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Here are the remarks (as prepared for delivery) that President Barack Obama spoke via video to the AFL-CIO executive Council in Miami today. At the very end of the speech, Obama made what all of labor hoped and expected: a promise to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, or 'card-check' for short. Here goes:

NEW YORK - Supertankers that once raced around the world to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for oil are now parked offshore, fully loaded, anchors down, their crews killing time. In the United States, vast storage farms for oil are almost out of room. As demand for crude has plummeted, the world suddenly finds itself awash in oil that has nowhere to go. It’s been less than a year since oil prices hit record highs. But now producers and traders are struggling with the new reality: The world wants less oil, not more.

The one who was waiting for his father was 7-month-old Jace, conceived when the noncommissioned officer was on two weeks leave during a 15-month deployment with the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion. “He’s never held his new son,” said wife Jen, who was in Barnes Field House on the post. Hundreds of other family members and friends welcomed back the first of two contingents of the battalion returning from deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar. The first group of 314 soldiers of the battalion arrived at Libby Army Airfield at 5:07 p.m. when the tires of the World DC-10 landed...

A member of the U.S. military whose suspicions about Barack Obama's eligibility to be president prompted him to sign onto a legal demand being sent to Attorney General Eric Holder has been silenced. Attorney Orly Taitz, the California activist who through her DefendOurFreedoms.us foundation is assembling the case, told WND today she's been informed one of the members of the military has been ordered by commanding officers not to speak with media. The officer's identity was withheld to prevent further actions against him. However, Taitz confirmed to WND there would be no lack of plaintiffs in her action, which challenges...

President Obama and the Democrats who control Congress have a plan for the radical leftward transformation of the economy. They want to raise taxes, raise spending, and increase regulation to levels not seen since the 1970s–or the 1930s. I propose a conference on economic policy, to be held in Washington. — The situation is urgent. Republicans have to block the multi-front Obama agenda of tax increases, more Wall Street bailouts, socialized medicine, “cap and trade” energy policies, and, yes, thousands and thousands of new earmarks. The time has come to save our free-market system. The time has come to defend...

Microsoft founder head Bill Gates has banned the use of products made by arch-rival Apple from his house, his wife has revealed. But the blockade could backfire on Gates, 53, after Melinda admitted there are times she feels envious of her friends' iPhones. She told Vogue magazine that the couple's three children Jennifer, 13, Rory, 10 and Phoebe, seven, are not allowed Apple products.

Barack Obama last week set forth the most ambitious reform agenda of any president since Lyndon Johnson, and a large majority of Americans have rallied behind him. Yet, as the economy continues its downward plunge, the question arises: in trying to do so many big things at once, is he putting economic hopes at growing risk? The arguments in favor of his current approach – what might be called a “big bang” – are powerful both substantively and politically. With health care costs exploding – they will average $8,160 per person this year and are estimated to reach $13,100 by...

Los Angeles County has paid private lawyers nearly $13,000 to pursue $1,004 in debt owed by a Compton woman for time her 16-year-old granddaughter was held in a juvenile probation camp, officials acknowledged today. The debt was still being pursued this week, county counsel said, despite a moratorium on such billing declared last month. The moratorium was called by probation chief Robert Taylor after The Times and children’s advocates raised serious questions about his department’s billing practices. The disclosure that the county already had spent nearly 13 times the actual debt owed came at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting as...

BAGHDAD — A Department of Army civilian serving in Iraq and a U.S. humanitarian organization donated medical supplies to the Baghdad Police College’s renovated medical and dental clinic here Feb. 25. The clinic serves thousands of BPC students every year. “This was a wonderful donation, providing much-needed supplies for our clinic,” said Iraqi Dr. Mustafa, clinic director at Baghdad Police College. “These supplies will help us throughout the year in serving our patients’ needs. It is deeply appreciated.” The medical supplies, valued at approximately $2,500, included stethoscopes, syringes, sponges, gloves, bandages and liters of intravenous fluids. Multi-National Security Transition Command...

Palm Inc (PALM.O) warned of weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue due to lower demand for its older phones, a weak economy and late U.S. shipments of its Treo Pro, sending shares down 11 percent in extended trade. The company forecast continued margin pressure from legacy products in the current quarter even as it prepares to launch the new Pre phone, throwing cold water over investor optimism that the touch-screen smartphone could quickly revive Palm. Palm also said it was looking at ways to bolster its capital position, while it aims to strike back at rivals like Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone and Research...

