Multimedia -001 The President's State of the Union Speech (WhiteHouse.gov) Provides the video. 01-12 News -001 Editorial: What Is Authenticity? (PBS.org) "The trap is this. Americans say they want their politicians to work together across party lines. Yet anyone who cuts a deal for what he or she perceives to be the greater good can immediately be branded as unreliable, inconsistent, inauthentic." "Few successful politicians can really maneuver their way around this." 02-12 -001 Editorial: Why Obamacare May Stand (Time.com) "The individual mandate and Obamacare will sink or swim on one simple judgment: whether uninsured Americans are in the health insurance market. Everyone agrees that Congress can force the uninsured to buy health insurance if they are in that market." "The best guide for navigating the question of whether the uninsured are in the health insurance market remains the opinion (.pdf) of Jeffrey Sutton, the former clerk of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Sutton ruled in favor of the law in the Sixth Circuit last June, and many of the questions asked this week by both sides of the court were grappling with and responding to the issues Sutton raised." "Sutton said it seemed intuitive that Congress can’t force people to buy something they don’t want. But he then showed that the courts have already given Congress that power in other areas, like taxation. He further argued that the health insurance market is in some ways unique, because everyone will be in it at some point. Sutton concluded that 'sometimes an intuition is just an intuition' and that the mandate is well within Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution." 03-12 -001 Editorial: Why Obamacare Supporters Are Getting Nervous (Time.com) "The High Court appeared just as divided as the public and the lower courts whose rulings have both upheld and struck down the new health care law in the past year and a half. And when Obama’s Solicitor General Donald Verrilli stepped up to explain to the High Court that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is within congressional authority to impose, he faced far more hostility and skepticism than he probably expected." "Throughout most of the proceedings, arguments toggled between the critics’ contention that the individual mandate is an unprecedented government power grab to force people to buy something, and the notion that the mandate is simply an attempt to regulate a health care market that already exists but functions poorly." 03-12 -001 Hard Questions From Judges Over Health Insurance (New York Times) "The legal question for the justices was whether Congress had exceeded its constitutional authority in requiring most Americans to obtain insurance or pay a penalty. The practical question was whether Mr. Obama’s signature domestic achievement would survive." "The law is the most ambitious piece of social legislation in generations. In attempting to deliver health care to tens of millions of Americans without insurance, it relied on a controversial mechanism at the center of Tuesday’s arguments -- requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty." 03-12 -001 President Obama Nominates Dr. Jim Yong Kim to Lead World Bank (Time.com) "President’s Obama’s surprise choice to lead the World Bank, Dartmouth President Dr. Jim Yong Kim, is a widely respected figure with decades of experience working to tackle some of the world’s most intractable problems in public health. Obama’s nomination of Kim, who would be the first doctor to lead the World Bank, underscores the critical link between global medicine and economic development." 03-12 -001 The President's State of the Union Speech (Time.com) Provides the text. 01-12 -001 Truth-O-Meter on Newt Gingrich (PolitiFact.com) Covers Gingrich's true and false statements. 01-12 -001 Truth-O-Meter on Rick Santorum (PolitiFact.com) Covers Santorum's true and false statements. 01-12 -001 What Is an Election Caucus? (Christian Science Monitor) " In the context of presidential politics, a caucus is a gathering of Republicans or Democrats for the purpose of stating a preference for their party’s presidential nomination. In Iowa, a caucus is held in each precinct, which means 1,774 meetings around the state." 12-11 -01-01-12 Peter Larson Shivers for the Homeless (ABC News) "Abdulahi was shocked and touched when she realized that it was a boy who saved her and her children's chances at happiness." " 'I don't know how to explain what he did," she said. "He was just a little boy and it surprised me so much. My God, it's really wonderful. We have a home where my children are safe and healthy and because of Peter I don't have to worry about them. He took a burden off my shoulders, and for my children took them out of a very, very stressful situation and showed them a beautiful world. They're inspired and they talk about Peter all the time, how they want to be good and help like him.' " Also see Child Heroes 12-11 -01-09-12 Obama's Chief of Staff Resigns (ABC News) "Bill Daley tells ABC News that he resigned last week as White House chief of staff, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times." "Senior administration officials confirm that Jacob 'Jack' Lew, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, will be the new chief of staff." 01-12 -01-09-12 Transparent Iowa Caucuses May Reveal a Different Winner (BradBlog.com) "Thanks to the transparent, open counting process at Tuesday's night's Iowa GOP Caucuses, and a Ron Paul supporter who was paying close attention to the results, we may now be learning that Rick Santorum, not Mitt Romney, actually won the 'First-in-the-Nation' Iowa Caucuses this week." 01-12 -01-10-12 Editorial: Political Battles Becoming More Ruthless (CNN News) "The whole saga is a succession of extreme acts." "The first extreme act was the creation of the CFPB itself. Normally, federal regulatory bodies have multiple commissioners, some reserved for the minority party. CFPB has only one commissioner who controls vast and hazy powers over all American finance.The second extreme act was the Republican attempt to force changes in the CFPB by refusing to schedule a confirmation vote for the president's nominee to head the agency. Under the arcane procedures of the Senate, any one senator can indefinitely delay a vote on a nominee. This power is not found in any law. It's not found in the written rules of the Senate. It's a custom that has grown and grown and been applied ever more promiscuously by senators of both parties to advance narrow agendas." 01-12 -01-10-12 Mitt Romney Wins New Hampshire (CBS News) Mitt Romney wins New Hampshire with 36 percent of the vote, followed by Ron Paul (25 percent) and Jon Huntsman (17 percent) 01-12 -01-11-12 HIgh School Student Finds a Possible Cure for Cancer (CBS News) "Angela's idea was to mix cancer medicine in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles -- nanoparticles that would then attach to cancer cells and show up on an MRI. so doctors could see exactly where the tumors are. Then she thought shat if you aimed an infrared light at the tumors to melt the polymer and release the medicine, thus killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells completely unharmed." "It'll take years to know if it works in humans -- but in mice -- the tumors almost completely disappeared." 01-12 -01-11-12 Report: Nuclear Materials Are Not Secure (ABC News) "A new report shows that President Barack Obama is a long way from reaching his goal of locking down the world's nuclear weapons material by next year." 01-12 -01-11-12 Study Ranks Countries on Nuclear Security (New York Times) "Now, for the first time publicly, experts have surveyed the precautions each country has in place and ranked the nations from best to worst. The study is full of surprises and potential embarrassments: for instance, Australia takes first place in nuclear security and Japan comes in at No. 23, behind nations like Kazakhstan and South Africa." "The United States? It tied for 13th place with Belgium. Last place goes to North Korea, a police state that the report finds to be seriously deficient on issues of atomic security." 01-12 -01-12-12 China Grumbles over U.S. Concern over Self-Immolations (Time.com) "The Chinese Foreign Ministry has some advice for its U.S. counterpart: Stop meddling in Tibetan affairs. Earlier this week, a U.S. State Department spokesperson expressed “serious concern” over a series of self-immolations in Tibetan regions that have claimed at least 11 lives since March 2011." 01-12 -01-12-12 Five Who Were Unjustly Imprisoned (Time.com) "Jan. 11 marks ten years since the first detainees arrived at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Of the 779 imprisoned there since January 2002, only a small minority had any real ties to al-Qaeda. Many were arrested wrongly or turned in by opportunistic bounty hunters. TIME looks at a few tragic tales from the many that make up the grim Guantanamo decade." 01-12 -01-14-12 Conservative Leaders Rally Around Santorum (ABC News) "About 150 conservative and evangelical leaders said today they decided after a private meeting Friday night that Rick Santorum is the best candidate to support in the Republican presidential primary." 01-12 -01-14-12 Editorial: Romney Taking Heat (PBS.org) "Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks discuss the week's top political news, including the state of the GOP campaign, the effectiveness of Mitt Romney's defense of his record at Bain Capital, Ron Paul's young supporters, campaign financing and President Obama's re-election warchest." 