Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has said his committee needs to come up with $600 billion in new taxes to deliver on President Barack Obama’s goal of sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system to bring down costs….Sorry?It costs $600 billion to reduce costs?Where’s Alice with those pills when you need her?

I tried not to post this one, I really did, but something in me just wouldn’t let me ignore it any longer… As it concerns 11 year-old Malia Obama, however, I’ll use a correspondingly junior-sized amount of snark. Unlike, that is, the hideous Wonkette site, whose posts on Sarah and Trig Palin are outmatched in viciousness and spite only by its readers’ comments. There’s no link because what is written there on a daily basis should offend anyone with even the slightest hint of an education.

Yes, I read the Drudge Report. So anytime Drudge features a photo of First Lady Michelle Obama, its accompanying an article or critique that is non too kind. So my heart just dropped when I saw Malia Obama featured on the top half of the Drudge report last night because I KNEW it couldn’t be for anything positive or good. The headline Drudge assigned was “Miss Obama’s peacenik T-shirt sends message to G8 leaders…” and it links to a story in the Daily Mail out of the UK.

Independent voters are taking a second look at President Barack Obama and they don’t like what they see. Obama’s popularity among Americans now stands at 56 percent — his lowest since taking office — and some predict the President’s job approval rating could fall below 50 percent by Labor Day — a monumental slide for the young leader. read more

Russia: US-Russian summit was ‘groundbreaking’ (KYIV Post) AP U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speak after attending the Parallel Business Summit in Manezh Exhibition Hall just outside the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, Tuesday, July 7. Some of Obama’s gains in Russia may come back to bite him (Online Journal) A little over 40 percent of Russians consider Russian-US relations strained or hostile, down slightly from 2004 when 46 percent said they considered the US to be Russia’s adversary.

Michael Jackson Memorial in LA (sfgate.com)Michael Jackson’s memorial service is an awesome event, and proved to be one of the most-watched events on television.According to Nielsen Media Research, over 31 million people in the United States watched the Michael Jackson memorial on television. It’s a bit smaller audience than for Princess Diana’s funeral or President Barack Obama’s inauguration, but undoubtedly reached an impressive number of audience in today’s TV world.President Obama’s inauguration in January had an audience of nearly 38 million, while 33.2 million people in the U.S.

With unemployment soaring, perhaps to more than 10% by yearend, anxiety is growing in Washington over the effectiveness of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed in February. Indeed, some of U.S. President Barack Obama’s advisors have already acknowledged that the administration underestimated the rapid rise in unemployment and that a second stimulus may be needed.Laura Tyson, former chair of the U.S.

Don’t Give Up on Democracy in Latin America : Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza has done little to assuage concerns that the Organization of American States (OAS) he leads has given up entirely on its original mission of defending democracy in Latin America. Attending a summit of ALBA, the Venezuelan-sponsored alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (a sort of Chavista Warsaw Pact), Insulza threatened to expel Honduras from the OAS lest it allow the safe return of ex-president Manuel Zelaya.

List Price: $16.99 Buy New: $9.99 You Save: $7.00 (41%) New (1) from $9.99 Here are the facts: The United States has released 425 terrorists from Guantanamo, at least 50 of whom have returned to the battlefield to fight our troops. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say ( more ) More here:? Fleeced

Reuters – President Barack Obama said at the G8 summit Thursday there is still time to close the gap with developing powers on climate change, after the U.N. chief criticised the G8 for not going hard enough.By Yahoo! News: Top Stories in General News