Obama’s parting message: ‘We’re going to be OK’

WASHINGTON — “We’re going to be OK.”

In the final minutes of his final presidential news conference, Barack Obama insisted he’s not just tossing out reassuring platitudes about the nation’s future.

It’s what he really believes.

“This is not just a matter of no-drama Obama,” he said. “It is true that behind closed doors I curse more than I do publicly. And sometimes I get mad and frustrated like everybody else does. But at my core, I think we’re going to be OK.”

It is what he chose as the parting message for what is most likely his last extended remarks as president.

Processing the November election results in an intensely personal frame, Obama spoke at length about how his daughters, Sasha and Malia, felt about Donald Trump’s election.

“They don’t mope,” he said – a noteworthy comment to come from any parent of teenage girls.

He said they were disappointed, but also resilient.

“We’ve tried to teach them hope,” Obama said. “The only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world.”

This, then, is not the end of the world.

“You get knocked down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you get back to work,” he said. “That tended to be their attitude.”

That said, the outgoing president allowed, neither of his daughters is interested in going into politics.

In that, he added with a grin, “I think their mother’s influence shows.”

He cast his daughters as emblematic of the rising generation, and of the promise of America’s future.

Yes, democracy is messy, he said, but there are more good people than bad and things will turn out just fine.

“We just have to fight for it. We have to work for it and we have to not take it for granted.”

Obama out. –Nancy Benac

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Obama voices anger over Oregon shooting, urges gun control

WASHINGTON, United States—US President Barack Obama on Thursday voiced his anger and sadness after the country’s latest deadly shooting, this time at an Oregon community college, and made another impassioned plea for gun control legislation.

“Somehow this has become routine,” Obama said at the White House in reaction to the shooting by a 20-year-old gunman at Umpqua Community College in rural Roseburg, which left up to 10 dead.

“We can actually do something about it, but we’re going to have to change our laws,” Obama said. “It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

US proposes new rules regulating drone use

Washington–US aviation regulators unveiled sweeping new guidelines Sunday governing the use of small unmanned drones, proposing that the devices can only fly in daylight, must remain within users’ sightlines and cannot fly near manned aircraft.

The guidelines from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also recommend that drone operators obtain a special certificate to be renewed every two years and limits the speed of the drone to 100 miles (161 kilometers per hour). Users would have to be 17 years or older.

The devices would also be required to fly below 500 feet (150 meters) in altitude and would not be permitted near airports or other airspace without special permission.

The new guidelines would apply to drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, that are under 55 pounds (25 kilograms.)

The recreational use of drones has soared in popularity recently, but their use in the United States has remained largely unregulated.

President Barack Obama has called for more stringent rules on drone use after a “quadcopter” device crashed on White House grounds last month, prompting a security alert.

The FAA said the new rules sought to balance innovation with safety, and the agency’s administrator Michael Huerta called the proposed guidelines a milestone.

“We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” he said.

“We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

The public now has 60 days to make comments on the rules, which the FAA said it will consider before drafting a final proposal.

Privacy concerns 

Also Sunday, the White House released a drones directive that sought to protect the privacy of citizens, prohibiting the illegal collection and dissemination of data by the devices.

A central pillar of the presidential memorandum is to ensure “the responsible use of this technology, strengthening privacy safeguards and ensuring full protection of civil liberties,” according to a White House statement.

Sharing or collecting information that would “discriminate against persons based upon their ethnicity, race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, in violation of law” would also be prohibited.

The White House said any new laws around drone use should ensure “protections and policies keep pace with developments.”

The US Center for Democracy and Technology welcomed the White House move, but warned drones “pose new and intrusive privacy problems” and urged lawmakers to do more to protect civil liberties.

“Congress still has a role to play in setting strong privacy and transparency standards for drone use,” the agency’s senior counsel Harley Geiger said.

Commercial use

The latest proposal from the FAA does not include the use of drones by delivery companies, such as Amazon, which has said it wants to use drones to deliver goods to customers.

Huerta said the agency was conducting separate research regarding drone use for those purposes.

“We have ongoing activities to address the questions of beyond visual line-of-site and we do want to receive comments from people with respect to how we should structure this going forward,” he said in a conference call Sunday.

“We also don’t consider and don’t contemplate in this a rule carrying packages outside of the aircraft itself,” he said, regarding using drones for delivery purposes.

The FAA said unmanned aircraft could be used for a variety of activities, including inspecting utility towers, antennas, bridges, power lines and pipelines; conducting academic research; supporting wildlife conservation; monitoring crops; and in search and rescue operations.

Several media organizations have also expressed interest in using drones to film and photograph aerial images.

Huerta said while drone use in these areas was valuable, the devices could also pose security risks if unregulated.

“We envision that this aircraft could be used for a wide variety of activities particularly those that might be considered dangerous,” Huerta said.

The FAA has been testing drone use at six sites across the country since late 2013.

Various US federal agencies regularly use drones, including to monitor wildfires, conduct scientific research, monitor borders and in military training.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Obama offers condolences to Abe over slain hostage

NEW DELHI — President Barack Obama has offered condolences to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the murder of a Japanese national by the Islamic State group.

The White House says Obama telephoned Abe from India. Obama arrived there Sunday morning for a three-day visit.

In an earlier statement, Obama condemned the “brutal murder” of Japanese citizen Haruna Yukawa. Obama’s statement didn’t say how the U.S. knew Yukawa was dead. The Japanese government is reviewing an online video that purports to show his death.

Obama says in the statement that the United States will stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Japan. The White House says he also conveyed that message to Abe during their conversation.