01-12 -01-14-12 FactCheck.org: Anti-Romney Ad Not Truthful (USA Today) "A 28-minute political documentary released this week by a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC presents a one-sided, often distorted and misleading view of Mitt Romney's years leading the venture capital firm Bain Capital." 01-12 -01-18-12 "Old Media" Takes on "New Media" and Loses (New York Times) "Internet protests on Wednesday quickly cut into Congressional support for anti-Web piracy measures as lawmakers abandoned and rethought their backing for legislation that pitted new media interests against some of the most powerful old-line commercial interests in Washington." 01-12 -01-18-12 Mitt Romney Reveals His Personal Tax Rate (New York Times) "As a candidate, Mr. Romney has also advocated for tax policies that would significantly benefit people who, like him, derive most of their income from investments." "Assuming Congress does not act to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, the rate for capital gains income is set to return to 20 percent for the 2013 tax year, while the rate for dividend income will jump to 39.6 percent. But in his economic plan, Mr. Romney calls for making permanent the Bush-era tax cuts on capital gains and dividend income, keeping them both at the current rate of 15 percent." 01-12 -01-18-12 Wikipedia Black Out to Protest Pending Legislation (New York Times) "The user-created encyclopedia is one of a number of Web sites that temporarily closed at midnight Wednesday to publicize their belief that provisions in two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, referred to as SOPA as well as the PIPA, or the Protect IP Act, which may require search engines to block access to sites that employ copyrighted material via links or hosting, is tantamount to censorship, among other concerns." 01-12 -01-22-12 Editorial: Things We Learned From South Carolina's Primary (CNN News) "Though endorsements are great for generating media coverage and conveying a sense of credibility, they ultimately mattered little in the South Carolina race." "According to exit polls of people who voted in the GOP presidential primary, 65% said the debates were important to their vote, with Gingrich winning those people by a more than 2-1 margin over Romney." 01-12 -01-25-12 Editorial: Gingrich's Tax Plan (CNN News) "According a new analysis, Gingrich's tax plan would reduce government revenue by a staggering $1.3 trillion -- or 35% -- in 2015, the first year the plan could be fully implemented." "For businesses, Gingrich wants to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 12.5% -- a move that would take the rate from one of the highest in the industrialized world to one of the lowest." "All those tax cuts mean the federal government would take in much less money. In order to balance the budget -- or get even remotely close -- government spending would have to be slashed by huge amounts." "The highest-income individuals would see the greatest benefit. A full 99.9% of Americans with more than $1 million in income would get a tax cut. The average savings: $613,000, for an after-tax income boost of 28.7%." 01-12 -01-25-12 Editorial: Romney Fails to Provide Details (CNN News) "Romney wants Americans to pay lower income taxes, but hasn't said what the new rates will be, what the bracket structure will look like, or when he wants them to take effect." "He wants to cut government spending to 20% of GDP, but is cloudy on exactly how that will happen." "And his economic plan barely even mentions housing -- one of the economy's biggest drags." 01-12 -01-26-12 Apple's $100 Billion Cash Surplus (Time.com) "When Apple reported its blowout financial results this week, it disclosed an amazing fact: The company is now sitting on $97.6 billion in cash." 01-12 -01-26-12 Apple's Outsourcing (Time.com) "Although outsourcing and the consequent demise of the U.S. manufacturing sector is a perennially hot political issue, the economics of globalization suggest that U.S. jobs lost to cheaper overseas competition won’t be coming back." 01-12 -01-26-12 Poll: Majority Would Vote All of Congress Out (MSNBC News) "In a country sharply divided on almost every issue, most Americans agree on one thing: they don’t like Congress, and they would vote to replace every single member -- even their own -- if they had the option." 01-12 -01-27-12 Another Administration-Backed Energy Company Goes Bankrupt (CBS News) "An Energy Department spokeswoman said EnerDel had received $55 million so far under a program in which EnerDel matches federal investment dollar-for-dollar. Ener1 said in a statement that the restructuring would not affect EnerDel's operations. The company makes lithium-ion batteries for electric cars such as the Chevrolet Volt." "A CBS News investigation found earlier this month that a dozen green-energy companies - which in total received at least $6.5 billion in stimulus money from the federal government - have filed for bankruptcy protection." 01-12 -01-30-12 Catholic Churches Take a Strong Anti-Contraception Position (CBS News) "During church services on Sunday, Catholics around the country were read a blistering letter assailing the Obama administration for an 'assault on religious liberty' in the form of a coming requirement that most church-linked organizations - among them hospitals, schools and universities - offer birth control coverage as part of their health care plans." 01-12 -01-31-12 Housing Prices Fall in November (CNN News) "Home prices posted a steep, month-over-month drop in November, falling 1.3%, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city report. Prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities the index covers." 01-12 -01-31-12 Romney Wins Decisive Victory in Florida (Time.com) "Mitt Romney routed Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary Tuesday night, rebounding from the previous week's defeat with a commanding victory and taking a major step toward the Republican presidential nomination. Despite the one-sided setback, Gingrich vowed to press on." 01-12 -01-31-12 The Coming U.S.-China Solar Panel Contest (Time.com) "It's been a schizophrenic time for the U.S. solar industry. On the one hand, about $11 billion worth of solar power is set to be installed in 2012, with more than five times that figure in the investment pipeline. Demand for solar power rose eightfold between 2006 and 2011 — from 200 MW to 1,600 MW. Nationally, the solar industry employs some 100,000 Americans, a number that rose by nearly 7% last year — even as overall employment barely grew at all." "Despite those rosy numbers, many U.S. solar companies — especially those that manufacture solar panels and modules — are struggling to survive. Most notably, the solar start-up Solyndra went under in 2011, taking with it over $500 million in government loan guarantees. The Bloomberg Large Solar Energy Index of 17 top solar companies lost more than two-thirds of its value in 2011." 01-12 -02-01-12 Editorial: Could Birth Control Be Illegal Again? (Time.com) "The right to use contraception seems so obvious that it is startling to realize that not that long ago even married couples could be arrested for using it. In 1965, the Supreme Court overturned a doctor’s conviction for helping married couples obtain birth control. It was not until 1972 that the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law making it illegal to distribute birth control to single people." "Americans have been fighting for decades over abortion, but a new battle has been raging lately — and it’s one with a distinctly retro feel. This time, the war is over birth control: whether insurance companies or government should have to pay for it — and yes, even whether it should be legal." 02-12 -02-01-12 Editorial: Gingrich's Claim of a "War on Religion" (Time.com) "As ever, Newt Gingrich minced no words. 'I understand that there’s a war against religion,' Gingrich told the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody last week, 'and I am prepared to actually fight back.' In the same conversation, Gingrich claimed that most journalists simply could not understand people of faith given the media’s purported secularism. And so Gingrich’s 'war' goes on." "The nonbelieving, not the believing, are the ones who should feel outnumbered. According to Gallup, 78% of American adults identify with some form of Christian religion. Jews make up less than 2%; Muslims form 1%; and 15% say their 'religious preference' is 'none/atheist/agnostic.' Ninety-five percent of Americans who say they are religious are thus Christians. The President of the United States routinely invokes God’s blessing on the nation. Washington and state and county and city buildings throughout the country use religious imagery. We open our congressional sessions and our inaugurations with prayers; chaplains receive publicly funded salaries. The pagans, therefore, are not exactly at the gates." "It is true that traditional Christianity is losing some of its appeal among Americans, but that is a religious, not political, matter. It is worth remembering that the Jeffersonian 'wall of separation' between church and state has always been intended to protect the church from the state as much as the state from the church. And evangelism is about winning souls more than it is about winning votes. For many serious believers, that’s the real war. And it’s not the one Gingrich thinks is unfolding." 