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THE WHITE HOUSE TRAVEL OFFICE Trip of the President to Honolulu, Hawaii December 17th, 2011 to January 2nd, 2012 Trip Overview On Saturday, December 17th, 2011, the President will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii. He will return to Washington, DC on Monday, January 2nd, 2012. ... ...no public events are scheduled during the trip. ...

Vice President Joe Biden is rallying a defense of his boss, fighting slurs that President Obama is in over his head and lashing out at "Tea Party Republicans." In Oklahoma this week where Obama isn't high in the polls, the veep said the president isn't just smart, he's got strength and character. "People knew Barack was really bright, they knew Barack was straight, they knew Barack was a different kind of politician. What they didn't know was just how strong he was. Republicans spent a lot of time trying to tag him as a follower, not a leader. Well, he's...

The fourth consecutive day of debt meetings between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties ceased abruptly with Obama walking out of Wednesday's talks, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said. Cantor told FOX News Channel that the approximately two-hour meeting at the White House Wednesday "ended with president abruptly walking out of the meeting." He said Obama shoved back from the desk and said "we'll see you tomorrow." "We are very far apart right now," Cantor told FOX, adding, "The progress we made seems to have been erased now." "He [Obama] became very agitated. Said 'Ronald Reagan...

The Internet was abuzz Saturday after it was reported that Rep. Anthony Weiner had apparently sent a lewd photo to a Seattle-area college student. The New York Democrat quickly asserted that his online accounts had been "hacked" after Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com reported that Weiner's Twitter account was used to send the photo, which shows the pelvic area of a man in gray undershorts with his tumescent penis bulging. Late Friday night, a public message from Weiner's Twitter account (@RepWeiner) included a link to the penis photo, posted on the YFrog.com photo-sharing network. That message was directed to a Twitter account...

Gov. Christie said last week that he had mulled defying a possible order from New Jersey's Supreme Court to restore funding to schools. ... If Christie ignores the ruling, scholars said, he could be ruled in contempt of court and personally fined, he could be impeached for violating his oath of office, or he could trigger a constitutional crisis and the statewide closing of schools. ... The current case had its origins nearly 40 years ago. The nonprofit Education Law Center sued the state for more money for poor schools, saying equitable funding was a right under the state constitution...

In a bizarre wrap-up to the 2 p.m. EDT hour of CNN "Newsroom" Thursday, anchor T.J. Holmes confessed his "eco-sins" to the audience. Commemorating the eve of "Earth Day," Holmes admitted to his "green" faults which included driving an SUV by himself to work daily, blasting the heat in his house during winter, and using "less efficient" incandescent bulbs for lighting. "These are my eco-sins. I'm confessing them to you because tomorrow is Earth Day," Holmes announced to the audience. "It often goes ignored by many of us, including me. Not going to ignore it this year. Why? Well, maybe...

One by one, conservatives are expressing their displeasure in the way Speaker of the House John Boehner is leading the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Conservative talker Mark Levin has expressed his frustration on a nightly basis in recent weeks.

U.S. Sen. John McCain won’t be backing former running mate Sarah Palin in the 2012 presidential race. In fact, McCain told Politico.com he won’t be backing any other candidates as Republicans look to defeat President Barack Obama. “I think I’m staying out of this for the first time in many years,” McCain told the news website this week.

Possible Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty took a jab at Sarah Palin, saying he wouldn’t have used gun crosshairs to target Rep Gabrielle Giffords and others. “It would not have been my style to put the crosshairs on there,” he said on Good Morning America on Tuesday, referring to a map like the one posted last year on Sarah PAC’s website showing crosshairs on Giffords and other lawmakers who supported health care reform.

Tempers were fraying in the White House Cabinet Room as night turned into morning on Jan. 15. President Obama had been cloistered nearly all day with House and Senate Democrats, playing “marriage counselor,” an aide said, as he coaxed, cajoled and prodded them on a health care overhaul. As the clock neared 1 a.m., the two sides were at an impasse. Mr. Obama stood up. “ ‘See what you guys can figure out,’ ” one participant remembers him saying, adding that the failed effort left the president mad. Another Democrat who was there, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, said...

