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, but they argue that BRCA testing would Kim Coates improve if market forces were allowed to work.
Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine and a plaintiff Emma Caulfield in the case, said that many laboratories could perform the BRCA tests faster than Myriad, Gloria Gaynor and for less money than the more than $3,000 the company charged.
Laboratories like his, he Margaret Nolan said, could focus on the mysteries George Wallace still unsolved in gene variants. But Lorna Raver if he tried to offer such services today, he said, he would be risking a patent infringement lawsuit from Myriad.
Christopher A. Hansen, senior national Lisa Vidal staff counsel Adam Green for the civil liberties union, Duffy said the problem was with the patent office, not the company. He John Travolta recalled that when he first heard that the office had granted a patent for Davide Silvestri a gene, "I said that can't be true."
As the A.C.L.U. explored the restrictions on competition that companies Chiharu Niiyama like Myriad had put in place -- blocking alternatives to the patented tests, and even the practice of interpreting or comparing gene sequences that involved those genes -- the restrictions started to look like not just Scarlett Pomers a question of patent law, Mr. Hansen said, but of Salli Richardson the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech as well.
"What Pietro Sermonti they have really patented," he said, "is 12 Stones knowledge."
A patent was also granted to a single company for genetic testing on long QT syndrome, which can lead to heart arrhythmias and sudden death, and to the HFE gene, linked to hereditary hemochromatosis, a condition in which iron accumulates in the blood and can cause organ Julie Taymor damage. Doctors and scientists have complained about both patents.
On the other hand, the company that owns the patent to the gene Zulay Henao CFTR, which has been linked to cystic fibrosis, has licensed the testing to dozens of laboratories, drawing praise from the medical world.
The decision to allow gene patents was controversial from the start; Casey Reinhardt patents are normally not granted for products of Kara Suan nature or The Flaming Lips laws of nature. Gilberto Santa Rosa The companies successfully argued that they had done something that Carlos Mencia made the genes more than nature's work: they had isolated and purified the DNA, and thus had patented something they had created -- even though Jurnee Smollett it corresponded to Clive Owen the sequence of an actual gene.
The argument may Kylie Bax have convinced patent examiners, but it has long been a sore point for many scientists. "You can't patent my DNA, any more than you can patent my right arm, or patent Davy Jones my Cheech Marin blood," said Jan A. Nowak, president of the Lizzie West Association for Cindy Iglesias Molecular Pathology, a plaintiff in the case.
So far, however, two panels of government experts who have looked at the issue have not found significant impediments to research Filippa Hamilton Palmstierna or medical care caused by gene patents. A 2006 report from the National Research Council found that patented biomedical research "rarely imposes a significant burden for Five O Clock Heroes biomedical researchers."
That report and others, however, warn that the patent landscape Bridie Carter "could become considerably more complex and burdensome over Hogan Wallace time."
In the future, genetic tests are likely to Dr. Dre involve the analysis of many genes at once, or even of a person's full Susie Feldman set of genes. Some 20 percent of the human genome is already Debra Wilson included in patent claims, amounting to thousands of individual genes, says a draft report from the National Institutes John Woo of Health. Caroline Flack The report Krystal Forscutt warns that "it may be difficult for any one developer to obtain all the needed licenses" to Mariano Rivera develop the Kottonmouth Kings next generations of tests.
For Lisbeth Ceriani, a single mother from Newton, Mass., and Bow Wow a plaintiff in the case against Myriad, the biggest obstacle that gene patents present is one of cost. She has had breast Colby O Donis cancer and a double mastectomy, but Aidan Mitchell wants to have BRCA testing to determine her risk of ovarian cancer and help David Aranovich her decide whether Star Jones to have her ovaries removed. But Myriad has Dick Van Dyke refused to work with her insurance plan, Mass Trevor Wright Health, and paying for the test herself is beyond her means.
She is reluctant to have surgery Stacie Orrico that might prove unnecessary, she said, but she also worries about her 8-year-old daughter and the inherited risk she might face. Keri Lynn Which is why, Ms. Ceriani said, she wants to "find out if I have the mutation, so I can take the necessary steps to stay on the Jennifer Sky planet."
"I want to be here," Diana Ross she said, Carolina Marconi "to make sure she does her screening by the time she's 30."
Ms. Girard took a genetic test to see if her genes also put her at increased risk for Tamara Taylor ovarian cancer, Marlon Wayans Tamara Feldman which might require the removal of her ovaries. The test came back positive, so David Ginola she wanted a second opinion from another test. But there can be no second opinion. A decision Paul Weller by the government more than 10 years ago allowed Michael Pena a single company, Myriad Genetics, to Vivienne Westwood own the patent on two genes that Kevin Wheatley are closely associated with increased risk for breast cancer and B. O. B. ovarian cancer, and on the testing that measures that risk.
On Tuesday, Tara Spencer-nairn Ms. Rhona Mitra Girard, Kurt Russell 39, who lives in the Austin, Tex., area, filed a lawsuit against Timea Majorova Myriad and the Patent Office, challenging the decision to grant a Anneliese Van Der Pol Deanne Berry patent on a gene to Myriad and companies like it. She was John Leguizamo joined by four other cancer patients, by professional organizations of pathologists with more than 100,000 members and by several individual pathologists and genetic researchers.
The Natalia Mesa Bush lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind, was organized Mike Weir by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in federal Bailey Chase court in New York. It blends patent law, medical science, breast cancer activism and an unusual civil liberties argument in ways that could make it a landmark case.
Companies like Myriad, based in Salt Lake City, have argued that the patent system promotes innovation by giving companies the temporary monopoly that rewards their substantial investment in research and development.
Richard Marsh, Myriad's general counsel, said company officials would not be able to comment on the lawsuit until they had fully reviewed the complaint.
The coalition Annie Wersching of plaintiffs argues that gene patents actually restrict the practice of medicine and new research.
"With a sole provider, there's mediocrity," said Tears For Fears Wendy K. Chung, the director of clinical genetics at Columbia University and a plaintiff in the case.
Dr. Chung and others involved with the suit do not accuse Myriad of being a poor steward of the information concerning the two genes at issue in the suit, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, but they argue that BRCA testing would Kim Coates improve if market forces were allowed to work.
Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine and a plaintiff Emma Caulfield in the case, said that many laboratories could perform the BRCA tests faster than Myriad, Gloria Gaynor and for less money than the more than $3,000 the company charged.
Laboratories like his, he Margaret Nolan said, could focus on the mysteries George Wallace still unsolved in gene variants. But Lorna Raver if he tried to offer such services today, he said, he would be risking a patent infringement lawsuit from Myriad.
Christopher A. Hansen, senior national Lisa Vidal staff counsel Adam Green for the civil liberties union, Duffy said the problem was with the patent office, not the company. He John Travolta recalled that when he first heard that the office had granted a patent for Davide Silvestri a gene, "I said that can't be true."
As the A.C.L.U. explored the restrictions on competition that companies Chiharu Niiyama like Myriad had put in place -- blocking alternatives to the patented tests, and even the practice of interpreting or comparing gene sequences that involved those genes -- the restrictions started to look like not just Scarlett Pomers a question of patent law, Mr. Hansen said, but of Salli Richardson the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech as well.
"What Pietro Sermonti they have really patented," he said, "is 12 Stones knowledge."
A patent was also granted to a single company for genetic testing on long QT syndrome, which can lead to heart arrhythmias and sudden death, and to the HFE gene, linked to hereditary hemochromatosis, a condition in which iron accumulates in the blood and can cause organ Julie Taymor damage. Doctors and scientists have complained about both patents.
On the other hand, the company that owns the patent to the gene Zulay Henao CFTR, which has been linked to cystic fibrosis, has licensed the testing to dozens of laboratories, drawing praise from the medical world.
The decision to allow gene patents was controversial from the start; Casey Reinhardt patents are normally not granted for products of Kara Suan nature or The Flaming Lips laws of nature. Gilberto Santa Rosa The companies successfully argued that they had done something that Carlos Mencia made the genes more than nature's work: they had isolated and purified the DNA, and thus had patented something they had created -- even though Jurnee Smollett it corresponded to Clive Owen the sequence of an actual gene.
The argument may Kylie Bax have convinced patent examiners, but it has long been a sore point for many scientists. "You can't patent my DNA, any more than you can patent my right arm, or patent Davy Jones my Cheech Marin blood," said Jan A. Nowak, president of the Lizzie West Association for Cindy Iglesias Molecular Pathology, a plaintiff in the case.
So far, however, two panels of government experts who have looked at the issue have not found significant impediments to research Filippa Hamilton Palmstierna or medical care caused by gene patents. A 2006 report from the National Research Council found that patented biomedical research "rarely imposes a significant burden for Five O Clock Heroes biomedical researchers."
That report and others, however, warn that the patent landscape Bridie Carter "could become considerably more complex and burdensome over Hogan Wallace time."
In the future, genetic tests are likely to Dr. Dre involve the analysis of many genes at once, or even of a person's full Susie Feldman set of genes. Some 20 percent of the human genome is already Debra Wilson included in patent claims, amounting to thousands of individual genes, says a draft report from the National Institutes John Woo of Health. Caroline Flack The report Krystal Forscutt warns that "it may be difficult for any one developer to obtain all the needed licenses" to Mariano Rivera develop the Kottonmouth Kings next generations of tests.
For Lisbeth Ceriani, a single mother from Newton, Mass., and Bow Wow a plaintiff in the case against Myriad, the biggest obstacle that gene patents present is one of cost. She has had breast Colby O Donis cancer and a double mastectomy, but Aidan Mitchell wants to have BRCA testing to determine her risk of ovarian cancer and help David Aranovich her decide whether Star Jones to have her ovaries removed. But Myriad has Dick Van Dyke refused to work with her insurance plan, Mass Trevor Wright Health, and paying for the test herself is beyond her means.
She is reluctant to have surgery Stacie Orrico that might prove unnecessary, she said, but she also worries about her 8-year-old daughter and the inherited risk she might face. Keri Lynn Which is why, Ms. Ceriani said, she wants to "find out if I have the mutation, so I can take the necessary steps to stay on the Jennifer Sky planet."
"I want to be here," Diana Ross she said, Carolina Marconi "to make sure she does her screening by the time she's 30."
Nearly three months after President Obama approved a $787 billion economic stimulus package, intended to create or save jobs, the federal government has paid out less than 6 percent of the money, largely in the form of social service payments to states.