02-12 -02-01-12 Editorial: The Global Crisis of Stunting (Time.com) "Stunting, or stunted growth, is the result of chronic nutritional deficiencies. A stunted 5-year-old is four to six inches shorter than a non-stunted peer. But lost height is the least of concerns: a stunted child, for instance, is nearly five times more likely to die from diarrhea than a non-stunted child because of the physiological changes in a stunted body. Stunting is also associated with impaired brain development. A typical stunted brain has fewer cells. The cells themselves are somewhat smaller, and the interconnection between them is more limited. This means lasting impaired functioning, which leads in turn to significantly reduced learning. Considering the severe effects, stunting has received far too little attention for far too long." "Stunting is so common in some areas that it is sometimes mistaken for a genetic heritage, rather than a preventable condition. Just 21 countries straddling the globe account for more than 80% of the problem around the globe. In six countries — Afghanistan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Timor-Leste and Yemen — 50% or more of all children under age 5 suffer from this condition. In Afghanistan, a staggering 59% of children under age 5 are stunted." "How can a community, a nation or a continent ever hope to develop to its full capacity if its children cannot? In all conscience, how can those of us in societies not so afflicted withhold our help to combat stunting in the developing world? We know how to address the problem by providing expectant mothers, newborns and very young children nutrients such as proteins, fat and vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, iron and zinc." 02-12 -02-01-12 Syrian Soldier Defects and Tells His Story (New York Times) "Ammar Cheikh Omar recalled the first time he was ordered to shoot into a crowd of protesters in Syria. He aimed his AK-47 just above their heads, prayed to God not to make him a killer and pulled the trigger." 02-12 -02-02-12 Congress Passes the Stock Act (CNN News) "Aiming to restore voters' faith in Congress, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday that makes clear it's illegal for members of Congress, their staffs and many executive-branch employees to trade stocks and other securities based on inside information learned on the job." 02-12 -02-02-12 Facebook Goes Public (New York Times) "The social network company announced its $5 billion public offering Wednesday afternoon, which is expected to value the whole company at $75 billion to $100 billion. Ultimately, that offering will mint a lot of billionaires and millionaires." 02-12 -02-02-12 Insurance Companies Required to Disclose Climate-Change Response Plans (New York Times) "Insurance commissioners in California, New York and Washington State will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to the risks their businesses and customers face from increasingly severe storms and wildfires, rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change, California’s commissioner said Wednesday." "Last year’s level of natural disasters was unprecedented, according to an August report by the A. M. Best Company, which rates the financial strength of insurers. By late June, the estimated $27 billion in losses suffered by the American industry exceeded the 2010 total." 02-12 -02-03-12 Komen Apologizes for Withdrawing Funds from Planned Parenthood (Time.com) "Now that the most eminent breast-cancer advocacy group in the nation has apologized for its decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood, it’s worth looking at what went wrong. The backlash was not just grassroots and viral but reached the most senior levels. All seven California affiliates of Komen opposed the decision and Dr. Kathy Plesser, a member of Komen’s scientific advisory board, threatened to resign if they did not reverse it." 02-12 -02-03-12 Unemployment Down (Time.com) "Some Obama opponents are struggling to find a cloud in the silver lining of January’s jobs numbers, which estimated that there was a 243,000-job boost and a big drop in the unemployment rate, from 8.5% to 8.3%, last month." "And when it comes to labor force estimates, the steep jump in the number of those not seeking work came entirely from the census adjustment, which added 1.25 million people to that group. If you take out the census adjustment, the labor force numbers stayed essentially the same, as reflected by the labor force participation rate of 63.7%. In other words, the spike in the number of people no longer looking for work is entirely the result of some people at the Labor Department adding numbers to their spread sheets rather than an actual observed shift anywhere in the real economy." 02-12 -02-05-12 How President Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football (CNN News) "A persuasive argument can be made that, were it not for what Roosevelt did during a meeting in the White House toward the end of 1905, football as we know it today would not be a part of American life. There never would have been a National Football League -- at least not the wildly popular NFL that has become such a sports, business and cultural institution -- and Americans would almost certainly be spending Super Bowl Sunday in a completely different way." 02-12 -02-05-12 Obama Team Defends Birth Control Policy (USA Today) "The Obama administration is defending a policy requiring religious-affiliated employers to cover birth control through its insurance policies." 02-12 -02-07-12 House and Senate Stalled on Medicare Payments (New York Times) "House and Senate negotiators are deadlocked over how to prevent a deep cut in Medicare payments to doctors who treat millions of Medicare beneficiaries, an impasse that could threaten broader legislation on a payroll tax cut." "In the absence of agreement, doctors’ fees will be cut 27 percent next month, and many doctors say they could not continue treating Medicare patients under the lower payments." 02-12 -02-07-12 Santorum Wins in Minnesota and Missouri (New York Times) "His candidacy all but dismissed just days ago, Rick Santorum won the Minnesota caucuses and a nonbinding primary in Missouri on Tuesday, raising fresh questions about Mitt Romney’s ability to corral conservative support." "Mr. Santorum was also running strongly in Colorado, a state Mr. Romney captured four years before." 02-12 -02-08-12 The Obama Administration Birth Control Ruling (Huffington Post) "U.S. Catholic bishops have slammed the Obama administration for a regulation finalized on January 20 that would require health insurance to include birth control and other preventative health services for women. The leaders contend the policy infringes on religious liberty because the church does not condone birth control of any kind." "Over the weekend, Catholic clergy across the country called for congregations to pressure Obama to back down." "The controversy centers on a provision in the 2010 healthcare bill which requires health insurance to cover basic preventative services for women. An advisory group, the Institute of Medicine, had recommended covering a fuller range of contraceptive services to help prevent unwanted pregnancies." "Susan Wood, a health professor at George Washington University's Jacobs Institute of Women's Health who backs birth control, said religious groups should have no more control over what employees do with their insurance than with their salaries." " 'This is an employee benefit issue. This is not the Catholic Church having to provide a service directly. No Catholic hospital is going to be required to write a prescription or provide a pack of pills.' " "Two polls released by Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control and reproductive services, showed the majority of voters, including Catholics, support contraceptive coverage." 02-12 -02-10-12 The Obama Administration Changes Birth Control Ruling (CNN News) "Under the new policy to be announced today, women will have free preventive care that includes contraceptive services no matter where she works. The policy also ensures that if a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage, but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge." "The president will also announce that his administration will propose and finalize a new regulation during this transition year to address the religious objections of the nonexempted religious organizations. The new regulation will require insurance companies to cover contraception if the nonexempted religious organization chooses not to." 02-12 -02-11-12 Catholic Bishops Not Happy with Obama Administration Changes (ABC News) "The leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced President Obama’s contraception compromise in a letter to its membership, citing 'grave reservations' about a policy that would allow employees of religious institutions to have access to contraception at no additional cost through insurance companies." "The revised plan, which was announced Friday, makes contraception available to employees of religious institutions who seek it, while keeping the costs of contraception from being incurred by religious institutions that have a moral opposition to it." 02-12 -02-11-12 Saudi King Criticizes Syrian Vetoes (New York Times) "The king of Saudi Arabia inserted himself directly into the Syria crisis on Friday, castigating Russia and China for vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution over the weekend aimed at ending the Syrian government’s deadly repression of a nearly year-old uprising." 