http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ en Copyright 2010 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:10:46 -0500 The government is announcing a recall of some 1.2 million high chairs, saying they pose a fall hazard to children.The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary recall Thursday involving the product made by Graco Children's Products, Inc., of Atlanta.The regulatory agency said "screws holding the front legs of the high chair can http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/gov_t_orders_recall_of_1_2_million_high_chairs.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/gov_t_orders_recall_of_1_2_million_high_chairs.html The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:10:33 -0500 President Barack Obama is set to sign a jobs bill into law Thursday morning.The bill contains two major provisions. First, it exempts businesses hiring the unemployed from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December. It also gives employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. The Social Security http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_to_sign_bill_to_spur_job_growth.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_to_sign_bill_to_spur_job_growth.html The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:40:32 -0500 Banks weren't the only ones giving big bonuses in the boom years before the worst financial crisis in generations. The government also was handing out millions of dollars to bank regulators, rewarding "superior" work even as an avalanche of risky mortgages helped create the meltdown.The payments, detailed in payroll data released to The Associated http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/ap_impact__gov_t_bank_auditors_got_big_bonuses.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/ap_impact__gov_t_bank_auditors_got_big_bonuses.html Matt Apuzzo The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:40:35 -0500 Pushing toward a history-making vote, Democrats struggled to eliminate lingering complications standing in the way of House action this weekend on President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul.Their drive to change the way health care is administered and extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans took on a growing sense of http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/lawmakers_struggle_to_finish_health_overhaul_bill.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/lawmakers_struggle_to_finish_health_overhaul_bill.html Erica Werner The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:10:43 -0500 It may not bode well for Rep. Travis Childers that many voters in his rural Mississippi district have stronger opinions about President Barack Obama's health care plan than they do about the Democratic congressman.Regardless of how Childers votes, the legislation is threatening to swamp the carefully crafted bipartisan brand he's been building http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/a_southern_style_taste_of_health_care_politics.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/a_southern_style_taste_of_health_care_politics.html Ben Evans The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:40:46 -0500 Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.Constitutional law experts say the http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/idaho_first_to_sign_law_aimed_at_health_care_plan.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/idaho_first_to_sign_law_aimed_at_health_care_plan.html John Miller The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:40:41 -0500 Days from now, a stately black schooner will sail through a narrow channel into Havana's protected harbor, its two masts bearing the rarest of sights — the U.S. Stars and Stripes, with the Cuban flag fluttering nearby.The ship is the Amistad, a U.S.-flagged vessel headed for largely forbidden Cuban waters as a symbol of both a dark 19th century http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/a_symbol_of_the_slave_trade_joins_us_and_cuba.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/a_symbol_of_the_slave_trade_joins_us_and_cuba.html Jim Kuhnhenn The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:10:32 -0500 After a rousing campaign rally for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine last summer, President Barack Obama flashed a broad smile to an aide as he boarded his helicopter back to the White House."That was the most fun I've had in a while," he said.Obama likes campaigning. And it shows. He relishes the chance to shed his jacket, roll up his sleeves, dust off http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_back_to_campaign_style_politics__a_strength.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_back_to_campaign_style_politics__a_strength.html Philip Elliott The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:10:38 -0500 President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation won precious support from a longtime liberal holdout in the House on Wednesday and from a retired Catholic bishop and nuns representing dozens of religious orders — gaining fresh traction ahead of a climactic weekend vote."That's a good sign," said Obama, two weeks after taking personal http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/health_bill_gains_ground_but_release_delayed.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/health_bill_gains_ground_but_release_delayed.html David Espo The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:10:31 -0500 Products intended to treat cats and dogs for fleas and ticks kill hundreds of pets each year and injure tens of thousands, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.The EPA said it will develop stricter testing and evaluation requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to a http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/epa__more_pets_injured_by_flea_and_tick_products.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/epa__more_pets_injured_by_flea_and_tick_products.html Matthew Daly The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:41:48 -0500 An al-Qaida leader believed to have played a key role in the bombing of a CIA post in Afghanistan last December was apparently killed by an American missile strike last week, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.The counterterrorism official said Hussein al-Yemeni was believed killed in a strike in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/senior_official__al_qaida_leader_believed_killed.