Obama also called for the immediate release of a second Japanese hostage being held by the militants.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

US stocks reach new records; Obama hits broadband firms

NEW YORK–US stock markets soared to fresh records Monday but Internet broadband carriers were hit hard by President Barack Obama’s call for tough net neutrality rules.

For the fourth straight session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its all-time closing record, gaining 39.81 points (0.23 percent) at 17,613.74.

The S&P 500 added 6.34 (0.31 percent) at 2,038.26, its fourth record close in a row, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 19.08 (0.41 percent) to 4,651.62.

Obama’s statement against allowing large Internet service providers to discriminate between customers on Internet access and speeds was seen as a blow to an industry expecting to earn more by offering better broadband service and performance to preferred customers.

Comcast fell 4.0 percent, Time Warner Cable lost 4.9 percent, Charter Communications lost 6.2 percent, and Verizon fell 0.3 percent.

Nike led the Dow blue chips with a 1.3 percent gain, while Intel continued its slide with another 1.0 percent loss.

Among tech stocks, Amazon gained 1.8 percent while Chinese rival Alibaba soared 4.0 percent.

Merck shares dropped 0.9 percent after the failure of tests for an accelerated hepatitis C treatment.

Shares of rival pharmaceutical maker Gilead, whose hepatitis C treatment is selling strong despite a $90,000-plus cost, added 0.5 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.36 percent from 2.31 percent Friday, while the 30-year pushed to 3.09 percent from 3.05 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

source: business.inquirer.net

Obama wants more regulation of Internet providers

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday embraced a radical change in how the government treats Internet service, coming down on the side of consumer activists who fear slower download speeds and higher costs but angering U.S. cable giants who say the plan would kill jobs.

Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to more heavily regulate Internet providers and treat broadband much as it would any other public utility. He said the FCC should explicitly prohibit Internet providers like Verizon and AT&T from charging data hogs like Netflix extra to move their content more quickly. The announcement sent cable stocks tumbling.

The FCC, an independent regulatory body led by political appointees, is nearing a decision on whether broadband providers should be allowed to cut deals with the content providers but is stumbling over the legal complexities.

“We are stunned the president would abandon the longstanding, bipartisan policy of lightly regulating the Internet and calling for extreme” regulation, said Michael Powell, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the primary lobbying arm of the cable industry, which supplies much of the nation’s Internet access.

This “tectonic shift in national policy, should it be adopted, would create devastating results,” added Powell, who chaired the FCC during the Bush administration until 2005.

Netflix swung behind Obama, posting to its Facebook page that “consumers should pick winners and losers on the Internet, not broadband gatekeepers.”

“Net neutrality” is the idea that Internet service providers shouldn’t block, slow or manipulate data moving across its networks. As long as content isn’t against the law, such as child pornography or pirated music, a file or video posted on one site will load generally at the same speed as a similarly sized file or video on another site.

In 2010, the FCC embraced the concept in a rule. But last January, a federal appeals court struck down the regulation because the court said the FCC didn’t technically have the legal authority to tell broadband providers how to manage their networks.

Obama said the FCC should explicitly ban any “paid prioritization” on the Internet. The president also suggested that the FCC reclassify consumer broadband as a public utility under the 1934 Communications Act. That would mean the Internet would be regulated more heavily in the way phone service is.

“It is common sense that the same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information — whether a phone call, or a packet of data,” Obama said.

This approach is exactly what industry lobbyists have spent months fighting against. While Internet providers say they support the concept of an open Internet they want flexibility to think up new ways to package and sell Internet services. And, given the billions of dollars spent to improve network infrastructure, some officials say it’s only fair to make data hogs like Netflix bear some of the costs of handling heavy traffic.

AT&T on Monday threatened legal action if the FCC adopted Obama’s plan, while Comcast Corp. said reclassifying broadband regulation would be “a radical reversal that would harm investment and innovation, as today’s immediate stock market reaction demonstrates.” Similar statements were released by Time Warner Cable Inc. and several industry groups including CTIA-The Wireless Association, USTelecom, the Telecommunications Industry Association and Broadband for America.

Many Republicans including House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell swung behind industry in denouncing the plan as government overreach.

The Internet Association, which represents many content providers like Netflix, Twitter, eBay and Google, applauded Obama’s proposal.

On Monday, as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up slightly, big cable companies slid. Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cablevision and Charter Communications dropped 2 percent to 4 percent in the hours immediately after the announcement.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former industry lobbyist and venture capitalist, said he welcomed the president’s comments, but suggested that his proposal was easier said than done.

“The more deeply we examined the issues around the various legal options, the more it has become plain that there is more work to do,” Wheeler said.

The FCC isn’t under a deadline to make a decision.

The president’s statement all but guarantees that the major cable companies will spend the next few months trying to encourage Congress to step in to protect their interests. Still, Internet activists are hoping it will go a long way, even as his popularity among his party has waned.

“When the leader of the free world says the Internet should remain free, that’s a game changer,” said Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Costly, competitive US Senate campaign nears end

WASHINGTON—Republicans strained to capture control of the Senate while Democrats struggled to limit their congressional losses on a final day of campaigning for elections that could change the balance of power midway through an unpopular President Barack Obama’s second term.

Democrats weighed down by Obama’s low approval ratings kept their distance from him and looked to a costly turn-out-the-vote operation in the most competitive Senate races to save their seats and their majority in Tuesday’s election.

The Democrats have worked furiously to reach out to minority and poor voters who tend to sit out elections when the presidency is not at stake.