02-12 -02-13-12 Feds Recover Over $4 Billion in Health Care Fraud (CBS News) "Federal authorities say they recovered $4.1 billion in health care fraud judgments last year, a record high which officials on Monday credited to new tools for cracking down on deceitful Medicare claims." "The recovered funds are up roughly 50 percent from 2009. Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were expected to make the announcement at a news conference Tuesday." 02-12 -02-13-12 President Obama Presents New Budget (USA Today) "President Obama said today that his proposed $3.8 trillion budget will maintain the nation's nascent economic recovery, partly through essential spending on education and job training." "The president also said his budget would reduce the federal debt by $4 trillion over 10 years, while increasing investments in jobs, manufacturing, transportation and education through higher taxes on the wealthy." 02-12 -02-16-12 Abuse of Girls in Afghanistan (MSNBC News) "Although baad (also known as baadi) is illegal under Afghan and, most religious scholars say, Islamic law, the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the dishonor that had been done to him, who sent his men to abduct her." 02-12 -02-16-12 Deal Reached on Extending Payroll Tax and Unemployment Benefits (CBS News) "Relieved congressional bargainers say they've reached agreement on compromise legislation extending payroll tax cuts and benefits for the long-term unemployed through 2012, edging a white-hot political battle a major step closer to finally being resolved." 02-12 -02-16-12 Gun Trafficking (CNN News) "Mexico's president called on U.S. officials to stop gun trafficking across the border Thursday, saying the move would be the best thing Americans could do to stop brutal drug violence." " 'The criminals have become more and more vicious in their eagerness to spark fear and anxiety in society,' President Felipe Calderon said. 'One of the main factors that allows criminals to strengthen themselves is the unlimited access to high-powered weapons, which are sold freely, and also indiscriminately, in the United States of America.' " 02-12 -02-18-12 Editorial: Contraception Mandate Doesn't Protect Religious Liberty (US News) "Proponents of this federal HHS mandate would like you to believe the main question is whether and how to increase access to contraception. But the real question here is whether the government can force religious organizations to either pay for activity that contradicts their religious beliefs or pay government fines. The First Amendment exists to shield believers and their institutions from exactly this kind of brute force." "Constitutional prohibitions aside, the 'access' argument advanced by HHS's defenders is thin. Affordable contraception is already available to the majority of Americans. In fact, the federal government already spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year funding free (or nearly free) family planning services under its Title X program. Incrementally increasing consumption rates may be a government policy objective, but that misses entirely the superseding constitutional point: Whom can the government force to pay to make it 'free.' " "There is no opting out under the federal mandate, which is unquestionably broader in scope and narrower in its exemption for religious groups than all of the 28 states' comparable laws. Religious organizations in states with a mandate—even those where there is no express exemption—may opt out by simply self-insuring, dropping prescription drug coverage, or offering ERISA plans. The federal mandate permits none of these alternatives, and therefore is less protective of religious liberty, which is the central issue in this debate." Editor's Note: The mandate was changed from having religious institutions pay for the contraception insurance services to requiring the insurance companies to offer the services for free. 02-12 -02-18-12 Editorial: Employees of Religious Institutions Should Have Access to Birth Control Coverage (US News) "Family planning results in better health outcomes for women and their children—a woman who has a planned pregnancy is more likely to be in better health when she gets pregnant and more likely to seek prenatal care, and children who are born at least two years apart are healthier. Family planning is also the most effective tool we have in reducing unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion." "Houses of worship are exempt under the Health and Human Services rule guaranteeing no-cost contraceptive coverage. But nonprofits, like hospitals, that serve the general public, employ people of all beliefs, and engage in secular, commercial activities must offer the same health benefits to their employees that any other business must provide. No right is absolute and this is a fair balancing of the competing interests at play." 02-12 -02-20-12 Iran Warns U.S. on Syria (New York Times) "Two Iranian warships docked in a Syrian port on Monday as a senior Iranian lawmaker denounced American calls for arming the Syrian opposition, adding to the international tensions over the nearly yearlong crackdown by the government of President Bashar al-Assad." 02-12 -02-21-12 America Running Out of Wireless Bandwidth (CNN News) "The U.S. mobile phone industry is running out of the airwaves necessary to provide voice, text and Internet services to its customers." 02-12 -02-22-12 Comparison of Corporate Tax Proposals (ABC News) Provides a "comparison of corporate tax proposals by President Barack Obama, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., and GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul...." 02-12 -02-22-12 Journalists Killed in Syria (ABC News) "A U.S. and a French journalist were killed in the central Syrian city of Homs today, the 19th day of intense shelling by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad bent on quashing a growing opposition." 02-12 -02-24-12 Cartoons on Barack Obama 2012 (U.S. News) Provides cartoons making fun of Barack Obama for 2012. 02-12 -02-24-12 Cartoons on the Republicans 2012 (U.S. News) Provides cartoons making fun of the Republican candidates for President. 02-12 -02-24-12 Speed of Light May Still Be the Limit (CNN News) "The contemporary understanding of how the universe works is based on Albert Einstein’s 1905 Special Theory of Relativity, which says the speed of light is a constant that cannot be exceeded - it's the universe's speed limit. To go beyond it would be to look back in time, the late German physicist said." "Scientists at OPERA – which stands for Oscillation Project with Emulsion-Racking Apparatus – were surprised last year to find that tiny particles called neutrinos were arriving at their destination faster than expected. They were tasked with tracking tiny particles as they soar through 730 kilometers of solid rock between a particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva and the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy." "But experts at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva said Thursday that their possible discovery might have been tainted by loose wiring." 02-12 -02-26-12 Hillary Clinton Criticizes Syrian Regime (Boston Herald) "Syrians in the military and business who still support President Bashar Assad should turn against him, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday." 02-12 -02-27-12 Confidence in Obama Rises (MSNBC News) "Amid better economic news, a declining unemployment rate, and an ongoing -- and combative -- Republican primary campaign, voter confidence in President Obama now stands at a nearly one-year high." 02-12 -02-27-12 FBI Claims Billions in Restitution from Corporate Financial Crimes (ABC News) "The FBI says its probes of corporate criminals led to 241 convictions and $2.4 billion in restitution for financial victims last year as agents went after insider trading and other investment crime that defrauded thousands." 02-12 -02-27-12 Rick Santorum's Speech on Separation of Church and State (Christian Post) " 'I don't believe in America the separation of church and state is absolute,' Santorum told host George Stephanopoulos. 'The idea that the church can have no influence or involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says "free exercise of religion," that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith into the public square. Kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying faith is not allowed in the public square.' "br>Editor's Note: Please see John F. Kennedy's Speech on Separation of Church and State to judge for yourself whether Kennedy actually said (or implied) that "faith is not allowed in the public square." 02-12 -03-01-12 Senate Votes Against the "Blunt" Amendment (CNN News) "The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to kill a controversial proposal pushed by Republicans that would have allowed employers to opt out of providing health care coverage they disagree with on moral grounds." 02-12 -03-07-12 Is Google Losing Out? (Time.com) "The crazy, chaotic, idealistic days of the Internet are ending. Once, the Prairies were open and shared by everyone. Then the farmers arrived and fenced them in. The same is happening to the Internet: Apple, Amazon and Facebook are putting up fences — and Google is increasingly being left outside." "The old Internet on which Google has thrived is still there, of course, but like the wilderness it is shrinking. Often these days, we sign up for Facebook or Amazon’s private version of the Internet. At other times, we use a smartphone and download an App instead of using Google search." 