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WASHINGTON - With the finish line finally in sight, President Obama on Saturday sought to give House Democrats one final push on landmark health care legislation. ... "We're a day away," he said. "After a year of debate and arguments made by just about everyone, we're 24 hours away."

After hearing out everyone everyone from President Obama to tea party activists, Dover Democratic Rep. Zack Space announced today that he'll oppose the health care reform bill that's up for a vote on Sunday in the House of Representatives. Space, who represents a sprawling southeast Ohio congressional district with a high concentration of Republicans, said he doesn't like the bill, and his constituents don't like it, either. "Probably the most significant concern is the pay-fors in the bill," said Space. "They are opening the door to taxing employee benefits as income, which is going to create, I don’t care how...

There is a plan to do a concurrent resolution to take the Senate bill, strike the Nelson language on abortion, and insert the Stupak language on abortion.

This is getting good. Looks like Brown's "stay out of Massachusetts" play worked.

First, let me say that I have hated the media for some time now, but today was a new low. I was driving through Des Moines this afternoon, and heard an NPR story on the Ft Hood shooting. It started out surprisingly balanced - a little too much "one the one hand, on the other hand," but better than I expected from NPR. Something along the lines of, (paraphrasing, obviously) "this event may have happened because the shooter was stressed out from counseling PTSD soldiers, or it may be because he's a muslim." Then they played a clip of Gen...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson -- yes, that Charlie Wilson -- was speaking at an anti-war rally when he, um, flubbed a line: "We should be led by Osama bin Laden," he said, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean Obama and Biden." How does that Southwest commercial go? Want to get away?

U.S. forces found, targeted and killed in a Somali desert city the senior al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and had since spent a decade in hiding, The Washington Times has learned. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, was the target of a U.S. missile strike on a residence in Dobley, a small town in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, according to a U.S. military official who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of the operation.

CHICAGO — An off-duty Chicago police officer appeared in court Monday to face charges after he allegedly broke tables in a suburban bar, elbowed a police officer and spat on a paramedic. ... Police were forced to taser Schmidt to get him under control, police say. His alcohol limit was three times the legal limit, officials say. ... The police superintendent relieved him of his duties.

"Who is your favorite author?" Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments. Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss. In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level. "My favorite author is C. S. Lewis," she said.

NEW YORK - A security screener at Kennedy International Airport trying to see his parents off on a trip boarded their plane without a ticket or a boarding pass Thursday and was arrested, authorities said. The man boarded an Etihad Airways flight bound for the United Arab Emirates, and when the plane's doors shut, he notified a flight attendant, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Port Authority police arrested the man on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass, Coleman said. The man, who later was released, is a passenger and baggage...

Press OfficeU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityFact Sheet January 6, 2005 Contact: Press Office 202-282-8010NATIONAL RESPONSE PLAN (NRP) What it does for America. The National Response Plan establishes a comprehensive all-hazards approach to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents. The Plan incorporates best practices and procedures from incident management disciplines—homeland security, emergency management, law enforcement, firefighting, public works, public health, responder and recovery worker health and safety, emergency medical services, and the private sector—and integrates them into a unified structure. It forms the basis of how federal departments and agencies will work together and how the...

A four-month-old Pensacola boy remains in fair condition today, after he was discovered with severe injuries caused by abuse. Matthew Hall is at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. His mother, 34-year-old Beverly Long and her boyfriend, 37-year-old David Culver are charged with abusing the boy. Long brought her son to Sacred Heart's emergency room on Wednesday. Workers noticed signs of abuse and called deputies. During their investigation, they discovered the baby had more than 20 broken bones in his legs and arms. Possible cigarette burns were also found on his mouth and arm. Long and Culver are making their first court...