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President Obama's tone on health care took a noticeable shift today, as his usual conciliatory speeches gave way to a "sharper" and more direct demand for action. "We've talked this problem to death—year after year. Unless we act and act now, nothing will change. The need for reform is urgent and indisputable," Obama said. Obama's comments came at a discussion with health care workers in Washington, D.C. Many reports noted that he seemed to back away from the previous August deadline he had set, saying "Let's pass reform by the end of this year." However, press secretary Robert Gibbs said the deadline remained in place. Meanwhile, the GOP has amped up criticism of the "socialist" health plan on the heels of numerous governors from both sides of the aisle expressing their unease with how the plan is developing.
California legislators have finally reached a compromise on how to bring their state back from the brink of economic catastrophe—but don't expect dancing in the streets: "There isn't a whole lot of good news in this budget," one prominent state politician said of the deal to close the $23.6 billion deficit. Indeed, major cuts for the elderly and the poor are likely on the way. It appears that the budget accord "will reshape government in California," the Los Angeles Times reports, as many services offered by the state will be scaled back. The changes are extensive, and a few can be expected: Large numbers of state prisoners having their sentences reduced, oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, and state workers taking more unpaid days off. A small consolation: No broad-based tax increases. Thanks, Arnold.
Guess this wasn't as easy as the administration thought: A Justice Department task force had to request an extension on its deadline to file a report examining U.S. interrogation and detention policy, citing the extraordinarily complex issues involved. President Obama has said that the problem of what to do with some of the most dangerous prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay is one of the most challenging he faces, and the report's delay proves his point. The two separate reports, one on detention, the other on interrogation, received extensions of six months and two months, respectively. An anonymous official explained why the report had to be postponed: "We want to make sure that we have looked at every single angle because [Obama] will challenge us on these issues." The Obama administration has said that it is sticking to its plan of closing Gitmo by January 2010.
Who will pay for nationalized health care? Politico reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants it to be the millionaires. The historic health-care bill wending its way through the House would raise taxes for individuals with annual adjusted gross incomes of $280,000 or families making $350,000 or more. In a bid to sell the bill to conservative Democrats, Pelosi has proposed raising the trigger to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for families, "so it's a millionaire's tax," she said. As Pelosi later put it, "You hear '$500,000 a year,' you think, 'My God, that's not me.'" Pelosi also said she'd try to "drain" more savings from the medical industry in order to keep costs low.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., perhaps the most famous African-American scholar in the country, was arrested while trying to get into his locked home near Harvard, where he works. “Police say they were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man try to pry open the front door,” according to the Associated Press. Gates reportedly refused to identify himself when a policeman asked him to, called the officer a racist, and said “this is what happens to black men in America.” Though he showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card, police booked him for disorderly conduct. Friends say that Gates was in his home already by the time police arrived. Gates directs the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, has authored 11 books, and edits The Root.
What kind of lessons can we learn here? During the Bush era, when abstinence education received increased funding, reports of teen pregnancy and STDs "rose sharply," according to a new report from the CDC. Birth rates had been in decline since 1991, but that trend has reversed in more than half the states since 2005, according to the Guardian. The report also finds that syphilis has increased by 50 percent among adolescent girls and that gonorrhea and AIDS among teens are on the rise as well. Abstinence-education advocates say the problem is not the failure of their curriculum, but that they need more money to promote their "no sex before marriage" message.
Ever since philandering politicians John Ensign and Mark Sanford mentioned C Street, the D.C. townhouse of a secretive Christian fellowship, the group has caught a bad rap for being "ground zero for Republican sex scandals." Today, Politico quoted lawmakers portraying C Street as a "benevolent prayer group," in what looks like an aggressive attempt to rebrand the fellowship from cheaters club to Bible study, reports Talking Points Memo. Senators Jim DeMint and James Inhofe are among the congressmen quoted praising C Street as a place where lawmakers help each other to stay on the straight and narrow through prayer. Leaders said the group helps politicians "confront their personal demons." An ex-lawmaker from Oklahoma said the house is not meant for people who are "willfully" committing adultery, though it's unclear if the fellowship has official rules about its members' behavior. John Ensign is currently living at C Street.