03-12 -03-07-12 Romney Wins Super Tuesday, But Not the Momentum (ABC News) "It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t impressive, but Mitt Romney came out a winner Tuesday night." 03-12 -03-09-12 Unemployment Holds While Hiring Increases (CNN News) "Employers added 227,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday. While that's a pinch slower than in January, hiring was still better than economists had expected." "Three straight months of job growth over 200,000 is considered a strong sign for the recovery going forward." 03-12 -03-10-12 Editorial: FCC Should Take Limbaugh Off of the Public Airwaves (CNN News) "Limbaugh doesn't just call people names. He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets. Like the sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames -- and the bigger the lie the more effective -- inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as sub-humans. His longtime favorite term for women, "femi-nazi," doesn't even raise eyebrows anymore, an example of how rhetoric spreads when unchallenged by coarsened cultural norms." "Spectrum is a scarce government resource. Radio broadcasters are obligated to act in the public interest and serve their respective communities of license. In keeping with this obligation, individual radio listeners may complain to the FCC that Limbaugh's radio station (and those syndicating his show) are not acting in the public interest or serving their respective communities of license by permitting such dehumanizing speech." "The FCC takes such complaints into consideration when stations file for license renewal. For local listeners near a station that carries Limbaugh's show, there is plenty of evidence to bring to the FCC that their station isn't carrying out its public interest obligation. Complaints can be registered under the broadcast category of the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints " "This isn't political. While we disagree with Limbaugh's politics, what's at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech." 03-12 -03-11-12 Editorial: Is Joseph Kony a Current Threat? (CNN News) "And in a Foreign Policy blog post, journalist Michael Wilkerson wrote: 'But let's get two things straight: 1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for 6 years; 2) the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds.' " 03-12 -03-11-12 Editorial: Is Kony 2012 a Solution? (CNN News) "Invisible Children's campaign is a well-packaged call to leave the state of affairs [in Uganda] untouched; their message seems so modern because their tools are. The point made is conformist: Fight violence with violence, dismiss intricate steps of social change and make a narrow ideology mass-compatible by having millions of unquestioning people raise their fists in support. For the U.S., Europe and other generally comfortable corners of the world, this is a worrying picture of a mass culture that easily falls for propaganda." 03-12 -03-12-12 An Afghan Comes Home to a Massacre (New York Times) "Displaced by the war, Abdul Samad finally moved his large family back home to this volatile district of southern Afghanistan last year. He feared the Taliban, but his new house was nestled near an American military base, where he considered himself safe." "But when Mr. Samad, 60, walked into his mud-walled dwelling here on Sunday morning and found 11 of his relatives sprawled in all directions, shot in the head, stabbed and burned, he learned the culprit was not a Taliban insurgent. The shooting suspect was a 38-year-old United States staff sergeant who had slipped out of the base to kill." 03-12 -03-12-12 Deadly Rampage of U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan (ABC News) "An Army veteran of three tours in Iraq who left his base in the middle of the night is suspected of methodically killing 16 Afghan civilians, most of them children and women." "The soldier's name has not been released, but a U.S. official told ABC News he is a 38-year-old staff sergeant who is married with two children. He is apparently based at Fort Lewis in Washington state." 03-12 -03-13-12 Google Buys Wind, Invests in Solar (BusinessWeek.com) "Google’s largest investment in wind power currently is in the Mojave desert, at the Alta Wind Energy Center, a project being developed by Terra-Gen Power. The Web-search company has invested $157 million in two wind-development projects. Google has also invested $100 million in Shepherd’s Flat, predicted to become the world’s largest wind farm, near Arlington, Ore." 03-12 -03-13-12 Majority of Americans Want to Outlaw Super PACs (USA Today) "Nearly seven in 10 Americans say super PACs should be illegal, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll." "The strong feelings toward these groups are bipartisan, the poll shows. Seventy percent of Democrats and 55% of Republicans want to outlaw super PACs, as do nearly eight in 10 independents." 03-12 -03-13-12 Romney Viewed as Most Electable but Not Conservative Enough (MSNBC News) "Exit poll interviews with Republican voters in Tuesday’s Alabama and Mississippi primaries found that Mitt Romney’s positions on the issues weren’t conservative enough for most voters in both states." 03-12 -03-13-12 Romney Viewed as Most Electable but Not Conservative Enough (Washington Post) "Exit poll interviews with Republican voters in Tuesday’s Alabama and Mississippi primaries found that Mitt Romney’s positions on the issues weren’t conservative enough for most voters in both states." 03-12 -03-13-12 Santorum Wins Mississippi and Alabama Primaries (New York Times) "Rick Santorum captured twin victories in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries on Tuesday, overcoming the financial advantages of Mitt Romney and the Southern allegiances to Newt Gingrich on a night that amplified his argument that the Republican nominating fight is becoming a two-man race with Mr. Romney." 03-12 -03-15-12 Arizona Wades into Contraception Controversy (CNN News) "Women in Arizona may be forced to share certain private medical conditions with their employers if they want their contraception to be covered by health insurance, a bill proposes." "The Arizona Senate is considering a bill that would give all businesses the option to exclude contraceptives from health insurance coverage. The only exception is if a woman can prove she is taking the contraceptives for other medical reasons.” 03-12 -03-17-12 Editorial: Gloom We Can Believe In (Time.com) "The last four minutes of the film are what you might have expected from the beginning: swelling music, the accomplishment check list, smiling faces. Hanks wraps it back to beginning. “Let’s remember how far we’ve come,” he says in the closing lines of the film, “and look forward to the work still to be done.” But the burden of Obama’s reelection message is not to tell people how good they have it. Americans clearly don’t feel that way, even with an improving job market. His task, if The Road We’ve Traveled is any indication, begins with reminding people how miserable they were in hopes that they look more favorably on how things are now.” 03-12 -03-17-12 Editorial: Searching for Truth in the Afghanistan Massacre (CBS News) "One of the houses has four rooms, a big house. Adults sleep separately from the children, if possible. They, like any couple, want privacy. The father was away. The dirt floors are generally swept clean and can even shine. The families would have slept on narrow wood cots with crossed rope bottoms and thin mattresses, or they slept on thin cushions, on the ground, or on kilims or capets." "The shooter must have dragged them or carried them from their cots, if they slept on them, and put them all together in one room. Karzai said it wasn't possible. I don't know, but how could the soldier do this without worrying about other villagers coming? But then, maybe he didn't care. Would other villagers have cowered in their homes, afraid, or would some have come out?” "In my view this case offers two possibilities regarding the villagers: (1) They do not like American soldiers, for so many of them to say that other soldiers were present, meaning that as a rule they are afraid of them; or (2) that they were ashamed over not responding as Afghan men, and thereby let one person massacre their neighbors." 03-12 -03-20-12 War Games: Perils from Israeli Attack Against Iran (New York Times) "A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials." 03-12 -03-21-12 Editorial: Home Buying Is Cheaper than Renting (CNN News) "In 98 of the top 100 housing markets, buying a home is more affordable than renting, according to the online real estate company Trulia. Only Honolulu and San Francisco buck the trend." 03-12 -03-21-12 Venus Vows to Rise Again in Tennis (CNN News) "The Williams sisters have not had it easy in recent years. Two of the modern era's most successful women tennis players have been beset by health problems which have deprived the game of two of its most marketable stars." "Serena has overcome life-threatening blood clots on both lungs, while older sibling Venus is this week making her long-awaited WTA Tour comeback as she battles a debilitating illness that has sidelined her since last year's U.S. Open." "After pulling out of her second-round match in New York, Venus revealed she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome -- an incurable condition which affects energy levels and causes pain in the joints." 