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President Barack Obama's ambitious health care reform could be derailed by an abstruse lobbying battle between two key White House allies: the pharmaceutical industry and the senior citizens lobby. AARP has sided with generic drug makers against the name-brand giants on the backstage issue of biologic drugs. Biologics are prescription drugs more complex (and more expensive) than standard drugs, and they are generally derived from living matter. Examples are insulin and the anemia drug Epogen.-SNIPTo promote innovation, the Food and Drug Administration protects ordinary drugs such as Lipitor or Viagra from competition for five years. But the FDA also provides...

The Vatican has released the text of Caritatis in Veritate, the long-awaited social encyclical in which Pope Benedict XVI calls for "a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise" and a global economic system that values the common good above private profits. Explaining the title of the encyclical, Pope Benedict writes that the social teachings of the Catholic Church offer a means of appraising the secular world, judging social and economic systems against a clear moral standard. The guiding principle of Catholic social teaching is charity, he says. The teaching function of the Church involves explaining how that charity should...

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) – G8 leaders believe the world economy still faces "significant risks" and may need further help, according to summit draft documents that also suggest failure to agree climate change goals for 2050. Progress on the environment was impeded by Chinese President Hu Jintao returning home due to unrest in northwestern China in which 156 people have died. Before he left, summit host Silvio Berlusconi spoke of Chinese "resistance" on climate goals. Documents seen by Reuters before the G8 summit began on Wednesday cautioned that "significant risks remain to economic and financial stability" while "exit strategies" from pro-growth...

Island nation is asking its longtime benefactor, the United States, for a 35-year extension to direct aid funding because of its offer to take in 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees. KOROR, Palau - The tiny island nation of Palau is asking its longtime benefactor, the United States, for a 35-year extension to direct aid funding -- and hinting Washington should say yes because of its offer to take in 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees. Both Palauan and U.S. officials deny any direct link between the country's willingness to take in the Chinese Muslim Uighurs and American largesse. But Palau negotiators say they...

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee may have trouble keeping the promise she made at Michael Jackson's public memorial for a House resolution that "forever" honors the late pop star. Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, took the stage Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and hoisted a framed copy of the resolution, embossed with a gold seal. The measure will be debated on the House floor, she said. For that framed, embossed resolution to be completely legit, it must first get past some opposition. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who called Jackson a "pervert, child molester,...

I suspect that I was invited to participate in reviewing and commenting on the first volume of the commentary phase of Royal Skousen's Book of Mormon critical text project in part because I am in print as having some different views regarding Book of Mormon translation theory than Skousen does. Skousen is on record as preferring what he calls a "tight control" model of the translation, namely, that the English text of the Book of Mormon is a rather literal translation that closely follows its original language exemplar written on the gold plates. In contrast, I prefer what I call...

The Palestinian terrorist group known as Hamas contested an Amnesty International report that charged the organization with committing war crimes during its conflict with Israel. The charged stemmed from Hamas’ unprovoked rocket attacks on clearly civilian targets in Israel. Israeli forces subsequently invaded Gaza, the site from which the rockets were launched, in an effort to stop the attacks. Amnesty International also charged Israel with war crimes for the collateral damage to Gaza civilians during the invasion. “I am glad to see that Israel’s criminal regime has been justly cited for their atrocities,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. “But...

Speaking of crackdowns on commodities, the mob in India, the world's largest bullion consumer, is cracking down on gold...

Brand new territory for the young president.

Looks like the First Lady outweighs Obambi, Putin and the missus by 100 lbs or more... Don't care what the MSM says, Mrs. Obambi is at least a size 20.

As a military officer for 30 years, I came to recognize the necessity of good leadership. When I retired from the military in 1998, I became active politically in the Republican Party. Since that time, I've been elected to two National Republican Conventions, acted as a military spokesperson for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, and served as national veterans coordinator for Fred Thompson's presidential run. In 2007, I ran for Minnesota GOP party chair as a reform candidate, and lost. Over the years I have raised tens of thousands of dollars for GOP coffers, donated many thousands of dollars to...

Hold your Senators and Members of Congress accountable for reading any healthcare reform legislation up for vote by having them sign our pledge: (pledge download is at the website)

Nuclear Weapons: Group seeks forgiveness for U.S. bombings in 1945 They call their trip a “Journey of Repentance.” Sixteen people – most from the Tacoma area – will travel to Japan later this month to acknowledge and ask forgiveness for the destruction caused by the twin U.S. atomic bombings 64 years ago. The Rev. Bill Bichsel, a Tacoma peace activist and Jesuit priest, said the group wants to meet and connect with those who have suffered from the bombings of World War II. “We come with deep sorrow for what has happened with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,”...

British scientists have created human sperm using stem cells in a medical first that could revolutionise fertility treatment, they claim. Researchers at the pioneering Northeast England Stem Cell Institute say they have made the breakthrough using stem cells from an embryo. They have made the breakthrough using stem cells from an embryo. They claim that with some minor changes the sperm could theoretically fertilise an egg to create a child. Within 10 years, the scientists say the technique could also be used to allow infertile couples to have children that are genetically their own. It could even be possible to...

While most Western countries would just sit and watch as Muslim rioters destroyed more and more of the country (video), China has take a different approach.

Local governments in New York State face an unprecedented increase in pension costs that will force them to triple their contributions to the state pension system over the next six years, according to an analysis prepared by the comptroller’s office. By 2015, pension costs borne by local governments upstate, on Long Island and in New York City’s suburbs will exceed $8 billion a year, compared with $2.6 billion last year, under the analysis, which was circulated to legislative and county leaders and obtained by The New York Times this month. The analysis predicts that counties will have to contribute an...

(English-language translation) MIAMI - Panamanian General Manuel Antonio Noriega appealed yesterday to the United States Supreme Court as a last legal recourse to avoid his extradition to France after an appeals court ruled that he may be sent to Paris, where he faces money-laundering charges. Seventy-three-year-old Noriega, who is serving a prison sentence in Miami for allowing cocaine shipments from the defunct Medellín Colombian drug cartel to Panama, went to the nation's highest court to argue that, being a prisoner of war, he must be sent back to Panama in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

"Those young kids grew up from being teenage comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the president of the United States of America.”

Family members have described rape suspect Felix E. Montoya as a short-tempered man prone to violent outbursts, new information that justified increasing his bail to $500,000, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Alyce Farrell granted a request for bail modification for Mr. Montoya, more than doubling the original amount of $200,000, after receiving details about the Taylor man's violent home life, First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico said. While Mr. Montoya remains in the Lackawanna County Prison, the public has inundated the district attorney's office with gifts and offers of assistance for the 5-year-old girl he is accused of...

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was deposed Tuesday by attorneys for the House Judiciary Committee, according to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the panel’s chairman. Rove’s deposition began at 10 a.m. and ended around 6:30 p.m, with several breaks, Conyers said. Conyers would not comment on what Rove told congressional investigators, what the next step in the long-running Judiciary Committee investigation would be or whether Rove would face additional questioning. “He was deposed today,” Conyers said in an interview. “That’s all I can tell you.” Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to confirm or deny that his client...