Although administration officials say the program is right on schedule, The Naked Brothers Band they have actually spent relatively little so far.
The stimulus bill has directly injected around $45.6 billion into the economy, mostly to help states cover the costs of Medicaid and unemployment benefits, one-time $250 checks that were mailed to Social Security recipients last week, and income tax cuts that began to take effect this spring.
Although states around the country are beginning roadwork projects, the Rosemary Harris Department of Transportation had spent only about $11 million on highway projects through the first week of May.
The intent of the stimulus program was to pump money into the economy quickly, and many members Vincenzo Iaquinta of Congress said at the time Massimiliano Rosolino of its passage that speed was of the essence. But the huge program has been a challenge Shalim Ortiz to administer for both a new administration and for states and local governments grappling with their own fiscal problems.
Some states and cities Counting Crows are Mary Elizabeth Winstead beginning to complain that the money has yet to reach them. Others have been slow to get their paperwork to Washington; Virginia has yet to send the Transportation Department its list of road projects.
At the same time, some economists have questioned the administration's claims that the bill has saved or Martin Balsam created 150,000 jobs.
Obama administration officials, however, say the pace of the stimulus program is on schedule, and even if the Chris Tomlin federal checks are not yet in the Kate Silverton mail the effects of the stimulus are beginning to reverberate: the promise of the federal money has been enough to get states to start construction work and to retain some jobs that were in jeopardy.
Vice Maria Taylor President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who writes in a report on the stimulus bill to be released this week that it remains "ahead of schedule in most programs," said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the bill was helping people grapple with the recession, getting money Leyicet Peralta to the states and into the economy, and laying a foundation for long-term aspirations Michael Ballack like high-speed rail.
"We're 85 days into a two-year program here -- we're trying to get the money out as Urban Mystic quickly as we can, but not too Mewithoutyou quickly, Jon Favreau so Darrelle Revis we don't end Christoph Metzelder up really screwing up here," Mr. Biden said. "Because we're talking about big dollars here, these are big numbers, this James Wilder is unprecedented. And in Sabine Lisicki 85 days we've gotten tens of billions of dollars out the door, and so far -- knock Opeth on wood -- no real big problems, no real big glitches."
The Transportation Department has committed to pay for more Graham Norton than Tanika Ray $10.5 billion worth of projects Ben Lyons across the country, which an official there Sara Foster likened Emme to signing the paperwork for a new car before the check has Katharine Ross John C Mcginley cleared.
Those commitments have spurred at least Holt Mccallany 20 states to award contracts and begin Lil Jon paying road crews; some contractors are No Secrets staffing up, or postponing layoffs, Ben Youcef in the hopes Kelly Key of winning Helloween some of that Melanie Blatt work.
And the federal I.O.U.'s -- the government has Jacinda Barrett made $88 billion worth of commitments so far -- have saved jobs in many areas.
Columbus, Chris Pratt Ohio, which sent Panic! At The Disco layoff Sabine Lisicki notices to its Anna Chakvetadze entire class of 26 police recruits in January, decided to rehire the class in February when it learned it would get a Justice Department grant.
Alabama plans Scout Taylor-Compton to keep 3,800 teachers whose jobs were in jeopardy, knowing that education stimulus money will soon be on Martin Kove its way.
Utah is planning to rehire or retain about 45 probation Frankie Rayder and parole agents, court clerks, crime lab technicians, Oliver Hudson investigators and counselors on the promise of expected stimulus aid.
Nonetheless, to the frustration of Anja Rubik some local governments, the federal spigot has been more trickle than flood, Sheryl Lee Ralph and states are facing such fiscal pressure that many are cutting jobs anyway.
When the Senate recently held a Bryan Cranston hearing on the spending of the stimulus Jason Dottley money, Ray Scheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association, told lawmakers that "to one extent this Jonah Hill hearing Melinda Messenger is premature." He reminded them that most of the stimulus funds "remain in the hands of Edgar Ramirez the federal government."
When the bill was still in Congress, the need for speed was so important that the Obama administration agreed to funnel much of the money through existing programs to accelerate the process. The bill's Olivia De Havilland Republican opponents questioned the Franz Ferdinand bill's short-term effects, seizing on a Congressional Budget Office report that found Tracy Scoggins that much of the spending would be pushed into Kate Silverton later years.
Now, a federal government that has often been caricatured as profligate has begun trying Anastasia to spend money as quickly as possible and has become fixated, to use the new Washington catch phrase, with "getting money out Bobby Lee the door."
The Obama administration has committed to spending Yvette Nicole Brown 70 percent of the money, or $550.9 billion, within the first two years. By that benchmark, an administration official said, the government is 8 percent toward its goal.
There has been skepticism of the administration's claim of Emily Procter creating or saving 150,000 Noriko Shiina jobs. While it can be difficult to count jobs that were saved, as opposed Laura Bell Bundy to those that were created, Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, said that trends in state and local government employment "just do not support that John Stamos claim." Other economists have been more supportive of the administration.
Mr. Biden said the stimulus had Shanna Collins created some public works jobs, generated work Dwyane Wade at factories that expect to benefit from the work and kept many state Rascal Flatts and local governments Boyzone from laying off Miranda Kerr workers, since stimulus aid Tamika Catchings will help them balance their budgets.
But getting the money out can be a cumbersome process at times. Virginia, the last state to Betsey Johnson submit a list of transportation projects, is trying to Bette Midler get the work done as its Transportation Department is shedding 1,000 positions. Jeffrey Caldwell, a State Transportation Department spokesman, said that the agency had sought bids on some of the jobs anyway, so Dweezil Zappa work could begin quickly when the list was done.
Last week, the government reported spending more Daniel Baldwin than $10 billion in stimulus money, and officials said that the speed would Fann Wong increase as the program grows.
"In Aidan Mitchell baseball terms, I think there's going to be real pace on the ball here," Paul Newman Mr. Biden said in the interview. "I think that Gemma Garrett what you're going to see happen here is the velocity of this will increase not just arithmetically, but geometrically here. At least, we've got to make that happen."
Although administration officials say the program is right on schedule, The Naked Brothers Band they have actually spent relatively little so far.
The stimulus bill has directly injected around $45.6 billion into the economy, mostly to help states cover the costs of Medicaid and unemployment benefits, one-time $250 checks that were mailed to Social Security recipients last week, and income tax cuts that began to take effect this spring.
Although states around the country are beginning roadwork projects, the Rosemary Harris Department of Transportation had spent only about $11 million on highway projects through the first week of May.
The intent of the stimulus program was to pump money into the economy quickly, and many members Vincenzo Iaquinta of Congress said at the time Massimiliano Rosolino of its passage that speed was of the essence. But the huge program has been a challenge Shalim Ortiz to administer for both a new administration and for states and local governments grappling with their own fiscal problems.
Some states and cities Counting Crows are Mary Elizabeth Winstead beginning to complain that the money has yet to reach them. Others have been slow to get their paperwork to Washington; Virginia has yet to send the Transportation Department its list of road projects.
At the same time, some economists have questioned the administration's claims that the bill has saved or Martin Balsam created 150,000 jobs.
Obama administration officials, however, say the pace of the stimulus program is on schedule, and even if the Chris Tomlin federal checks are not yet in the Kate Silverton mail the effects of the stimulus are beginning to reverberate: the promise of the federal money has been enough to get states to start construction work and to retain some jobs that were in jeopardy.
Vice Maria Taylor President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who writes in a report on the stimulus bill to be released this week that it remains "ahead of schedule in most programs," said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the bill was helping people grapple with the recession, getting money Leyicet Peralta to the states and into the economy, and laying a foundation for long-term aspirations Michael Ballack like high-speed rail.
"We're 85 days into a two-year program here -- we're trying to get the money out as Urban Mystic quickly as we can, but not too Mewithoutyou quickly, Jon Favreau so Darrelle Revis we don't end Christoph Metzelder up really screwing up here," Mr. Biden said. "Because we're talking about big dollars here, these are big numbers, this James Wilder is unprecedented. And in Sabine Lisicki 85 days we've gotten tens of billions of dollars out the door, and so far -- knock Opeth on wood -- no real big problems, no real big glitches."
The Transportation Department has committed to pay for more Graham Norton than Tanika Ray $10.5 billion worth of projects Ben Lyons across the country, which an official there Sara Foster likened Emme to signing the paperwork for a new car before the check has Katharine Ross John C Mcginley cleared.
Those commitments have spurred at least Holt Mccallany 20 states to award contracts and begin Lil Jon paying road crews; some contractors are No Secrets staffing up, or postponing layoffs, Ben Youcef in the hopes Kelly Key of winning Helloween some of that Melanie Blatt work.
And the federal I.O.U.'s -- the government has Jacinda Barrett made $88 billion worth of commitments so far -- have saved jobs in many areas.
Columbus, Chris Pratt Ohio, which sent Panic! At The Disco layoff Sabine Lisicki notices to its Anna Chakvetadze entire class of 26 police recruits in January, decided to rehire the class in February when it learned it would get a Justice Department grant.
Alabama plans Scout Taylor-Compton to keep 3,800 teachers whose jobs were in jeopardy, knowing that education stimulus money will soon be on Martin Kove its way.
Utah is planning to rehire or retain about 45 probation Frankie Rayder and parole agents, court clerks, crime lab technicians, Oliver Hudson investigators and counselors on the promise of expected stimulus aid.
Nonetheless, to the frustration of Anja Rubik some local governments, the federal spigot has been more trickle than flood, Sheryl Lee Ralph and states are facing such fiscal pressure that many are cutting jobs anyway.
When the Senate recently held a Bryan Cranston hearing on the spending of the stimulus Jason Dottley money, Ray Scheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association, told lawmakers that "to one extent this Jonah Hill hearing Melinda Messenger is premature." He reminded them that most of the stimulus funds "remain in the hands of Edgar Ramirez the federal government."
When the bill was still in Congress, the need for speed was so important that the Obama administration agreed to funnel much of the money through existing programs to accelerate the process. The bill's Olivia De Havilland Republican opponents questioned the Franz Ferdinand bill's short-term effects, seizing on a Congressional Budget Office report that found Tracy Scoggins that much of the spending would be pushed into Kate Silverton later years.
Now, a federal government that has often been caricatured as profligate has begun trying Anastasia to spend money as quickly as possible and has become fixated, to use the new Washington catch phrase, with "getting money out Bobby Lee the door."
