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– At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security. The ceremony, attended by many officials of President Barack Obama’s cabinet, followed the signing earlier in the day of a presidential memorandum establishing a task force to study the problem and make recommendations after 90 days. Obama announced a long list of goals she said she hopes the “Let’s Move” campaign will accomplish, including many that can be...

The White House press room was a jovial place to be in the early days of President Barack Obama's presidency. But times have changed. Back in May, POLITICO analyzed the press briefings and found that the instances of laughter — as indicated by "(Laughter)" being noted in the official transcript — occurred more than 10 times per day during press secretary Robert Gibbs's briefings.

CNSNews.com) – At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security. “A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.”

Video: Deb Klemperer, head of collections at Stoke's Potteries Museum, describes the thrill of striking Anglo-Saxon gold – and explains why keeping the treasure on Staffordshire soil requires visitors, too, to dig deep

"Iran has clearly stated the enriched fuel is needed for a research reactor to produce radio isotopes to treat cancer."

Strains our credulity to image that this man was really given the Father of the Year Award...by anyone.

Simon Jenkins raises a question that has been nagging at me for some time. Why is there no British Tea Party? Where are the crowds of revenue slaves flocking to London to demand redress for the squandering of their money? Marginal tax is rising to 50%, VAT to 17.5% and state spending towards half the national product. The Treasury has lost control of public finance. So why no furious blue-rinses, bail-out ­haters, bonus-bleaters and embittered VAT victims storming Parliament? Yeah: why? Some of my US readers believe that anti-tax rebellions are an American speciality, but we’ve had plenty of them...

Air quality in the United States has improved dramatically over the past 40 years, yet Moveon.Org wants you to believe that breathing the air is like being a pack-a-day smoker. Moveon broadcasts this disinformation in TV ads bashing Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NB), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). The ads show little leaguers, a mother and her bottle-feeding infant, track athletes, and even a mother giving birth all smoking cigarettes. As these images flash by, the text of the ads says....

Just when you thought it was impossible for the sordid tale of the pawn broker, the prostitute and the Democratic nomination to get any more ridiculous, Amanda Eneman, the massage therapist who was convicted of prostitution following her entry of a guilty plea in a 2005 misdemeanor case, has chosen to be represented by celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred. Prior to her media drive by, Allred was addressing the all-important issue of preventing violence against women in Los Angeles. This is a worthwhile objective for any self-styled feminist warrior, to quote Allred’s typically modest description of herself. At a press conference,...

Senate Democrats are expected to release a stop-gap budget solution for tackling part of the state's projected $19.9 billion deficit. Bee colleague Kevin Yamamura reports that the plan includes pushing back major cuts to social services and education and giving local governments the ability to raise gas prices for transit. Members of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee are expected to begin voting on the proposal at today's 10:30 a.m. hearing. Another hot-button hearing: The Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee meets at 9 a.m. to discuss the findings of a review that found state agencies spent nearly $30...

A Pennsylvania public interest group today urged the federal government to set a goal of connecting every major city in the U.S. with a network of high-speed passenger trains by mid-century. A report released today by the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group chronicles decades of neglect of the nation's passenger rail system while the federal government poured billions of dollars into interstate highways and air transportation. It endorsed President Barack Obama's allocation of $8 billion in stimulus funds for high-speed rail, noting that the demand for funding produced $57 billion in requests from states. Even if all $57 billion had...

An Assembly committee voted Tuesday to send state Sen. Abel Maldonado's nomination to fill in as lieutenant governor to the full Assembly – but only after the Republican was grilled about his ambition, immigration, taxes, higher education, gay rights and other subjects. The Assembly Rules Committee, however, made no recommendation on Maldonado, who was nominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fill the vacant position for 10 months. Assemblymen Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, and Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, were particularly critical. They accused Maldonado of trading pivotal budget votes he cast last year – one to raise taxes – to garner support for...