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/senior_official__al_qaida_leader_believed_killed.html Lolita C. Baldor And Matt Apuzzo The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:41:43 -0500 The growing front in the war on terrorism may be no farther than Main Street. The terror cases that have emerged in the past week have one common characteristic: The suspects are all Americans.One is a woman who looked after the elderly in suburban Pennsylvania. Another a security guard from New Jersey.Altogether more than a dozen Americans have http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/recent_cases_show_challenge_of_us_terrorists.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/recent_cases_show_challenge_of_us_terrorists.html Eileen Sullivan And Devlin Barrett The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:41:38 -0500 President Barack Obama on Wednesday took to the Fox News Channel, derided by his White House as a wing of the Republican Party, to sell his embattled health care overhaul in an interview punctuated with interruptions from the host and chiding from the guest.Obama sat down with "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier in the executive mansion's Blue Room http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_argues_for_health_care_effort_on_fox_news.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/18/obama_argues_for_health_care_effort_on_fox_news.html Philip Elliott The Associated Press Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:41:33 -0500 Goodnight, John-Boy: Driven partly by job losses, more multigenerational families are choosing to live together as "boomerang kids" flock home and people help care for grandchildren or aging parents.About 6.6 million U.S. households in 2009 had at least three generations of family members, an increase of 30 percent since 2000, according to census http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/more_multigenerational_families_living_together.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/more_multigenerational_families_living_together.html Hope Yen The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:40:32 -0500 President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation won precious support from a longtime liberal holdout in the House on Wednesday and from a retired Catholic bishop and nuns representing dozens of religious orders — gaining fresh traction ahead of a climactic weekend vote."That's a good sign," said Obama, two weeks after taking personal http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/health_bill_gains_ground_but_release_delayed.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/health_bill_gains_ground_but_release_delayed.html David Espo The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:41:32 -0500 A retired Catholic bishop is announcing his support for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, despite the church's official opposition.Retired Bishop John E. McCarthy of Austin told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he is as opposed to abortion as every other bishop and that the bill before Congress would guard against the use of http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/retired_catholic_bishop_endorses_health_care_bill.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/retired_catholic_bishop_endorses_health_care_bill.html Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:10:32 -0500 Products intended to treat cats and dogs for fleas and ticks kill hundreds of pets each year and injure tens of thousands, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.The EPA said it will develop stricter testing and evaluation requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to a http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/epa__more_pets_injured_by_flea_and_tick_products.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/epa__more_pets_injured_by_flea_and_tick_products.html Matthew Daly The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:41:32 -0500 Vice President Joe Biden asked for God's blessing for the late mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen during a White House celebration of St. Patrick's Day — except the elderly lady is very much alive."God rest her soul," Biden said Wednesday night as he introduced Cowen and President Barack Obama. He quickly caught himself and noted that http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/biden_mistakenly_blesses_irish_leader_s_mother.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/biden_mistakenly_blesses_irish_leader_s_mother.html The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:40:35 -0500 President Barack Obama on Wednesday took to the Fox News Channel, derided by his White House as a wing of the Republican Party, to sell his embattled health care overhaul in an interview punctuated with interruptions from the host and chiding from the guest.Obama sat down with "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier in the executive mansion's Blue Room http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/obama_argues_for_health_care_effort_on_fox_news.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/obama_argues_for_health_care_effort_on_fox_news.html Philip Elliott The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:41:36 -0500 Legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday would significantly reduce the disparity in sentences handed out to those convicted of crack and powder cocaine charges.Currently, a person convicted of crack cocaine possession gets the same mandatory jail time as someone with 100 times the same quantity of powder cocaine. That 100-1 ratio has been http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/senate_votes_to_change_cocaine_sentencing_rules.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2010/Mar/17/senate_votes_to_change_cocaine_sentencing_rules.html Jim Abrams The Associated Press Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:40:39 -0500