Free Republic

<p>White House communications director Anita Dunn will step down from her post at the end of the month and Dan Pfeiffer, her deputy, will take over, according to sources familiar with the move.</p> <p>Dunn, a longtime Democratic media consultant, took over the job on an interim basis earlier this year when Ellen Moran abruptly left the post to take a job at the Commerce Department. Dunn will return to Squier Knapp Dunn, the consulting firm where she is a partner, but will remain as a consultant to the White House on the communications and strategic matters.</p>

Donors got access to bowling alley, WH movies, Messina It turns out that the White House-complex bowling alley might be the new Lincoln Bedroom. [Getting Dem pushback on the lede -- the argument being that the perks weren't part of a formal fundraising program like the Clintons' Lincoln bedroom arrangement.] Matthew Mosk of the Washington Times sifts the records and finds that President Obama's high-rolling donors got access to a ten-pin alley, the White House movie theater and the Oval. The big shots were also treated to an in-person West Coast briefing on health care reform by Jim Messina, one...

Tom Donohue sits for an interview with POLITICO. CEO and President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue, talks with POLITICO about his relationship with the White House, the health care debate and the Chamber's membership. Photo: John Shinkle U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his $200-million-a-year association has largely failed — and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts. In a 75-minute interview with POLITICO, Donohue dismissed recent defections by Apple and at least four other companies, which quit over the...

Dr. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology. (AP photo) (CNSNews.com) – John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advocated having the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) force radio and television stations to surrender free time for advertisements calling attention to what he called “the population-resource-environment crisis.” He cited, as examples of the type of advertising he was talking about, ads produced by Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and Zero Population Growth (ZPG). Holdren made his argument for using the FCC to advance his vision for population control and...

The 2010 Census — a count of everyone living in the United States — is fast approaching! Census questionnaires will be mailed or delivered to every household in the United States in March 2010. We are working on lesson plans, maps, teaching guides, and other informational materials to help teachers and students learn about the importance of the Census. Visit often to keep up with the latest information and materials available from Census in Schools and the 2010 Census.

If you've tuned into the news in the past few days, it's clear that the debate about health insurance reform has heated up as Senators and Representatives return to their home states and districts. A troubling trend has also emerged: as more people become engaged in the issue, defenders of the status quo have responded by muddying the waters with more wild rumors and scare tactics. It's time for a reality check. Today the White House is rolling out a new website that focuses on what reform really means for you and your family, debunks some common myths along the...

It's time to move to move beyond town hall meetings.

In early May, White House Counsel Greg Craig circulated a memo inside the West Wing. Part of a series of memos on protocol, it explained how to deal with writers researching books and articles on the White House. (Craig's unsurprising instructions: Clear interview requests with the press office.) While the memo didn't mention any journalists by name--and while there are currently no fewer than half a dozen major reporters under contract to write books about the nascent Obama presidency and the 2008 campaign, any of whom could conceivably end up embarrassing the administration--there is one person in particular the White...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says North Korea's threats against South Korea will not give it the attention Pyongyang wants and will only add to its isolation. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that North Korea should live up to its promises and stop its provocations against the South. Pyongyang says Seoul's decision to join an international nuclear anti-proliferation program is tantamount to a declaration of war. The North warned of military strikes and declared their 1953 armistice null and void.

Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, pulled in more than $2.7 million in speaking fees paid by firms at the heart of the financial crisis, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Corp. and the now-defunct Lehman Brothers. He pulled in another $5.2 million from D.E. Shaw, a hedge fund for which he served as managing director from October 2006 until joining the administration.

US President Barack Obama is set to unveil a new high-level task force to issue recommendations on how the government can find additional sources of tax revenue to narrow the 'tax gap' between what is legally owed by taxpayers and what it actually paid. As Congress prepares to administer the scalpel to Obama's expansive budget in a bid to trim the budget deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said will be markedly higher over the next decade than predicted by the administration, White House budget director Peter Orszag has revealed that Obama is launching a review panel to...

During the daily White House press briefing today one reporter seemed to be having a hard time staying awake.

Amid the furor over controversies regarding Cabinet-nominee tax problems and the seismic battle over a nearly trillion-dollar economic rescue bill, President Obama made a little-noticed appointment that is now generating intrigue. Shauna Daly, a 29-year-old Democratic operative, was named last month to the new job of White House counsel research director. Though she is inside one of the most powerful legal offices in the land, Miss Daly holds no law degree and doesn't list any legal training on her resume. Her sole experience has been as an opposition researcher for Democratic political campaigns: She helped dig up dirt on rivals,...

live presser on fox video...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2008 – A group of wounded warriors got a presidential send off at the White House today as they launched a three-day bicycle ride to show the world and themselves what they’re still capable of accomplishing. President Bush joined Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England, and the secretaries of State and Veterans Affairs on the South Lawn, heralding the wounded warriors for their service, sacrifice and inspiration. The riders set out on the “White House to Light House Challenge” that will take them from the White...

