Plan to Change Student Lending Sets Up a Fight
April 13, 2009
Private lenders are moving against President Obama’s plan to redirect billions in bank profits to needy students.
King of Jordan to meet Obama on April 21
April 13, 2009
AMMAN (Reuters) – King Abdullah of Jordan will meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on April 21 to lobby on behalf of Arab states for a stronger U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking, palace officials said on Sunday.
Ask not for whom the web site tolls: From now on, it tolls without me
April 13, 2009
The time has come, the columnist said, to write of many things — of life and love and local topics…but not of politics and kings.
I’m done folks: Tired, bored and ready to move on. National politics no longer excites me. Washington is 300 miles away from my mountaintop retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. It might as well be in another galaxy.
Obama passes first national security test
April 13, 2009
The U.S. economy is showing only glimmers of life and two costly wars remain in the balance, but President Barack Obama’s "no drama" handling of the Indian Ocean hostage crisis proved a big win for his administration in its first critical national security test.
Obama’s quiet backstage decision to authorize the Defense Department to take necessary action if Capt. Richard Phillips’ life was in imminent danger gave a Navy commander the go-ahead to order snipers to fire on the pirates holding the cargo ship captain at gunpoint.
Even with rescue, a solution remains elusive
April 13, 2009
Even in the glow of the U.S. Navy’s daring rescue of a cargo ship captain from Somali pirates, the military is still searching for a solution to the epidemic of high seas piracy.
The Navy’s effort to coordinate with other international warships and the shipping industry to crack down on cargo vessel seizures has done little to deter the onslaught of multimillion-dollar ship ransoms, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said Sunday.
Taxpayers more frugal with refunds
April 13, 2009
Most people say they plan to use this year’s tax refund to pay bills, deciding in this sour economy to be more frugal with their annual windfall.
Fifty-four percent of those receiving refunds said they intend to pay off credit card, utility, housing and other bills, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Monday. That compares with 35 percent who said the same thing a year ago.
Only 5 percent, about the same as a year ago, said they planned to go on a shopping spree.
Obama boosts anti-abortion efforts
April 13, 2009
His first 84 days in office reinvigorates a constituency he sought to neutralize during the campaign.
The Caucus: Health Care Cautions, From One Who Knows
April 13, 2009
Richard A. Gephardt says universal coverage cannot pass this year — and he is urging the White House to defer that goal until it enacts cost-saving reforms in health care delivery.
One Obama Search Ends With a Puppy Named Bo
April 13, 2009
The Obamas’ closely watched search for a spiritual home was overshadowed on Sunday by news that a longer quest — for a dog — had ended.