Terrence O’Brien got his start in Chicago Democratic politics like so many of his peers and the generations that came before him, dutifully ringing doorbells to solicit votes for his state senator on the far North Side. He rose to coordinating other precinct captains for such candidates as a young Cook County state’s attorney and mayoral hopeful named Richard M. Daley. After serving some 20 years as an elected leader of the obscure-but-jobs-rich Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Mr. O’Brien decided last year that the time was ripe to seek higher office, to run for county board president. So he lined...

Over at The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn attacks the Medicare portion of Rep. Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap”. The Wisconsin Republican would give seniors a voucher under Medicare in the expectation that they would shop around for the best insurance and health care. But Cohn doubts seniors are up to the task: That all sounds perfectly innocuous: Who wouldn’t want seniors taking the initiative and hunting around for the best bargains? But it’s not clear how many seniors really have the ability to navigate the world of health care with the sort of sophistication to really hunt down the most cost-effective care,...

As mismatches go, "Columbo" vs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may not rank with David vs. Goliath, but California's environmental and energy policy would be dramatically altered if the little guy wins this fight. "Columbo" is the nickname of freshman Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, who is battling to suspend a landmark greenhouse gas emissions law pushed by Democrats and touted as part of Schwarzenegger's environmental legacy. Never count Logue out, no matter the odds, warns Assemblyman Mike Villines, a Clovis Republican who pinned the "Columbo" nickname on his zealous but mild-mannered colleague. "Like 'Columbo,' he'll always get you by the end of...

Someone just sent me a GOP Valentine Card and I had to pass this along. Very funny stuff - I love the bottom left card...

As reports circulate that the Justice Department has softened its criticism of attorney John Yoo for memos approving the Bush administration's treatment of terrorism suspects, several prominent lawyers are urging a federal appeals court in San Francisco to hold Yoo accountable. They have submitted arguments opposing dismissal of a prisoner's lawsuit that accuses the former Justice Department attorney of providing a legal cover for torture. The suit covers much of the same ground as the department's ethics investigation of Yoo. Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor, worked from 2001 to 2003 for the department's Office of Legal Counsel, which advises...

The Senate on Tuesday rejected Craig Becker, President Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board. Becker got 52 votes — but he needed 60 to break a GOP filibuster. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska even voted no. On the surface, new Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wasn’t important. But he denied Democrats' ability to break a GOP filibuster, so there was no point in vulnerable senators sticking their necks out

In September 2009, prison inmate Kyle Mabe ordered music and sermon CDs to further his Christian faith. Rutherford Institute founder John Whitehead picks up the story. "The St. Brides Correctional Center, which is a small prison in Chesapeake, Virginia, denied him the right to hear the sermons," he explains. "They said music CDs are okay, but you can't have any sermons." CDs with the spoken word have been banned, which the attorney explains does not align with the U.S. Constitution. The Institute filed suit based on Mabe's First Amendment right to practice his religion, and on previous court rulings. "There...

CUPERTINO, CALIF. (TheStreet) -- AppleNASDAQ" PRIMARY="NO"/> makes changing the batteries of new iPod models increasingly difficult by soldering them to the device's casing. Consumers would know this if they repaired such items instead of replacing them. Apple's obstacles to repair and ToyotaNYSE" PRIMARY="NO"/> and Ford'sNYSE" PRIMARY="NO"/> recent spate of recalls highlight the deteriorating relationship between the buying public and the products it owns. Though Kelley Blue Book and Edmund's say the value of troubled Toyotas dropped more than 4% since recalls were announced, some consumers see replacement as a more viable option than addressing complex electrical and mechanical problems they...

NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - India aims to test a new nuclear-capable missile with a 5000-km (3,100-mile) range, a top military scientist said on Wednesday, a move that could complicate security in a volatile region. The missile would effectively bring most of China within India's range, as well as more potential targets to the west and east than its existing weaponry. "Agni-V is out of the drawing board. We are aiming for a flight trial within a year," V.K. Saraswat, India's chief military scientist told reporters. India successfully tested the Agni-III missile, which has a 3000-km range, at the...

