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President Barack Obama has accused his critics of extorting him over raising the US debt ceiling, as a Republican budget gamble brought the prospect of a government shutdown ever closer. Obama and his Republican foes in Congress are locked into entrenched positions over lifting the $US16.7 trillion ($A17.9 trillion) borrowing cap and a government operating budget. If there is no compromise - an increasingly likely prospect - government operations will grind to a halt on October 1 and the US could default on its debts by the middle of next month, a scenario which could have alarming domestic and international...

President Obama took a swipe at the Hard Right on Monday, accusing tea-party-aligned House Republicans of gambling with the nation's economy by threatening to shut down the government unless Obamacare is defunded. In a sprawling economic speech, Obama called on Congress to avert a government shutdown by passing a budget, and he insisted he would brook no wrangling over a raise in the debt ceiling. Obama said such a shutdown, or even the possibility of default, would damage the still-fragile economic recovery. Specifically, the president went after Republicans who say they won't vote for any budget deal that does not...

I received an insightful email from reader Karen Sacandy: Dear Professor Jacobson: I’m among your many grateful readers, but at this time, the Democrats are like Thomas Crown in the flick, “The Thomas Crown Affair,” who created a distraction over here, while over there, he was stealing a multimillion dollar painting. But in this case, it’s a total transformation of the American people, by immigration law changes to aid and abet the non-enforcement we’ve had for decades. All these abuses of power converging at this time are almost COMPLETELY distracting everyone who could bring pressure to bear to prevent the...

People who take high doses of popular cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may be more likely to develop kidney problems, a new study suggests. Specifically, those participants who took higher doses of statins were 34 percent more likely to be hospitalized for acute kidney injury during the first 120 days of treatment, compared to their counterparts who were taking lower doses. This risk remained elevated two years after starting treatment. The findings appeared online March 19 in the journal BMJ. Statins are widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels, and can be very effective. They do, however, confer their share of...

Whitney Houston's body was ravaged by scars, cuts and burns when she died, autopsy details showed. Years of drug and alcohol abuse had left the "Bodyguard" star with a damaged heart and liver, a hole in her nose and 11 front teeth missing. She also had a needle mark on one arm and was high on a cocktail of nine drugs when she died in a hotel bath in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2012.

Theda Skocpol believes that Romney is the “stealth Tea Party candidate”: *** In Romney, the tea party has found the ultimate prize: a candidate loyal to the movement’s agenda, but able to fool enough pundits and moderate voters to win the White House at a time when the tea party has lost broad appeal. *** If I didn’t know anything else about Romney, I’d say that this almost sounds plausible. Unfortunately, this argument requires us to believe that Romney will be loyal an agenda that includes major controversial and unpopular policies. That isn’t going to happen, because Romney cannot be...

he Perry campaign wants to reboot, having retooled and refined its message and tried hard to get back on the jobs message. Okay, fine, but first the Perry camp needs to answer a basic question — why should supporters who went all in for him and wound up feeling burned give him a second shot? I asked him about that and it was, perhaps, a good sign that he stayed on the jobs message. The jobs message, though, raises a question about his flat tax — won't it just help the rich? Also, what about President Obama's approach and his...

just announced, this ought to be good for grandstanding and wagging of the finger at nasty republicans and blame Bush.

Newt Gingrich was on Meet the Press this morning in his first Sunday show appearance since announcing his intention to… challenge President Obama for the Democrat nomination, apparently. Andrew Stiles at NRO has the details: Newt Gingrich’s appearance on “Meet the Press” today could leave some wondering which party’s nomination he is running for. The former speaker had some harsh words for Paul Ryan’s (and by extension, nearly every House Republican’s) plan to reform Medicare, calling it “radical.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said he is "absolutely" open to a run for president in 2012. Giuliani, the mayor of New York during the 9/11 terrorist attacks who ran for president in 2008, hinted more strongly that he might seek the Republican nomination to challenge President Obama's reelection. "I will take a look at 2012. It's really a question of, can I play a useful role? Would I have a chance of getting the nomination? Those are things that I'll have to evaluate as the year goes along," Giuliani said Thursday night on CNBC's "The Kudlow...

