Free Republic

VINEYARD HAVEN, Massachusetts -- President Barack Obama, perhaps seeking a break from harsh reality after a tough summer battling the economy and Republicans in Congress, has picked a summer reading list that is long on fiction. The White House says four of the five books that Obama has to choose from during a nine-day family vacation here are novels. Obama's reading list -- like the criticism from Republicans for vacationing while the economy is stumbling -- is a rite of the summer. But his choices ignored the weighty biographies of great Americans typically on a president's reading list.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has chosen to go through an ethics trial, like the one lined up for New York Rep. Charles Rangel, rather than accepting charges made by an ethics subcommittee, a source familiar with the process tells POLITICO. The back-to-back trials of a pair of black lawmakers represent an unprecedented use of an ethics adjudication system that has rarely been used by House members accused of breaking House rules. Waters' case revolves around allegations that she improperly intervened with federal regulators to help a bank that her husband owned stock in and on whose board he once served.

WASHINGTON — President Obama will soon name Dr. Donald M. Berwick, an iconoclastic scholar of health policy, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the programs that serve nearly one-third of all Americans, administration officials said Saturday. Dr. Berwick, a pediatrician, is president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass. He has repeatedly challenged doctors and hospitals to provide better care at a lower cost. He says the government and insurers can increase the quality and efficiency of care by basing payments on the value of services, not the volume. Mr. Obama plans to nominate Dr. Berwick to be administrator...

Just announced on WABC radio on the Larry Kudlow show by Jimmy Pettatukis--US News and a blogger, (SP) that McCain is all but a lock for VP. INfo comes from his fund raising sources. Kudlow is using the info as "breaking news" on his show which just eneded at 1:00 Pm Eastern.

BAGHDAD — Leaders from the Old Adhamiya neighborhood in Baghdad met with Iraqi Army Soldiers Feb. 18, to agree upon leaders and committee members for the Tribal Support Council. Sheikh Amar Amid Al Azawi was elected chairman; Sheikh Abdu Khadir Al Dulaimi and Abu Abid were elected as vice chairmen. Abid is a prominent ‘Sons of Iraq’ (SoI) leader in the area. SoI is a volunteer security group formally known as the Concerned Local Citizens. The group mans check points, conducts security patrols, and helps Coalition and Iraqi security forces identify terrorists and find their weapon caches. The council members...

Patrick Dorinson, a former fundraiser in Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and former member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, has been selected as the new communications director of the California Republican Party. There was no official confirmation from the party, which will hold its statewide convention this weekend in San Jose. Capitol sources said the decision to tap Dorinson, a Republican who served as the chief spokesman of the state's electricity grid during California's energy crisis, was reached several days ago. The party's official announcement was expected as early as Tuesday, but Dorinson confirmed his hiring today. Dorinson, 54, currently a...

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, reaching into his loyal inner circle for another pick that could reshape the nation's judiciary for years to come. "She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice," Bush said as his first Supreme Court pick, Chief Justice John Roberts, took the bench for the first time just a few blocks from the White House. "She will be an outstanding addition to the Supreme Court of the United States." If confirmed...

SAN FRANCISCO - The committee tasked with doling out California's $3 billion in stem cell research grants selected two of its leaders Friday, amid conflict of interests complaints and accusations that its inaugural gathering violated the state's open meeting laws. Housing developer Robert Klein II was unanimously chosen chairman while biotechnology company Chiron Corp. co-founder Edward Penhoet received 21 of a possible 25 votes for vice chairman. Each will serve six year terms. Even Klein's unanimous appointment was criticized by some as preordained because Klein was the only candidate nominated for chairman and had successfully lobbied Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to...

Governor: Jim Douglas Jim Douglas has been the Dutch uncle of the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, the candidate who has continually shaken his finger and sternly warned that Vermont faces difficult financial times that will require major changes in state government to overcome. Vermont is caught in a fiscal trap. State revenues are declining while health care, education and other costs are rising. Something must give. The next governor must make tough choices to balance the taxpayer pocketbook against pressing and incessant demands for government services. Jim Douglas is the candidate best suited to make those decisions. That is why The...