I found this fascinating interview Mike Wallace conducted with Ayn Rand concerning her objectivist philosophy. The subject matter is fascinating and its truly eye-opening how long the press has been biased. Considering this interview was conducted over 50 years ago, it goes a long way towards showing that Rand saw the collapse of American freedom long before it became apparent to most. The interview is split into 3 parts. Here are the links to each piece. Its about 25 minutes all together. Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XC7l18RIl8 Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyjorSoYG4 Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbuKlxka2SU

The stock market is falling as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke details plans for dismantling the central bank's economic support measures. Bernanke says in prepared remarks to a House committee Wednesday that the Fed likely will begin tightening credit by raising the interest rate it pays to banks on the money they have deposited at the Fed. That would lead to an increase in borrowing rates for consumers and businesses. The Fed chief cautioned that the central bank is months away before it's ready to boost interest rates.

Current Government Systems are Failing Us:Current systems in place to identify and manage individuals like Major Nidal Malik Hasan, whose massacre took the lives of 13 soldiers and wounded 29 others, are not working!  How can anyone make this statement?  Months before the shooting, two Terrorism Task Forces evaluated Major Hasan, one had Department of Defense oversight; the other had FBI oversight, additionally, the CIA is also reported as reviewing his behavior, all failed!  Since Terrorism Task Forces fall under the general purview of Homeland Security, every system that we have in place to identify and manage these threats to...

Following on the heels of endorsements from Grover Norquist and House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Marco Rubio’s campaign announced Tuesday that Rubio has accepted an invitation to appear on Fox News Sunday to debate Charlie Crist March 28. The Rubio camp says this will be the first debate of Florida’s GOP primary campaign for U.S. Senate between Crist and Rubio. It’s not clear yet whether Crist will accept the invitation...

February 9, 2010 Dear William, Taking away our freedoms is not Patriotic.  In fact, there is nothing more un-American. The badly misnamed Patriot Act is not the Act of Patriots. It is the act of petty tyrants seeking more and more power and control over our country. Now, ever so quietly, the Obama administration is working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to sneak reauthorization of the Patriot Act through without creating a stir among liberty-minded Americans. Well, I'm for making a stir.  A BIG STIR. How about you? We’ve all heard...

"If government doesn’t spend enough in the short term to get jobs back . ." Has Mr. Reich noticed that 2 years of Government spending that is higher by AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE than that of the previous decade; has resulted in the loss of 8,000,000 JOBS ? Just one tiny little "unnoticed" aspect of the massive spending is the weakness of the dollar in comparison to commodity prices. The current spot price of oil is more than double what it was in December of 2008. With world wide demand falling and the US refinery capacity producing at a record...

The man with the truck will soon be the man with a book. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), the party's hottest elected official, has decided to write a book that combines memoir and inspiration. Gail Gitcho, his new Senate communications director, tells POLITICO: “Senator Brown is honored and humbled to be approached by many people who want him to tell his inspirational personal story about his life leading up to his election as a United State Senator from Massachusetts. He will tell his story in a book in hopes of providing insight and encouragement to others and also to ensure that...

Soldiers exist for you Troops blend self-sacrifice with duty and their devotion to Canada is unwaveringWe hear a lot these days about our soldiers in Afghanistan — especially those who come home in coffins. Mike Czuboka, Winnipeg publisher of a monthly newsletter, The Rice Paddy — he and I were in different battalions of the Princess Pats in the Korean War — sent the following assessment. Its origin is unknown: The Canadian soldier is profane and irreverent, living as he does in a world of capriciousness, frustration and disillusionment. He is perhaps the best-educated of his kind in history, but...

As we all know by now, there was outrage among feminists about CBS allowing the Tim Tebow ad to air during the Superbowl. But that was only the beginning. After the National Organization of Indoctrinated Women saw the commercial and realized it was actually benign, they needed something else to complain about – so they came up with this outlandish notion: “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” she said. “That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I...

GLENN: Meghan McCain, like, she is like so cool. First start with the progressive, the progressive line from Meghan McCain. Can you do that? PAT: The progressive, yes. GLENN: Here she is. She's a progressive. I don't know if you know that. MEGHAN McCAIN: I consider myself a progressive Republican. PAT: Do you want the whole thing is that enough? GLENN: No, is there any more that needs to be said before that? PAT: No, no. STU: I vote for enough. MEGHAN McCAIN: I consider myself a progressive Republican. I consider myself a progressive Republican. I consider myself a progressive...

