Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’
LiveBlog for Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday, December 4th, 2009
• John Fugelsang joins Steph in studio at 6:05am Pacific for 3 full hours of Fridays With Fugelsang!
• Christian Weller, economist with the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to update us on jobs, the economy, and holiday retail sales.
• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to defend The Bronx, and to talk about health care reform and Afghanistan.
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, Afghanistan, and the cops that were killed in his district.
• Unflinching on a critical first test, Senate Dems closed ranks yesterday behind $460 billion in politically risky Medicare cuts at the heart of health care reform legislation, thwarting a GOP attempt to doom President Obama’s sweeping overhaul. The Senate also backed a guarantee for all insured women age 40 and older to receive mammograms with no out-of-pocket costs.
• President Obama promised at a White House jobs forum yesterday to take “every responsible step to accelerate job creation,” including some ideas he said could be put into action quickly. He cited an expanded program to make more U.S. homes energy efficient as an example.
• The White House as authorized an expansion of the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan’s tribal areas, paralleling President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Tags: Adam Smith, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Center for American Progress, Christian Weller, Economy, Eliot Engel, Health Care Reform, John Fugelsang, Medicare, Pakistan
Posted in liveblog | 375 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about Afghanistan, health care reform, and the Jobs Summit.
• Comedian Tom Kenny calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about Spongebob Squarepants’ new Christmas song.
• Hilary Rosen, Editor at Large of the Huffington Post, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about Afghanistan, health care reform, and today’s Jobs Summit.
• Obama administration officials are hoping that today’s Jobs Summit, where he will talk job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House, will let President Obama defend his administration’s handling of the economy. No major policy announcements are expected.
• Amid soaring budget deficits, President Obama is running into congressional qualms over how to pay for his troop buildup in Afghanistan. The $30 billion cost is causing concern on both sides of the aisle. Still, leaders in Congress predicted yesterday that Obama would prevail in winning funding for the surge.
• The politically potent AARP announced yesterday that they are supporting the Democrats’ $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for landmark health insurance legislation.
• White House party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi last night declined an invitation to testify before Congress about their caper last week at the president’s first state dinner.
Tags: AARP, Afghanistan, Allyson Schwartz, Barack Obama, Health Care Reform, Hilary Rosen, Jobs Summit, Medicare, Spongebob Squarepants, Tom Kenny, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 357 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about Obama’s Afghanistan speech, and about health care reform.
• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays With Hal.”
• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Obama’s Afghanistan speech.
• Declaring “our security is at stake,” President Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan last night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months. The buildup will begin almost immediately and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone
• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asserted yesterday during a rancorous floor debate that President Obama’s health care reform will shorten the lives of seniors by cutting Medicare. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) decried such comments as scare tactics designed to kill legislation that he said would improve some benefits for seniors. At times, the debate recalled the raw charges and countercharges of the summer’s town hall meetings.
• Copies of e-mails between the White House party crashers and a Pentagon official undermine their claims that they were invited to President Obama’s first state dinner.
Tags: Afghanistan, Hal Sparks, Health Care Reform, Jan Schakowsky, John Yarmuth, Karl Frisch, Max Baucus, Media Matters for America, Pentagon, Tom Coburn, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 261 Comments »
LiveBlog for Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
• Richard Wolffe, Daily Beast columnist and author of “Renegade: The Making Of A President,” calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about the latest out of the White House, including Afghanistan and the White House Party Crashers.
• Charlie Pierce, Boston Globe sports columnist and author of “Idiot America,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day, including the Tiger Woods situation.
• Craig Crawford, co-author of “Listen Up, Mr. President,” calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about his new book, which he co-wrote with Helen Thomas.
• President Obama tonight will spell out a costly Afghanistan war expansion to a skeptical public, coupling an infusion of as many as 35,000 more troops with a vow that there will be no endless U.S. commitment. His first orders have already been made: at least one group of Marines who will be in place by Christmas.
• Riven by partisanship, the Senate plunged into a debate yesterday over sweeping health care reform legislation that President Obama and congressional Dems have vowed to approve and GOP-ers have sworn to block. Debate is expected to last for weeks.
• Retail web sites kept amping up the deals yesterday the first day after Thanksgiving weekend’s strong online sales, to try to maintain the momentum. Sales for the day that the industry knows as “Cyber Monday” were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Charlie Pierce, Craig Crawford, Cyber Monday, Health Care Reform, Helen Thomas, Richard Wolffe, Tiger Woods
Posted in liveblog | 407 Comments »
LiveBlog for Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 30th, 2009
• John Fugelsang joins Steph in the New York Bureau for all three hours of the show today!
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the news over the Thanksgiving weekend.
• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• The Senate is set to begin debate today on health care reform. Some Dem senators say they’ll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they’ll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed overboard. Such concessions would enrage Liberals, the heart and soul of the party.
• Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich), the leading Senate Dem on military matters, said yesterday that President Obama’s anticipated plan for expanding troop levels in Afghanistan must show how those reinforcements will help increase the size of the Afghan security forces.
