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Obama’s health care push met with pushback

As President Obama steps up his push for health care reform, there is a growing effort to stop it, and rising doubts about how Obama is handling the issue. The president said from the first day of his administration that health care was a top domestic priority, and some observers say he’s taking a risk in addressing the nation through a primetime news conference Wednesday with little to show after months of wrangling. Obama and top Democrats are seeking an overhaul to ensure that health insurance is available to the 46 million Americans currently without coverage while preventing costs to both the government and individuals from continuing to climb.

California’s Crisis Hits Its Prized Universities

California’s crisis continues while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders inch slowly toward agreement on the deep cuts necessary to close California’s massive $26 billion budget shortfall. Now, even as the state continues to pay its bills with IOUs, the University of California, the nation’s leading public university, is being forced to cut its budget by $813 million — or 20%

Can the U.S. afford health care reform?

Doctor James Braude leads a group medical practice in an elegant Atlanta, Georgia, office decorated with designer furnishings. It doesn’t look like a charity asking for handouts

A Cross-Country Tour to Rewrite the Bible

The bright red words scrolling across the electronic Fox News ticker in New York City high above Mandy Helton Jones demand immediate attention: The Dow is up 102.27 . Barack Obama allegedly lamented some years ago that the Supreme Court hadn’t ventured into wealth redistribution

Cheney getting ‘bum rap’ on CIA program, ex-officials say

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is getting a "bum rap" over reports that he ordered the CIA to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress, two former U.S. intelligence officials told CNN Monday. According to both officials, any intelligence program of “great sensitivity” is first approved by the White House after a series of meetings

Behind Florida’s Property Tax Revolt

People have often said that Florida is the new California, but this week the Sunshine State hopes to really drive the point home — all the way into homeowners’ pockets. On Tuesday the legislature started a special session to reform Florida’s dysfunctional property tax system, aiming to save residents the tens of billions of dollars that Californians reaped a generation ago

Commentary: Is Obama’s honeymoon over?

June has been rough for President Obama.

Commentary: We’ll be hearing from Palin for a long time

"Everything changed on August 29 in politics in Alaska," Sarah Palin told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell this week. The reference was to the day last year when John McCain announced that Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five who became Alaska’s governor only in December 2006, would be his presidential running mate. (CNN) — “Everything changed on August 29 in politics in Alaska,” Sarah Palin told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell this week.

House Dems: Panetta testified CIA has misled Congress repeatedly

CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, according to a letter from seven House Democrats to Panetta made public Wednesday. The letter to Panetta, dated June 26, was published on the Web site of Rep

GOP says White House sends mixed messages on stimulus

Republicans disappointed with the president’s stimulus plan are expected to hit the Obama administration and Democrats hard Wednesday during a House hearing on oversight of the stimulus spending. Republican lawmakers will accuse the administration of misreading the effectiveness of the stimulus and say the administration has “rigged the game” by using what they call the immeasurable metric of “jobs created or saved,” according to a Republican memo obtained by CNN