03-12 -03-26-12 Weight Loss Surgery May Help End Diabetes (MSNBC News) "Two studies find that weight loss surgery can eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in a large proportion of volunteers. That might not seem surprising, since obesity is the major risk factor for the disease. But in these studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, many of the patients got better within weeks, days, sometimes even hours after the surgery -- long before they lost any weight." 03-12 -03-27-12 Editorial: Obama Care Is Constitutional (Time.com) "Jonathan Cohn, one of the very best writers on this subject, cuts to the chase: If the individual mandate — the requirement that everyone purchase health insurance — is unconstitutional, then Medicare and Social Security must be unconstitutional too, and vice versa. It seems to me that this argument is dispositive — unless the distinction is made between Obamacare’s mandate of a private product and Medicare’s mandate of payment into a public health-insurance system (and, as Cohn argues, about 25% of Medicare recipients participate in private plans). You can’t allow the mandated taxation required for Medicare and Social Security and disallow an individual-mandate universal health care system." 03-12 -03-27-12 Editorial: When Is a Biological Parent Not a Biological Parent? (Time.com) "Social Security benefits are typically awarded to children of deceased wage-earners provided that the children were dependents at the time of death. How to handle kids not only born but also conceived posthumously?" 03-12 -03-29-12 A Single Antibody May Cure Multiple Cancers (Time.com) "A single treatment to cure all cancers? Scientists may be one step closer." "In a recent study, scientists reported that they successfully tested an antibody treatment that shrank human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate tumors transplanted into mice. The antibody blocks a protein called CD47, which normally sits on the cell surface and issues a 'don’t eat me' signal that prevents the body’s immune system from attacking it." "The researchers started by exposing tumor cells to macrophages, and the CD47-blocking antibody treatment, in a petri dish. When the antibody wasn’t present, the tumor cells survived. But when the antibody bound itself to CD47 and blocked its 'don’t eat me' signal, the macrophages destroyed the cancers." 03-12 -03-29-12 Astronomers: Billions of "Earths" in Habitable Zone (CNN News) If you're trying to count how many planets could be candidates for harboring life in our galaxy, this might blow your mind: Scientists now say there could be billions of them." "Astronomers working with the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) HARPS instrument estimate that in our galaxy, there are tens of billions of rocky planets not so much bigger than Earth orbiting red dwarf stars within the habitable zones of those relatively cool stars. A habitable zone is the area in a star system where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface without boiling away or staying frozen." 03-12 -04-04-12 Diagnosis of Autism Through Mutant Genes (New York Times) "Teams of scientists working independently to understand the biology of autism have for the first time homed in on several gene mutations that they agree sharply increase the chances that a child will develop the disorder, and have found further evidence that the risk increases with the age of the parents, particularly in fathers over age 35." "There are probably hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, gene variations that could disrupt brain development enough to result in social delays. An intensified search for rare mutations could turn up enough of these to account for 15 percent to 20 percent of all autism cases, some experts say, and allow researchers a chance to see patterns and some possible mechanisms to explain what goes awry." "In one of the new studies, Dr. Matthew W. State, a professor of genetics and child psychiatry at Yale led a team that looked for de novo mutations in 200 people who had been given an autism diagnosis, as well as in parents and siblings who showed no signs of the disorder. The team found that two unrelated children with autism in the study had de novo mutations in the same gene — and nothing similar in those without a diagnosis. “ 'That is like throwing a dart at a dart board with 21,000 spots and hitting the same once [sic] twice,' Dr. State said. 'The chances that this gene is related to autism risk is something like 99.9999 percent.' " 04-12 -04-04-12 Editorial: The Assault on Public Education (Truth-Out.org) " 'In most states,' The New York Times reports, 'it is now tuition payments, not state appropriations, that cover most of the budget,' so that 'the era of affordable four-year public universities, heavily subsidized by the state, may be over.' " 04-12 -04-05-12 President Obama Disagrees With Augusta Golf Club (Politico) "President Obama believes that women should be allowed membership in the exclusive golf club that is hosting Masters tournament this week, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Thursday." "The Augusta, Georgia golf club only admits male members, although women can play as guests. The issue became a topic of national conversation this year because the corporate sponsor of the Masters tournament is usually invited as a member – but this year’s sponsor, IBM, is headed by a woman." 04-12 -04-06-12 Editorial: Disturbing Ruling of the Supreme Court to Allow Strip Searches (Time.com) "People do not like being physically humiliated by their government. The outraged reactions of many Americans to the TSA’s post-9/11 airport screening procedures show how deeply people feel about the matter, even when the purpose is the very important one of stopping armed terrorists from getting onto airplanes. The Supreme Court majority, however, does not seem to get it — or to appreciate the fact that when the government can strip-search people who do not wear a seat belt, it can strip-search any of us." 04-12 -04-06-12 Republican Party Makes Big Turnaround on Raising Funds (New York Times) "Once teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and irrelevance, the Republican National Committee has raised more than $110 million over the past 15 months and retired more than half its debt, accumulating large cash reserves that could give Mitt Romney a critical boost later this spring as he intensifies his campaign against President Obama." 04-12 -04-06-12 Unarmed Black Woman Killed by Police Officer (Time.com) "Boyd's death comes less than a month after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, leaving many troubled by the regularity with which unarmed people of color are shot, particularly by individuals claiming self-defense. And for those left grieving, the failure of authorities to hold the shooter accountable is the greatest injustice of all." 04-12 -04-08-12 Mike Wallace Dead at 93 (CBS News) "For half a century, he took on corrupt politicians, scam artists and bureaucratic bumblers. His visits were preceded by the four dreaded words: Mike Wallace is here." 04-12 -04-09-12 Bubba Watson Wins the Masters (CNN News) "Watson would carry the day for the left-handers, becoming the fifth southpaw to win in the past 10 Masters. He had a chance to settle the matter on the first playoff hole – the 18th – but just missed an eight-foot birdie putt." "Bubba went into the woods and came back with the trophy of a lifetime." 04-12 -04-09-12 Warmest March in Recorded History (CNN News) "March 2012 will go down as the warmest March in the United States since record-keeping began in 1895, NOAA said Monday." 04-12 -04-10-12 China Is Headed for Change (New York Times) "The dust hasn’t settled on the dramatic Bo Xilai affair in China." "But the Bo affair is, essentially, a sideshow, a distraction from the essential challenges facing China under its changing leadership. Nobody can deny the country’s huge material achievements, and individuals live far better and freer lives than they did under the Great Helmsman. But the economic model is out of date." "China is gripped by a major environmental crisis and an acute water shortage is building up in the north of the country. Beijing lacks a coherent foreign policy. Corruption is rife. Regulation and safety standards are weak. There is a broad lack of trust in institutions. The falling birth rate and increasing longevity mean that the demographics will shift during this decade so that the People’s Republic may become old before it gets rich." "There is broad acceptance of the need to rebalance the economy’s excessive dependence on investment in infrastructure and real estate plus exports, moving it toward domestic consumption." 