• White House officials fended off new questions about how a fame-seeking couple finessed their way into the president’s State Dinner last week while the aspiring reality-TV stars themselves began trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Carl Levin, Eric Boehlert, Health Care Reform, John Fugelsang, Lee Papa, Media Matters for America, Rude Pundit, White House Crashers
Posted in liveblog | 493 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• Ellis Henican, columnist for “Newsday,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day, and preview his show on Friday when he fills in for Steph and the Mooks.
• Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays With Hal.”
• Alysa Binder, Executive Vice President and co-founder of Pet Airways, calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about the service her company provides.
• War-weary Americans will support more fighting in Afghanistan once they understand the perils of losing, President Obama declared yesterday, announcing he was ready to spell out war plans virtually sure to include tens of thousands more U.S. troops. Obama will make his case to the nation in a speech Tuesday night.
• Traditional evening gowns and vibrantly colored saris mixed with banded-collar dinner jackets and tuxedos at President Obama’s first State Dinner last night. There were also turbans and bindies and diamonds, as several hundred guests put on the glitz and joined a White House celebration in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
• With economic pressures still hitting household budgets hard, many Americans are foregoing air travel for Thanksgiving and opting for cheaper alternatives like staying home or driving.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Ellis Henican, Hal Sparks, India, Karl Frisch, Manmohan Singh, Media Matters for America, Pet Airways, State Dinner, Thanksgiving
Posted in liveblog | 641 Comments »
LiveBlog for Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
• David Shuster, dayside anchor for MSNBC, calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.
• Charlie Pierce, author of “Idiot America,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.
• The White House is bracing for a tough sell of President Obama’s long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan, even as the president met Monday with top advisers for possibly the last major deliberations before an announcement.
• In a Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon, President Obama acknowledged fledgling economic growth had not yet improved things on the jobs front and previewed a summit next week aimed at helping find ways to spur job creation.
• Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said yesterday that the Dems are determined to push through a health care overhaul bill, President Obama’s top domestic issue, with or without support from opposition GOP-ers.
• A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Charles Schumer, Charlie Pierce, David Shuster, Health Care Reform, Jobs, Patrick Kennedy
Posted in liveblog | 407 Comments »
LiveBlog for Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about Sarah Palin’s book tour, and other news of the day.
• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• Dr. Eric Chivian, founder and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard, calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the Climate Change Bill.
• Health care reform backers won a key victory Saturday night as the Senate voted to move ahead with a floor debate on a sweeping $848 billion bill. The 60-39 vote to prevent a GOP filibuster against the start of debate on Sen. Reid’s legislation broke down along party lines.
• Four U.S. service members were killed in the past 24 hours in Afghanistan, NATO forces said today. Three of the Americans died in southern Afghanistan yesterday. Two of them were killed by a bomb attack and the third in a separate firefight.
• Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Ft. Hood, is paralyzed from the chest down and doctors believe it will be permanent, his lawyer said yesterday.
• In this business week, which will be abbreviated due to Thanksgiving, investors will look to reports on home sales, unemployment and consumer confidence, and the start of the holiday shopping season on Friday for more insight into the direction of the economy.
Tags: Afghanistan, Climate Change, Economy, Eric Boehlert, Eric Chivian, Ft. Hood, Harry Reid, Lee Papa, Media Matters for America, Nidal Hasan, Rude Pundit
Posted in liveblog | 412 Comments »
LiveBlog for Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 16th, 2009
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about moving Gitmo detainees to New York, and the media’s shoddy treatment of women.
• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.
• Joe Decker, founder of GodHatesShrimp.com, calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about how ridiculous religious arguments against homosexuality are.
• Politely but firmly pressing for greater freedoms on China’s own turf, President Obama spoke in Shanghai this morning against censorship, saying tough criticisms of political leaders should be allowed and the free flow of information on the internet “should be encouraged.”
• While President Obama’s decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications that are adding pressure to limit the commitment. Governmental estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 troops at $40 billion to $54 billion a year.
• Today’s Commerce Department report on October retail sales is likely to set the tone for the rest of the week on Wall Street. Economists polled by Reuters predict retail sales rose 0.8 percent in October after at 1.5 percent drop in September. Stronger consumer spending is needed for any rebound, and disappointment is likely to send stocks falling today.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Eric Boehlert, God Hates Shrimp, Joe Decker, Lee Papa, Media Matters for America, Retail Sales, Rude Pundit
Posted in liveblog | 231 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.
• Mikey Weinstein, President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to discuss the Ft. Hood shootings.
• Feminist and SuperLawyer Gloria Allred calls in at 7:30am Pacific to tell us why she thinks that Carrie Prejean has done something illegal.
• Paul Fitzgerald joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about his new movie, “Forgiven.”
• Kelly Carlin-McCall calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about her father, George Carlin’s, posthumous book, “Last Words: A Memoir.”
• Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on upper-income earners to help finance health care reform legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, Dem officials said yesterday.
• President Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government.
• Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said last night that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Chris Van Hollen, Gloria Allred, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, Kelly Carlin-McCall, Lou Dobbs, Mikey Weinstein, Paul Fitzgerald
Posted in liveblog | 331 Comments »
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