by Capitol Confidential The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of [...]

Oct 29, 2009 From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush spoke in Washington on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (CNN) – Since his brother left office in January, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has been mostly diplomatic when discussing the Obama administration. On Wednesday, he took a sharper tone. During remarks to a U.S. [...]

Commentary by Caroline Baum Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — Heresy, thy name is Christina Romer. Last week, the chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers — a position that carried the title “chief economist” until Larry Summers took up residence in the White House — testified to the Joint Economic Committee on the economic [...]

Oct 30, 2009 By Larry Margask WASHINGTON (AP) – Dozens of lawmakers have drawn scrutiny from their ethics monitor this year for everything from financial dealings to travel and campaign donations, according to a leaked account showing an active House panel secretly at work. Seven of the lawmakers—four not previously known—serve on a defense appropriations [...]

Oct 30, 3009 By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ (AP) – 23 hours ago HONG KONG — A U.S. Navy admiral expressed new concern Friday over China’s military buildup and urged Beijing to be clearer about its intentions. With China’s military growing at an “unprecedented rate,” the U.S. wants to ensure that expansion doesn’t destabilize the region, Rear [...]

Oct 30, 2009 By Edward Luce Seven years ago, Dick Cheney proclaimed: “The Taliban is out of business, permanently.” Last week, the former vice-president came close to accusing Barack Obama of lacking the guts to “do what it takes” to win the war against the very same Taliban. Some time in the next two weeks, [...]

Oct 30, 2009 By Jack Tapper Posting its results late this afternoon at Recovery.gov, the White House claimed 640,329 jobs have been created or saved because of the $159 billion in stimulus funds allocated as of Sept. 30. Officials acknowledged the numbers were not exact, saying that states and localities that reported the numbers have made [...]

Most guests still hidden; list shows Bill Gates, Oprah, bank CEOs, Gingrich By Bill Dedman Investigative reporter msnbc.com updated 11:08 p.m. PT, Fri., Oct . 30, 2009 The White House on Friday released a small list of visitors to the White House since President Barack Obama took office in January, including lobbyists, business executives, activists [...]

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October 30, 2009 by Pat Buchanan If we had it to do over, would we send an army into Afghanistan to build a nation? Would we invade Iraq? While these two wars have cost 5,200 dead, a trillion dollars and a divided America facing an endless war, what have we won? Gen. Stanley McChrystal needs [...]