“Despite all the cynicism America is making progress,” Obama said as he implored Democrats in Connecticut to vote. “Don’t stay home. Don’t let somebody else choose your future for you.”

Unlike the Democrats, Republicans working to fire up their own core voters had a unified message, casting the election as a referendum on Obama.

Republicans need six seats to win control of the Senate, the biggest prize in the election. There was little suspense in the House races, with not even Democrats predicting they would be able to take control away from the Republicans. Instead, the Democrats concentrated on protecting their incumbents and keeping the Republicans from padding their majority too much.

With a handful of close races expected to decide control of the Senate, astronomical spending and cease-less attack ads have dominated campaigning — with a few ideas offered on how best to govern the nation. Serious discussions about deficit spending, climate change, immigration, and other knotty issues rarely emerged.

Partisan fighting and legislative inaction have already characterized Washington in recent years, peaking in 2013 with budget fights that shut down the government and raised the specter of a default on the federal debt.

With a Democrat in the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, a big question is whether the legislative paralysis would deepen or whether political reality will push both sides to compromise at least on modest goals.

Republicans may be emboldened to intensify conflicts with an unpopular president in the last years of his term, but they risk Obama’s veto if they push too hard for lower taxes, fewer regulations and other conservative priorities. Trade agreements that Obama supports, and changes to the immigration system that many Republicans favor, could offer chances for agreements.

Uncertainties in several tight races meant there was a strong possibility that neither party would be able to claim a Senate majority by the morning after Election Day.

Republicans were all but assured of winning Democratic-held seats in West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota, and Democrats held out little hope of a victory in Arkansas.

Polls suggested that races for Democratic-held seats in Iowa, Colorado and Alaska have tilted the Republicans’ way, too — although Democrats said their get-out-the-vote operation made any predictions unreliable.

Democratic incumbents faced competitive races in New Hampshire and in North Carolina where Democrats said they had an edge — and Republicans disagreed.

Strategists in both parties said Louisiana and Georgia were both likely headed for runoffs . The wildest wild card of all was in Kansas, where polls said 78-year-old Republican Sen. Pat Roberts was in a close race with independent Greg Orman.

Obama was back at the White House after making his final campaign appearances over the weekend. He raised tens of millions of dollars over two years for Democratic candidates, but in the races’ final days most members of his party opted not to appear in public with him because of his poor approval ratings.

“There are two people on the ballot tomorrow: me and Scott Brown,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire as she made the rounds of six campaign stops on the race’s final full day.

North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan was one Democrat in a marquee race quietly accepting a bit of last-minute help from the president. She has spent much of the year distancing herself from Obama, but her campaign sponsored a radio ad featuring Obama calling her a tireless leader “who shares our priorities.” It was unclear where Hagan’s campaign was airing the ads, but other candidates have used similar ads to boost turnout among African-American voters still loyal to the president.

Also on the ballot were gubernatorial elections in 36 states.

Among the most closely watched is Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker is in neck-and-neck race with Democratic challenger Mary Burke. Walker, a favorite of conservative Republicans, is often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2016, but his White House chances would almost certainly evaporate if he lost Tuesday.

In another hard-fought race, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott is facing a tough challenge from Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor-turned-Democrat.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Obama condemns beheading of Briton by extremists

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is condemning as a “barbaric murder” the slaying of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State extremists.

Haines was abducted last year in Syria, and extremists released a video on Saturday showing his beheading.

In a statement, Obama says the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Britain in, quote, “grief and resolve.” The president says the U.S. will work with Britain and a broad collation of nations to bring to justice those who committed what he calls an “outrageous act.”

Repeating a message from his Wednesday night address laying out a strategy for attacking the Islamic State group, Obama says the coalition will degrade and destroy the threat the extremists pose to people around the world.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Robin Williams an airman, genie, nanny, but one of a kind—Obama

MANILA, Philippines―President Barack Obama described Robin Williams as “one of a kind” as tributes pour in for the Oscar-winning actor and comic supernova  whose explosions of pop culture riffs and impressions dazzled audiences for decades.

“Robin   Williams   was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind,” Obama said on Twitter after the news broke that Williams was found dead in apparent suicide at his San Francisco Bay area  home Monday (Tuesday in Manila).

Williams  was pronounced dead at his home in California Monday and officials said it appeared to be a suicide. He was 63.

Obama said in a statement issued Monday night that  Williams  “arrived in our lives as an alien — but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit,” referring to  Williams’ late 1970s role in the TV show “Mork and Mindy.” The president was on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The president said the actor was generous with his comic talents for those who needed it, including troops abroad.

The statement said: “The Obama family offers our condolences to  Robin’s  family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to  Robin  Williams.”

In Manila, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said goodbye to Williams.

“Farewell, Patch. Move on to the great big blue,” Valte tweeted.

Patch Adams   is a 1998 semi-biographical   comedy-drama film   starring   Williams.   With Associated Press

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

US added surprisingly strong 204,000 jobs in October

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, an unexpected burst of hiring in a month when the government was partly shut down for 16 days. And far more jobs were added in August and September than previously thought.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent in September. But that was likely because furloughed federal workers were temporarily counted as unemployed.

The surprising job growth shows the economy was stronger in October than many economists expected it would be. Activity at service companies and factories also accelerated last month, an earlier report showed. The figures suggest that many companies shrugged off the shutdown, an encouraging sign for the economy.

Still, President Barack Obama, speaking in the Port of New Orleans, said there was “no question” that last month’s partial government shutdown hurt the U.S. jobs market.