04-12 -04-10-12 Santorum Suspends Presidential Campaign (New York Times) "Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign on Tuesday, bowing to the inevitability of Mitt Romney’s nomination and ending his improbable, come-from-behind quest to become the party’s conservative standard-bearer in the fall." 04-12 -12-01-11 An Activist Stands Her Ground in Bahrain (New York Times) "During a protest in Bahrain on Saturday, an American journalist named Matthew Cassel reported on Twitter that he had just witnessed something remarkable: a lone female protester who refused to move as police officers in riot gear charged past her, firing tear gas shells just a few feet from her head." 12-11 -12-01-11 Arctic Getting Worse: A Tipping Point? (CBS News) "A new report card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rates the polar region with blazing red stop lights on three of five categories and yellow cautions for the other two. Overall, these are not good grades, but it doesn't mean the Arctic is doomed and it still will freeze in the winter, said report co-editor Jackie Richter-Menge." "The Arctic acts as Earth's refrigerator, cooling the planet. What's happening, scientists said, is like someone pushing the fridge's thermostat much too high." " 'We've got a new normal,' said co-author Don Perovich, a geophysicist at the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Research and Engineering Lab. 'Whether it's a tipping point and we'll never recover, who's to say?' " 12-11 -12-01-11 Bono Extols U.S. Leadership on AIDS (Time.com) "Bono spoke glowingly about the United States' leadership in the fight against AIDS, calling this country's efforts the 'greatest heroic act since America jumped into the Second World War.' It is an 'extraordinary thing that the United States has done, which is in the war against this tiny little virus, which has caused so much destruction and heartache, American leadership has been the turning point,' Bono says, mustering all the Irish charm that propelled U2 through decades of rock stardom. 'Five million lives have been saved around the world because of American leadership.' " Also try: HIV and AIDS. 12-11 -12-01-11 Chevy Volt Tops Consumer Ratings (CBS News) "The electric Chevrolet Volt may be prompting worries about battery fires after crashes, but the people who already own Volts love them. Volt topped all models in the owner satisfaction survey released today by Consumer Reports." "A whopping 93 percent of Volt owners said they would definitely buy the car again, edging out sporty contenders Dodge Challenger and Porsche 911, each with a 91 percent buy-again rating." 12-11 -12-01-11 Deputies Refuse to Evict 103-Year-Old Woman (MSNBC News) "A 103-year-old woman and her 83-year-old daughter got a last-minute eviction reprieve when sheriff's deputies and movers decided they couldn’t uproot the women from their longtime Atlanta home." 12-11 -12-01-11 Editorial: Gingrich Is "My Man" (New York Times) "Franker than ever as he announced plans to retire from Congress, Barney Frank told Abby Goodnough in The Times that Gingrich was 'the single biggest factor' in destroying a Washington culture where the two parties respected each other’s differing views yet still worked together." "Maybe the ideal man to fix Washington’s dysfunction is the one who made it dysfunctional. He broke it so he should own it. " 12-11 -12-01-11 Editorial: Gingrich Reveals How He Would Do It (CBS News) "Newt Gingrich is the only candidate who talks about how he would actually enact some of the promises he makes and the changes he would bring to the office of the presidency. Whether you agree with him or not, this is a useful and laudable thing. Candidates should be able to show that they have some concept of how to engage the massively complex organization they hope to take hold of. This would tell us something about them, and force those of us casting votes to be more realistic about what presidents can accomplish." 12-11 -12-01-11 Senate Approves Defense Budget (Time.com) "Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a massive, $662 billion defense bill that would require the military to hold suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates, even those captured on U.S. soil." 12-11 -12-01-11 Syria Now in Civil War (CBS News) "The U.N.'s top human rights official says Syria is now in a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people killed.” "Syrian President Bashar Assad has been trying to crush an 8-month-old revolt against his autocratic rule." 12-11 -12-01-11 The Occupy Expression "99 Percent" Still Stands (New York Times) "Whatever the long-term effects of the Occupy movement, protesters have succeeded in implanting “We are the 99 percent,” referring to the vast majority of Americans (and its implied opposite, “You are the one percent” referring to the tiny proportion of Americans with a vastly disproportionate share of wealth), into the cultural and political lexicon." 12-11 -12-02-11 Islamists Dominate in Egyptian Election (Time.com) "The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's political mainstream, and its most significant challengers are the more extreme Islamists of the Salafi movement rather than the secular liberal forces that dominate the Tahrir Square protest movement. That appears to be the not-exactly-surprising verdict of the electorate, according to reports from the first two days of voting in Egypt's protracted parliamentary election." "The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's political mainstream, and its most significant challengers are the more extreme Islamists of the Salafi movement rather than the secular liberal forces that dominate the Tahrir Square protest movement. That appears to be the not-exactly-surprising verdict of the electorate, according to reports from the first two days of voting in Egypt's protracted parliamentary election." "The official announcement of results from the nine (out of a total of 27) provinces has been delayed until Friday or Saturday, but the New York Times reports that the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party looks to have garnered some 40% of the vote, while a further 25% could go to the even more conservative Salafist al-Nour party. Despite the apparent Islamist majority, Brotherhood leaders hastened to reassure Egyptians Thursday that they have no intention of seeking a coalition with the Salafists, seeing secular parties as the more natural ally for their vision of a democratic Egypt. If anything, the Islamists' share of the vote is more likely to grow than shrink, considering that the electoral districts that voted this week were the most urban, middle class and liberal." 12-11 -12-02-11 Unemployment Falls Sharply (BBC News) "The US unemployment rate dropped sharply to 8.6% in November, its lowest level in two-and-a-half years, from 9% the month before, official figures show." 12-11 -12-07-11 Wheeler, Rachael: Builder of Homes in Haiti (MSNBC News) "The 12-year-old Florida resident has done more to aid others than many grown-ups do in a lifetime." "Three years ago, when she was only nine, Rachel tagged along with her mother to a very adult meeting about charity work in Haiti. She listened as Robin Mahfood, from the aid agency Food For The Poor, describe children so hungry that they eat cookies made of mud, so poor that they sleep in houses made of cardboard." 12-11 -12-09-11 Editorial: Why Rick Perry's New Ads on Religion Are Wrong (Time.com) "Let’s start with Perry’s statement that he’s not ashamed to 'admit' that he’s a Christian. We’ll set aside the suggestion that there is typically some barrier that discourages politicians from being open about their religious affiliation, because that’s clearly absurd. The more relevant charge underlying Perry’s remark is that Barack Obama won’t talk about his faith. Anyone who has paid attention to Obama’s speeches and language would have to concede that the charge is false. Obama’s remarks at the White House Easter prayer breakfast this year–in which he spoke of Jesus’ 'unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection'–are arguably the most explicitly Christian that any President has uttered at an official White House event." "In fact, Obama has confounded conservative expectations by retaining and expanding the faith-based initiative started by George W. Bush. His refusal to overturn the executive order allowing faith-based organizations to discriminate in hiring for positions paid for by government funding has frustrated and infuriated his supporters on the left." "It would be easy to dismiss Perry’s message as just a typical appeal to social conservatives or the desperate strategy of a candidate who may have slipped out of contention. But this is new. The casualness with which Perry tosses off the charge about 'Obama’s war on religion' is at odds with how corrosive the accusation really is." 12-11 -12-11-11 After the Climate Conference, Still Grave Danger (Time.com) "The hard-fought deal at a global climate conference in South Africa keeps talks alive but doesn't address the core problem: The world's biggest carbon polluters aren't willing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases enough to stave off dangerous levels of global warming." "Figures from the U.N. weather agency show the three most powerful greenhouse gases reached record levels last year and were increasing at an ever-faster rate." "And the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the total heat-trapping force from major greenhouse gases has increased 29 percent since 1990, the benchmark year in the climate talks. 12-11 -12-11-11 Web of Prisons for Terrorism Inmates (New York Times) "Today, 171 prisoners remain at Guantánamo. As of Oct. 1, the federal Bureau of Prisons reported that it was holding 362 people convicted in terrorism-related cases, 269 with what the bureau calls a connection to international terrorism — up from just 50 in 2000. An additional 93 inmates have a connection to domestic terrorism." 