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Obama aide: Large delegation from J'lem to fly to DC, despite PM's cancellation. ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — US President Barack Obama's national security adviser says that Israel will still have a "robust" delegation at a nuclear security summit in Washington next week, even after Israel's prime minister abruptly decided not to attend. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had said he would be at the conference to underline the danger of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons. Officials in his office said Netanyahu reversed himself because some nations planned to use the conference to target Israel over its barely concealed nuclear weapons program....

City Council on Wednesday gave a cool response to Mayor Annise Parker's plan to sell the former site of the Compaq Center to Lakewood Church for $7.5 million, the first hint of discord between the newly elected mayor and the 14-member council. The numerous questions — ranging from whether the 606,050-square-foot building was worth far more to why the proposal was not vetted more thoroughly — threw into doubt a sale that Parker needs to close a lingering budget gap before the end of the year. Parker said that if further vetting does not bring council around to the idea,...

There was something particularly annoying -- even harmful to society -- during the health care summit held last week between President Obama and leading members of the House and Senate. It was the president's calling all the congressmen and senators by their first names. It is easy to appreciate just how demeaning this was of each House member and senator: Just imagine if any of them had called President Obama "Barack." However negative any conservatives deem this presidency, we would consider it scandalous if anyone publicly referred to this or any president by his first name. For America's sake, I...

No one would think it fair, in any endeavor, whether it was in Academic League or professional sport that the opposition would both control the clock and the referees. Yet that is exactly what happened at the Obama health care summit. President Barry Hussein Soetoro was both the time keeper and the referee. As a result many supposed unbiased reporters claimed that Soetoro dominated the event and that he always had an answer for every point and that he always had the last word. Well duh? What about controlling the clock and the event don’t they understand? According to Joseph...

To emphasize Barack Obama's frustration with what Republicans were saying at Thursday's healthcare summit, CNN aired a montage of the faces the President was making as prominent members of the GOP spoke. Candy Crowley introduced the segment on Sunday's "State of the Union": As we mentioned earlier, President Obama's face said a lot last week. I was in the studio where you can watch what which call an ISO, that's the camera focused only on the president as Republicans made their points. We wanted to share.

From the CBS studios and CNN 650 A.M in Houston, TX, The Conservative Funhouse is a weekly all out, zany assault on the hypocrisy and idiocy of the liberal left and the spineless waffling of the GOP. Topics on today's show include: A Lively discussion of the Health Care summit and one very angry caller’s retort. Bringing back the Nuclear option and Stupid teachers getting fired in Rhode Island. (Video version of Today’s show at the link below.) Join us live every Saturday at 11:00 AM Central for a new episode of The Conservative Funhouse

Barack Obama was in his element as he addressed the bipartisan health-care summit he had convened for the principal purpose of shaming the recalcitrant Republicans. His preferred lectern had been taken away and he had been forced to agree to remain seated but it was nevertheless a cherished opportunity for him to scold, patronise and peevishly disdain his opponents – and to pontificate for nearly six hours. To be fair, Obama spoke for a mere 119 minutes, as opposed to the 110 minutes he deigned to allocate to the Republicans and the 114 minutes he gave to his fellow Democrats....

This guy just keeps pushing. Listen to his confidence even when he's wrong! He's truly a GOP friend. See you in November!

It wasn't really effective governance, and -- save for a few moments -- it wasn't even interesting television. So what exactly did President Obama's health-care summit actually accomplish? Well, it turned out not to be the political trap that Republicans had feared. Instead, they got a nationally broadcast TV platform -- a forum they might not otherwise have ever received. And the members of the GOP team clearly were prepared: Time after time, they scored telling points against Obama and Democratic Capitol Hill kingpins Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Moreover, Obama himself looked less like a president than like the...

A bipartisan summit no one believed would change any minds. A Democratic Party who couldn't pass Obamacare even when they had a super majority. A president who is allegedly smart enough to see that he has lost the approval of most Americans on this issue. A set of rules in the Senate that offer the opposition several opportunities to block Obamacare's passage in spite of the reconciliation process. And yet the headlines blare that President Obama's intent is to push ahead. Why? There are a few theories making the rounds on cable news stations, internet message boards and around office...