For the first time since assaulting singer Rihanna last year, Chris Brown apologized publicly in a video on his official Web site. "I have told Rihanna countless times, and I am telling you today, that I am truly sorry and that I wasn't able to handle the situation both differently and better," the 20-year-old Brown said. He was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to assault. Brown is not allowed to be within 50 yards of Rihanna (10 at music industry events) or contact her until his sentencing in August, when the judge may lower the restrictions at Rihanna's request. "I have let a lot of people down, and I realize that," he says. "Nobody is more disappointed in me than I am." He said there are no excuses for his actions, but brought up his tumultuous childhood and asked for forgiveness. "As many of you know, I grew up in a home where there was domestic violence and I saw firsthand what uncontrolled rage can do," he said.
Move over Spitzer, and make room for an as-yet unnamed governor. Gawker reports that a woman who worked at the same escort agency that Eliot Spitzer frequented has said she serviced another sitting governor on three occasions. This as-yet-nameless governor was "a very standard client" who "didn't take the full hour," according to the woman, who alleges that a lobbyist paid for the governor's sessions. The governor's wife is "quite prominent in her own right." Let the reckless speculation begin!
The Bush twins had a reputation for living it up well before their father won the White House. A new book reveals that the antics did not slow down as George Bush served as leader of the free world. Calling them "a secret service nightmare," the twins reportedly tried every trick in the book to ditch their security detail. "Jenna would purposely try to lose her protection by going through red lights or by jumping in her car without telling agents where she was going," Ronald Kessler reveals in In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect. The book also details the Secret Service rushing Jenna's now husband to the hospital after drinking too much at a Halloween Party in 2005.
Take a deep breath: “The total potential federal government support could reach up to $23.7 trillion,” Neil Barfosky, the special inspector general for TARP, says in a new report. The government is currently running about 50 different programs to fight the recession. Barfosky’s estimate is based on each of these programs spending the maximum potential amount. Barfosky said the number is meant to “suggest the scale and scope of these efforts and not to provide a firm financial statement."
Don’t forget the tanning bed: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd are packing up their family’s possessions at the governor’s mansion in Juneau. Taking to her Twitter page, Palin wrote, “Todd & I r packing JNU house today; looking thru Piper's kindergarten schoolwork here reminds how quickly X flies;she enters 3rd grd in fall.” At Vanity Fair, James Wolcott writes, “So it would appear that the real reason Sarah Palin junked the governorship of Alaska was so that she could Twitter unfettered.” Palin resigns from office on Sunday, July 26.
The public may know him as the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes, but Frank McCourt, who died Sunday at age 78, was also a champion teacher. A tribute in The New York Times looks at the author's storied career teaching English at high schools in Staten Island and Brooklyn. In addition to telling stories of his impoverished childhood in Ireland, the stories that would later become Angela's Ashes, McCourt would also tell his class "charming hilarious stories about how he tried to play off the maternal instincts of the women he'd meet—making reference to how much laundry he had that needed to be done," one former student said. Another student said McCourt "had us sing salacious folk songs, he had us write courtroom defenses of inanimate objects, and recite recipes as poetry." She continued, "We all thought, 'He's such a genius, what's he doing just teaching us?' Everybody thought he was destined for bigger and better things. And when he became a global phenomenon, we felt it was justice."
Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine today in order to soothe the concerns of its leaders that the U.S. is more interested in supporting its more powerful neighbor, Russia. "For Ukraine, the most important issues are U.S. guarantees of Ukraine's security, the determination of future Ukrainian-U.S. co-operation in defense and also the continuing support from the United States of Ukraine's process to enter NATO," said the Ukrainian president's deputy chief of staff. But Ukrainian leaders might be too busy dealing with the country's political paralysis and economic problems to work on forging ties with the United States. Biden leaves to visit another ex-Soviet state, Georgia, on Wednesday, also in an attempt to balance out President Obama's Russia visit. The trip is all typical under-the-radar, out-of-the-country work of an old-school vice presidency—just what Obama wanted out of the gaffe-prone Biden.