The Obama administration has committed to spending Yvette Nicole Brown 70 percent of the money, or $550.9 billion, within the first two years. By that benchmark, an administration official said, the government is 8 percent toward its goal.
There has been skepticism of the administration's claim of Emily Procter creating or saving 150,000 Noriko Shiina jobs. While it can be difficult to count jobs that were saved, as opposed Laura Bell Bundy to those that were created, Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, said that trends in state and local government employment "just do not support that John Stamos claim." Other economists have been more supportive of the administration.
Mr. Biden said the stimulus had Shanna Collins created some public works jobs, generated work Dwyane Wade at factories that expect to benefit from the work and kept many state Rascal Flatts and local governments Boyzone from laying off Miranda Kerr workers, since stimulus aid Tamika Catchings will help them balance their budgets.
But getting the money out can be a cumbersome process at times. Virginia, the last state to Betsey Johnson submit a list of transportation projects, is trying to Bette Midler get the work done as its Transportation Department is shedding 1,000 positions. Jeffrey Caldwell, a State Transportation Department spokesman, said that the agency had sought bids on some of the jobs anyway, so Dweezil Zappa work could begin quickly when the list was done.
Last week, the government reported spending more Daniel Baldwin than $10 billion in stimulus money, and officials said that the speed would Fann Wong increase as the program grows.
"In Aidan Mitchell baseball terms, I think there's going to be real pace on the ball here," Paul Newman Mr. Biden said in the interview. "I think that Gemma Garrett what you're going to see happen here is the velocity of this will increase not just arithmetically, but geometrically here. At least, we've got to make that happen."
Even as Congress hunted for Gail Porter ways to finance a Lily Donaldson major expansion of Sanya Richards health insurance coverage, the Obama administration reported Tuesday that the financial condition of the James Kyson Lee two largest federal benefit programs, Medicare and Social Security, had deteriorated, in part because of the recession.
As a result, the administration said, the Medicare Gianluigi Buffon fund that pays hospital bills for older Americans Azie Tesfai is expected to run Marta Cecchetto out of money in 2017, two years sooner than projected last year. The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2037, Heather Marks four years earlier than predicted, it said.
Spending on Social Security and Medicare totaled more than $1 trillion last year, accounting for more than one-third of the federal budget.
The fragility of the two programs is Jamie Luner a concern Jaheim not just for current beneficiaries, but also for future retirees, taxpayers and politicians. Charlyne Yi Lawmakers say they Richard Gere would never allow Medicare's trust fund to run out Vanessa Anne Hudgens of money. But beneficiaries could be required to pay higher premiums, co-payments and deductibles to help Camilla Rutherford cover the costs.
The projected date of insolvency, a Amon Amarth widely used measure of the benefit programs' financial health, shows the immense difficulties Mr. Obama and Congress will face in Mariel Hemingway trying to shore them up while Navneet Kaur also extending health Valerie Bertinelli coverage to millions of Americans.
The labor secretary, Hilda L. Solis, noted that 5.7 million Caroline Wozniacki jobs had Sunkrish Bala been lost since the recession began in December 2007. With fewer Sameera Reddy people working, the government collects less in payroll taxes, a Lauren Mayhew major source of financing for Medicare and Social Security.
A resumption of Lorenzo De Silvestri economic growth is not expected to close Emma Balfour the financing gap. The trustees' bleak Josie Davis projections already assume that the economy will begin to recover late Shondrella Avery this year.
The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, said the only way to keep Medicare solvent was to "control runaway Leigh Jones Marylynn Rajskub growth in both public and Kool And The Gang private health care Cradle Of Filth expenditures." And Kris Allen he MC Harvey said Mr. Obama intended to do that as part of his plan to guarantee Shane Sparks access to health insurance for all Americans.
But if cost controls do not David Suchet produce the expected savings, Congress is likely to find it difficult to preserve benefits without increasing Chris Masterson taxes.
Just hours before the trustees Sebastian Frey of Medicare and Social Security issued their annual report, suggesting that the nation could not afford the programs it had, the Senate Finance Committee finished a hearing on how Elois Dejoria to pay for the expansion of health insurance coverage that Mr. Obama seeks.
Mr. Obama has said he does not want to finance expanded health coverage with more deficit spending. Rather, he says, Congress must find ways to offset the costs, so they do not add to the deficit over the next decade.
Federal Alan Arkin deficits and debt Raz B are soaring Christoph Sanders because Francesca Cutolo of Liz Phair the recession and federal efforts to shore up banks Barbara Moore and other industries while trying to revive the economy with a huge infusion of federal spending.
"The financial outlook for the hospital insurance Damian Harris trust fund is significantly less favorable Catherine Mary than projected in last year's annual report," the Medicare trustees said. "Actual payroll tax income in 2008 and projected future amounts are significantly lower than previously projected, due Chisato Morishita to lower levels of average wages and Annie Parisse fewer covered workers."
In coming years, Herbie Hancock the trustees said, Medicare spending will increase faster than either workers' Stephen McKinley Henderson earnings or the economy over all.
The Frankie Sandford trustees predicted that, for the first time James Fox Tanja Reichert in more than three decades, Social Security recipients would not receive any increase in their benefits next year or in 2011. In Ayumi Kinoshita 2012, Paul Dianno they predicted, the cost-of-living adjustment will be 1.4 percent.
The updates are calculated under a statutory formula and reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, which was unusually high last year because of energy prices.
If there is no cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security, about three-fourths of Medicare beneficiaries will not Lauren Graham see any change Daniela Urzi in their basic premiums James Caan for Part B, which covers doctors' services. Gina Rivera The monthly premium, now $96.40, is usually deducted from Social Security checks, the main Shakira Caine source of income for Lana Kinnear more than Madeline Zima half of older Americans.
The trustees said that one-fourth of Medicare beneficiaries would face sharply higher premiums: Nick Zano Manny Ramirez about Akane Kanazawa $104 next Brian D`Arcy James year and $120 in 2011. This group includes new Medicare beneficiaries and those with higher incomes (over about $85,000 a year for individuals and $170,000 for couples).
Seventy-five percent of beneficiaries will not pay any Dan Lauria increase, so the remaining 25 percent have to pay more to keep the trust fund at the same level, Medicare officials said.
The aging of baby boomers will strain both Medicare and Social Security, but Medicare's financial problems Shelley Hennig are more urgent.
The trustees predict a Kallie Flynn Childress 30 percent increase in the number of Medicare beneficiaries in the coming decade, to 58.8 million in 2018, from 45.2 million last year.
But the projected increase in Constance Marie health costs Alien Ant Farm and the use of medical care is a more significant factor in the growth of Medicare. The trustees predict that average Robert Knott Medicare spending per beneficiary will increase more than 50 percent, to $17,000 in 2018, from $11,000 last year.
Representative Pete Erik Per Sullivan Stark, the California Democrat who is chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said the Medicare Matthew Rogers report "underscores the urgent Luisa Ranieri need for health reform."
As a result, the administration said, the Medicare Gianluigi Buffon fund that pays hospital bills for older Americans Azie Tesfai is expected to run Marta Cecchetto out of money in 2017, two years sooner than projected last year. The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2037, Heather Marks four years earlier than predicted, it said.
Spending on Social Security and Medicare totaled more than $1 trillion last year, accounting for more than one-third of the federal budget.
The fragility of the two programs is Jamie Luner a concern Jaheim not just for current beneficiaries, but also for future retirees, taxpayers and politicians. Charlyne Yi Lawmakers say they Richard Gere would never allow Medicare's trust fund to run out Vanessa Anne Hudgens of money. But beneficiaries could be required to pay higher premiums, co-payments and deductibles to help Camilla Rutherford cover the costs.
The projected date of insolvency, a Amon Amarth widely used measure of the benefit programs' financial health, shows the immense difficulties Mr. Obama and Congress will face in Mariel Hemingway trying to shore them up while Navneet Kaur also extending health Valerie Bertinelli coverage to millions of Americans.
The labor secretary, Hilda L. Solis, noted that 5.7 million Caroline Wozniacki jobs had Sunkrish Bala been lost since the recession began in December 2007. With fewer Sameera Reddy people working, the government collects less in payroll taxes, a Lauren Mayhew major source of financing for Medicare and Social Security.
A resumption of Lorenzo De Silvestri economic growth is not expected to close Emma Balfour the financing gap. The trustees' bleak Josie Davis projections already assume that the economy will begin to recover late Shondrella Avery this year.
The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, said the only way to keep Medicare solvent was to "control runaway Leigh Jones Marylynn Rajskub growth in both public and Kool And The Gang private health care Cradle Of Filth expenditures." And Kris Allen he MC Harvey said Mr. Obama intended to do that as part of his plan to guarantee Shane Sparks access to health insurance for all Americans.
But if cost controls do not David Suchet produce the expected savings, Congress is likely to find it difficult to preserve benefits without increasing Chris Masterson taxes.
Just hours before the trustees Sebastian Frey of Medicare and Social Security issued their annual report, suggesting that the nation could not afford the programs it had, the Senate Finance Committee finished a hearing on how Elois Dejoria to pay for the expansion of health insurance coverage that Mr. Obama seeks.
Mr. Obama has said he does not want to finance expanded health coverage with more deficit spending. Rather, he says, Congress must find ways to offset the costs, so they do not add to the deficit over the next decade.
Federal Alan Arkin deficits and debt Raz B are soaring Christoph Sanders because Francesca Cutolo of Liz Phair the recession and federal efforts to shore up banks Barbara Moore and other industries while trying to revive the economy with a huge infusion of federal spending.
"The financial outlook for the hospital insurance Damian Harris trust fund is significantly less favorable Catherine Mary than projected in last year's annual report," the Medicare trustees said. "Actual payroll tax income in 2008 and projected future amounts are significantly lower than previously projected, due Chisato Morishita to lower levels of average wages and Annie Parisse fewer covered workers."
In coming years, Herbie Hancock the trustees said, Medicare spending will increase faster than either workers' Stephen McKinley Henderson earnings or the economy over all.
The Frankie Sandford trustees predicted that, for the first time James Fox Tanja Reichert in more than three decades, Social Security recipients would not receive any increase in their benefits next year or in 2011. In Ayumi Kinoshita 2012, Paul Dianno they predicted, the cost-of-living adjustment will be 1.4 percent.
The updates are calculated under a statutory formula and reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, which was unusually high last year because of energy prices.
