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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate's top banking legislator proposed ambitious financial regulation reforms on Tuesday, leaping beyond earlier proposals to tighten bank regulation, protect consumers and police systemic risk. In the 1,136-page bill, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd called for creating three new government agencies, regulating over-the-counter derivatives, and cracking down on hedge funds, credit rating agencies and executive pay. Flanked by eight other Democratic senators at a news conference, Dodd said he is targeting the first week of December for his committee to work on the measure. It raises the stakes in a debate under way for...

You're afraid your cancer is back, and a health insurance company just turned you down. Under the health care bills in Congress, you could apply for coverage through a new high-risk pool that President Barack Obama promises would immediately start serving patients with pre-existing medical problems. Wait a second. Read the fine print. You may have to be uninsured for six months to qualify. "If you are a cancer patient and have cancer now, you can't wait six months to go into a plan because your condition can go from bad to death," said Stephen Finan, a policy expert with...

Taiwan says China starts building first aircraft carrier Agence France-Presse First Posted 19:44:00 11/04/2009 Filed Under: Military, Foreign affairs & international relations TAIPEI – Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbor China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP. However, the security chief, Tsai Teh-sheng said the carrier's construction "has not been smooth" and that the Chinese navy may struggle to put...

WASHINGTON – The typical family would be spared higher taxes from the House Democratic plan to overhaul health care, and their low-income neighbors could come out ahead. Their wealthy counterparts, however, face big tax increases that could eventually hit future generations of taxpayers who are less wealthy. The bill is funded largely from a 5.4 percent tax on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and couples making more than $1 million, starting in 2011. The tax increase would hit only 0.3 percent of tax filers, raising $460.5 billion over the next 10 years, according to congressional estimates.

Nurses Plan Strike Over Swine Flu Conditions At Hospitals October 19, 2009 More than 16,000 registered nurses are locked in a contract dispute with officials at 37 Catholic hospitals statewide and plan to strike Oct. 30 out of concern that the hospitals’ lax safety standards put them at risk of catching H1N1 flu. The California Nurses Assn., which is in bargaining talks with San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, announced the strike this morning. Local hospitals expected to be affected include California Hospital Medical Center, St. Vincent Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, St. Mary Medical Center in...

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Chinese Carrier Strike Posted by Douglas Barrie at 10/12/2009 7:48 AM CDT Chinese ambitions may be to give its carrier air wing an air-to-surface role from the outset, at least if what appears to be a mock-up of a naval Flanker is to be taken at face value. Numerous images of an intriguing facility claimed to be at the Wuhan ship design institute have appeared on the internet in the past few days. The images show a building on which an aircraft carrier’s main superstructure is being fabricated, along with a large roof area that could be used to practise...

Iowa Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, won passage for an amendment that will force Congress and congressional staff members to access health insurance through the exchange that would be created by the health care reform legislation under consideration by the Finance Committee. In a news release Grassley said, “the more that Congress experiences the laws we pass, the better the laws are likely to be.” Members of the committee agreed through unanimous consent on Tuesday night to support the Grassley amendment. Senator Jim Bunning was a cosponsor of the amendment. As it stands now, members of Congress and their staffs participate...

I worked in TV news for 30+ years, and this is one of the best peices I have ever seen. This is a MUST WATCH! Send the link to everyone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9GMKK_fWKg

“It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government." – PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA For All Americans, the President's Plan: Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront. Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized. Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. Creates an independent commission of doctors...

(IsraelNN.com) Lebanese newspaper An Nahar revealed on Sunday that UNIFIL forces located in South Lebanon were notified in advance that terrorists were going to hit Israel, but UNIFIL failed to inform the Jewish State. According to the paper, numerous sources informed UNIFIL of the attack ten days before it was launched, and UNIFIL even relayed the information to the Lebanese army two days before it happened.

This is ACORN's idea of what health care reform should be. I can't think of anything else to say;/

The Obama Health Care Plan Let me see if I could understand the Obama Government Health Care Program. Our government had been denying veterans claims for health care for years. Our government gave Veterans crappy service at Walter Reed Veteran Hospital. Our government found out that they contaminated a few veterans by given them Hepatitis and HIV. Our government is having our veterans pay for their own combat related Injuries. Let's not forget having our Veterans identity stolen recently by a VA staff Worker. In addition, we have not had a VA Hospital in Southern Nevada since 2003. Oh yea,...

(IsraelNN.com) The Middle East peace plan that United States President Barack Obama will unveil soon involves the creation of a Palestinian Authority state by 2011 and the transfer of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem [presumably including the Temple Mount – ed.] to Arab-Muslim sovereignty, Saudi newspaper Al-Ukaz has learned. According to the report published Sunday in Al-Ukaz, the Obama plan also includes the following elements: Some parts of eastern Jerusalem [presumably Neveh Yaakov, Pisgat Ze'ev and the like - ed.] would be transferred to Israeli control.