Democrats at the Feb. 25 health summit argued that under their proposal, 31 million of the 47 million uninsured Americans would receive coverage. CNN’s “American Morning” co-host Kiran Chetry repeated that claim Feb. 26 and asked one of her guests: Kenneth Thorpe, Prof. at the Rollins School of Public Health, about its validity and the debate surrounding the statistic. “I mean there’s 47 million uninsured Americans they [Senate Democrats] argue. And when you talk to Republicans, we talked to Sen. John Cornyn yesterday – ‘No, no, no - that’s a wildly inflated number,” Chetry said. “If you can’t even necessarily...

Yesterday began the 6 hour infomercial on Obama's new health plan for America. Billed as a bipartisan affair with most of the speaking as well as the spotlight on Obama, Republicans were fortunate to get a word in edgewise. There is nothing "new" about this latest proposal. It's basically the Senate version infused with a mild dose of steroids that will hopefully give it strength to win public approval before Democrats move on to reconciliation. Nothing new, just "Meet the old boss, same as the new boss" legislation that is frankly, just as bad as the Super Bowl performance of...

What happened yesterday was nothing more then a POLITICAL CIRCUS. President Barak Obama at Blair House held a summit on healthcare and yet this turned out to be his third Copenhagen. More and more the Republicans are starting to look like they are going back to their conservative roots while the Dems are looking with President Obama at the helm, to be EMBARESSED.

Democrats at the Feb. 25 health summit argued that under their proposal, 31 million of the 47 million uninsured Americans would receive coverage. CNN’s “American Morning” co-host Kiran Chetry repeated that claim Feb. 26 and asked one of her guests: Kenneth Thorpe, Prof. at the Rollins School of Public Health, about its validity and the debate surrounding the statistic. “I mean there’s 47 million uninsured Americans they [Senate Democrats] argue. And when you talk to Republicans, we talked to Sen. John Cornyn yesterday – ‘No, no, no - that’s a wildly inflated number,” Chetry said. “If you can’t even necessarily...

Obama exaggerated. Boehner lied. Reid was incorrect. Ryan is wrong. An army of partisan fact checkers bombarded the media through seven hours of the health care summit with such deep thoughts — replete with cherry-picked data — confirming the adage that there’s lies, damn lies and statistics. Some of the jabs were dead on, but some were merely meant to back up partisan talking points. Still, there were plenty of factually challenged statements. With a nod to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s statement that the Congressional Budget Office is “God” in his book — the media deify CBO figures as...

The White House was hoping the health-care summit would create momentum among Democrats to push their bill through Congress. It almost certainly did not work. Both sides repeated points that have been made countless times over the past year. That being the case, it seems likely that the public will react to what they heard from the Blair House meeting much as they have to the months-long debate in Congress: by agreeing in larger numbers with the Republican view that the bill the Democrats are pushing is hopelessly flawed. One reason for the Democrats’ trouble is that their talking points...

A new poll is about to do what 7-plus hours of health care summit could not - make political news. According to Rasmussen's daily presidential tracking poll released this morning, only 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of President Barack Obama's performance; 55% disapprove. This matches the lowest level of total approval yet measured for this president.

N.Korea Still Expects Payment for Summit North Korea is still demanding rice and fertilizer in return for an inter-Korean summit, even as it keeps sending increasingly urgent messages to Seoul to bring such a summit about. Since a secret meeting between South Korean Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee and Kim Yang-gon, the director of the North Korean Workers' Party's United Front Department, in Singapore in October, "North Korea has kept asking us for a huge amount of economic aid in return for arranging a meeting" between President Lee Myung-bak and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, a South Korean government source said...

So, who told the truth, and who didn't, at yesterday's dog-and-pony show, a.k.a Obama's Health Care Summit? Various questions: 1. Will insurance premiums rise or fall under the Senate bill?

Yesterday's Washington health care "summit" had very little to do with improving the American health care system. It was about maintaining political power and winning the next election, regardless of cost. Those of us who depend on the American health care system for our lives are merely pawns in their game.