Obama did not specifically say how the job market had been hurt during the shutdown. But he said additional economic data still to be released before the end of the year could show the effects.

The job figures are a major factor for the Federal Reserve in deciding when to reduce its economic stimulus.
The Fed has been buying bonds each month to keep long-term interest rates low to encourage borrowing and spending.

The unexpectedly strong jobs report gave stocks a lift on Friday. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note surged to 2.75 percent from 2.60 percent late Thursday. That suggested that some investors worried that the healthier job growth might soon prompt the Fed to pull back on its bond buying.

Economists disagreed about the impact of the data on the Fed. Some said last month’s strong hiring probably isn’t sufficient for the Fed to scale back its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program when it meets Dec. 17-18.

“The one month of job growth is not enough to allow them to pull the trigger,” says Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at CohnReznick. “It leaves them on hold at least for the next meeting.”

Others said the strong job growth might prod the Fed to slow its stimulus soon.

“In our opinion, the data would justify the Fed reducing the pace of its asset purchases in December,” Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note.

The government’s report showed that employers added an average of 202,000 jobs from August through October, up sharply from an average of 146,000 from May through July. Private businesses added 212,000 jobs in October, the most since February.

Employers added 45,000 more jobs in August and 15,000 more in September than the government had previously estimated.

“While we have to take today’s report with a grain of salt, we are impressed by the strength of the report,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, a brokerage firm. “Given the impact of the shutdown, we have to wait until November’s report to get a fuller picture of what’s happening this fall but we’re happy enough in the meantime.”

One troubling detail in the report: The percentage of Americans working or looking for work fell to a fresh 35-year low. But that figure was likely distorted by the shutdown.

About 800,000 government workers were furloughed for all or part of the shutdown, which lasted from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16. Many were counted as unemployed and were considered on temporary layoff.

But the furloughed workers were still counted as employed by the government’s survey that counts jobs because they were ultimately paid for their time off. Federal government jobs fell only 12,000 last month.

Better-paying industries boosted job gains: Manufacturers added 19,000, the most since February. And construction firms gained 11,000 jobs.

Hiring also jumped in lower-paying fields. Retailers added 44,400 employees. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment firms added 53,000 jobs.

Some earlier reports had hinted that hiring was improving. Retail stores, shipping companies, and other services firms stepped up hiring in October, according to a private survey of service firms.

And the number of people seeking unemployment benefits has fallen back to pre-recession levels after four weeks of declines. Unemployment benefit applications are a proxy for layoffs. The steady decline suggests companies are cutting fewer jobs.

Economic growth accelerated in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of 2.8 percent, the government said Thursday. That’s up from 2.5 percent in the April-June quarter.

But greater restocking by businesses drove much of the increase, a trend that may not be sustainable. Consumers and businesses both cut back on spending over the summer.

source: business.inquirer.net

Washington stalemate sinks US stocks; Nasdaq down 2%

NEW YORK CITY—US stocks sank and short-term bond yields jumped Tuesday as the stalemate in Washington over passing a budget and raising the debt ceiling took a deeper toll on financial markets.

Investors sold off a wide range of high-flying tech stocks especially as President Barack Obama toughened his line on negotiating with Republicans, saying he would not bow to extortion.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 158.75 (1.06 percent) to 14,777.49.



The broad-based S&P 500 sank 20.61 (1.23 percent) to 1,655.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index plummeted 75.54 (2.00 percent) to 3,694.83.

Investors also sold off short-term bonds, sending the yield on the one-month Treasury note to 0.31 percent, its highest level since 2008, up from 0.15 percent Monday.

That reflected growing nervousness about the potential for the government to default on some obligations if the debt ceiling is not hiked by Oct. 17.

“Given that there’s nothing but animosity coming from Washington, people are selling off,” said Michael James of Wedbush Securities.

source: business.inquirer.net

Obama addresses military as gov’t shuts down

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is telling members of the military he’ll work to get Congress to re-open the government as soon as possible.

Obama is addressing troops in a video message after Congress missed a midnight deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.

Obama says troops in uniform will remain on duty as usual. He says he’s signed a law ensuring troops get paid on time. He says ongoing operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere will continue and the U.S. will ensure those in harm’s way have what they need.

But Obama says Defense Department civilians may be furloughed. He says that compounds the damage from spending cuts that have already affected the military.

Hundreds of thousands of government workers will be off the job Monday, but some essential services will continue.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Senator delivers talkathon against Obamacare

WASHINGTON — A conservative senator delivered an old-style speaking marathon over President Barack Obama’s health care law on Tuesday, even though fellow Republicans urged him to back down for fear of a possible government shutdown in a week.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz vowed to speak until he’s “no longer able to stand,” and filled the time in a largely empty chamber, criticizing the law and comparing the fight to the battle against the Nazis. He talked about the Revolutionary War, the Washington ruling class, his Cuban-born father who worked as a cook and even recited Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.”

“I rise today in opposition to Obamacare,” Cruz said at 2:41 p.m. EDT (2:41 a.m. Wednesday in Manila), and he cast the 3-year-old law as a job killer and a “liberal train wreck.” Nine hours later he was showing no signs of letting up.

Egged on by conservative groups, the potential 2016 presidential candidate and favorite of the ultraconservative tea party movement excoriated Republicans and Democrats in his criticism of Obama’s signature domestic achievement and Congress’ unwillingness to gut the law. Cruz supports the House-passed bill that would avert a government shutdown and defund Obamacare, as do many Republicans. The bill would keep the government operating until Dec. 15.

