Senate takes up tax cut extension

Obama-autographed motorcycle goes on the auction block
If you're interested in a new motorcycle, an interesting one is being auctioned off in Las Vegas later this month. A custom-made motorcycle signed by President Obama , Vice President Joe Biden, and National Security Adviser James Jones is being sold on behalf of a Military charity. The Associated Press reports that the Barrett-Jackson Auction Co . will offer the bike Sept. 23-25 on behalf of the Fisher House Foundation: The foundation builds houses around the country and donates them to the...

Obama-Signed Motorcycle to Hit Auction Block
The United States Army Chopper bearing Obama's signature, along with Autographs from Vice President Joe Biden and National Security adviser James Jones, will be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. on September 23-25 to benefit the Fisher House Foundation. The foundation builds houses around the country and donates them to the government to provide free housing to Military families who have someone being treated at a Military or Veterans Affairs Hospital. There are 49 Fisher Houses on the...

Veterans Agency Made Secret Deal With Prudential
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs failed to inform 6 million Soldiers and their families of an agreement enabling Prudential Financial Inc. to withhold lump-sum payments of Life Insurance benefits for survivors of fallen service members, according to records made public through a Freedom of Information request. © Bloomberg News The amendment to Prudential's contract is the first document to show how VA officials sanctioned a payment practice that has spurred investigations by...

Obama chides liberal critics to "wake up"
Philadelphia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama had some friendly advice on Monday for Liberal Democrats who say he has not achieved everything on their wish lists -- quit complaining. Making a whirlwind fund-raising tour of Philadelphia to rally support for his embattled Democrats before U.S. congressional Elections in November, Obama offered a hint of his exasperation with parts of the Liberal Base that helped sweep him to power in the 2008 Election. "When I hear Democrats griping and groaning...

Sarah Palin: 'Political Force, Threat, and Danger'
I read a hilarious column about Sarah Palin in The Huffington Post on Sunday. The timing was ideal, as I hadn’t had a really good fit of laughter since reading Michael Gross’s Vanity Fair Palin piece. Or since listening to Vice President Joe Biden talk about how Iraq “could be one of the great achievements of this administration”—you know, of the administration led by a President who opposed the Troop Surge. Bottom line: I was in need of a hearty chuckle....

Because Obama Extending his "Unclenched Fist" to Iran Was Such a Smashing Success, He Will Use U.N. Visit to Tell Ahmadinejad the "Door is Open"...
I’m assuming Obama is talking about his “back door,” as in bend over, this is gonna hurt… Washington, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will use his visit to the United Nations General Assembly later this week to emphasize to Iran that the “door is open” to them for international engagement, the White House said on Monday. White House deputy National Security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during a telephone briefing that in order for...

RE: Shut Up, the Islamists Explained
Islamists have been mighty successful in propounding a Big Lie: America is a nation beset by Islamophobes. If anything, the religious Bigotry problem both in America andin Europeis one of vicious Anti-Semitism, which has become mainstream and even fashionable. Unlike the concocted Islamophobia — based on hysteria overa single whacked-out pastor and legitimate objections to a Mosque at Ground Zero — there is plenty of evidence that Anti-Semitism enjoys newfound popularity. ...

Insurers ending child-only policies
Several of the nation’s largest Health Insurance Companies will stop issuing certain Children’s Insurance policies to avoid complying with a new mandate in the Democrats’ Health Care overhaul. The insurers will no longer write “child-only” policies — a small, niche market — over concern that the Health Reform law will make the market unstable and unprofitable. Continue Reading Text Size Politico 44 Beginning Thursday, Insurance Companies will no...

New Drugs Stir Debate on Rules of Clinical Trials
© New York Times Two Cousins, Two Paths Thomas McLaughlin, left, was given a promising experimental drug to treat his lethal skin Cancer in a Medical trial; Brandon Ryan had to go without it. Growing up in California's rural Central Valley, the two cousins spent summers racing dirt bikes and Christmases at their grandmother's on the coast. Endowed with a similar brash charm, they bought each other matching hardhats and sought iron-working jobs together. They shared a love for the rush that...

Vietnam War airman is posthumously awarded Medal of Honor
Washington – More than four decades after he saved three airmen but lost his life, Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger was awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday. “Even though it has been 42 years, it’s never too late to do the right thing, and it’s never too late to pay tribute to our Vietnam Veterans and their families,” President Barack Obama said. In March 1968, Etchberger was one of 19 airmen on a secret mission in Laos ...

Bozo the VP botches line of succession
On the Campaign Trail with sinking Ohio Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland today, VP Joe Biden claimed he was “second” in the line for succession to the presidency. CBS Veteran political reporter Mark Knoller noted the flub on Twitter. But it somehow didn’t make any of the other news coverage of his appearances . Bidenrrhea of the mouth from the increasingly erratic , super - gaffetastic former Senator from Delaware has always gotten an MSM pass. If he were a brown-haired...

Invest in veterans: Finish the post-9/11 GI Bill
As Students across the nation return to school, over 300,000 Veterans and their families will be among them, headed to college on the Post-9/11 GI Bill. In the first year of its operation, the new GI Bill has afforded Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan the chance to pursue a first Class Education and provided an invaluable means of transition to civilian life. The GI Bill legacy recognizes the critical role Education plays in empowering our service members and reintegrating them into...

Forty young Europeans die violently every day: WHO
By Kate Kelland London | Tue Sep 21, 2010 9:25am EDT London (Reuters) - More than 15,000 Young People are killed by acts of violence in Europe every year, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, and around 40 percent of those deaths are due to stabbings. In a report on violence in Europe, the WHO said the 40 deaths a day from stabbings and other attacks were an "enormous loss to society," and many could be averted by policies that combined the health, education and Criminal Justice...