The record U.S. budget deficit poses a serious risk to the U.S. economy, and Congress and President Barack Obama don’t seem to have a plan to deal with it. The risk is that our largest debt holders, the Chinese, seem uneasy about their holdings during a time when the annual deficit is four times larger than last year. In the past 10 months, the federal government has spent about $3 trillion while taking in about $1.74 trillion. Should the Chinese begin to sell some of their holdings, interest rates in the U.S. could increase dramatically. While the Obama administration apparently...

WASHINGTON -- NASA doesn't have nearly enough money to meet its goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2020 -- and it might be the wrong place to go, anyway. That's one of the harsh messages emerging from a sweeping review of NASA's human space flight program. The Human Space Flight Plans Committee, appointed by President Barack Obama and headed by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine, has been trying to stitch together some kind of plausible strategy for America's manned space program. The panel has struggled to find options that stay under the current budget and include missions...

FDIC Chief: Parts of Obama Plan Won't FlySheila Bair Says Congress Won't Approve Two Major Parts of Administration's Financial Overhaul WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2009 (AP) Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair is pushing back against key elements of the Obama administration's financial overhaul plan, saying they wouldn't survive in Congress and calling her own alternatives more viable. In an interview with The Associated Press, Bair said Congress won't approve two major parts of the package: Expanding the Federal Reserve's authority to regulate the largest financial companies and giving a proposed new consumer protection agency examination and enforcement powers over...

Here's an idea that might help all this debate on government health care. After hearing that Henry Waxman refused to allow an amendment to the Energy and Commerce version of the bill requiring all members of Congress to participate in whatever plan is voted on, you wonder just how good is their plan? They must have a pretty great insurance policy to not want the “not so great”one they are proposing. It's so good they get to keep it when they leave or retire and it also covers their families and staff workers. The policy is also the same one...

Just like the White House "Beer Summit", the debate in Congress on National Health Care has come down to "we agree to disagree." Republicans are fighting the administration, democrats are fighting among themselves, and Nancy Pelosi is ready to accept compromise on just about anything as long as it might get the bill moving forward. This bill is on a collision course with a brick wall...the American taxpayer. No one in their right mind could actually believe that what they propose would not add to the burden of the national debt, or that the only tax will be on the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX 10) has co-sponsored H.R. 3218, the Improving Health Care for All Americans Act, a common-sense, cost-effective alternative to the Democrats’ proposed government-run system. The Republican alternative preserves patient choice, quality of care and does not impose new taxes. “Americans need access to health care, not new taxes that kill jobs,” said McCaul. “This strikes the right balance of expanding availability of affordable care without jeopardizing patient choice or quality of care, and without penalizing small businesses.” Under the Improving Health Care for All Americans Act: KEEP YOUR COVERAGE o Americans can keep employer-provided...

WASHINGTON - After weeks of secretive talks, a bipartisan group in the Senate edged closer yesterday to a health-care compromise that omits two key Democratic priorities but incorporates provisions to slow the explosive rise in medical costs, officials said. These officials said participants were on track to exclude a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for businesses to offer coverage to their workers. Nor would there be a provision for a government insurance option, despite President Obama's support for such a plan.

After his opening monologue, Obama fielded a question on the cost of the plan and part of the answer contained this statement: "And I've said this before, if you found out that your neighbor had gotten the same car for $6,000 less, you'd want to figure out how to get that deal. And that's what reform is all about. How can we make sure that we are getting the best bang for our health care dollar."This is a simple enough statement but don't forget, Obama is all about getting a good deal and more bang for his buck. Just go...

Concern about how a public health care plan might affect Minnesota's health care system dominated a public forum on Friday sponsored by Mayo Clinic. Dr. Douglas Wood, who chairs the clinic's division of Health Care Policy & Research, said a public plan modeled after the Medicare system has the potential to do serious harm to health care in states like Minnesota where quality is high and costs are low. "If it's a government-run plan with government price controls, that could be highly detrimental to states like Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and all across the northern tier of the United States," Wood...

Pentagon Studies Ways to Relax Enforcement as First Step; Impact on Troops Would be Minimal SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the wake of yesterday's unexpected Pentagon announcement about gays in the military, experts say the "don't ask, don't tell" policy may be on the brink of irreversible change that would speed up its demise. After speaking with President Obama last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked military lawyers to explore how to modify enforcement of the policy in ways that are "more flexible until the law is changed." The President Monday reiterated his intention to end...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended the government-run program favored by President Obama against arguments that it would ration care. “I don’t think there’s anything about the public option that would ration care. Unfortunately care is being rationed each and everyday right now. Often private insurance companies stand between a patient and a doctor deciding what treatment can be provided,” she said on Fox News Sunday. “We also have a situation where a lot of people are told that hey can’t have insurance because they have a preexisting condition.”