However, they lack the votes to stop Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from moving ahead on the measure, stripping the health care defunding provision and sending the spending bill back to the House. That didn’t stop Cruz’ quixotic filibuster. During his talkathon, eight Republican senators joined Cruz on the Senate floor, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, both of whom have been mentioned as possible presidential candidates. Cruz yielded to them for questions but did not give up his time controlling the debate.

“It is my hope, my fervent hope, that the voices of dissension within the Republican conference will stop firing at each other and start firing” at the target of the health care law, Cruz said, a clear acknowledgment of the opposition he faced.

The issue has roiled the Republican Party, exacerbating the divide between tea party conservatives and Republican incumbents who repeatedly have voted against the health care law but now find themselves on the defensive. Republican senators said defunding Obamacare simply won’t happen with a Democratic president and Democrats controlling the Senate.

Democrats calculate that the public will blame Republicans for any interruption in government services or benefits, as it did in 1995-96 in the last shutdown confrontation that resembles the current one.

Both parties are using the health care reform issue to try to gain an edge in the 2014 elections when control of both houses of Congress will be at stake.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, opposed Cruz’ tactic, and numerous Republicans stood with their leadership rather than Cruz.

Delaying tactics could push a final vote into the weekend, just days before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. That would give Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans little time to come up with a new temporary spending bill needed to avert a partial government shutdown.

McConnell told reporters that if the House doesn’t get a Senate-passed bill until Monday, lawmakers there would be in a tough spot.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said Democrats favor a spending bill that would keep the government running until Nov. 15, which would force Congress to work sooner on a more sweeping piece of legislation — known as an omnibus spending bill — that he hopes would reverse some automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.

Despite Cruz’ effort, Reid set a test vote for Wednesday on a motion to move the measure ahead.

Outside conservative groups that have been targeting Republican incumbents implored their members to call lawmakers and demand that they stand with Cruz and his attack on Obamacare.

“This is the ultimate betrayal,” the Senate Conservatives Fund said of McConnell and Cornyn — two lawmakers up for re-election next year — in an email Tuesday morning.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Oil down as Obama seeks Congress approval on Syria

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell in Asian trade Monday after US President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would seek approval from lawmakers for military action against Syria eased prospects of an imminent strike, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October, was down $1.47 to $106.18 a barrel in mid-morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for October fell $1.15 to $112.86.

US markets will be closed Monday for the Labor Day federal holiday.

“Investors are sitting back for now after President Obama’s decision to take the decision on a Syrian intervention to US lawmakers,” Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, told AFP.

After the announcement on Saturday, Obama launched an intense lobbying effort to sway sceptical lawmakers as they weigh whether to support military action against Syria for its alleged chemical weapon use, an official said Sunday.

Although Syria is not a major oil producer, traders are nervous about a broader conflict in the crude-rich Middle East region, including neighbouring Iraq, which is becoming a major exporter.

Obama’s surprise decision to hand the issue to the Congress effectively pushes military action back until at least September 9, when US lawmakers return from their summer recess.

It remains to be seen if a war-weary Congress will endorse Obama’s push for action.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that Washington has proof the Syrian regime used sarin gas in a deadly August 21 strike on a Damascus suburb.

Hair and blood samples given to the US by emergency workers who rushed to the scene of the attack showed signs of the powerful sarin nerve gas, he said.

Chua said all eyes will be on President Obama at a G20 summit in Russia later this week, where Syria is likely to top the agenda.

“There will be keen attention among investors on discussions about Syria at the G20 summit as well as the outcome of any direct meeting between President Obama and Russian President Putin,” he said.

source: business.inquirer.net

Romney concedes defeat, Obama wins second term

Washington — President Barack Obama rolled to re-election and a second term in the White House on Nov. 6 (Wednesday, Philippine time) with a victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney as the Democrat overcame deep doubts about his handling of the US economy.

Romney, closeted with advisers in Boston, did not immediately concede defeat because of questions about whether Obama had really won the pivotal state of Ohio. But other projected Obama victories in Virginia, Nevada, Iowa and Colorado carried the president past the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

He later went live on national television to congratulate Obama.

Republican Mitt Romney conceded the US presidential election to Obama early on Wednesday morning after a hard-fought campaign.

"This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney told supporters in Boston after calling Obama to congratulate him.

Obama defeated Romney in a number of key swing states, despite the weak economic recovery and stubbornly high unemployment that dogged his campaign.

Television networks called the election late on Tuesday, but the Romney campaign waited more than an hour to agree on the results in Ohio.

"I so wish, I so wish, that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader," Romney said in his concession speech.

This is the second time the former Massachusetts governor has made a run for the presidency. Romney had promised to revive the nation's economy through reforming the tax code, reducing the debt and confronting China on its trade practices.

Obama, America's first black president, won by convincing voters to stick with him as he tries to reignite strong economic growth and recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. An uneven recovery has been showing some signs of strength but the country's 7.9 percent jobless rate remains stubbornly high.

Obama's victory in the hotly contested swing state of Ohio - as projected by TV networks - was a major step in the fight for the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the White House and ended Romney's hopes of pulling off a string of swing-state upsets.

Obama scored narrow wins in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire - all states that Romney had contested - while the only swing state captured by Romney was North Carolina, according to television network projections.

The nationwide popular vote remained extremely close.

There was no immediate word from the Romney camp on the reported results, with some Republicans questioning whether Obama had in fact won Ohio despite the decisions by election experts at all the major TV networks to declare it for the president.

The later additional of Colorado and Virginia to Obama's tally - according to network projections - meant that even if the final result from Ohio is reversed, Romney still could not reach the needed number of electoral votes in America's state-by-state system of choosing a president.