Suspicious package found at the gates of the White House..press corps being rushed out of the area by SS

"It is a real beauty" - that's President George W. Bush's verdict on the brush cutter he was given by Fredrik Reinfeldt during the Swedish Prime Minister's visit to the White House. In a letter dated June 18th and released to journalists on Wednesday, Bush tells Reinfeldt that he has already put the brush cutter to use on his Texas ranch following the prime minister's visit in May. "Dear Fredrik: I was honored to welcome you to the Oval Office," the president writes. Reinfeldt was slammed by opposition politicians at home for not using the meeting to criticize US policy...

The Prince of Wales was a "most likeable person", President Gaddafi a "mad clown" and Michael Jackson was "surprisingly shy". The private diaries of Ronald Reagan, which are about to be published for the first time, reveal a US president who was worried about imminent Armageddon but who also fretted about how he would handle chopsticks in front of the Chinese. The man who was credited with ending the Cold War reveals that he was "lonesome" when his wife, Nancy, was away and refused to talk to their son, Ron Junior, after he hung up on him. His carefully handwritten...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 32-year-old woman wielding a machete was arrested Sunday outside the White House, the Secret Service said. Spokeswoman Kim Bruce said Ashwak Saleh was taken into custody and charged with possession of a prohibited weapon after she displayed a 13-inch machete on the sidewalk outside the White House. Saleh was arrested at 2:20 p.m. and taken to Washington Metro Police Department 3rd district for processing. Witnesses said Saleh was sitting on the sidewalk when she pulled the machete out of a leather sleeve and began sharpening it on the edge of the sidewalk. The witnesses said passersby...

A pattern is emerging in pre-trial arguments in the perjury and obstruction of justice case against former Cheney chief of staff Lewis Libby. That pattern is the recurring conflict between the Little Case and the Big Case. The Little Case is the narrow, tightly defined charge that Libby lied to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury. For example, did Libby lie when he testified that NBC's Tim Russert "said to me, did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife…works at the CIA? And I said, no, I don't know that"? Did Libby lie when he testified that, when speaking to journalists about...

They See Al Gore by a Nose in 2008 Is Al Gore coming back? If allies we talked to have their way, the former veep will be the next president. "It's Gore Time," says a political strategist and fundraiser who is opening a bid to get Gore into the race. Gore friends see his recent political and business moves as proof he's preparing to run. Allies say that in speeches, Gore has found his voice to address domestic and world issues. And in raising money for his Current TV network, which targets the critical youth market, Big Al has built...

In the latest Cato Tax and Budget Bulletin, Stephen Slivinski uses revised data released during the summer by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to make side-by-side comparisons of the spending habits of each president during the last 40 years. While the data show that all presidents presided over net increases in spending, George W. Bush is shown to be one of the biggest spenders of them all, even outpacing Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending. An excerpt from the report: "The increase in discretionary spending - that is, all nonentitlement programs - in Bush's first term was 48.5...

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - The United States does not have a clear policy in dealing with Iran, a Russian expert said Tuesday. "The White House currently has 16 policies regarding Iran, ranging from participation in dialogue to pinpointing strikes against nuclear facilities. This means that the U.S. does not have a reasonable policy regarding this country," said Viktor Orlov, director of the Center for political studies in Russia. Speaking about the EU-Iran talks on the Iranian nuclear program, Orlov said the U.S. is not applying strong pressure on the European Troika, also known as the Big Three. He...

After months of unsuccessful negotiations by European diplomats, Iran's government announced on Aug. 8 that it has resumed work on processing/converting uranium at its Isfahan nuclear facility. Washington and European nations have warned that despite Tehran's assertion that their nuclear project is intended to develop electric power and not weapons, the matter will be brought to the U.N. Security Council to demand economic sanctions if Iran does not halt the program. A showdown between Iran and the West could come in September when the matter is expected to reach the Security Council. Iran insists that as a signatory of the...

The 1,000 megawatt reactor is located in the southwestern Iranian city of Bushehr, a port town on the Persian Gulf. Construction of the reactor began in the 1970s and is near completion. Built and designed by Russian engineers, the facility is worth $800 million. Nuclear fuel for the reactor is also produced by Russians and is awaiting delivery. The U.S. is pressuring Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran, but Russia has already built the reactor and signed a fuel deal. For years, Iran kept its nuclear activities under wraps, so its unprecedented openness comes as a surprise to U.S....

WHITE HOUSE BLASTS WASHINGTON POST -- AGAIN Wed Feb 09 2005 17:25:59 ET For the second time in less than a week, the White House has issued a rare public demand for The WASHINGTON POST to correct high impact stories about the cost of President Bush's domestic initiatives. The POST caved last Thursday after the White House savaged reporter Jonathan Weisman's article on Social Security (“Benefit Cuts Would Offset Contributions”). Not only did the POST run a correction, but Weisman wrote an entire story correcting his earlier account. The bad blood boiled over again today when the POST led its...

When Laura Bush became first lady four years ago she didn't know just how powerful her position in the White House would be. "It took me a while to really realize what podium I had, as Lady Bird Johnson says," Mrs. Bush said, recalling the reaction from women nationwide after she made her first radio address about the women of Afghanistan. "And, I think, you know, you kind of hear and certainly you watch your whole life — I certainly had a very close view of the role of the women in the White House, but it really takes a...