As Stimulus Fails, It's Time For Plan BPosted 06/05/2009 07:06 PM ET Economy: Businesses shed another 345,000 jobs in May, about half the number expected. Meanwhile, the stock market has risen in 12 of the last 13 weeks. It looks like the "green shoots" are here — no thanks to the stimulus. As we've been saying for months, the economy was due to turn around — with or without the stimulus package that was passed Feb. 17 amid much hoopla. Recall that, at the time, the main selling point for the $787 billion stimulus package was that it would rapidly...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Wednesday that he was receptive to Congressional proposals that would require every American to have health insurance and that would force employers to offer health insurance to their employees. But he said there should be exemptions for people who cannot afford coverage and for small businesses in general.

1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good ole boys", we will never "interfere" again. 2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East, They don't want us there, anyway. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence. 3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One of eight U.S. households with a mortgage ended the first quarter late on loan payments or in the foreclosure process in a crisis that will persist for at least another year until unemployment peaks, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday. "We clearly haven't hit the top yet in terms of delinquencies or the bottom of the housing market," Jay Brinkmann, the association's chief economist, said in an interview.

The Fobos-Grunt mission might pave the way for humanity's first permanent space base—on Phobos, Mars' bizarre moon.Mars has been nothing but bad luck for the Russians. They have launched 20 probes to the planet since 1960, and all either failed or suffered from severe technical problems. But soon—as early as this October—Russia will attempt to reverse its fortunes with one of the most ambitious unmanned space missions ever. Instead of aiming straight for Mars, the Russians are going after Phobos, the larger of its two little satellites and one of the oddest objects around. Their probe, called Fobos-Grunt (“Phobos...

Chinese carriers - let them have them By Tetsuo Kotani China's possession of aircraft carriers is not a matter of "if", but "when". Last November, an official in China's Ministry of National Defense touched for the first time in a public venue on the possibility of his nation acquiring aircraft carriers. China has purchased three carriers built by the former Soviet Union and one built by Australia, gaining an opportunity to study their structures. One of those, the Varyag, was supposed to serve as a floating casino in Macau, but it is now moored at a shipyard in Dalian, where...

The People's Republic of China has moved the carrier Varyag from dock side in their Dalian Naval shipyards, to a dry dock and logistics facilty two miles from its former birth. Here are pictures of the carrier being moved and located at the dry dock. With all of the material on deck and the expensive dry dock time, and in the wake of recent Chinese announcements that they are on track to produce their first carrier in the 2011 time frame, and with no current large carrier construction occurring ion other Chinese shipyards, it is more and more clear that...

Chinese Navy Requires Supercruising Fighter Apr 27, 2009 By Bradley Perrett A supercruising combat aircraft is a high priority of the Chinese navy, the country’s top admiral says in a revealing official interview that gives strong clues of perceived shortcomings and future directions for the maritime force. Adm. Wu Shengli also says China must step up work on precision missiles that can overcome enemy defenses, and the nation should move faster in developing large combat surface ships—probably meaning the aircraft carrier program that looks increasingly imminent (AW&ST Jan. 5, p. 22). Wu’s demand for supercruise—supersonic flight without afterburner—hints that such...

The Pentagon is starting work on a nuclear mission statement that envisions the US maintaining its atomic weapons stockpile for the next five to 10 years, a far more cautious stance than President Barack Obama's dream of a nuclear-free future.

I don't think it stimulates anything but the Democratic Party. Keynesian economists believe government spending on "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects -- schools, roads, bridges -- is the best way to stimulate our staggering economy. Supply-side economists make an equally persuasive case that tax cuts are the surest and quickest way to create permanent jobs and cause an economy to rebound. Rasmussen finds that 59% fear that Congress and the president will increase government spending too much. Only 17% worry they will cut taxes too much...At the same time, we can garner evidence on how to deal with future recessions, so every...

Yes, President Einstein should be held to his same standards for GM. Anybody with an Economics 101 level knows the Stimulus bill is a failed plan. Combine that with the ‘Green’ legislation and all the other ways Democrats punish achievers, and America will have a Politically Made Disaster, easily predictable, Politically Made Disaster by a Democrat Congress and the media President Øbama. Increasing taxes will actually decrease economic activity, which will result in less federal tax revenues collected. Mix that with the enormous spending bills Congress is writing into law and the eventual outcome is easily predictable, a very unbalanced...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Tuesday night his attempts to lead the nation out of economic turmoil are beginning to yield results, and toned down his criticism of bonuses to executives at bailed-out AIG. At the second prime-time news conference of his presidency, Obama also cast his budget — now under review in Congress — as essential if the economy is to recover. The tax and spending plan "is inseparable from this recovery because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity," he said. Briefly reviewing the steps his administration has taken to date, he...