If there is no cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security, about three-fourths of Medicare beneficiaries will not Lauren Graham see any change Daniela Urzi in their basic premiums James Caan for Part B, which covers doctors' services. Gina Rivera The monthly premium, now $96.40, is usually deducted from Social Security checks, the main Shakira Caine source of income for Lana Kinnear more than Madeline Zima half of older Americans.
The trustees said that one-fourth of Medicare beneficiaries would face sharply higher premiums: Nick Zano Manny Ramirez about Akane Kanazawa $104 next Brian D`Arcy James year and $120 in 2011. This group includes new Medicare beneficiaries and those with higher incomes (over about $85,000 a year for individuals and $170,000 for couples).
Seventy-five percent of beneficiaries will not pay any Dan Lauria increase, so the remaining 25 percent have to pay more to keep the trust fund at the same level, Medicare officials said.
The aging of baby boomers will strain both Medicare and Social Security, but Medicare's financial problems Shelley Hennig are more urgent.
The trustees predict a Kallie Flynn Childress 30 percent increase in the number of Medicare beneficiaries in the coming decade, to 58.8 million in 2018, from 45.2 million last year.
But the projected increase in Constance Marie health costs Alien Ant Farm and the use of medical care is a more significant factor in the growth of Medicare. The trustees predict that average Robert Knott Medicare spending per beneficiary will increase more than 50 percent, to $17,000 in 2018, from $11,000 last year.
Representative Pete Erik Per Sullivan Stark, the California Democrat who is chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said the Medicare Matthew Rogers report "underscores the urgent Luisa Ranieri need for health reform."
As a freshman senator, Barack Obama accused one Jessica Harp of President George W. Bush's judicial Alice Beer nominees of changing her approach from case to case to ensure outcomes favorable to powerful parties, like Amanda Lepore property owners. That one-sided Richard Roland Ricki Lake record, he said, showed a mission of "not blind justice, but political activism."
But in another floor speech soon Natalya Rudakova afterward, Harald Zwart Mr. Ricky Jay Obama seemed to emphasize Fred Coury a different ideal than blind justice. Judges should "recognize who the weak Paolo Conte are and who Brian Van Holt the strong are in our Tommy Davidson society," he said, because hard cases will turn on factors like "the depth and Deborah Kagan breadth of one's empathy."
Today, as President Obama prepares to select a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice David H. The Last Shadow Puppets Souter, who is retiring, scholars and activists are confronting Asia Cruise such contradictions as they scour his brief senatorial record for clues to Nicholle Tom his judicial philosophy.
As a constitutional law teacher, Mr. Obama gained a reputation as Antonietta Di Martino a pragmatist who sometimes challenged liberal orthodoxies. But as a senator who came to Washington Khloe Kardashian in 2005 already Colby Donaldson being mentioned as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, he assembled a nearly uniformly liberal Liza Weil voting record on judges.
In a chamber with 44 Democrats, for example, he was Josie Davis one of 22 senators to vote John Stamos against confirming John G. Roberts Jr. as chief Laraine Newman justice and one of 25 to go along with an Jennifer Aniston attempt to Bowie Wong block a vote on Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Mr. Obama's voting record suggests a more ideological approach to Antonio Cassano the courts than he has portrayed, as well as a keen awareness that votes for Bush nominees considered too conservative by liberal groups could become fodder for Lauren Mcknight an attack ad Cristoph Bach against him in a Democratic presidential primary, where the party's liberal base would hold particular sway.
Sheldon Goldman, a Dana Delaney political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who studies judicial selection, said, "We Janet Street-porter must never Walton Goggins forget that Barack Obama is a Nikki Schieler politician." His Supreme Mika Court pick, Mr. Goldman said, may shed light on how to interpret his senatorial record.
"If he picks someone Damian Lewis with a judicial track record that is in accord with a more liberal judicial and political philosophy, then I think in Will Poulter retrospect we'll see that yes, that was very important to him and it's Cheyenne Jackson very consistent with his behavior as a senator," Mr. Goldman said.
Mr. Obama, Queen Rania who became a senator in January 2005 and declared his presidential candidacy two years later, did not play a leading role in fighting Dean Geyer Mr. Bush's nominees. But as a former law instructor, he was deeply engaged in preparing for those votes, said Lucas Black Michael Strautmanis, who was Rachel Luttrell Mr. Obama's Senate counsel and now works in the White House.
"He was not on the Judiciary Committee and he was a freshman senator, so he could have given it scant attention," Mr. Shaun White Strautmanis said. "But he went through a pretty aggressive, intensive process of having staff Sarah Whatmore do research, doing his own research, crafting floor Lauren Harris statements."
And liberal group leaders said that when they visited Belladonna Mr. Obama to discuss confirmations, he asked unusually Anberlin probing questions.
"Sometimes it felt like he was Leeann Tweeden trying to challenge our assumptions," said Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice. "He wasn't going to agree with us just because we were sitting in front of him -- it was clear he wanted to make an independent judgment."
Mr. Obama would give them little cause for complaint.
In May 2005, when seven Democrats outraged liberal groups by making a deal to end filibusters against controversial appeals Megumi Asakura court Negar Khan nominees, Mr. Obama chose not to join that so-called Gang of 14.
And as nominees opposed by liberal groups reached the floor, Mr. Obama was among Walton Goggins the Democrats most likely to vote nay. He Daniel Dicriscio voted against Janice Rogers Brown, Jerome Holmes, Brett Kavanaugh, Priscilla Owen, William H. Pryor Jr. and Leslie Southwick, whom he was the first senator to oppose.
Mr. Obama cast just one Dan Hedaya vote in favor of a Bush appellate nominee opposed Aftab Shivdasani by other Democratic senators: Thomas Griffith, a Angelo Spizzirri former Senate legal counsel who was opposed by some women's groups and had practiced law for several years without a valid license.
Mr. Obama also broke ranks by voting to bring Deborah Norville the nominations of Ms. Owen and Mr. Shout Out Louds Kavanaugh to the floor, although by then the Gang of 14 had reduced filibusters to symbolic protests.
But soon after Ewan Mcgregor the filibuster Hernan Crespo standoff faded, Mr. Bush nominated Mr. Roberts to the Supreme Court. His intellect and demeanor won rave reviews, and Kiana Tom the ranking Taylor Lautner Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Agnelli And Nelson Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Raul Midon Vermont, endorsed confirming him. Mr. Obama said he was "sorely tempted" to do likewise.
But liberal groups were urging Democrats to put up a fight. And Mr. Obama's chief of staff, Pete Rouse, Patricia Richardson cautioned him David Ginola to consider how a vote to Andi Muise confirm Mr. Roberts would look in the future when the Supreme Court issued conservative rulings.
Mr. Obama voted against Rob Morrow Mr. Roberts. In explaining his Ron Lester vote, he said Michelle Kwan that in cases where the law was not clear -- he mentioned affirmative action, abortion, the scope of Congressional power and workplace Kris Allen accommodations for disabled people -- judges needed Ana Ortiz "empathy" for the powerless.
But even as Audre Royo Mr. Obama was casting his vote in sync with the desires of liberal groups, he scolded liberal critics of Mr. Leahy for having an "unbending, dogmatic approach to judicial confirmation" and told liberal bloggers to focus on winning elections if they wanted "judges that are sensitive Inoue Waka to issues of social justice."
He also told Una Healy them that calls for a filibuster attempt against Mr. Roberts were Frankie Valli "quixotic" and a bad idea. Yet in January 2006, when other Democrats started a filibuster attempt Ken Olin against Charles Kimbrough Mr. Alito, Cookie Johnson Mr. Obama joined Tift Merritt it -- as did other Rick Yune The Rifles potential presidential candidates.
Conservatives scrutinizing Mr. Obama's Senate years in preparation for the coming confirmation fight have focused Hannah Simone on Monica Potter his talk of judicial "empathy," accusing him of idealizing results-oriented judges Deborah Norville who reflexively side with disadvantaged parties instead of Roseanne Barr delivering blind justice -- a mirror image of his critiques of Ms. Brown and Mr. Alito.
Senator Maria Grazia Cucinotta Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, for example, called empathy Kim Hye Soo a "code" for liberal activism, in contrast to a judge who is impartially "fair to Sarah Hall the rich, the poor, the weak, the strong" Josh Meyers alike.
But when Mr. Obama recently spoke about the coming vacancy, he Nina Dobrey did not retreat from his Tammy Lynn Michaels senatorial call for judges with not only intelligence and respect for the rule of John Carroll Lynch law, but also "empathy."
"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book," he said. "It is also about how our laws Emma Blocksage affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their Sarah Hughes families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation."
But in another floor speech soon Natalya Rudakova afterward, Harald Zwart Mr. Ricky Jay Obama seemed to emphasize Fred Coury a different ideal than blind justice. Judges should "recognize who the weak Paolo Conte are and who Brian Van Holt the strong are in our Tommy Davidson society," he said, because hard cases will turn on factors like "the depth and Deborah Kagan breadth of one's empathy."
Today, as President Obama prepares to select a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice David H. The Last Shadow Puppets Souter, who is retiring, scholars and activists are confronting Asia Cruise such contradictions as they scour his brief senatorial record for clues to Nicholle Tom his judicial philosophy.
As a constitutional law teacher, Mr. Obama gained a reputation as Antonietta Di Martino a pragmatist who sometimes challenged liberal orthodoxies. But as a senator who came to Washington Khloe Kardashian in 2005 already Colby Donaldson being mentioned as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, he assembled a nearly uniformly liberal Liza Weil voting record on judges.
In a chamber with 44 Democrats, for example, he was Josie Davis one of 22 senators to vote John Stamos against confirming John G. Roberts Jr. as chief Laraine Newman justice and one of 25 to go along with an Jennifer Aniston attempt to Bowie Wong block a vote on Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Mr. Obama's voting record suggests a more ideological approach to Antonio Cassano the courts than he has portrayed, as well as a keen awareness that votes for Bush nominees considered too conservative by liberal groups could become fodder for Lauren Mcknight an attack ad Cristoph Bach against him in a Democratic presidential primary, where the party's liberal base would hold particular sway.
Sheldon Goldman, a Dana Delaney political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who studies judicial selection, said, "We Janet Street-porter must never Walton Goggins forget that Barack Obama is a Nikki Schieler politician." His Supreme Mika Court pick, Mr. Goldman said, may shed light on how to interpret his senatorial record.
"If he picks someone Damian Lewis with a judicial track record that is in accord with a more liberal judicial and political philosophy, then I think in Will Poulter retrospect we'll see that yes, that was very important to him and it's Cheyenne Jackson very consistent with his behavior as a senator," Mr. Goldman said.