Army launches first Europe-based civil affairs unit
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The U.S. Army has activated its first Europe-based civil affairs unit. The 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, along with its subordinate, the 457th Civil Affairs Battalion, will be headquartered in Kaiserslautern. Both units are part of the 7th Civil Support Command, the only U.S. Army Reserve command completely stationed abroad. The units are primarily composed of reservists: part-time U.S. Soldiers living and working in Germany who requested to be part of civil...

Debating the DREAM Act (UPDATED)
The Defense Authorization Act, which is soon to come for a vote in the Senate, has a Controversial provision added to it repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Whatever one thinks of the hot-button issue of Gays in the Military (personally, as I’ve written before, I believe thatit is inevitable that gay service people will be allowed to serve openly), there should be much more agreement on another provision added to the bill: the DREAM Act. A good summary can be...

US says Iran sanctions are working, but experts doubt they will stop Iran's nuclear work
Washington — The Obama Administration says the latest round of sanctions appears to have succeeded in bringing additional pressure against Iran's Nuclear program. But private experts question whether the penalties will achieve their goal of compelling Tehran to give up any Nuclear ambitions. In a Speech Monday, the Treasury Department's point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, said U.S. and international sanctions are "dramatically isolating Iran financially and commercially." And he...

Padded DADT/Immigration/Abortion Defense Bill Likely to Fall Off Schedule Today
..because of an anticipated failure of a procedural vote. (The Hill) The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the defense authorization bill may not win approval this year if it does not pass a key procedural hurdle on Tuesday. Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.), the leading Democrat on Military affairs, on Monday warned that failure to secure enough votes on Tuesdays motion to proceed would be a real setback for the 2011 defense authorization bill. He said the Legislation...

Survey Shows Arabs More Opposed to GZ Mosque Than American Media
Here's a fact you're not likely to see on tonight's evening news broadcasts: According to a recent poll, Arabs living abroad are more likely to be opposed to the "Ground Zero Mosque" than the American media are. According to a recent survey by the Arabic online news service Elaph (Arabic version here ), 58 percent of Arabs think the construction should be moved elsewhere. And according to a Media Research Center study released last week, 55 percent of network news coverage of the...

Guess Who Else Doesn't Like the Ground Zero Mosque? The Arab World.
I didn't see that coming : From his recent travels to the Persian Gulf—sponsored and paid for by the State Department—Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf returned with a none-too-subtle threat. His project, the Ground Zero Mosque, would have to go on. Its cancellation would risk putting "our Soldiers, our Troops, our embassies and citizens under attack in the Muslim World." Leave aside the attempt to make this project a matter of National Security. The self-appointed bridge between America and...

Helicopter crash makes 2010 worst year of Afghan war
By Tim Gaynor and Hamid Shalizi Kabul | Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:37am EDT Kabul (Reuters) - A Helicopter crash killed nine Troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan's south on Tuesday, making 2010 the deadliest year of the war for foreign Troops. Violence is at its fiercest across Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with Military and Civilian Casualties at record levels. The crash came soon after one of the bloodiest days of the year on Saturday,...

Oren to American Jews: Prepare Yourselves
Michael Oren in his Kol Nidre remarks at Adas Israel in Washington D.C. gave a rousing defense of Israeli Democracy: Israeli Democracy is rambunctious and intensely personal, placing the premium on individual participation. In our family, I can attest, my wife and I have never voted for the same party. Our son also went his own way politically. Together with his friends, he started a political party in our living room that now holds two seats on the Jerusalem municipality. At 62 years old,...

Before vote, top U.S. Marine opposes repeal of gay ban
Washington (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Marines told a Senate panel on Tuesday he opposed lifting the Military's ban on openly serving Homosexuals, just hours before a Senate vote toward Repeal. Obama's Democrats in Congress are moving to scrap the 1993 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy ahead of November congressional Elections in which Republicans are expected to make big gains. The Clinton-era policy allows Homosexuals to serve in secret but expels them if their Sexual...

Barack Obama: President Obama's speeches take a more personal tone
Reporting from Washington — An old cast of characters will appear in President Obama 's speeches throughout the rest of the political season and beyond, an array of figures like his War Veteran grandfather, his resourceful Single Mother and his physically disabled yet triumphant father-in-law. Also appearing will be Barack Obama himself — not just the president intent on explaining his policies and plans, but also the man who introduced himself and his life story to Americans two...

The Rise of the Arctic
By LAURENCE C. SMITH Ray Bartkus Imagine the Arctic in 2050 as a frigid version of Nevada—an empty landscape dotted with gleaming boom towns. Gas pipelines fan across the tundra, fueling fast-growing cities to the south like Calgary and Moscow, the coveted destinations for millions of global immigrants. It's a busy web for global commerce, as the world's ships advance each summer as the seasonal Sea Ice retreats, or even briefly disappears. Much of the planet's northern quarter of...

9 American Soldiers Killed Amid Afghanistan's Deadliest Year Since the War Began
SOUTHERN Afghanistan (Fox News) The nine NATO Troops killed in an Afghanistan Helicopter crash Tuesday were American, U.S. defense officials confirmed to Fox News. One Afghan National Security force member was wounded. The crash happened in southern Afghanistan where Troops are ramping up pressure on Taliban Insurgents. It was the worst chopper crash for coalition forces in four years in the rugged country where Helicopters are heavily used to transport Military Troops spread over...