On the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on Monday, expect a rare glimpse at Neil Armstrong. Though he may be one of the most famous men in the world, he usually avoids the limelight. In the 40 years since he made one giant leap for mankind, Armstrong has turned down an average of 10 monthly interview requests, and he used to hide from autograph-seekers during his tenure at the University of Cincinnati, The Washington Post reports. Armstrong's reticence may have been shaped by the example of Charles Lindbergh, who was Armstrong's guest at the Apollo 11 launch and corresponded with Armstrong until Lindbergh's death in 1974. Armstrong's cool demeanor may have been the reason that NASA top brass chose him over Buzz Aldrin, who campaigned for the honor, to be the first man on the moon.
Is it time for a comeback? Michael Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback who was once the NFL's highest-paid player, has served his federal sentence for dogfighting and has been released from federal custody. Vick can take off the electric monitor he wore while under house confinement for the last two months of his almost two-year sentence. He served 18 months in a federal penitentiary. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he wants to talk to Vick about his career now that he's out, but it's unclear if they have planned a meeting. If Vick does make a comeback, it won't be in Atlanta, since the Falcons fired him in June.
Anyone want a 12-story, 251-room landmark hotel overlooking the Potomac? Tuesday morning the Watergate, where President Nixon's burglars famously broke into Democratic Party offices, leading to his resignation, will go under the gavel. The Independent reports that the once magisterial complex includes three apartment buildings, two office blocks and a shopping center. The complex has been closed since 2007 and "its lobby is strewn with abandoned furniture, awaiting a $170m renovation that never happened." Monument Realty, which bought the hotel for $45 million in 2004, wanted to convert it into luxury apartments, but locals opposed the move and then Monument's financing partner, Lehman Brothers, collapsed last fall. Now the hotel is in foreclosure and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city in back property taxes.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince magicked the pants off its box-office competition this weekend. Variety reports that the sixth installment of the popular Harry Potter series earned nearly $400 million in its worldwide debut, which includes the $237 million it raked in overseas in the biggest overseas opening of all time. The $159.7 million that the film made domestically over five days topped the $139.7 million scored by the previous Order of the Phoenix installment. It's a good thing the film made so much, since it cost a whopping $235 million to produce. Also an auspicious sign for Warner Brothers execs: the Potter audience is apparently maturing but remaining loyal—exit polls revealed that 60 percent of the audience was over 18.
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Susan Boyle, but the Brit will soon be appearing stateside—with a new look to boot. On NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday, Boyle will speak for the first time since she finished runner-up in Britain’s Got Talent. In the interview, Boyle is apparently dolled up, sparking Meredith Viera to gush, “"You look gorgeous, I'm loving the hair!" Boyle will also appear on America’s Got Talent during her visit.
While visiting with India's top leaders in India this week, Hillary Clinton is expected to sign a deal allowing U.S. companies the exclusive rights to sell nuclear power plants—an agreement that could be worth $10 billion to U.S. sellers. "We want to broaden and deepen our strategic understanding," the secretary of state told an audience at Delhi University. Despite efforts by both countries to sure up relations—two-way trade has doubled in the last five years, for instance—one sticking point remains India's refusal to accept binding limits on carbon emissions. "This is part of a negotiation," Clinton said. "It's part of a give-and-take and it's multilateral, which makes it even more complex. But until proven otherwise, I'm going to continue to speak out in favor of every country doing its part to deal with the challenge of global climate change."
Where's Samuel Jackson when you need him? Florida is battling a serious snake problem. The Guardian reports that up to 100,000 pythons may be loose and breeding in Florida, the result of a fad for exotic pets. The booming snake population may come from pet owners who release their pythons when the snakes, which can grow up to 26-feet long and weigh up to 196 lbs., become too large. The recent death of a 2-year-old by her family's escaped pet python galvanized the new plan: Florida's governor has licensed a small group of fewer than 10 trappers to hunt and kill the non-native snakes, and will issue more licenses if the plan is successful.
"The old fogey almost did it," Tom Watson remarked Sunday as the chance to ring up a sixth British Open win slipped from his hands on the 18th green. With Tiger Woods missing the cut, the 59-year-old Watson became the crowd's clear favorite. ("By God, can it really happen?" a BBC commentator screamed at the possibility of a Watson win.) Even the tournament's eventual champion, Stewart Cink, seemed sorry for Watson's loss. "I have to be honest," Cink said. "Playing against Tom in the playoff, it's mixed feelings because I've watched him with such admiration all week. And of course it would come down to me against him in the playoff." A win would have made Watson the oldest man to win a major championship in history. "It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn't it?" Watson said.