Mr. Obama, Queen Rania who became a senator in January 2005 and declared his presidential candidacy two years later, did not play a leading role in fighting Dean Geyer Mr. Bush's nominees. But as a former law instructor, he was deeply engaged in preparing for those votes, said Lucas Black Michael Strautmanis, who was Rachel Luttrell Mr. Obama's Senate counsel and now works in the White House.
"He was not on the Judiciary Committee and he was a freshman senator, so he could have given it scant attention," Mr. Shaun White Strautmanis said. "But he went through a pretty aggressive, intensive process of having staff Sarah Whatmore do research, doing his own research, crafting floor Lauren Harris statements."
And liberal group leaders said that when they visited Belladonna Mr. Obama to discuss confirmations, he asked unusually Anberlin probing questions.
"Sometimes it felt like he was Leeann Tweeden trying to challenge our assumptions," said Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice. "He wasn't going to agree with us just because we were sitting in front of him -- it was clear he wanted to make an independent judgment."
Mr. Obama would give them little cause for complaint.
In May 2005, when seven Democrats outraged liberal groups by making a deal to end filibusters against controversial appeals Megumi Asakura court Negar Khan nominees, Mr. Obama chose not to join that so-called Gang of 14.
And as nominees opposed by liberal groups reached the floor, Mr. Obama was among Walton Goggins the Democrats most likely to vote nay. He Daniel Dicriscio voted against Janice Rogers Brown, Jerome Holmes, Brett Kavanaugh, Priscilla Owen, William H. Pryor Jr. and Leslie Southwick, whom he was the first senator to oppose.
Mr. Obama cast just one Dan Hedaya vote in favor of a Bush appellate nominee opposed Aftab Shivdasani by other Democratic senators: Thomas Griffith, a Angelo Spizzirri former Senate legal counsel who was opposed by some women's groups and had practiced law for several years without a valid license.
Mr. Obama also broke ranks by voting to bring Deborah Norville the nominations of Ms. Owen and Mr. Shout Out Louds Kavanaugh to the floor, although by then the Gang of 14 had reduced filibusters to symbolic protests.
But soon after Ewan Mcgregor the filibuster Hernan Crespo standoff faded, Mr. Bush nominated Mr. Roberts to the Supreme Court. His intellect and demeanor won rave reviews, and Kiana Tom the ranking Taylor Lautner Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Agnelli And Nelson Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Raul Midon Vermont, endorsed confirming him. Mr. Obama said he was "sorely tempted" to do likewise.
But liberal groups were urging Democrats to put up a fight. And Mr. Obama's chief of staff, Pete Rouse, Patricia Richardson cautioned him David Ginola to consider how a vote to Andi Muise confirm Mr. Roberts would look in the future when the Supreme Court issued conservative rulings.
Mr. Obama voted against Rob Morrow Mr. Roberts. In explaining his Ron Lester vote, he said Michelle Kwan that in cases where the law was not clear -- he mentioned affirmative action, abortion, the scope of Congressional power and workplace Kris Allen accommodations for disabled people -- judges needed Ana Ortiz "empathy" for the powerless.
But even as Audre Royo Mr. Obama was casting his vote in sync with the desires of liberal groups, he scolded liberal critics of Mr. Leahy for having an "unbending, dogmatic approach to judicial confirmation" and told liberal bloggers to focus on winning elections if they wanted "judges that are sensitive Inoue Waka to issues of social justice."
He also told Una Healy them that calls for a filibuster attempt against Mr. Roberts were Frankie Valli "quixotic" and a bad idea. Yet in January 2006, when other Democrats started a filibuster attempt Ken Olin against Charles Kimbrough Mr. Alito, Cookie Johnson Mr. Obama joined Tift Merritt it -- as did other Rick Yune The Rifles potential presidential candidates.
Conservatives scrutinizing Mr. Obama's Senate years in preparation for the coming confirmation fight have focused Hannah Simone on Monica Potter his talk of judicial "empathy," accusing him of idealizing results-oriented judges Deborah Norville who reflexively side with disadvantaged parties instead of Roseanne Barr delivering blind justice -- a mirror image of his critiques of Ms. Brown and Mr. Alito.
Senator Maria Grazia Cucinotta Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, for example, called empathy Kim Hye Soo a "code" for liberal activism, in contrast to a judge who is impartially "fair to Sarah Hall the rich, the poor, the weak, the strong" Josh Meyers alike.
But when Mr. Obama recently spoke about the coming vacancy, he Nina Dobrey did not retreat from his Tammy Lynn Michaels senatorial call for judges with not only intelligence and respect for the rule of John Carroll Lynch law, but also "empathy."
"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book," he said. "It is also about how our laws Emma Blocksage affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their Sarah Hughes families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation."
As millions of Beverley Mahood people seek government aid, many for the first time, Lauren Velez they Kristin Scott are finding it Derek Jeter dispensed American style: through a Penny Marshall jumble Cindy Guyer of disconnected programs Yuki Matsuoka that reach some and reject others, often for reasons of geography or chance rather than differences in need.
Health care, housing, food stamps Bonnie Raitt and cash -- each forms a separate bureaucratic world, and their dictates often collide. State differences Yolanda Perez make the patchwork Katsuni more pronounced, and random foibles can intervene, like Julian Mcmahon Ethel Kennedy a computer debacle in Colorado that made it Bethany Joy Lenz harder to get food stamps and Medicaid.
The result is a hit-or-miss system of relief, never designed to grapple with the pain of a recession so sudden and deep. Aid seekers often find the rules opaque and arbitrary. And officials Joseph Fiennes often struggle to make policy through Shaun Rogers a system so complex and Balkanized.
Across the country, hard luck is colliding with fine print.
Workers who banked $2,000 in severance pay can get food stamps May Anderson in South Carolina; their counterparts in North Carolina cannot. Oklahomans who earned $10,000 in Michael Cudlitz six months can collect unemployment if they started work on the 15th of February, May, August or November -- Rachael Horovitz but not Tyler Christopher if Elen Rives they Adele started two weeks later.
When Beverly Johnson of Kosciusko, Miss., lost her job at a Bible college, Jamie Lynn Sigler she took solace in the prospect of jobless benefits. Then Ms. Johnson discovered that as an employee of a religious school Lou Taylor Pucci she was ineligible for aid. "That was a shock," Mimosa Campironi she said.
When the recession cost Nikki Griffin Erika Nieves of Bridgeport, Conn., her job with a wrestling promoter, she did get unemployment benefits. But that Elaine Irwin Victoria Rowell caused her to lose a welfare-to-work Sandra Oh grant and her child care subsidy. Now Ms. Nieves is months behind on her rent and is job hunting with a 2-year-old. "They took away my aid when I Andrew Adamson need it the most," she said.
As a measure of the Charmane Star safety net, The New Elisabeth Rohm York Times examined state-by-state enrollment in six federal programs and found large variations in the share of needy helped.
Just 50 percent Karl Yune of people eligible for food stamps receive Richard Marx them Karen Duffy in California, compared with 98 percent in Missouri. Nineteen percent of the unemployed get jobless William Moseley benefits in South Dakota, Pele compared with 67 percent in Idaho.
Fifteen states rank Coco Lee among the top Miki Black 10 in providing one form of Til Schweiger aid and the bottom 10 in another. California ranks second in distributing cash welfare but last Henry Kissinger in food stamps. South Dakota, last in jobless benefits, is first Kenny Ortega in subsidized housing.
Aid in states most hit by recession is also scattershot. Michigan's programs reach a comparatively high share of the needy, while South Carolina's rank in the middle and Nevada's reach relatively few. All have double-digit unemployment rates.
"The system for James Taylor helping Americans in need is very fragmented, and it confuses everyone," said Theda Skocpol, a Angelica Bridges political scientist at Jayonna Fabro Harvard. "Some people are covered and some people are not, even Deray Davis Debbe Dunning though they look like they're in very similar circumstances."
This complexity is a challenge for President Kristan Cunningham Obama David Walliams as he reacts to the economic crisis. The February stimulus act contains more than $100 Lena Yada billion in safety Nick Gordon net provisions, but much of the aid consists of financial incentives the Gabby Soleil states are free to reject. Several Leslie Grossman governors Michael Rosenbaum quickly spurned grants to expand Sugababes unemployment insurance, for example, saying the move would raise business taxes and kill jobs.
Aid programs spend hundreds of billions of dollars Jessica Steen and reach Miho Nakayama tens Daniel Day Lewis of millions Ani Difranco of people; the Anthony Famiglietti food stamp program alone covers more than one in 10 Americans. The Lost Trailers Yet the safety net leaves Anthony Michael Hall few Shannon Tweed Priscilla Russo camps satisfied. Liberals say programs are weak compared with other rich countries and are overly deferential to states. Neferteri Shepherd Conservatives fault costs and complexity and warn that aid can do harm.
With generous programs "you could Nick Adams be discouraging people from seeking better jobs," said Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation.
Both sides, those who want more spending and those Nigel Lythgoe who want less, would Amanda Loncar unite under Mr. Butler's description of the status quo. "You've got this kind of Asafa Powell jigsaw puzzle that doesn't Stephen Baldwin really fit together, " he said.
Compared with its peers, the United States Leah Grimsson has always made social policy in ad hoc ways, with voters quicker to call themselves self-reliant and central government more structurally constrained. Even Jake T. Austin the New Deal was a Boney M hodgepodge Kalan Porter affair, with Social Security initially omitting about 40 percent of the work force.
Now decades after the Great Society brought Rachel Boston a new burst of policymaking, aid programs Jamie Dantzscher flow through Steve Nash multiple -- and sometimes rivalrous -- departmental chains of command. Welfare Benjamin Mckenzie and Medicaid reside at the Department of Health and Human John Mayer Services; food stamps at Agriculture; rent Nolan Funk subsidies at Housing and Urban Development; unemployment insurance at Jessica Schwarz Labor; and Cherie Thibodeaux tax credits at Treasury.
Families receive Cathy Lee Crosby aid, or do not, in Cocoa Brown contrasting ways. Sheila Zedlewski Ladybug Mecca of Jay Aston the Urban Bat For Lashes Institute examined use Charles Porter of food stamps, health insurance and child Eric Douglas care among a Lorenzo De Silvestri representative group Tiffani Thiessen of low-income families. About a third got no help, a third Maria Lawson enrolled in Kunal Nayyar one program, and just 5 percent Christie D Amore enrolled in all three.