While Obama supporters in Chicago were ecstatic, Romney's Boston event was grim as the news was announced on television screens there. A steady stream of people left the ballroom at the Boston convention center.

At least 120 million American voters had been expected to cast votes in the race between the Democratic incumbent and Romney after a campaign that was focused on how to repair the ailing US economy.

The same problems that dogged Obama in his first term are still there to confront him again.

He faces a difficult task of tackling $1 trillion annual deficits, reducing a $16 trillion national debt, overhauling expensive social programs and dealing with a gridlocked US Congress that kept the same partisan makeup.

The next four years

Obama's victory will set the country's course for the next four years on spending, taxes, healthcare, the role of government and foreign policy challenges such as the rise of China and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Each man offered different policies to cure what ails America's weak economy, with Obama pledging to raise taxes on the wealthy and Romney offering across-the-board tax cuts as a way to ignite strong economic growth.

Whether both Democrats and Republicans will now be able to come together and craft a compromise is an open question as Republican congressional leaders vow to stick to their pledges not to raise taxes on anyone.

Inside Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters, staffers erupted into cheers and high fives as state after state was called for the president.

Romney, who would have become America's first Mormon president, made last-minute visits to Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday to try to drive up turnout in those states, while Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Ohio.

Republicans are likely to face questions about their ability to appeal to non-white voters as Hispanics, a growing minority, voted heavily for the president.

Obama's Democrats held their Senate majority, while Romney's Republicans retained House of Representatives control.

Democrat Claire McCaskill retained her US Senate seat from Missouri, beating Republican congressman Todd Akin, who stirred controversy with his comment in August that women's bodies could ward off pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape."

Democrats gained a Senate seat in Indiana that had been in Republican hands for decades after Republican candidate Richard Mourdock called pregnancy from rape something that God intended. Democratic congressman Joe Donnelly won the race.

In another high-profile Senate race, Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a law professor who headed the watchdog panel that oversaw the government's financial sector bailout, defeated incumbent Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown.

Former Maine Governor Angus King won a three-way contest for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Olympia Snowe. King ran as an independent, but he is expected to caucus with Democrats in what would amount to a Democratic pick-up.

Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson easily beat back a challenge from Republican congressman Connie Mack to win a third term, while Democratic congressman Chris Murphy beat Republican Linda McMahon, a businesswoman who had served as chief executive of a professional wrestling company. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Obama, Romney locked in tight swing state battle

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney were locked in a tight race with three critical battleground states too close to call on Tuesday as US voters decided between two starkly different visions for the country.

In early results, Obama and Romney piled up victories in the states they were expected to win easily. Early vote-counting in the swing state of Florida showed them running neck and neck. Obama led in the critical battleground state of Ohio and Romney held an early lead in a third swing state, Virginia.

Romney needs all three of those states to navigate a narrow path to the presidency, while Obama can afford to lose one or two of them and still win a second four-year term.

At least 120 million people were expected to render their judgment between the Democratic incumbent and Romney after a long, expensive and bitter presidential campaign that magnified the differences between Americans wanting to continue Obama's approach to fixing the ailing economy and those who want to try a new approach.

In a victory that would seem to limit Romney's path to a victory, Obama won Michigan, the Republican's state of birth but where he ran afoul of voters by opposing an auto industry bailout pushed by Obama. Some polls had shown a tight race there.

MSNBC projected Obama won Pennsylvania, and Fox News projected the president won in Wisconsin, the home state of Republican vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan. Romney had hoped to pull off an upset in either Pennsylvania or Wisconsin and had visited each state recently.

Television networks projected Romney the winner, as expected, in Republican states Alabama,Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Indiana. He was declared the winner in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Obama was projected the winner in the Democratic strongholds of Maryland, Vermont, Connecticut,Delaware, Massachusetts and his home state of Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C., New York and New Jersey.

Who Americans choose will set the country's course for the next four years on spending, taxes, healthcare, the role of government and foreign policy challenges such as the rise of China and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Each man offered different policies to cure what ails America's weak economy, with Obama pledging to raise taxes on the wealthy and Romney offering across-the-board tax cuts as a way to ignite strong economic growth.

National opinion polls before the election showed Obama and Romney in a virtual dead heat, although Obama had a slight advantage in several vital swing states—most notably Ohio—that could give him the 270 electoral votes needed to win the state-by-state contest.

According to Reuters-Ipsos Election Day polling, one in three Obama voters said the economy was the most important issue for them, while half of Romney voters agreed. Healthcare was the second most important issue for Obama voters and the budget deficit was second for Romney voters. Unemployment was third for both.

Three-quarters of both Romney and Obama supporters decided to vote for their preferred candidate before the October debates between the candidates, according to the data.

The Romney side was encouraged by what was described as heavy turnout in Republican areas from Florida to Colorado.

Romney made last-minute visits to Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday to try to drive up turnout in those states, while Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Ohio. Obama remained in his hometown of Chicago.

'I'm very proud'

Expressing confidence, Romney told reporters on his plane as he flew back to Boston that he had written only one speech for evening, one celebrating his victory.

"I'm very proud of the campaign that I've run, to tell you the truth," he said. "I'm sure like any campaign, people can talk to mistakes, but that's going to be part of anything that's produced by human beings," he said.

Obama told a Denver television station he had speeches ready for either outcome. "You always have two speeches prepared because you can't take anything for granted," he told FOX31.

The multimillionaire former head of a private equity firm and a former governor of Massachusetts, Romney would be the first Mormon president and one of the wealthiest Americans to assume the nation's highest office.