During upcoming confirmation hearings for Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales, senior Democrats want to screen infamous videotapes showing Iraqis being abused at Abu Ghraib prison, top sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. The curtain is raised Thursday for the Senate Judiciary Committee's showdown with Gonzales. The Bush White House counsel will be grilled about his role in formulating the administration's legal policies on coercive techniques in interrogations -- techniques some Democrats believe led to outright torture! Yet it's the grainy prison videos, shot by a soldier's cellphone and never before viewed by the public, that threaten to turn the New Year ugly:...

A Food & Drug Administration advisory committee raised questions yesterday about the safety and effectiveness of a patch developed by Procter & Gamble to increase the sex drives of women. The committee will present its findings today to a panel of FDA officials. While not binding, the committee's recommendations typically serve as a bellwether for FDA approval. The committee cited a research study that concluded a combination of the hormones progesterone and estrogen increased the risk of heart and breast cancer, and wondered if a different hormone, such as the testosterone used in P&G's Intrinsa patch, would produce a similar...

2004-11-21 Jobs rotate in rumor mill Lieberman key to possible changes for state, local politicians By Fred LucasTHE NEWS-TIMES Joseph Lieberman It's a political rumor with a twist. In fact, several twists, turns and flips. It's a scenario that runs from Washington, D.C., to Danbury City Hall. From the Department of Homeland Security to the Connecticut state Senate.It has local Republicans buzzing, e-mails flying and lukewarm denials rolling off the tongues of intrigued politicians.And it's too good not to share.It goes something like this:Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Democrat, could be named secretary of the Department of the...

Mohamed Alanssi slid the photos of his once-happy life across the table of a Union Station restaurant. The portrait of his wife with two of his six children. The picture showing the living room of the $1 million home he built in his native Yemen when he was a prosperous businessman. The 1970s snapshot of him as a low-level employee at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, shaking hands with the U.S. ambassador. But that happiness ended after he made the mistake of becoming an FBI terrorism informant, Alanssi said tearfully in an interview three weeks ago. His cooperation had been...

WASHINGTON -- The Postal Service closed its government mail facility Thursday night while authorities ran tests to determine whether anthrax was detected at the Navy site that handles mail for federal agencies. Postal Service spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer said the V Street mail facility, which has 270 workers, was closed as a precaution. Equipment that routinely monitors the air at the Naval Automated Processing Facility, also located in the District of Columbia, indicated Wednesday the presence of "small amounts of biological pathogens, possibly anthrax," said Rachael Sunbarger, a Homeland Security spokeswoman. That facility receives mail from V Street. After the initial...

<p>A Senate investigation has found no evidence that the Bush administration pressured CIA analysts to tailor their intelligence to suit the White House's views on the threat posed by Iraq. However, the inquiry did find instances where the CIA downplayed intelligence that contradicted Bush's views, according to lawmakers and officials familiar with the probe.</p>

<p>A central figure in the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s has passed allegations to the Bush administration that $150 million in enriched uranium was smuggled from Iraq into Iran five years ago and some may remain hidden in Iraq.</p> <p>The information was relayed to the administration through a conservative author, Michael Ledeen. And Ledeen is now accusing the CIA of failing to aggressively check the allegation because of a long-held distrust of Manucher Ghorbanifar, a middleman in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra swap of arms for hostages.</p>

Saudi officials, furious over a congressional report issued last week alleging possible links between Saudi individuals in the government and some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, have requested and been granted a meeting today between Foreign Minister Saud Faisal and President Bush. The hastily scheduled White House visit, which will take place shortly after Bush meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, demonstrates the level of Saudi anger and the kingdom's clout with the Bush administration. A key issue in the dispute is that 28 pages of the 900-page report dealing with allegations about Saudi Arabia was entirely classified --...

WASHINGTON Here are three glimpses of one of the most unexamined first ladies in recent history: Laura Bush collected nearly $2 million last month at three fund-raisers for President Bush's re-election campaign, Bush-Cheney '04, and campaign officials expect her to appear at some 20 more. This month, after returning with Mr. Bush from a five-day visit to Africa, she is to go on her annual weeklong backpacking trip to an undisclosed location (the last two jaunts were to Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks) with a group of longtime female friends. She is planning White House literary events, even after she...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The White House announced Tuesday a new interactive forum on its web site where citizens can pose questions to senior White House officials. The new feature, called "Ask the White House," will make its debut Wednesday night at 7:00 PM EST. The public can log onto the new forum at the official White House web site at www.whitehouse.gov/ask. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "The interactive forum will allow for a 30 minute question and answer period between any citizen who wants to log on or anybody from around the world who wants to log on,...

<p>The Bush administration is asking Congress to ease environmental laws so 10 million acres of overgrown federal forests can be thinned more rapidly to reduce wildfires.</p> <p>At the same time, the administration is quietly mapping a far more ambitious plan that would bypass Congress: changing agency procedures so such projects can proceed on 190 million acres with far less environmental scrutiny than is now required.</p>