In a town accustomed to starting new government programs to create jobs and spark economic activity, some Washington, D.C., area businesses are hailing the wintry mess of the past four days as a "shovel-ready" economic stimulus project in the making. East Coast braces for a second blizzard as it recovers from the first. More PhotosBut experts say this month's storms, with their "historic'" proportions, are ultimately a net negative for taxpayers, who foot the bill for snow cleanup and the lost productivity of more than 230,000 idle federal employees. Official Washington was shut down for a third straight snow day...

In a rare move toward bipartisanship, Senate Democrats prepared Tuesday to unveil an $85-billion jobs bill that would include payroll tax breaks for employers who create new jobs, aid to small businesses and other GOP-backed ideas to attack unemployment. After more than a year of relentlessly partisan conflict in which Republicans complained of being excluded from drafting the healthcare bill and Democrats denounced them as the "party of no," senior members of both parties were working to blend their ideas on an issue voters seem to care far more about -- jobs and job security. Outlines of the bill emerged...

It will be at least another year before The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ready to reveal the specialty retailers that will make up its City Creek development in downtown Salt Lake City. But a representative said Tuesday the church is confident it will fill that component of the massive development in time for City Creek to be completed on schedule in early 2012. In the works since the mid-2000s, the $1.5 billion project will include Macy's and Nordstrom department stores, a Harmons grocery store, 80 speciality shops, restaurants, a food court, several condominium buildings, apartments and...

WYLIE — As a disabled veteran, Jeff Gudgeon feels he has paid enough. He says spending money on highway tolls is a cost he shouldn’t have to pay. “It kind of gets to you,” Gudgeon said. Thousands of disabled veterans in Texas get to drive toll roads for free — but not in North Texas.

On a nightly basis, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann pompously presents himself as being the smartest guy in the room as he belittles every leading Republican in the nation. But on Tuesday, the "Countdown" host exhibited a staggering level of ignorance as he claimed "federal budget debt" -- whatever that is! -- as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is "about the same as it was in 1970," and "far less than it was throughout the Reagan administration." To begin with, there is no "federal budget debt." There's a federal budget DEFICIT and federal DEBT. That this self-proclaimed genius doesn't know these...

There are no second acts in American lives. ---F. Scott Fitzgerald Apparently writers Nicole Allan and Niraj Chokshi of Atlantic Magazine wish to hold open the possibility of a second act for disgraced John Edwards as they speculate about Is John Edwards Done Forever? Yes, all Sarah Palin has to do is read a few notes from the palm of her hand and this is enough to set off MSM liberals into a group hate rant about the former vice-presidential candidate. However, if you are a liberal the door is always open to you for a possible political comeback even...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ford(F Quote) has finally found a major vulnerability in Toyota's(TM Quote) products -- and it clearly isn't willing to let the opportunity slip away. Following Toyota's two massive recalls, Ford is now attempting to grow sales with new commercials taking on Toyota. The commercials are part of Ford's "Spread the Word" campaign, which was launched on Jan. 12. Each of them feature Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs, speaking to ordinary people in various settings about Ford vehicles. Rowe "spreads the word" at a gas station, in a coffee shop and at a school....

I watched a Nova program last night called Extreme Cave Diving. Although I don't watch the left leaning PBS much, this program sparked my intrest. The body of the program is about cave divers exploring "Blue Holes" in the Bahamas. Blue Holes are devoid of oxygen and preserve bones that can't be found on the surface. The divers were finding bones of animals such as tortise and crocs that were not previously known to exist on the island. Towards the end of the show samples of stalagmites were taken from these flooded caves. They were bi-sected and studied. The scientist...