http://recovering-liberal.blogspot.com/2010/11/nostradamus-predicted-palins-2012.html

Supplies of speciality metals like lithium, neodymium and indium could become restricted unless recycling rates improve. That's the message from the first two of six reports prepared to assess metal supply sustainability for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 'Scientists should anticipate the possibility that they may not have the whole periodic table to work with in future,' says Thomas Graedel, who led the Global Metal Flows Working Group that compiled the studies.  The report series won't deliver overall supply and demand projections until nearer to the 2012 Rio Earth Summit. Nevertheless Graedel, who is also director of Yale University's Center for Industrial Ecology...

Every single day of this man's presidency is focused on destroying individual liberty and capitalism. There is no absolutely no authority for the federal government to control insurance premiums. This is right out of the Politburo's handbook. President Obama will propose on Monday giving the federal government new power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies, as he rolls out comprehensive legislation to revamp the nation?s health care system, White House officials said. Keep in mind that this is effectively seizing control of the health insurance industry. After all, if you control the rates, you control the companies'...

Immigrants from an obscure corner of Mexico are changing heroin use in many parts of America. Farm boys from a tiny county that once depended on sugar cane have perfected an ingenious business model for selling a semi-processed form of Mexican heroin known as black tar. Using convenient delivery by car and aggressive marketing, they have moved into cities and small towns across the United States, often creating demand for heroin where there was little or none. In many of those places, authorities report increases in overdoses and deaths.

Just when you think beltway Republicans have finally begun to understand the depth and breadth of the voter revolt against the size and reach of the federal government, and thus against the President Obama-led Congressional Democrats, along comes Senator Grassley to throw Democrats a life-line. Grassley fought a brave and good fight against Obamacare throughout 2009, correctly assessing the offers from his Democratic colleague on the Finance Committee, Max Baucus, as both deeply undesirable on their merits and certain to be amended to the worse by House as well. But the Beltway pressures of facing down cartloads of lobbyists and...

Sen. James Webb wrote six novels before he tried his hand at nonfiction. His 2004 history of the Scots-Irish in America owns a memorable name: "Born Fighting." The Virginia Democrat might have saved the title for his memoirs: The man who once battled his way through the jungles of Vietnam has become an influential political warrior in Washington, to the sudden consternation of President Obama.

NBC's Chuck Todd reported on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' this morning that Barack Obama called former President George W. Bush last night to ask him to co-lead relief efforts for earthquake victims in Haiti along with Bill Clinton.This would be in keeping with Bush asking Clinton and his father President George H. W. Bush to co-lead the relief efforts for the 2004 Sumatra tsunami.Todd said the White House may wait a few days to make the announcement.

According to Politico, the Dems are reviving their “Party of No” attack against the Repubs, saying that the Repubs always say No and obstruct President Obama’s agenda. Looking at where the country stands today, it is VERY good that Repubs say no to… …economic and social policies that brought us the 2008 meltdown. …a Stimulus economy that increased the Unemployment Rate much higher and faster than it did after 9/11 which was initially nothing less devastating to America than the meltdown. …an unemployment rate of above 9%. …an economy not gaining anywhere close to the 150,000 jobs it should have...

One of the few concrete signs of cooperation to emerge from this week's U.S.-China summit could boost Beijing's drive to become a global aircraft maker. President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to push for closer technical collaboration and eventual U.S. safety approval for China's ARJ21 commuter jet. That amounts to both a symbolic and practical step to counter Beijing's growing frustration with U.S. aviation policy and U.S. restrictions on the purchase of certain technologies. The high-profile U.S. initiative is especially significant because China's own safety regulators are still a year or more away from approving the 70-to-100-passenger aircraft being developed by...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is open to having coffee with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose forthcoming book about the 2008 presidential campaign is stirring controversy. "I absolutely would look forward to having coffee," Clinton said from Singapore during an interview aired on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and a popular figure among some U.S. conservatives, is on a tour promoting her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."