Obama, the country's first black president, seeks to avoid being relegated to a single term, something that has happened to only one of the previous four occupants of the White House.

Whichever candidate wins, a razor-thin margin might not bode well for the clear mandate needed to help break the partisan gridlock in Washington.

Fueled by record spending on negative ads, the battle between the two men was focused primarily on the lagging economic recovery and persistently high unemployment, but at times it turned personal.

The close race raises the prospect of a disputed outcome similar to the 2000 election, which ended with a US Supreme Court decision favoring George W. Bush over Al Gore after legal challenges to the tight vote in Florida. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns have assembled legal teams to deal with possible voting problems, challenges or recounts.

Complaints and frustration

Although voting appeared to go smoothly in most places, complaints about procedures and possible irregularities surfaced sporadically across the electoral map. But there were no immediate claims of anything widespread or systematic enough to cast doubt on the credibility of the election outcome.

Storm-weary residents across New York and New Jersey encountered long lines as they went to cast their ballots just over a week after the devastating storm Sandy caused havoc in the region. New Jerseygranted a last-minute extension to the deadline for email voting.

The balance of power in the US Congress will also be at stake in races for the Senate and House of Representatives that could affect the outcome of "fiscal-cliff" negotiations on spending cuts and tax increases, which kick in at the end of the year unless a deal is reached.

Obama's Democrats are now expected to narrowly hold their Senate majority, while Romney's Republicans were projected to retain House control.

Former Maine Governor Angus King won a three-way contest for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Olympia Snowe. King ran as an independent, but he is expected to caucus with Democrats in what would amount to a Democratic pick-up.

Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson easily beat back a challenge from Republican congressman Connie Mack to win a third term, while Democratic congressman Chris Murphy beat Republican Linda McMahon, a businesswoman who had served as chief executive of a professional wrestling company. –Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

A look at the 2nd Obama-Romney debate

An aggressive President Barack Obama scrapped with Republican Mitt Romney over terrorism, jobs, immigration and women’s issues in a feisty second presidential debate. A look at what they said:

LIBYA ATTACKS

Obama: “Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I’m the president and I’m always responsible, and that’s why nobody’s more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do … Governor Romney had a very different response. While we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release, trying to make political points, and that’s not how a commander in chief operates.”

Romney: “It was a terrorist attack and it took a long time for that to be told to the American people. Whether there was some misleading, or instead whether we just didn’t know what happened, you have to ask yourself why didn’t we know five days later, when the ambassador to the United Nations went on TV to say that this was a demonstration. How could we have not known? … This was an attack by terrorists. And this calls into question the president’s whole policy in the Middle East.”

ECONOMY

Obama: “When Governor Romney stands here, after a year of campaigning, when during a Republican primary he stood on stage and said ‘I’m going to give tax cuts’—he didn’t say tax-rate cuts, he said ‘tax cuts to everybody,’ including the top 1 percent. You should believe him because that’s been his history. And that’s exactly the kind of top-down economics that is not going to work if we want a strong middle class and an economy that’s striving for everybody.”

Romney: “Why do I want to bring rates down, and at the same time lower exemptions and deductions, particularly for people at the high end? Because if you bring rates down, it makes it easier for small business to keep more of their capital and hire people. And for me, this is about jobs. I want to get America’s economy going again.”

ENERGY
Obama: “There’s no doubt that world demand’s gone up, but our production is going up, and we’re using oil more efficiently. And very little of what Governor Romney just said is true. We’ve opened up public lands. We’re actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration and my—the previous president was an oil man. And natural gas isn’t just appearing magically. We’re encouraging it and working with the industry.”

Romney: “I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. I believe very much in our renewable capabilities. Ethanol, wind, solar will be an important part of our energy mix. But what we don’t need is to have the president keeping us from taking advantage of oil, coal and gas. This has not been Mr. Oil, or Mr. Gas, or Mr. Coal. Talk to the people that are working in those industries.”

IMMIGRATION

Obama: “We all understand what this country has become because talent from all around the world wants to come here. People are willing to take risks. People who want to build on their dreams and make sure their kids have … even bigger dreams than they have. But we’re also a nation of laws. So what I’ve said is we need to fix a broken immigration system and I’ve done everything that I can on my own and sought cooperation from Congress to make sure that we fix the system.”

Romney: “We welcome legal immigrants into this country. I want our legal system to work better. I want it to be streamlined … We’re not going to round up 12 million people, undocumented illegals, and take them out of the nation. Instead let people make their own choice. And if they find that that they can’t get the benefits here that they want and they can’t find the job they want, then they’ll make a decision to go to a place where they have better opportunities.”

THE AUTO INDUSTRY

Obama: “He wanted to take them into bankruptcy without providing them any way to stay open. And we would have lost a million jobs. Don’t take my word for it, take the executives at GM and Chrysler, some of whom are Republicans, may even support Governor Romney. But they’ll tell you his prescription wasn’t going to work.”

Romney: “The president took Detroit bankrupt. You took General Motors bankrupt. You took Chrysler bankrupt. So when you say that I wanted to take the auto industry bankrupt, you actually did.”

CHINA

Obama: “Governor, you’re the last person who’s going to get tough on China. And what we’ve done when it comes to trade is not only sign three trade deals to open up new markets, but we’ve also set up a task force for trade that goes after anybody who is taking advantage of American workers or businesses and not creating a level playing field. We’ve brought twice as many cases against unfair trading practices than the previous administration and we’ve won every single one that’s been decided.”