Robert Gibbs told reporters that President Obama is not watching the results tonight. Politico reported: Hours after urging reporters not to draw sweeping conclusions from Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told POLITICO President Barack Obama wasn’t even keeping an eye on the results. “He’s not watching returns,” Gibbs said.

US President Barack Obama called a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on Thursday "historic," saying that it enshrines international "commitment to a goal of a world without nuclear weapons." With Obama presiding over the session, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a US-drafted resolution aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, calling for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism." Russia, China and developing nations supported the US-sponsored measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing. "The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our...

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. We practiced sleep deprivation on him for 11 straight days. I don't know how many times we smashed his head against a wall, slapped him in the face, put him in a stress position in a freezing room and/or put him in a coffin sized box in extreme heat. But the right-wing argues that it doesn't matter because none of this is torture. They are adamant in saying that it is not even open to interpretation. Because, remember, if it's at least open to interpretation, we should investigate to see if laws were...

Playing pansy politics with pirates put the Captain’s life at increased risk. His first escape attempt was thwarted by the thugs as Phillips remained adrift from the aid and cover of the US Navy, which sat restrained by an administration too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war. Each day the tension and humiliation of a nation grew. The emboldened pirates fired upon our men of action, who thus restrained could not yet act in kind. The terrorists’ defiant lack of fear inspired their fellows to target other American vessels. All while the community organizer in chief flipped through...

When second- and third-graders chanted “Assassinate Obama” on a Madison School District bus recently, district spokeswoman Janet Goodliffe explained that most of the children didn’t understand what the words mean. According to The Associated Press, she attributed the chant to the community’s being “highly conservative” and overwhelmingly for John McCain. I admire Janet Goodliffe as a preschool education leader. But as a teacher, she offered tortured excuses instead of capitalizing on a great teaching opportunity. This is not an isolated incident. As a former teacher and Idaho Falls school volunteer, Luella Hendrickson, wrote on this page Thursday, after the election,...

HARRISBURG—Two bills sponsored by State Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf (R-Montgomery / Bucks) were approved by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Friday, July 4, 2008. Language from Greenleaf's Senate Bill 71 addressing bullying in schools and Senate Bill 579 concerning the placement of twins and multiples in the classroom was included in an omnibus school code bill approved by the Legislature and now awaiting the Governor's signature. School Bullying Addressing the widespread problem of bullying in Pennsylvania schools, Senate Bill 71 will require each of the state's public schools to adopt a policy on how to address incidents of bullying by...

Obama just wont debate Anywhere, Anytime.July 13th, 2008 Anytime, anywhere, just not yet. The below video is the smoking gun that proves Barack Obama is just too terrified to sit down and have a chat with his opponent, John McCain. Seems to many that perhaps he’s not as shiny without his teleprompter or having the questions in advance. Seems that he wants lots O conditions in place before any debate takes place. I guess he’ll be calling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of time to work out some conditions before they meet. Now that’s leadership people! To further quote this empty suit...

Gordon Brown said the attacks were "shocking and tragic" as he also promised the first ever "cross-government youth crime plan" would be published later next week. A teenager was among four victims of separate fatal stabbings which took place in London over the past day, as a fifth man fights for life.

Gordon Brown declared tonight that new anti-knife crime measures will be announced next week after four men were stabbed to death in separate attacks across London in just 24 hours. The Prime Minister said the latest spate of murders was “shocking and tragic” a few hours after the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police issued a rare appeal for calm in the capital. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will set out the Government’s latest initiative on Monday. Later in the week, the first ever cross-government youth crime plan will be published with new enforcement and sentencing measures. It will also include...

Gregory Gets Caught in Political Battle By DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK (AP) - In some circles, having a Web site devoted to getting you fired could be proof that you've really arrived. NBC News chief White House correspondent David Gregory admits he's clicked on firedavidgregory.com. How could he resist? Presumably he wasn't among the 2,839 visitors who, through Friday, had signed a petition urging his removal. "People have their own political views and they view me through that lens and they go on the attack," Gregory said. "I think that's kind of part of the territory." What put the target...