Paul Schiffer, Congressional Candidate in Ohio, has taken the pledge of the American Council for Immigration Reform to oppose amnesty in any form for illegal aliens, and to push for the enforcement of America’s laws, with the goal that trespassers in the United States will voluntarily return to the countries where they have a home and a place of their own. Paul Schiffer pledged: “I pledge to oppose amnesty or any other special path to citizenship for the millions of foreign nationals unlawfully present in the United States. As a member of Congress, I will support the full implementation of...

NEW ORLEANS - Angry, frustrated, and confused--those are just a few of the lingering emotions being felt by close to 100 United Airlines passengers still stranded in New Orleans Their packed flight to Los Angeles was supposed to leave at 7:18pm Tuesday evening, but after spending 3 hours on the plane, flight #263 never took off. “The flight that they rescheduled us to doesn’t leave until 2:30 or 3pm [Wednesday] afternoon,” said Dwight Webster, a passenger trying to get back home to Oakland, California. “So all in all it will be 24 hours before I get home.” Passengers say they...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- This week, I posted a story on Fortune.com saying that a Value Added Tax is fast becoming the only option America has left to solve the current fiscal crisis. In the piece, I said that former Arkansas Governor and leading Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee favors a VAT to replace the income tax. I received numerous angry emails stating that the ex-governor advocates a solution called a "Fair Tax" that's quite different from a VAT.

Once a long time ago I was upgraded on a flight to Orlando and found myself next to a gray-haired German who had been visiting his family in Minnesota. Over drinks I learned that he had emigrated to the US after the 1939-45 war, and that during the war he had shot down a de Havilland Mosquito and a Messerschmitt Me262. He'd achieved this unusual, quite possibly unique distinction as the commander of a gun crew using the 88mm L71, the highest-performing version of the classic 88. The Luftwaffe had designated free-fire zones in which anything would be fired on,...

The number of illegal immigrants in the United States fell by seven percent last year to 10.8 million, coinciding with the country's financial crisis, a Department of Homeland Security report said Tuesday. The majority of the country's illegal immigrants come from Latin America, with 62 percent from Mexico (6.7 million), followed by those from El Salvador (530,000), Guatemala (480,000) and Honduras (320,000). Together with Filipinos (270,000), Latin Americans accounted for 85 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States in 2009, the DHS report said. "The number of unauthorized residents declined by 1.0 million between 2007 and 2009, coincident...

President Obama and congressional Dems are planning two big “rope-a-dope” plays worthy of Muhammad Ali to get Obama’s nationalization of healthcare passed. First, there’s a strategy to pass amendments -- making the current Senate bill more palatable to liberals -- and have the president wait to sign it until the House passes the Senate bill. Second, having scored heavily against the Republicans in his visit to the Republican retreat in Baltimore a few weeks ago, Obama is inviting Republican House and Senate leaders to the White House for a healthcare “summit” on February 25. But that meeting is being planned...

Senator Brian Frosh (D), District 16 Montgomery County and Chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, and Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D), District 41, Baltimore City have introduced the Gun Safety Act of 2010. This proposed legislation would fundamentally change the face of gun ownership in the State of Maryland as no bill has in the last 10 years. Now that the text of the bills have been released, we can give you our full response. HELP KILL THIS BILL-CONTACT MD REPS EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT FROM MD!!!!!!!!!!! CLICK THRU TO SITE FOR MORE INFO AND TOOLS!!!!

Critics of Michael Steele's tenure as Republican National Committee chairman are motivated by racism, Steele suggested in an interview published on Tuesday. Speaking to Washingtonian magazine (no online version), Steele wondered why his Democratic National Committee counterpart doesn't get the same criticism he does. "I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation," Steele said. "Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?”

Raleigh, N.C. — A new proposal for the history curriculum in North Carolina public schools is causing uproar. Among the biggest concerns is covering U.S. history only from 1877 to the present in the 11th grade. “There's nothing on the Confederacy, nothing on Robert E. Lee, nothing on Abraham Lincoln, nothing on any battle, nothing on reconstruction, nothing on the causes of the war, nothing on slavery. Nothing on slavery anywhere in the curriculum,” said Dr. Holly Brewer, associate professor of Early American History at North Carolina State University. Brewer opposes the curriculum change and says students would not learn...