The Pentagon will overhaul the American-run prison system in Afghanistan in addition to the jail and judicial systems because of worries that prison abuses are fueling the Taliban insurgency. In one prison that has become a symbol of the abuse, two Afghan detainees died in 2002 after American soldiers beat them and hung them by their arms from the ceiling. Even as American-run prisons improved, the overcrowded Afghan-run prison system worsened. The Pentagon's new approach suggests building a new prison just for extremist prisoners so they are no longer mixed together with more moderate prisoners. In another effort to acknowledge that Afghanistan cannot only be won from the Taliban by force, the U.S. military is sending Drug Enforcement Agency officials to target drug-trafficking kingpins, who are handing over hundreds of millions of dollars to the Taliban every year, according to some estimates. The DEA teams will also train Afghan anti-narcotics police.
Are you surprised? “Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks,” according to The Washington Post. To be exact: Of the 360 banks that got money through the end of January, 110 had invested at least some of it, 52 repaid debts, and 15 bought other banks. A report released on Monday calls on the Treasury Department to require more detailed reports from banks about their use of TARP funds—a move the Treasury has so far resisted, saying that “it is not possible to say that investment of TARP dollars resulted in particular loans, investments or other activities by the recipient.”
Reformists in Iran are continuing their fight: “Former President Mohammad Khatami has called for a nationwide referendum on the legitimacy of the government, saying Iranians have lost faith in their political leaders after last month's disputed election,” according to the Associated Press. "Durability of order and continuation of the country's progress hinge on restoring public trust," Khatami said. "From the start, we said there is a legal way to regain that trust. I openly say now that the solution to get out of the current crisis is holding a referendum." It is the latest challenge to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who alone holds the power to order a referendum. Khatami also proposed that a neutral body monitor the referendum instead of the Guardian Council, many of whose members have supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Welcome, Bernie, to the clinker: The New York Post reports that a few of Bernard Madoff's fellow inmates are talking about beating him up to bolster their jailhouse cred. But not everyone on the inside hates him. Other inmates respect and even admire Madoff because "[he] didn't tell on anybody, he didn't take everybody down with him," according to an unnamed source with a relative in the same North Carolina federal prison. Madoff swindled more than 1,000 people out of $65 billion in a Ponzi scheme lasting two decades.
Is the honeymoon over? A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Obama's ratings are slipping on key domestic policy issues. Approval for Obama's attitude toward health care reform has dropped below the 50-percent mark for the first time ever, and his ratings on the deficit (43-percent approval) have also taken a dive. His economic programs enjoy a 56-percent approval rating, but that's down from 64 percent in March and 72 percent just before he took office. Overall, people approve of Obama more than they approve of his policies, although the president's 59-percent approval rating is six points lower than it was a month ago, and represents his presidency's first dip below 60 percent approval.
Sarah Palin's war with The New York Times continues: The Times reported last week that Sarah Palin's hairdresser and friend, Jessica Steele, said the governor was under so much stress before resigning that her hair was thinning and she needed "emergency help." On Sunday, Steele took to Twitter to set the story straight: "I am Sarah Palin's hairdresser in Alaska! The media is saying Sarah's hair is thinning this is a lie!!! I never said this and it's not true!" She added: "I have never spoken 2 Inside Edition or told any reporter at the NYTs that Sarah Palin's hair was thinning to the point of emergency! Liers! [sic]" Twitter supporters are suggesting Steele go to another media outlet to tell her side of the story.
Can’t get enough of President Obama? This should make you happy: “[T]he White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to dramatically increase public pressure on Congress [on health care]: all Obama, all the time,” according to The Washington Post. The strategy includes a prime-time news conference on Wednesday, a trip to Cleveland, and heavy use of the Internet. "Our strategy has been to allow this process to advance to the point where it made sense for the president to take the baton,” said David Axelrod. “Now's that time." Obama faces trouble right now from conservative House Democrats, who have promised to vote against legislation as it is. The Post says, “[Obama] is quietly working with conservative, Blue Dog Democrats in the House on an amendment to create an independent panel to govern Medicare reimbursement rates that could help reverse crippling health-care inflation.”
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