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The House of Representatives registered its disapproval of U.S. involvement in the NATO-led Libya campaign Friday, solidly rejecting a resolution expressing support for American military engagement in the war-torn North African country. The resolution -- similar to a measure introduced in the Senate by Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona -- lost in a 295-193 vote. Republicans voted overwhelmingly against the measure, while Democrats voted more narrowly in favor of it.

Rejecting the recommendations of a recent state report, federal officials said Wednesday they cannot postpone the deadline to start construction of California's $43-billion bullet train project or allow the state to move the first leg of the proposed system out of the Central Valley. U.S. Department of Transportation officials said the 2012 deadline is required by federal legislation that provided about $3.1 billion in funding for the project's initial leg, which, they added, was placed in the state's agricultural heartland after considerable study. "This shows that we are on the same page as the feds," said Jeffrey Barker, a spokesman...

Netanyahu speaks from Oval Office

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan's president on Sunday rejected a U.S. apology for the mistaken killing of nine Afghan boys in a NATO air attack and said civilian casualties are no longer acceptable. According to a statement from his office, Hamid Karzai told Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week's killing of the boys, ages 12 and under, by coalition helicopters. NATO has also apologized for the mistaken killings. Civilian casualties from coalition operations are a major source of strain in the already difficult relationship between Karzai's government...

A federal judge in Virginia ruled Tuesday against Liberty University’s claim that the health care reform law is unconstitutional and allows its insurance payments to cover abortions, a violation of its religious beliefs. The White House quickly deemed the suit’s dismissal as a sign that the health care law will survive the many legal challenges it faces. “The judge’s ruling today only underscores the importance of the law’s individual responsibility provision,” Stephanie Cutter, assistant for special projects, wrote in a White House blog post Tuesday. “In order to make health care affordable and available for all,

Desmond Tutu says by bringing int'l artists to perform, TA Opera House "advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.'" Talkbacks (23) Cape Town's renowned opera troupe has rejected a call from retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to cancel a performance in Israel scheduled next month. The opera's managing director Michael Williams said in a statement Wednesday that the opera would not take a political position and cut cultural ties with Israel or the Palestinian territory. Tutu, who earned a Nobel Prize for his peaceful opposition to apartheid, urged Cape Town's renowned opera troupe not to tour Israel until...

America is sending an unambiguous message to president Obama and his sycophants: “We have had enough of your agenda”. Amid a slew of lawsuits, immigration laws, ethics scandals and populist uprisings (The Tea Parties) one has to wonder if Washington is getting the message. Given the administrations “damn the torpedoes” attitude and arrogant dismissal of the will of the people the answer seems to be a resounding NO. Too bad. This president was handed a historic opportunity to be remembered as one of the greats had he loosened his grip on his Marxist agenda for just a short while. He...

Another ass-kicking: 5th Circuit rejects White House drilling ban appeal By Michelle Malkin • July 8, 2010 07:17 PM Just in: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has just denied the White House request for a stay on U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman’s order striking down the Obama blanket deepwater drilling ban. Ass. Kicked. Again: A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected the Obama administration’s request to put on hold a ruling that lifted a temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ruling is a setback for...

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court has rejected the U.S. government's effort to keep a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium in place.

Dubai airports will not use hi-tech full-body scanners because they "contradict Islam" and violate passengers' privacy, according to reports — even though the scanners can detect terrorist threats like those posed by the Christmas Day bomber. Neither of Dubai's two airports will use the scanners "out of respect for the privacy of individuals and their personal freedom," the head of airport security for the emirate told Al-Bayan daily, AFP reported.

Why is it one question keeps recurring whenever EPA announces a decision: What is wrong with these people? The latest such example concerns the agency's rejection of a Texas air quality program that slashed emissions in the Lone Star state while encouraging increased workplace productivity. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had requested EPA permission to proceed with a flexible permits program covering 122 petroleum processing facilities that had been covered under a trial effort. Air quality in Texas has dramatically improved under TCEQ leadership and EPA approval of its application would have extended the successful program permanently.

The Senate has rejected a bid to stop the Obama administration from imposing regulations on greenhouse gases, giving a boost to President Barack Obama as he pursues broader clean energy legislation. Senators turned back a resolution that would have rescinded the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Supporters of the measure, mostly Republicans, argued that the EPA had usurped the authority of Congress to set climate policy and that the EPA regulations would increase energy costs and kill jobs.

Says Iranian deal is a maneuver to prevent agreement on sanctions. The Israeli government described the latest Iranian nuclear deal as a trick designed to prevent the imposition of UN Security Council sanctions. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with the "Septet" of seven key ministers on Tuesday, to discuss Israel's response to the Iranian nuclear fuel reprocessing agreement, brokered by Brazil and Turkey. Netanyahu instructed ministers not to make any public pronouncements before they had agreed a united response. Ministers concluded that the latest agreement is a maneuver to prevent the UN Security Council from agreeing on sanctions. They concluded...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO, said Tuesday that she won't debate GOP challenger Steve Poizner in front of party activists at the state Republican convention next month but will debate him before deep-pocketed party donors in Orange County. Whitman's campaign team said she will not debate Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, at the state party's convention March 12-14 in Santa Clara. Hundreds of the party's most loyal activists, as well as candidates for all statewide offices and for a U.S. Senate seat in California, will attend the three-day gathering. State GOP Chairman Ron Nehring said months...

LONDON (AFP) – World leaders heading to UN climate talks next week must not be distracted by "flat-earth" sceptics who deny humans are to blame for global warming, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Saturday. "With only days to go before Copenhagen, we mustn't be distracted by the behind-the-times, anti-science, flat-earth climate sceptics," Brown told The Guardian newspaper ahead of the landmark UN summit in the Danish capital. "We know the science. We know what we must do. We must now act and close the five-billion-tonne gap. That will seal the deal." Government advisor Nicholas Stern estimated that 10 billion tonnes...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday easily rejected the inclusion of a government-run "public" insurance option, backed by President Barack Obama, in its sweeping healthcare reform bill. The panel voted 16-8 against a government-run insurance plan in the first of several battles expected in Congress over the issue, one of the most contentious in the raging U.S. debate over healthcare reform.

“I think President Obama addressed that directly and said that he didn’t feel that was the case,” Pawlenty said His comments came when asked about former President Jimmy Carter's and former Vice President Walter Mondale's arguments that Obama’s race is a factor in the animus against him. "I don't like saying it," Mondale told the online news outlet Politico Thursday. "I don't want to pick a person, say, he's a racist, but I do think the way they're piling on Obama, the harshness, you kind of feel it.” “I think people that are guilty of that kind of personal attack...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday rejected calls, including by some fellow Democrats, for a truth commission to investigate Bush-era terrorism policies, saying nothing would be gained from it.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California lawmakers should reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to sell $6 billion in revenue anticipation warrants to raise cash for the state government as it faces a $21.3 billion budget gap, the state's budget watchdog office said on Thursday. The California Legislative Analyst's office said in a report that Schwarzenegger's plan for the short-term debt would be a "terrible precedent and a poor fiscal policy," and "presents serious legal concerns."

U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism. But according to a Pakistani newspaper, regional envoy Richard Holbrooke and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen came up empty-handed and received a "rude shock" when a proposal for joint operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the volatile tribal regions was rejected.