12-11 -12-12-11 Iran Gains U.S. Drone (Time.com) "U.S. experts are split on whether or not Iran actually has the drone – one of which the U.S. has publicly acknowledged went missing while flying over western Afghanistan, without specifying what kind of drone it was." "While U.S. officials considered destroying the drone, one said, the government elected not to take that action. That suggests, he says, that Washington was not as concerned about the drone falling into Iranian hands as some commentators have suggested." 12-11 -12-14-11 Chinese Village in Standoff (The Wall Street Journal) "A fishing village of about 20,000 people in southern China is in open revolt against the local government after it announced the death in police custody of a villager who had led protests over an alleged land grab, according to local people." 12-11 -12-14-11 Fewer Marriages Now (USA Today) "The most dramatic decline in marriage has occurred among adults ages 18 to 29. Just 20 percent of them were married last year, compared with 59 percent in 1960." "The median age at first marriage is also at its highest -- 26.5 years for women and 28.7 years for men -- and over the past 50 years has risen by about six years for both women and men." 12-11 -12-14-11 Post-War Iraq: A Shiite Nation (MSNBC News) "Regardless of President Bush’s intent in waging this war, what it wound up doing is replacing a dictator with a Shiite-run state that is close to Iran. This could not have been the plan." 12-11 -12-15-11 Church Leaders Join "Occupy" Movement (CNN News) "A group of African-American church leaders announced Wednesday their intention to join ranks with the Occupy movement in the nation's capital, bolstering what some consider a mutual message of condemning income inequality and social injustice." 12-11 -12-15-11 Federal Government Shutdown Avoided (MSNBC News) "Congressional negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a compromise spending bill to avert a weekend federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback." 12-11 -12-15-11 Justice Department: Arizona Sheriff Guilty of Racial Profiling (MSNBC News) "The U.S. government said Thursday that the man who called himself the toughest sheriff in America ran an office that has committed wide-ranging civil rights violations against Latinos, including a pattern of racial profiling and heavy-handed immigration patrols based on racially charged complaints." "The U.S. Justice Department's expert on measuring racial profiling called it the most egregious case he has seen, the department's civil rights division chief told reporters." 12-11 -12-15-11 Time's Greatest Toys (Time.com) Time editors describe their list of 100 greatest toys. 12-11 -12-15-11 U.S. Officially Ends War in Iraq (New York Times) "Almost nine years after the first American tanks began massing on the Iraq border, the Pentagon declared an official end to its mission here, closing a troubled conflict that helped reshape American politics and left a bitter legacy of anti-American sentiment across the Muslim world." 12-11 -12-17-11 Senate Votes for Short-Term Extension of Payroll Tax Cut (New York Times) "In the ultimate cap to a year of last-minute, half-loaf legislation, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to extend a payroll tax cut for a mere two months, with the chamber’s leaders and the White House proclaiming victory, even as they punted the issue of how to extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits into the new year." 12-11 -12-21-11 New "Third" Party to Break into the 2012 Elections (Time.com) "It’s hard to predict the role Americans Elect might play in 2012 until the Republican primary wraps up and the group taps a nominee of its own. Americans Elect will not promote a candidate, but the group is briefing potential contenders about the process. Among the names that have surfaced are Michael Bloomberg, Jon Huntsman and Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks." "Even the members of Americans Elect aren’t sure how the process will play out. “We are going to present the American people with a third candidate,” says Sragow. “If they decide that Americans Elect is somehow a process they don’t trust, they don’t have to vote for our candidate.” But trust is a commodity in short supply. And though Americans are weary with Washington and craving comity, a band of insiders backed by Wall Street money may not be the type of change voters have in mind." 12-11 -12-21-11 Obama Pushes for Payroll Tax Cut Extension (CNN News) "House members headed out for their holiday break without agreeing on a payroll tax cut extension. The tax cut saves the average American family $1,000 a year." 12-11 -12-22-11 Congress Agrees on Payroll Tax Cut Deal (CBS News) "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that his fellow GOP congressmen have agreed on a deal to extend payroll tax cuts that would have expired at the end of the year. The announcement ends yet another episode of political brinksmanship in Washington that has contributed greatly to Congress' abysmal approval ratings." 12-11 -12-24-11 Gingrich and Perry Fail to Qualify for Virginia Ballot (CNN News) "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the Virginia primary ballot, the Republican Party of Virginia announced Saturday morning, leaving the longtime Virginia resident without a place on the state's ballot and raising questions about his campaign's organization." "Gingrich, as well as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, did not meet the state's requirement of 10,000 signatures and, therefore, did not qualify for the ballot, the Virginia GOP said via Twitter." 12-11 -12-29-11 Professors Synchronize Days and Dates (CNN News) "As the people of the world prepare to hang their 2012 calendars, two professors at Johns Hopkins University are proposing one you can keep forever, as each date falls on the same day of the week as it did the year before." 12-11 07-14-11 Poll: A Majority Favors Taxes for the Wealthy for Debt Reduction (CNN News) "A full 67% of Americans favor a deal to raise the debt ceiling that includes taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, according to a poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University." "And according to Gallup, only 20% of Americans want a deal that consists only of spending cuts. That's the position of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and many of his colleagues." 07-11 07-18-11 Poll: 71 Percent Disagree with Republican Approach to Debt (CBS News) "Americans are unimpressed with their political leaders' handling of the debt ceiling crisis, with a new CBS News poll showing a majority disapprove of all the involved parties' conduct, but Republicans in Congress fare the worst, with just 21 percent backing their resistance to raising taxes." 07-11 08-01-11 Editorial: Ransom Paid (Truth-Out.com) "Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics." "The deal does not raise taxes on America’s wealthy and most fortunate — who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years." 08-11 08-01-11 Editorial: What Liberals Will Like in the Debt Ceiling Deal (Time.com) "In a world where the Tea Party didn’t exist, would this be a good bill for Democrats? Absolutely not. But considering that the trigger, commission, two-step process and discretionary budget cuts could’ve been a LOT worse – and actually were in Boehner’s version of the bill – this deal will be easier to swallow. The commission will likely mean a long-term win for Democrats: they’ll get either their revenue increases or achieve significant Pentagon cuts." 08-11 08-01-11 House Liberals and Tea Partiers Dislike the Debt Deal (CBS News) "President Obama has landed a deal with Republicans to make sweeping cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The deal was brokered with literally hours to go before the U.S. exhausted its ability to borrow money, but its success in the House is still uncertain." 08-11 08-04-11 Liberal Debt Deal Revolt (Wall Street Journal) "Liberal economists such as Cornell's Robert Frank had been arguing that the 'spending problem is too little, not too much.' He believes the debt package is a job killer because 'cutting spending now would make the downturn worse.' " "Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin labeled the budget pact 'the final interment of John Maynard Keynes.' That would be quite an accomplishment if he's right." 08-11 10-31-11 Measuring Success for the Occupy Wall Street Movement (CNN News) "There's no easy way to define Occupy Wall Street. That's part of what's made it hard for the media – and those involved in the protests – to wrap their arms around the movement." 10-11 Romney Wins Nevada (MSNBC News) "Mitt Romney is projected to win Nevada's Republican caucuses, adding to the political momentum the former Massachusetts governor has built for his campaign." 02-12 Papers -03-03-12 The Mitt Romney -- Rush Limbaugh Connection (Wikipedia.org) Mitt Romney is a co-founder of BainCapital. BainCapital owns Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel Communications is the parent company of Premier Radio Networks, Inc. and Premier Radio Networks syndicates the Rush Limbaugh radio show. 03-12 -03-06-12 Mom Loses Parts of Legs Saving Children in Tornado (CBS News) " 'I grabbed the kids and I wasn't letting go,' Decker told CBS News from her hospital bed in Louisville, Ky. 'If they were going to fly, I was going to fly with them. It happened so quickly - the tornado, but the rest of it felt like an eternity' " 03-12

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