Romney: “On day one, I will label China a currency manipulator, which will allow me as president to be able to put in place, if necessary, tariffs where I believe that they are taking unfair advantage of our manufacturers … We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China’s been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. No. 2, by stealing our intellectual property—our designs, our patents, our technology. There’s even an Apple store in China that’s a counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

The National and Chris Cornell Open for Obama at Iowa Rally

The National and Chris Cornell kicked off a campaign rally for President Barack Obama on Saturday afternoon outside Des Moines, the Times-Delphic reports. A crowd of 10,000 people had gathered for the free outdoor event at Urbandale's Living History Farms, where the president was due to speak.

In a tweet announcing their appearance earlier in the week, the National declared themselves "Proud to support @BarackObama again in 2012." Now veterans on the Obama campaign trail, the band had played at a Cincinnati rally for the candidate in 2008 as well as at a speech the President gave in Madison, Wisconsin, before the 2010 mid-term election. Their five-song set at the Iowa event ended with "Mr. November," a hit whose title had appeared on a t-shirt that the band sold to benefit the Obama campaign in 2008.

After a few speeches, Chris Cornell took the stage with a set that mixed Audioslave and Temple of the Dog songs with a number of apt covers, including "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding" and "Imagine."

The Des Moines rally was Obama's second appearance in the swing state in one week, followed shortly by a third event in Sioux City later the same evening.

"I think that we have a lot of support from a lot of industries and that includes music," a spokesperson for the campaign told the Times-Delphic. "This event in itself shows how much the President cares about Iowa and the bands are just a part of it."

source: rollingstone.com

Megadeth Singer Obama 'Staged' Aurora Shooting Massacre

Dave Mustaine -- the lead singer of Megadeth -- believes Barack Obama "staged" the massacre in Aurora, CO in a sick, twisted plot to pass a gun ban.

Mustaine made the comments on stage at an August 7 performance in Singapore ... when he told the crowd, "Back in my country, my president ... he's trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these murders, like the 'Fast And Furious' thing down at the border ... Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there ... and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."

He continued, "I don't know where I'm gonna live if America keeps going the way it's going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America."

Obviously, Mustaine is not an Obama fan ... and recently bashed the President during an interview with Alex Jones ... saying, "With all of the proof about his birth certificate being fake. And you see the signs in Kenya that say 'the birthplace of Barack Obama.' Hello?! C'mon, guys. How stupid are we right now?"

article source: TMZ

Obama raises $53 million; Romney says 'pack your bags'

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama basked in a $53 million monthly fundraising bonanza Monday, but Republican Mitt Romney warned him to “start packing” and get ready to leave the White House.

Two new polls meanwhile offered conflicting pictures of the emerging race to November’s general election—with one suggesting Romney had nosed ahead, while another showed Democratic incumbent Obama with a solid lead.

Obama, who is rebuilding his national political machine to battle Romney, the all but certain Republican nominee, attracted 190,000 new donors in March and an average donation of $50 in his $53 million total.

“We are all going to have to dig even deeper, work even harder, move even faster—it’s going to take all of us working together,” said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.

Obama has now raised over $200 million for his reelection bid and for the Democratic National Committee and up until the end of February, he had spent $75 million, much of it on his new grass roots infrastructure.

Romney had raised nearly $75 million by the end of February, but has spent $66 million on his long Republican primary campaign, leaving him at a significant organizational disadvantage as the general election dawns.

The Republican has not yet announced his haul for March, but accelerating the pace of fundraising and building a national organization to rival Obama’s are now priorities for his campaign.

Romney took a new swipe at the president on Monday, as he tries to defy Obama campaign efforts to cast him in a negative light at this early stage of the general election joust.

“Start packing,” Romney said with a chuckle in an interview with ABC News.

“The president—I’m sure—wants another four years. But the first years didn’t go so well,” Romney said, slamming Obama’s record on job creation and the gaping budget deficit and saying he guided America in the wrong direction.

Romney sat side-by-side with his wife, Ann, whom the campaign is increasingly employing to introduce her husband; he is often criticized as purportedly less able to relate to voters, and to a wider American public.

“I believe it’s Mitt’s time. I believe that the country—needs the kind of leadership that he—is going to be able to offer,” mother of five Romney, who lives with multiple sclerosis and survived breast cancer, said.

Ann Romney emerged as a key figure in the campaign last week, after Democratic consultant Hilary Rosen ignited a firestorm by saying on CNN the multi-millionaire candidate’s wife had “never worked a day in her life.”

In a new sign that election season is approaching, the Gallup polling organization on Monday debuted their daily tracking poll of the Obama-Romney matchup—and there was good news for the former Massachusetts governor.

Romney led Obama by 47% to 45% despite trailing the president, who is seeking a second term, in a number of recent surveys.

But a senior Obama administration official dismissed the methodology of the Gallup poll, arguing that the survey frequently showed unrealistic lurches in support that did not reflect genuine voter sentiment.

A CNN survey meanwhile showed Obama up nine points on Romney, 52% to 43% and found that Obama led Romney among women—shaping up as a vital voting bloc in November by 55% to 39%.

The Obama official admitted however that though the White House was confident of victory in November, the race would be close, as America is a politically divided nation.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, Monday launched a new assault on Obama’s economic record, with a new web ad accusing the president of transitioning from “Hope to Hypocrisy.”

“For three years, President Obama has been promising a better economy and said he would be held responsible for the outcome,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said.

“But, when he realized his failed economic policies weren’t working, he decided to blame everyone but himself.”

source: japantoday.com