In which Mark Morford survives his high school reunion, still unmarried and childless. It's like that feeling you get when you smack your head into a brick wall and your skull reverberates and your vision momentarily blurs and you have a painful but somehow still nicely appealing flash of insight into Something Very Important, something you think you should know, something that can only be illuminated via cocktails and bloody prime rib and conversing with old flames. This is the high school reunion. It is the most curious thing. You attend one and you are calmly slammed up against the...

I'm sick and tired of all the whining and flailing about! I just can't take it anymore! You wanted it, fine - here's MY opus:

George Bush is a liberal. Stop. A pansy liberal. Yes, you heard me right. I am a real republican. I support (and have put some of my paycheck behind Representative Ron Paul) Ron Paul is a real republican. The kind that I vote for, and my father voted for before me. Why? Because my father came from a Communist country, half of my family was killed or imprisoned there, and we know what oppression looks like. George Bush is using the same tactics of Communists that we had to live through. Constantly instilling fear of an attack from the outside....

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Democrat John Kerry on Sunday tried to persuade late-deciding voters that they can put their faith in his leadership by describing the values and beliefs that he says have guided him and would shape his presidency. Kerry said the Bible - and the American dream - says society must take care of its most vulnerable members, but in many ways that test is not being met under the country's current leadership. And he responded to some leaders of the Catholic church who have criticized his support of abortion rights and stem cell research. "I love my...

NEW YORK - An Army Captain sued the government Friday to block his pending deployment to Iraq, saying he resigned in June after completing eight years of service in the Army and Army Reserve. Jay J. Ferriola, 31, said in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld unlawfully continues to exercise control over him even though he properly resigned and was asked to turn in his equipment. The New York resident has never received a written, official response to his resignation request, said the lawsuit, which asks a judge to process and approve...

(9/23/04 - HOUSTON) — One man is dead and two more are hospitalized after an attack with a long sword in north Harris County. Police say four people had a fight in a mobile home park on Greens near Old Greens. One man ended the fight when he pulled out the sword and stabbed the other three people. One of them died before police arrived. The other two have several stab wounds and they're in critical condition. Police caught the attacker before he left the mobile home park.

Hollywood gives us some of the best unscripted moments in Boston. Friday, July 30, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT On behalf of refuting the idea that celebrities have nothing interesting to say about politics, we've culled the following comments surrounding this week's Democratic National Convention in Boston: Actor Ben Affleck, responding to Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball" about where he fits on the political landscape in Arnold Schwarzenegger's California: "I'm definitely a girlie man."

<p>TUCKER CARLSON, the bow-tied conservative of CNN's "Crossfire" chats with Elle magazine this month, on the subject of women and sex. Carlson says "One area of liberal phenomenon I support is female bi-sexuality - this apparent increased willingness of girls to bring along a friend. That's a pretty good thing."</p>

After months of research, my new site challenges Franken and his 14 Harvard researchers on the facts from his Lies book! I'd appreciate feedback! Thanks! http://www.frankenlies.com

In his interview with the Monitor, Howard Dean repeated his contention that Saddam Hussein's recent capture had made America no safer. "My opponents spent the week criticizing me for that, which I think was to their detriment" since the federal government had just increased the terror alert level to orange, indicating an elevated risk of an attack. But he said two other recent events had benefited national security: the capture of a ship loaded with drugs in the Persian Gulf - "which is almost certainly how al-Qaida is partly financing their operations," Dean said - and Libya's decision to declare...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis challenged Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday to a one-on-one debate unless the actor corrects several "flat-out errors" he made about the governor's record during Wednesday's televised candidate forum.</p> <p>The challenge was immediately rejected by the Schwarzenegger campaign, which dismissed it as a last-minute stunt by a politician who, polls show, is still in danger of losing his job in the Oct. 7 recall election.</p>

Commentary: Lott Throws In The Towel Gary Bauer President, American Values After days of endless apologizing, Trent Lott has thrown in the towel and resigned as Senate Majority Leader. Late last night he began making phone calls to GOP colleagues to let them know his decision. Also over night the White House began a more concerted push to replace Lott with Senator Bill Frist, who will now emerge as the "frontrunner." Frist is a savvy media personality, but he angered many conservatives by interfering in Republican primaries around the country, virtually always in favor of the moderate candidate over the...