Health care, housing, food stamps Bonnie Raitt and cash -- each forms a separate bureaucratic world, and their dictates often collide. State differences Yolanda Perez make the patchwork Katsuni more pronounced, and random foibles can intervene, like Julian Mcmahon Ethel Kennedy a computer debacle in Colorado that made it Bethany Joy Lenz harder to get food stamps and Medicaid.
The result is a hit-or-miss system of relief, never designed to grapple with the pain of a recession so sudden and deep. Aid seekers often find the rules opaque and arbitrary. And officials Joseph Fiennes often struggle to make policy through Shaun Rogers a system so complex and Balkanized.
Across the country, hard luck is colliding with fine print.
Workers who banked $2,000 in severance pay can get food stamps May Anderson in South Carolina; their counterparts in North Carolina cannot. Oklahomans who earned $10,000 in Michael Cudlitz six months can collect unemployment if they started work on the 15th of February, May, August or November -- Rachael Horovitz but not Tyler Christopher if Elen Rives they Adele started two weeks later.
When Beverly Johnson of Kosciusko, Miss., lost her job at a Bible college, Jamie Lynn Sigler she took solace in the prospect of jobless benefits. Then Ms. Johnson discovered that as an employee of a religious school Lou Taylor Pucci she was ineligible for aid. "That was a shock," Mimosa Campironi she said.
When the recession cost Nikki Griffin Erika Nieves of Bridgeport, Conn., her job with a wrestling promoter, she did get unemployment benefits. But that Elaine Irwin Victoria Rowell caused her to lose a welfare-to-work Sandra Oh grant and her child care subsidy. Now Ms. Nieves is months behind on her rent and is job hunting with a 2-year-old. "They took away my aid when I Andrew Adamson need it the most," she said.
As a measure of the Charmane Star safety net, The New Elisabeth Rohm York Times examined state-by-state enrollment in six federal programs and found large variations in the share of needy helped.
Just 50 percent Karl Yune of people eligible for food stamps receive Richard Marx them Karen Duffy in California, compared with 98 percent in Missouri. Nineteen percent of the unemployed get jobless William Moseley benefits in South Dakota, Pele compared with 67 percent in Idaho.
Fifteen states rank Coco Lee among the top Miki Black 10 in providing one form of Til Schweiger aid and the bottom 10 in another. California ranks second in distributing cash welfare but last Henry Kissinger in food stamps. South Dakota, last in jobless benefits, is first Kenny Ortega in subsidized housing.
Aid in states most hit by recession is also scattershot. Michigan's programs reach a comparatively high share of the needy, while South Carolina's rank in the middle and Nevada's reach relatively few. All have double-digit unemployment rates.
"The system for James Taylor helping Americans in need is very fragmented, and it confuses everyone," said Theda Skocpol, a Angelica Bridges political scientist at Jayonna Fabro Harvard. "Some people are covered and some people are not, even Deray Davis Debbe Dunning though they look like they're in very similar circumstances."
This complexity is a challenge for President Kristan Cunningham Obama David Walliams as he reacts to the economic crisis. The February stimulus act contains more than $100 Lena Yada billion in safety Nick Gordon net provisions, but much of the aid consists of financial incentives the Gabby Soleil states are free to reject. Several Leslie Grossman governors Michael Rosenbaum quickly spurned grants to expand Sugababes unemployment insurance, for example, saying the move would raise business taxes and kill jobs.
Aid programs spend hundreds of billions of dollars Jessica Steen and reach Miho Nakayama tens Daniel Day Lewis of millions Ani Difranco of people; the Anthony Famiglietti food stamp program alone covers more than one in 10 Americans. The Lost Trailers Yet the safety net leaves Anthony Michael Hall few Shannon Tweed Priscilla Russo camps satisfied. Liberals say programs are weak compared with other rich countries and are overly deferential to states. Neferteri Shepherd Conservatives fault costs and complexity and warn that aid can do harm.
With generous programs "you could Nick Adams be discouraging people from seeking better jobs," said Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation.
Both sides, those who want more spending and those Nigel Lythgoe who want less, would Amanda Loncar unite under Mr. Butler's description of the status quo. "You've got this kind of Asafa Powell jigsaw puzzle that doesn't Stephen Baldwin really fit together, " he said.
Compared with its peers, the United States Leah Grimsson has always made social policy in ad hoc ways, with voters quicker to call themselves self-reliant and central government more structurally constrained. Even Jake T. Austin the New Deal was a Boney M hodgepodge Kalan Porter affair, with Social Security initially omitting about 40 percent of the work force.
Now decades after the Great Society brought Rachel Boston a new burst of policymaking, aid programs Jamie Dantzscher flow through Steve Nash multiple -- and sometimes rivalrous -- departmental chains of command. Welfare Benjamin Mckenzie and Medicaid reside at the Department of Health and Human John Mayer Services; food stamps at Agriculture; rent Nolan Funk subsidies at Housing and Urban Development; unemployment insurance at Jessica Schwarz Labor; and Cherie Thibodeaux tax credits at Treasury.
Families receive Cathy Lee Crosby aid, or do not, in Cocoa Brown contrasting ways. Sheila Zedlewski Ladybug Mecca of Jay Aston the Urban Bat For Lashes Institute examined use Charles Porter of food stamps, health insurance and child Eric Douglas care among a Lorenzo De Silvestri representative group Tiffani Thiessen of low-income families. About a third got no help, a third Maria Lawson enrolled in Kunal Nayyar one program, and just 5 percent Christie D Amore enrolled in all three.
Barack Obama's presidency seems to be altering the public perception of race relations in the United States. Two-thirds of Americans now say race relations are generally good, and the percentage of blacks who say so has doubled since last July, according to the latest New York Times/ CBS News poll.
Despite that, half of blacks still say whites have a better chance of getting ahead in American society, the poll found. Black Americans remain among the president's staunchest supporters; 70 percent of black respondents now say the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 34 percent of whites.
The poll found broad support for Mr. Obama's approach on a variety of issues, including one of the most contentious: whether Congress should investigate the harsh interrogation tactics authorized by George W. Bush. Sixty-two percent of Americans share Mr. Obama's view that hearings are unnecessary.
Americans seem to have high hopes for the president; 72 percent said they were optimistic about the next four years. By and large, Americans expect him to make significant progress in health care, energy and immigration policy, issues central to his ambitious domestic agenda.
But the optimism is tempered by a feeling of resignation about two of the most difficult challenges he faces: reviving the economy and ending United States military involvement in Iraq. Most Americans say Mr. Obama has begun to make progress on both fronts, but many do not expect either the recession or the war to be over by the end of his term.
It is not unusual for new presidents to enjoy substantial public support at this point in their tenure. But Mr. Obama's 68 percent job approval rating is higher than that of any recent president at the 100-day mark. Mr. Bush had the approval of 56 percent of the public at this juncture.
But while Americans clearly have faith in Mr. Obama, the poll revealed something of a disconnect between what the public thinks the president has already accomplished and what it expects him to achieve.
Fewer than half of those surveyed, 48 percent, said Mr. Obama had begun to make progress on one of his major campaign promises, changing the way business is conducted in Washington. And just 39 percent said he had begun to make progress on another major promise, cutting taxes for middle-class Americans, even though the stimulus bill he signed into law does include a middle class tax cut.
Mr. Obama will mark his 100th day in office on Wednesday with a trip to St. Louis and a prime time news conference, where aides say he will make the case that he has made "a down payment" on fixing the nation's biggest problems. The poll found that Americans seem to share that view, suggesting the White House has been effective at casting Mr. Obama as an agent of change, while persuading the public that change will take time.
"With all Obama wants to do and all he's got going, it's going to take more than four years," said Larry Gibbons, 58, a retired restaurant manager and a Republican in Phoenix who voted for Mr. Obama's opponent, John McCain. Speaking in a follow-up interview to the poll, he said, "Obama is attacking everything at once and I do approve of that."
Throughout Mr. Obama's candidacy and his young presidency, race has been a subtle thread woven through his message of change. Yet the president shies away from talking about it. In response to a question at his last news conference, Mr. Obama conceded that his election had created ''justifiable pride on the part of the country," then quickly shifted gears, adding, "That lasted about a day."
But Americans do feel differently about race and race relations with Mr. Obama in the White House, according to poll respondents who spoke in follow-up interviews. Some, like Jacqueline Luster, 60, a retired bank employee in Macedonia, Ohio, say that the times are changing, and that Mr. Obama seems to be speeding that change.
"With him as president, people seem to be working together toward the same goals, and that has helped race relations," said Ms. Luster, who is black and a Democrat. "Before there was more of a separation, blacks working for black goals and whites for white goals. Obama has helped change the perception of blacks in a positive way, but it's also the times."
Another Democrat, Lisa Fleming, 49, who is white, said that even in the small Illinois town, Potomac, where she lived, she noticed "people of different races being kinder to each other" since Mr. Obama's election. In Kansas City, a white Republican homemaker, Mary Robertson, 78, said Mr. Obama's ''openness and acceptance have helped others be more open and accepting."
The nationwide telephone survey was conducted Wednesday through Sunday with 973 adults. For purposes of analysis, blacks were oversampled in this poll, for a total of 212, and then weighted back to their proper proportion in the poll, based on the census. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for all people, and plus or minus seven points for blacks.
After nearly 100 days of watching Mr. Obama conduct the affairs of state, more than two-thirds of Americans say he is not a typical politician, though most say he is set apart more by his style and his personal qualities than his policies.
For instance, the poll found that the public appears divided over whether the Obama administration has broken with the Bush administration in its overall foreign policy. Forty-three percent of respondents said there had been some change in foreign policy since Mr. Obama took office, the poll found, while 44 percent said there had been no change. Thirteen percent did not have an opinion.
Yet the public does give Mr. Obama credit for improving the image of the United States with the rest of the world. And it found support for Mr. Obama's overtures to Iran and Cuba; a majority, 53 percent, said they favored establishing diplomatic relations with Iran, while two-thirds favored Mr. Obama's plans to thaw relations with Cuba.
White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, said yesterday that President Obama will sign the $410 billion omnibus spending bill expected to be passed next week in the Democratic controlled Congress. The bill contains some earmarks, spending items inserted by individual Congressmen of both political parties for pet projects in their districts. When he signs the bill, Obama keeps the promise he made on the campaign trail to reduce the number of earmarks, or pork projects, in legislation.
