I would like to answer: NO.

Allow me to repeat:

NO.

NO.

NO.

NO.

NO.

NO.

NO.

NO.

HELL NO.

Thank you. God bless America.

Yes, Michael Steele, before he was a running joke as RNC chairman!

The queen of all talk shows seems to be extending her power to middle eastern understanding.

In a region where people overwhelmingly disapprove of American policy toward the Arab world, Oprah has quietly emerged as a better cultural ambassador than any public diplomacy effort in recent memory. As the months passed, I heard more from fans of Oprah. They are women representing a spectrum of class and religious orientation — conservative women, veiled women, liberal women and even women who don’t speak much English but read the Arabic subtitles.

The White House says “present them”

The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.

The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing.

BONUS: Doug Williams goes to Disney World in 1988.

Authorities said a man accused of stealing a car then reporting it stolen remains in custody after telling police he was robbed at gunpoint while trying to buy crack cocaine with a credit card. The Flint Journal said the man reported Thursday night that a 2003 Chevy Malibu had been stolen.

Of course, if Toyota hadn’t produced a defective car they could have avoided this negative publicity in the first place, hmmmm?

Statement by the President on the Passing of Congressman John Murtha

Michelle and I were deeply saddened today to hear about the passing of Congressman John Murtha. Jack was a devoted husband, a loving father and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. His passion for service was born during his decorated career in the United States Marine Corps, and he went on to earn the distinction of being the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. Jack’s tough-as-nails reputation carried over to Congress, where he became a respected voice on issues of national security. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife of nearly 55 years, Joyce, their three children, and the entire Murtha family.

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In a report out Monday, the immigration reform advocacy group America’s Voice outlined 40 mid-term races where Hispanic voters could have a significant impact on the outcome.

‘Most politicians understand the importance of the Latino vote in presidential years, but what we’re saying is that Latino voters will have a huge impact in the mid-term elections,’ Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said on a conference call with reporters Monday. ‘The number of voters coming of age and registering continues to grow. You have seen growth even when a presidential race isn’t at the top of the ticket.’

When I see things like Tom Tancredo leading off the teabag convention with an anti-immigrant howl, all I can ask is “more please”.

Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie today began a privacy action against the News of the World over a story that alleged the couple were separating.

The News of the World claimed in a story last month that the pair, who met on the set of the film Mr & Mrs Smith in 2004, had visited a divorce lawyer in December and agreed to divide up their £205m fortune and custody of their six children.

Keith Schilling of Schillings, the couple’s London lawyers, said today: ‘The News of the World has failed to meet our clients’ reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations which have now been widely republished by mainstream news outlets. We have advised them to bring proceedings, which they have now done.’

This is the same group of UK papers accused of tapping people’s phones last year.

With desperate Georgians begging for American help in closing down the key route through which Russian soldiers were pouring into the country, Bush’s national security aides outlined possible responses, including ‘the bombardment and sealing of the Roki Tunnel’ and other ‘surgical strikes,’ according to a new history of the conflict and independent interviews with former senior officials.

Never.

In response to President Obama’s offer to meet with the GOP on the health care bill, they’ve run for the hills and are now making the ludicrous case that the entire bill should be thrown out. In other words, even though they’re in the minority and did nothing about these problems for the entire time they were in control, we should do what they want anyway.

Hopefully President Obama and the congress can move on to reconciliation to get this done. With regards to the GOP they can easily now say “See? We tried.”

The New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts showdown drew 106.5 million viewers, smashing Super Bowl records and edging out 1983’s ‘M*A*S*H’ finale, which garnered 105.97 million viewers.

The last 3 or 4 Super Bowls have been really good as well, with those blowouts from a few years ago long forgotten.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, planned to announce Monday that NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.

…

‘More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it’s going to affect them,’ Lubchenco explained. So officials decided to combine climate operations into a single unit.

Coats registered as a lobbyist for a foreign interest while he worked at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand in 2000 and 2001. According to lobbying disclosure documents, he contacted members of Congress trying to get them to invite the Indian prime minister to a joint session of Congress.

Coats only personally lobbied for India, according to the documents, but around the same time his firm also did foreign lobbying for several other countries, including the governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.

Yemen isn’t exactly a country you want your name tied to right now, and the lobbying documentation provides Democrats with a ready-made attack ad to use against Coats.