As new 'No Line on the Horizon,' album is released, Dubliners protest band's business shift to Amsterdam.Dublin, Ireland - The band that loves to rail against global corporate malfeasance is being criticized at home over allegations of tax dodging. U2, whose new album, "No Line on the Horizon," is being released Tuesday in the United States, has lately found itself the focus of protests in Dublin over global tax avoidance. The controversy stems from 2006, when the band moved its publishing company to the Netherlands to avoid a potential multi-million-euro tax bill after the Irish government capped artists' tax-free earnings...

The Coast Guard called off its search for three missing football players at sunset Tuesday. The news came after crews combed choppy waters off the Florida Gulf Coast for a third full day since NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and a third friend William Bleakley disappeared. Their fishing boat capsized in stormy seas Saturday evening. One of the four on the excursion, Nick Schuyler, survived.

A quiet revolt appears to be brewing in the U.S. House of Representatives that could slow some of President Obama’s fast-moving priorities. It appears that support for the Democratic majority’s progressive agenda is increasingly not assured as evidenced by 49 Democrats who appear to be defecting from the party line based on recent votes in the House. The 49 Democrats are from congressional districts that backed Republican Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential race. The defections could cause significant heartburn for Democratic leaders charged with ushering through Obama’s three biggest priorities: a healthcare overhaul, a cap and trade system to curb...

Since Hurricane Katrina, liberal critics have hung the plight of New Orleans around the neck of former President Bush like an albatross. These critics relentlessly hounded the Bush Administration for its "inadequate" response to Katrina. So, now that many of these critics run the federal government, one can expect natural disasters to be handled with prompt and effective action, right? No so fast. That opportunity came and went. The Obama Administration was found to be lacking. When a brutal ice storm crippled several Midwestern states, particularly Kentucky and Arkansas, in January it took the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) several...

Emblems to Stamp Projects Funded by the Stimulus Package March 03, 2009 2:09 PM ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: Put a stamp on it -- that’s what the White House says. President Obama announced today that his administration will begin stamping an emblem on projects funded by the economic stimulus package so that people can easily recognize the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. All projects will be stamped with the ARRA logo (short for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and lists the recovery.gov website on the emblem. Aara_logo_2 In remarks at the Department of Transportation this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&NR=1

The gas behind the smell of rotten eggs could be used to create an alternative sex drug to Viagra, scientists claim. They have discovered that hydrogen sulphide prompts arousal in men. Key nerve cells release minute amounts of the gas when a man becomes aroused, causing blood vessels to relax and so fill with blood - the process which controls and sustains an erection. Similar research on another gas, nitric oxide, led to the creation of Viagra. Both work as 'cell mediators', transmitting crucial information around the body.

Governor Dave Heineman told a packed chamber of homeschool families that he was proud of their efforts. Speaking to a capacity crowd in Warner Chamber of the Nebraska Capitol on February 18, the governor recalled last year’s battle over testing bill L.B. 1141. Former Senator Dianne Schimek introduced the bill that would have radically changed Nebraska’s homeschool law, creating unprecedented burden on homeschooling families. “I told you last year that I would veto that bill if it came to my desk. Because of your hard work it never reached my desk. In fact, the bill never left the committee.” L.B....

The government took the first steps Tuesday toward taking over property in Ontario and Quebec that it says is controlled by a terrorist group involved in South Asia's longest-running civil war. Federal prosecutors in Toronto and Montreal filed applications in the Federal Court of Canada saying they were seeking the forfeiture of the property of the World Tamil Movement, an outlawed terrorist organization. It is the first time the government has used the forfeiture provision of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows the Attorney General to seize "property owned or controlled by or on behalf of a terrorist group." The list...

This is one of those stories that just outrages us. From William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal: Dick Durbin has a nasty surprise for two of Sasha and Malia Obama's new schoolmates. And it puts the president in an awkward position. The children are Sarah and James Parker. Like the Obama girls, Sarah and James attend the Sidwell Friends School in our nation's capital. Unlike the Obama girls, they could not afford the school without the $7,500 voucher they receive from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. Unfortunately, a spending bill the Senate takes up this week includes a poison...