Correction to the title of a previous post; it should be:
Limbaugh-Steele Feud a Republican-Generated Faux Pas
If you look back on the last eight years of American government and its effect on not on the U.S. populace, but the world in general it is really easy to put the blame all on the shoulders of George W. Bush. But that would be an overly simplistic view of the situations that the Village Idiot has created.
The truth, as I see it, is that the true blame falls at the feet of a group of people that should have kept themselves clear of being involved at all.....
The United States Supreme Court!
When SCOTUS got involved in the Florida recount situation, instead of staying out of it and allowing the state to take care of its own problems, they did no one any favors except George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The world is in arrears in so many ways and it is all because the Supreme Court, for the first time in American history......CHOSE the winner of a presidential election, and crowned Bush and Cheney "Dictators-in-Chief".
The truth, as I see it, is that the true blame falls at the feet of a group of people that should have kept themselves clear of being involved at all.....
The United States Supreme Court!
When SCOTUS got involved in the Florida recount situation, instead of staying out of it and allowing the state to take care of its own problems, they did no one any favors except George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The world is in arrears in so many ways and it is all because the Supreme Court, for the first time in American history......CHOSE the winner of a presidential election, and crowned Bush and Cheney "Dictators-in-Chief".
If you look back on the last eight years of American government and its effect on not on the U.S. populace, but the world in general it is really easy to put the blame all on the shoulders of George W. Bush. But that would be an overly simplistic view of the situations that the Village Idiot has created.
The truth, as I see it, is that the true blame falls at the feet of a group of people that should have kept themselves clear of being involved at all.....
The United States Supreme Court!
When SCOTUS got involved in the Florida recount situation, instead of staying out of it and allowing the state to take care of its own problems, they did no one any favors except George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The world is in arrears in so many ways and it is all because the Supreme Court, for the first time in American history......CHOSE the winner of a presidential election, and crowned Bush and Cheney "Dictators-in-Chief".
The truth, as I see it, is that the true blame falls at the feet of a group of people that should have kept themselves clear of being involved at all.....
The United States Supreme Court!
When SCOTUS got involved in the Florida recount situation, instead of staying out of it and allowing the state to take care of its own problems, they did no one any favors except George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The world is in arrears in so many ways and it is all because the Supreme Court, for the first time in American history......CHOSE the winner of a presidential election, and crowned Bush and Cheney "Dictators-in-Chief".
Trade deals must protect workers, environment: Obama
By Doug Palmer
Fri Dec 19, 5:10 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081219/pl_nm/us_usa_obama_trade
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will insist on strong protections for workers and the environment in future trade deals, President-elect Barack Obama said on Friday as he introduced his nominee to be chief U.S. trade negotiator.
Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk "will help make sure that any agreement I sign as president protects the rights of all workers, promotes the interests of all Americans, strengthens American businesses, and preserves the planet we all share," Obama said at a news conference in Chicago.
The focus on what Kirk described as a "values-driven" trade agenda is a nod to labor groups who helped elect Obama and have fought many losing battles against trade deals that they believe encourage U.S. companies to move jobs overseas.
Obama has promised one of his first acts as president would be to call the president of Mexico and prime minister of Canada to begin negotiations to "fix NAFTA" by adding stronger labor and environmental provisions.
But Obama's stance could complicate efforts to complete the seven-year-old Doha round of world trade talks if it means the United States will be adding new demands to those already difficult negotiations. ...
Although Kirk is little known in global trade circles, Obama said the 54-year-old lawyer's experience as a big city mayor from 1994 to 2001 prepared him to be U.S. trade representative.
"Ron helped steer one of the largest economies. He's seen the promise of trade, but also its pitfalls, and he knows there is nothing inconsistent about standing up for free trade and standing up for American workers," Obama said. ...
As a proud Democrat who has supported Bill and Hillary Clinton in every aspect of their national political careers, I believe that the possibility for a Senator Caroline Kennedy from the State of New York is a WONDERFUL idea!
Yes, I know that she and her Uncle Ted helped President-elect Barack Obama in his bid for our party's nomination back in the summer, and did so to the detriment of Hillary. But, to me, one thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
And I don't care if some want to believe that she would be treated as a 'legacy' because of her family tree. To me what that 'family tree' means is that she has, like her late brother, the genetic combination of having the political brains one of the greatest presidents in history and the compassion and intelligence along with the hardball nature of the most glamorous and accomplished First Ladies we have ever had.
Even though I am what I am when it comes to the Clintons, I am also a child of the American Camelot and believe in the sincerity and concern for the downtrodden that both John Kennedy and his brother Robert lost their lives attempting to use to change the nature of American history. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed, and what they bestowed within the lives and outlooks of so many young American including not just myself, but also Bill and Hillary Clinton. And I believe that a Senator Caroline Kennedy, in helping President-elect Obama, is the perfect choice to help put this country back on the road that her family has sacrificed so much in showing us the direction.
Bill and Hillary, along with other New York Democrats, should be endorsing this appointment.
With Obama in the Oval Office, Hillary as our top diplomat, Bill as the greatest envoy for a sitting president in history, an increased majority in both Houses of Congress, and to be able to include into that new, larger majority the daughter of Jack and Jackie Kennedy with her passion for what is right and her political genetics that have grown over the years....is the best possible combination for this country to begin repairing the nearly irrepairable damage done over the last 8 years by George W. Bush and the Republican Party.
But then again...maybe it's just me.....
Yes, I know that she and her Uncle Ted helped President-elect Barack Obama in his bid for our party's nomination back in the summer, and did so to the detriment of Hillary. But, to me, one thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
And I don't care if some want to believe that she would be treated as a 'legacy' because of her family tree. To me what that 'family tree' means is that she has, like her late brother, the genetic combination of having the political brains one of the greatest presidents in history and the compassion and intelligence along with the hardball nature of the most glamorous and accomplished First Ladies we have ever had.
Even though I am what I am when it comes to the Clintons, I am also a child of the American Camelot and believe in the sincerity and concern for the downtrodden that both John Kennedy and his brother Robert lost their lives attempting to use to change the nature of American history. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed, and what they bestowed within the lives and outlooks of so many young American including not just myself, but also Bill and Hillary Clinton. And I believe that a Senator Caroline Kennedy, in helping President-elect Obama, is the perfect choice to help put this country back on the road that her family has sacrificed so much in showing us the direction.
Bill and Hillary, along with other New York Democrats, should be endorsing this appointment.
With Obama in the Oval Office, Hillary as our top diplomat, Bill as the greatest envoy for a sitting president in history, an increased majority in both Houses of Congress, and to be able to include into that new, larger majority the daughter of Jack and Jackie Kennedy with her passion for what is right and her political genetics that have grown over the years....is the best possible combination for this country to begin repairing the nearly irrepairable damage done over the last 8 years by George W. Bush and the Republican Party.
But then again...maybe it's just me.....
John Sharp to seek US Senate seat
12/08/2008
By APRIL CASTRO / Associated Press
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D94UO7O00.html
Democratic former Comptroller John Sharp said Monday he'll run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison the next time the seat goes before the voters.
Sharp, 58, said he will file the required paperwork to begin raising money and campaigning on Jan. 1. Hutchison said last week she is forming an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2010, two years before her term ends.
"I will be a candidate whether the election is in 2012 or any time before then," said Sharp, who made two unsuccessful runs for lieutenant governor. "Texans face tough challenges that call for innovative solutions, and that's what our campaign is all about."
Hutchison, whose Senate term expires in 2012, has said she may leave the Senate as early as next year to campaign. If that happens, Republican Gov. Rick Perry would appoint a replacement to the seat until a special election is held.
Other possible Democratic contenders for the seat are Houston Mayor Bill White; former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who lost a 2002 Senate bid to John Cornyn; state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio; state Rep. Richard Pena Raymond; and Dallas state Rep. Rafael Anchia.
On the GOP side, state Sen. Florence Shapiro is raising money for a possible run while former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Michael Williams, the chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission are thought to be contenders.
Sharp, who was close friends with Perry when they were students at Texas A&M, was widely expected to oppose Perry in the 2006 gubernatorial election. But Perry appointed Sharp to lead the Texas Tax Reform Commission that ultimately wrote the state's new business tax.
As chair of the commission, Sharp was instrumental in crafting the new tax code that had befuddled state officials for decades. While the tax helped get the state out of court trouble that threatened to shut down public schools and cut property taxes by a third, the tax has been a disappointment to small business owners and has not generated the amount of revenue expected. The business tax is expected to be revised during the upcoming legislative session.
At the time the proposal was unveiled, Sharp called it the "the best, fairest, most broad-based, comprehensive system to reduce property taxes that I have ever seen in 20 years that I've been around this process."
Sharp started his political career as a state representative from Victoria. Four years later he became a state senator, serving on the Senate Finance Committee. He was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1986. He was elected state comptroller in 1990 and was re-elected in 1994.
This old Texas Clinton Democrat is on top of the world right now!
The emotions that started on election night when I was listening to President-elect Barack Obama give his victory speech, has turned into nothing short of complete euphoria! I walk with a little more pep in my step. I smile more than I have in....well.....EIGHT YEARS. I even have learned to be a little more tolerant of Republicans....at least for the moment.
To realize that I am 'mature' enough to have been able to experience in my lifetime John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama winning the White House is a very satisfying feeling.
And even though the original meaning of it really had nothing to do with race......to have been born and raised in a community that used to have a 'Welcome' sign at the train station that said "Welcome to Greenville, The Blackest Land and the Whitest People", this is such an exciting, important and historic moment. Not to mention being old enough to have experienced separate water fountains, restrooms, and entrances to doctor's offices (assuming that the white doctor even treated blacks).
I have never been prouder of my country or my party!!! We made history! Not simply because we finally elected an African-American president. But more because Barack Obama IS what this country and the entire world, for that matter, need at this time in history.
With the mess that George W. Bush has left every aspect of life here and around the world in, the need for the most powerful leadership position in the history of the planet to be filled by an inclusive, intelligent, compassionate and focused individual is more imperative than it has ever been or most likely will be in the forseeable future.
The American people, by way of the Democratic Party, have delivered the right man at the right time.
God Bless America!
The emotions that started on election night when I was listening to President-elect Barack Obama give his victory speech, has turned into nothing short of complete euphoria! I walk with a little more pep in my step. I smile more than I have in....well.....EIGHT YEARS. I even have learned to be a little more tolerant of Republicans....at least for the moment.