WASHINGTON — The Navy has assigned a heavily armed destroyer to escort the U.S. surveillance ship that got into a high-seas confrontation with Chinese ships last weekend. A defense official says the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer Chung-Hoon is keeping a close eye on the unarmed sub-hunting ship Impeccable as it continues operations in the South China Sea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive ship movements. The official says the escort ship joined the Impeccable on Wednesday.

A just-released Associated Press analysis is a dramatic departure from the liberal claptrap we’ve come to expect from the wire service. “President Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a ‘break from a troubled past.’ But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama’s bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars.” “And ...

China's naval surveillance capabilities By Andrei Chang Column: Military Might Hong Kong, China — “Anti-piracy operations” have given China’s PLA Navy the best excuse to penetrate the Indian Ocean and station forces there permanently. As fighting piracy around the Gulf of Aden becomes a long-term mission, the PLA Navy South Sea Fleet is likely to set up a sub-fleet to handle that task – perhaps the “Indian Ocean Sub-fleet of the South Sea Fleet” – and the PLA Navy will become the new owner of the Indian Ocean. In recent months, Chinese military publications have carried a number of articles...

A professor from Kuwait, the country liberated from Saddam Hussein's attack squads by the United States in the first Gulf War, has outlined on Arab television a potential terror attack that would involve smuggling anthrax from Mexico into the U.S. and killing 330,000 people in 60 minutes.

PHOENIX – His massive stimulus plan now signed into law, President Barack Obama is turning to attack the home foreclosure crisis at the heart of the nation's deepening economic woes. His goal is to prevent millions of American families from losing their houses because they can't make mortgage payments. "We must stem the spread of foreclosures and falling home values for all Americans, and do everything we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes," Obama said Tuesday as he signed his tax cut and spending package into law. The ambitious plan he was announcing at a Phoenix high...

Ad Buy Is First Of 2010 Campaign Las Vegas - SEIU announced today that it has begun a new, aggressive television ad campaign in support of Senator Harry Reid's work on behalf of Nevada's working families. He has worked to bring Republicans and Democrats together to fix the economic mess that President Bush and his Wall Street cronies left working families as they rode into the sunset with billions in taxpayer-financed bonuses. Earlier this week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee went up with its first attack ad for Senator Reid's work to build a bipartisan recovery package that not only...

The White House is promising new reviews of the "obligations" to the government by broadcasters who "occupy the nation's spectrum" just as the president has targeted conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh for a public attack, raising concerns over the possible restoration of the "Fairness Doctrine," a policy that failed as unneeded and unconstitutional two decades ago.

<p>One of the principle issues that the Chinese Navy has been experiencing in the development of their many new classes of warships is the ability to defend them adequately, particularly close-in.</p> <p>They have developed verticle launch systms (VLS) for medium and long range engagements, they have developed Phased Array Radars (PARS) and the acquisition and guidance systems for them. They have developed gatling gun Close in Weapons Systems (CIWS), but to date, they had not developed a strong, short range but effective close in weapon missile system that compares with the west.</p>

About a decade ago the foreign policy establishment was busy dismissing China's efforts to build a powerful, modern military. Writing in the Washington Post in 1997, Michael Swaine, a China specialist then at the RAND corporation, declared that the "enduring deficiencies in China's military logistics system call into question its ability to operate [naval and aviation] weapons over a sustained period, particularly outside China's borders." Well, right now, Chinese naval vessels are deploying in the Gulf of Aden to assist in the international anti-piracy mission. It's 4,000 miles from China to the Gulf of Aden. Swaine further predicted that China...

VIDEO: "Disaster Preparedness From Ready.gov" VIDEO DESCRIPTION - Snippet: "Three steps on how to prepare for an emergency or disaster."

(Click on any image for a larger picture) In 2008 the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has continued to concentrate on integrating its new surface combatants into its various fleets, while continuing to introduce new combatants simultaneously...as it did in 2007 In particularly, the PLAN has added more of the new nuclear attack and ballistic missile submarines, punctuating the PLAN's continued advance and improvement of its nuclear submarine capability, while continuing to build and add more new diesel electric submarines. In addition, the PLAN has restarted its new guided-missile frigate production and is continuing serial production of the very...

WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle formally began the incoming administration’s arduous quest to overhaul the nation’s health care system on Thursday, telling former Senate colleagues that the task had become more urgent because many people were losing health insurance, along with their jobs, in the recession.

The AP headline reads "Obama warns of dire consequences without stimulus". If you want to show me how more debt will help an economy that is sinking because of too much debt, please email me directly because I am always eager to learn. But from my viewpoint, Obama's stimulus is not change. It is, unfortunately, more of the same. The dire consequences of which he speaks, namely increasing unemployment numbers and an increasing deficit, will NOT see much improvement if he implements the plan as is. Yet, I am glad he has at the very least "acknowledged" that there are...