Democrats Abandon August Deadline, Health Care Reform Falters
Politico: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, said yesterday that a health care reform bill would not pass before the August recess. The President had hoped to rally supporters with his Wednesday night new conference.
“The delay opens the most ambitious legislative initiative in more than 40 years to a month of fierce scrutiny as special-interest groups ramp up what was already expected to be a firestorm of ads, organizing and lobbying. Democrats will head home without a single plan to promote, complicating efforts to counter a suddenly more cohesive Republican opposition built around the plan’s trillion-dollar price tag.”—Read More
WashPo: A Washington Post-ABC News poll has found the majority of Americans disapprove of the Alaska Governor and serious contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Sarah Palin plans to leave office this weekend in order campaign for candidates across the country.
“Last year’s Republican vice presidential nominee remains a deeply polarizing figure, and there are warning signs for her as she emerges as a possible contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. While she is still widely popular among those in her party, she has lost ground among Republicans generally and among the white evangelicals who are so critical in the early presidential primaries.”— Read More
WSJ: More than 40 mayors, rabbis and other public figures were arrested on Wednesday on charges of corruption and money laundering.
“The key to the investigation: a real-estate developer who became an informant after being arrested on bank-fraud charges in 2006, according to a person familiar with the case. The developer, Solomon Dwek, wore a wire for the Federal Bureau of Investigation while offering to bribe New Jersey mayors and other public officials, that person said.”—Read More
HuffPo: The President’s criticism of the Cambridge police officer who arrested a Harvard professor has upset police groups. The White House has since tried to soften Obama’s comment.
“Stephen Killion [the president of the Cambridge Police Patrol Officer's Association] told the Huffington Post that he was shocked when he heard the president make the remarks during Wednesday night’s press conference. “That was totally inappropriate. I am disgraced that he is our commander-in-chief. He smeared the good reputation of the hard-working men and women of the Cambridge Police Department. It was wrong to do. It was disgraceful.”– Read More
Washington Times: The Prime Minister of Iraq said yesterday that he may ask American forces to remain in the country beyond the 2011 deadline for withdrawal.
“The Status of Forces Agreement requires all U.S. troops to exit the country by the end of 2011. But Pentagon officials and U.S. diplomats privately have left open the prospect that the Iraqi government may seek to renegotiate the terms of the agreement. Kurdish leaders and Sunni Muslim heads of a tribal federation known as the Awakening also have said U.S. troops would be welcome in Iraq past the 2011 deadline if the agreement is modified.” — Read More
“The pressure campaign has been underway for months as Education Secretary Arne Duncan travels the country delivering a blunt message to state officials who have resisted change for decades: Embrace reform or risk being shut out. ‘What we’re saying here is, if you can’t decide to change these practices, we’re not going to use precious dollars that we want to see creating better results; we’re not going to send those dollars there,’ Obama said in an Oval Office interview Wednesday. ‘And we’re counting on the fact that, ultimately, this is an incentive, this is a challenge for people who do want to change.’” –Read More
Wheelchair-bound Man Photographed Dancing, to Face Fraud Charges
UPI: The 33-year-old Swede has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government because of his disability.
“Police, however, say they raided the man’s home in June 2007 on abuse and illegal imprisonment allegations and discovered the photo of the man dancing at the Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, as well as several other pictures depicting the man standing and walking without assistance.”—Read More
Daily Mail: A third of men between the ages of 20 and 40 still live at home, a new study says, compared with one fifth of women.
“A spokesman for the food company which carried out the poll, said: ‘Men are traditionally thought of to be more independent than women. But these results prove that it’s actually the other way around, although few men would probably admit it.’”— Read More
ABC: Former Leland Mayor Barbara Brooks spent $12,000 on a trip without receiving the proper approval from the city.
“Chief Randy Minix, Lt. Tammy Hudson and Officer Leroy Chillis tried to remove her. At one point, she climbed under the table, crying and screaming. The officers pulled her out from under the table and carried her out of the meeting. The incident was recorded by the city.”— Read More
Reuters: Farmers in eastern India have begun asking their daughters to plow the fields in the nude, in hope of shaming the weather into raining.
“Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the plows.” —Read More
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