To realize that I am 'mature' enough to have been able to experience in my lifetime John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama winning the White House is a very satisfying feeling.
And even though the original meaning of it really had nothing to do with race......to have been born and raised in a community that used to have a 'Welcome' sign at the train station that said "Welcome to Greenville, The Blackest Land and the Whitest People", this is such an exciting, important and historic moment. Not to mention being old enough to have experienced separate water fountains, restrooms, and entrances to doctor's offices (assuming that the white doctor even treated blacks).
I have never been prouder of my country or my party!!! We made history! Not simply because we finally elected an African-American president. But more because Barack Obama IS what this country and the entire world, for that matter, need at this time in history.
With the mess that George W. Bush has left every aspect of life here and around the world in, the need for the most powerful leadership position in the history of the planet to be filled by an inclusive, intelligent, compassionate and focused individual is more imperative than it has ever been or most likely will be in the forseeable future.
The American people, by way of the Democratic Party, have delivered the right man at the right time.
God Bless America!
Not too long ago, for the first time I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and looked out over the reflecting pool, thinking of what Dr. Martin Luther King must have been thinking as he told hundreds of thousands of Americans about his 'dream' for our country. I stood there completely engrossed in my thoughts, as I remembered listening to him and how inspiring he was. And there was never more of a 'son-of-the-Confereracy' than me. I am very proud of my ancestors sacrifices not only during The Civil War, but also during The American Revolution and The Texas Revolution.
But I have never been MORE proud than I am tonight. A little more than 140 years after the end of the Civil War, I watched an African-American become the 44th President of The United States of America. When I was growing up in the 1960's, nothing of this sort was even dared to be dreamed of.
But truly, it has been proven tonight that ANYONE REALLY CAN BECOME PRESIDENT. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency is not only an achievement for the African-American youth of this country....but for ALL of America's youth!
I was so wishing that Daddy had lived to see this. I have been sad when he wasn't around to see the Berlin Wall felled and the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union. But THIS? The man who made me into the Democrat AND the American that I am, would have loved to have seen this moment. But I also believe that he, Dr. King, LBJ, JFK and RFK, along with so many that have gone before, are looking down and smiling right now.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
And GOD BLESS BARACK OBAMA, 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!
But I have never been MORE proud than I am tonight. A little more than 140 years after the end of the Civil War, I watched an African-American become the 44th President of The United States of America. When I was growing up in the 1960's, nothing of this sort was even dared to be dreamed of.
But truly, it has been proven tonight that ANYONE REALLY CAN BECOME PRESIDENT. The election of Barack Obama to the presidency is not only an achievement for the African-American youth of this country....but for ALL of America's youth!
I was so wishing that Daddy had lived to see this. I have been sad when he wasn't around to see the Berlin Wall felled and the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union. But THIS? The man who made me into the Democrat AND the American that I am, would have loved to have seen this moment. But I also believe that he, Dr. King, LBJ, JFK and RFK, along with so many that have gone before, are looking down and smiling right now.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
And GOD BLESS BARACK OBAMA, 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!
As I was watching President Clinton campaigning in Florida for Barack Obama, I was seriously awe struck.
Two of the greatest political minds and two of the greatest political orators in a generation...speaking intelligently about, not only the plight of America, but also in the future of our country and the world. And what it would take to pull America back up within the world community as THE leader for democracy and freedom. The shining beacon of hope for the downtrodden within not only our society, but worldwide.
And then I got to thinking about the last eight years. A president of shallow character, even shallower thinking and with absolutely no ability to see the American people as the backbone of everything that makes The United States of America great! A 'leader' who never lead....only followed. A president who put us in the international 'backseat' of concern for others. A commander-in-chief who became the biggest terrorist, torturer and mass murderer since the fall of 'Iron Curtain' in Europe. A man who indiscremently ordered the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqis under the guise of 'freeing' them.
After which I realized just how great this country is, and how resilient The Founding Fathers so aptly created this experiment, that we could come thru such horrible times as "The W Years", and still be able to find public servants like Barack Obama that has the brains and compassion and GUTS to take on such a mess, and to do it with such calming and precise reasoning and thinking.
God Bless America..............
Two of the greatest political minds and two of the greatest political orators in a generation...speaking intelligently about, not only the plight of America, but also in the future of our country and the world. And what it would take to pull America back up within the world community as THE leader for democracy and freedom. The shining beacon of hope for the downtrodden within not only our society, but worldwide.
And then I got to thinking about the last eight years. A president of shallow character, even shallower thinking and with absolutely no ability to see the American people as the backbone of everything that makes The United States of America great! A 'leader' who never lead....only followed. A president who put us in the international 'backseat' of concern for others. A commander-in-chief who became the biggest terrorist, torturer and mass murderer since the fall of 'Iron Curtain' in Europe. A man who indiscremently ordered the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqis under the guise of 'freeing' them.
After which I realized just how great this country is, and how resilient The Founding Fathers so aptly created this experiment, that we could come thru such horrible times as "The W Years", and still be able to find public servants like Barack Obama that has the brains and compassion and GUTS to take on such a mess, and to do it with such calming and precise reasoning and thinking.
God Bless America..............
Well, he DID spend several years living in the same area with some of the most ruthless terrorists in history.....
Maybe Senator McCain should have to answer for his 'record'.
Yeah, it is as stupid a thing that you can think of.
And THIS is the kind of campaign that some people want from THEIR candidate for president?
Thank God that Barack Obama and Democrats like most of us, don't believe that using old connections to throw fear into the hearts of Americans is a legitimate way to oppose someone elses candidacy.
Seems John McCain has learned well from the Bush Administration as to how to attempt to govern from a state of FEAR instead of HOPE!
Unfortunately for McCain, the 'fear card' has worn out on most Americans.....
Maybe Senator McCain should have to answer for his 'record'.
Yeah, it is as stupid a thing that you can think of.
And THIS is the kind of campaign that some people want from THEIR candidate for president?
Thank God that Barack Obama and Democrats like most of us, don't believe that using old connections to throw fear into the hearts of Americans is a legitimate way to oppose someone elses candidacy.
Seems John McCain has learned well from the Bush Administration as to how to attempt to govern from a state of FEAR instead of HOPE!
Unfortunately for McCain, the 'fear card' has worn out on most Americans.....
What is it about these Republicans and some folks who still claim to be Democrats, that make them believe if a prominent black Republican American, like Colin Powell, endorses a Black Democratic American presidential candidate it HAS to be because they are both black?
And what is worse, if the WHITE Republicans and WHITE folks who still claim to be Democrats endorse any WHITE candidate that it ISN'T about race. Or more on point, if they DON'T endorse someone like Barack Obama that it definitely has NOTHING to do with race!!
How ridiculous is that argument? You are about race because you are black, but what? ME?? A WHITE AMERICAN?? A RACIST???? Geez.........
Powells endorsement COULD just have something to do with the same reasons used by WHITE Republicans Susan Eisenhower and Christopher Buckley, don't you think? They don't like the character attacks at a time of national crisis. They don't like the HARD RIGHT TURN that the Republican Party has taken the last 8 years, and how John McCain has embraced it after the party trashed HIS image in 2000!
Honestly, I believe that the Dems who refuse to back Obama have honestly felt deep reasons for not doing so. And I can respect that. And some Republicans are the same way. It really DOESN'T have anything to do with race for probably MOST of them.
But to back the ravings of a lunatic like Rush Limbaugh by claiming to know what is in the heart of another AMERICAN is NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind!
And to start resurrecting 'MCCARTHYISM' so you can try to "divide and conquer" the country, and putting that kind of picture in the head of the international community is inexcusable! Not to mention Sarah Palin and her inciting of violence against Barack Obama and his supporters by not speaking against those kinds of comments from the 'White Power' sections at her rallies!
Republicans have just forgotten how to actually run a real American campaign for office WITHOUT Nixonian dirty tricks or Bushie character assassinations and election theft!!
They obviously believe that when you pick a VP candidate that has never read The Constitution, and you are so far behind that the Supreme Court most likely won't be able to steal the election for you, that you have to turn to the term 'Communist' again.......
And what is worse, if the WHITE Republicans and WHITE folks who still claim to be Democrats endorse any WHITE candidate that it ISN'T about race. Or more on point, if they DON'T endorse someone like Barack Obama that it definitely has NOTHING to do with race!!
How ridiculous is that argument? You are about race because you are black, but what? ME?? A WHITE AMERICAN?? A RACIST???? Geez.........
Powells endorsement COULD just have something to do with the same reasons used by WHITE Republicans Susan Eisenhower and Christopher Buckley, don't you think? They don't like the character attacks at a time of national crisis. They don't like the HARD RIGHT TURN that the Republican Party has taken the last 8 years, and how John McCain has embraced it after the party trashed HIS image in 2000!
Honestly, I believe that the Dems who refuse to back Obama have honestly felt deep reasons for not doing so. And I can respect that. And some Republicans are the same way. It really DOESN'T have anything to do with race for probably MOST of them.
But to back the ravings of a lunatic like Rush Limbaugh by claiming to know what is in the heart of another AMERICAN is NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind!
And to start resurrecting 'MCCARTHYISM' so you can try to "divide and conquer" the country, and putting that kind of picture in the head of the international community is inexcusable! Not to mention Sarah Palin and her inciting of violence against Barack Obama and his supporters by not speaking against those kinds of comments from the 'White Power' sections at her rallies!
Republicans have just forgotten how to actually run a real American campaign for office WITHOUT Nixonian dirty tricks or Bushie character assassinations and election theft!!
They obviously believe that when you pick a VP candidate that has never read The Constitution, and you are so far behind that the Supreme Court most likely won't be able to steal the election for you, that you have to turn to the term 'Communist' again.......
Now, if I am offbase here, it wouldn't be the first time, and probably won't be the last.
But, after hearing Senator Obama's idea of tax breaks for companies that will keep jobs in the United States, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we offered tax breaks for foreign businesses who bring NEW jobs to the U.S.
I mean wouldn't it be a good economic move to try to lure NEW jobs from overseas, in addition to luring OLD jobs BACK here?
Just got me thinkin' is all........
But, after hearing Senator Obama's idea of tax breaks for companies that will keep jobs in the United States, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we offered tax breaks for foreign businesses who bring NEW jobs to the U.S.
I mean wouldn't it be a good economic move to try to lure NEW jobs from overseas, in addition to luring OLD jobs BACK here?
Just got me thinkin' is all........
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