Companies look to Obama for signs on healthcare bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drugmakers, insurers and other healthcare-related companies will listen to President Barack Obama's annual speech to Congress for signs of life in his Obama's State of the Union speech on Wednesday night (9 p.m. EST/0200 GMT) is expected to largely focus on jobs and the economy as his Democratic party regroups after losing a crucial Senate seat.

Industry experts and company executives hope Obama's speech will offer hints as to whether he wants Democrats in Congress to press ahead, back off or try to work with Republicans on health care reform.

Democratic leaders have pledged to move forward with that reform, but it is unclear how they will do that.

Shares of healthcare companies have fluctuated since Republican Scott Brown won an election last week to replace the late Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.

Brown's election casts a shadow on the fate of healthcare reform legislation, which Kennedy supported.

Before that election, House and Senate Democrats had planned to merge the chambers' bills into one version that could be passed and sent to Obama.

Both the House and Senate bills would impose tough rules on insurers while creating 30 million potential customers with insurance to pay for medicine, doctor visits and other care.

"It's the uncertainty," said Capital Alpha Partners healthcare analyst Kim Monk.

She said investors are uneasy taking positions in healthcare stocks until they know if Democrats will press ahead or pull the plug on reform.

Monk and other analysts said that without clarity from Obama, shares of companies in the sector would likely decline on Thursday.

Shares of insurers such as Aetna and UnitedHealth were mixed during the day as investors digested better-than-expected quarterly earnings for WellPoint.

Healthcare reform aside, companies face potential payment reductions from the government's massive Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs, especially as greater emphasis is placed on the economy and national deficit.

"Maybe healthcare falters, but ... there's still a regulatory cycle going on. CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) still has a lot of leeway," Concept Capital's Washington Research Group healthcare analyst John Shepard said.

Consumer advocacy groups, unions and other supporters of health care reform are pressuring lawmakers to keep the legislation alive despite the Republican victory that took away Democrats' 60-vote supermajority in the Senate.

Analysts have said that hospital owners like Tenet Healthcare and drugmakers like Pfizer and Merck & Co stand to gain the most from millions more insured patients and have the most to lose if health care reform dies.

Representatives for various groups, including American Hospital Association and America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), declined to say specifically what they expected from Obama's speech or where reform efforts might be headed.

AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach said his group had not endorsed one approach over another. "We're waiting to see what policymakers ultimately decide," he said.

Source:reuters.com/

2009 Newsmakers: Obama tops list for religious writers

Left, U.S. President Barack Obama. Right, a deadly army base shooting at Fort Hood, Texas by Nidal Hasan brought the role of religion and terrorism back into the headlines.

ROGER L. WOLLENBERG/GETTY IMAGES FILE PHOTO (left), HANDOUT/AP FILE PH



For the second year in a row, U.S. President Barack Obama has topped the list of major religion stories for 2009, according to a poll of North American religion writers.

And, like last year, it was an Obama initiative that took No. 2 spot, as well.

In fact, four of the top 10 stories involve Obama, according to a poll of 100 members of the Religion Newswriters Association, almost all of who work for American newspapers or radio and television stations.

Issues of same-sex marriage and gay clergy took three spots in the top 10.

Topping the list was a speech given in Cairo by Obama last June in which he reached out to the Muslim world and set his administration apart from that of his predecessor. Invoking the Qur'an, Talmud and the Bible, Obama declared that America was not at war with Islam.

"The holy Qur'an teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as – it is as if he has killed all mankind. And the holy Qur'an also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind," Obama, the son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, said in the speech.

Next on the list was Obama's troubled healthcare initiative, which – like many political issues in the U.S. – has drawn religious groups into the debate.

While many faith-based groups have backed healthcare reform in the United states to help "the least of these," others, including Roman Catholic bishops, have called for restrictions on abortion funding. More than 40 million Americans have no healthcare coverage.

A deadly army base shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 dead in November came in third. Because the accused shooter, Nidal Hasan, was considered a devout Muslim, the shooting spree brought the role of religion and terrorism back into the headlines.

Violence and religion also took the fourth spot, with the June shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller at his Wichita church, where he served as an usher. Accused killer Scott Roeder reportedly turned to radical religious groups after his marriage ended. Several anti-abortion groups condemned the attack.

Gay marriage entered the list, in fifth spot, with Mormons in California coming under attack for their support the previous year for a voter resolution banning same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, voters in Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire voted to allow it, while those in Maine voted against it. The vote by California voters against gay marriage took the fourth spot on the 2008 list.

Obama returned to the top 10 by accepting an honorary degree from the Catholic Notre Dame University, where he also gave the commencement speech. The event sparked debates at the school and in Catholic circles over his views on abortion.

A vote by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to ordain gay and lesbian clergy in committed monogamous relationships took seventh spot. Mirroring ongoing splits in the Anglican church, the move led to a number of conservative parishes to look into forming a new denomination.

The recession's impact on church earnings took eighth place as cutbacks hit a great variety of faith-based groups, including houses of worship, relief agencies, colleges and seminaries and publishing houses.

A vote by the Episcopal Church, as Anglicanism is known in the United States, to end a moratorium on installing gay bishops took ninth place on the list. Soon after, the diocese of Los Angeles chose a lesbian, Mary Glasspool, as assistant bishop.

The inauguration of Obama last January took the 10th spot, thanks to his choice of evangelist and mega-church leader Rick Warren to give the invocation, and gay Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson to give a pre-ceremony prayer.

Warren was also chosen Religion Newsmaker of the Year, beating out Pope Benedict XVI and Robert Duncan, head of the theologically conservative Anglican Church in North America.

Source:thestar.com/

Barack Obama calls shots on Predator Drone strikes in Afghanistan(VIDEO EXCLUSIVE)

They are part of the governments secret covert operations in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Predator Drones that are unmanned are taking out a lot of targets and Barack Obama has authorized more strikes than George Bush. There based on some of the most sophisticated technology in the world and James Bond would be lucky to acquire one. Loaded with aptly named "Hell Fire" missiles, most of the al-Qaeda and Taliban targets don't know what hit them. Here's the interesting part, the remote pilots that control these robotic planes equipped with infra red sensors and laser guided missiles are right here in America. As you'll see in the video when the laser guided "hell fire" missiles hit their target the results are stunning. All you have left is scorched earth, rubble, and bodies flying everywhere.

That's right, they control the plane in Afghanistan from a control ground system thousands of miles away in the U.S. Some are based in Las Vegas. others are in Washington, on easy days they kill 5 al-Qaeda members and are home before dinner gets cold. Using joysticks that resemble video-game controls, the operators sit next to intelligence officers and watch, on large monitors, a live video from the drone’s camera. Some CIA agents have trigger authority.



General Atomics Aeronautical Systems manufactures the "drones" and the United states plans to buy hundreds more, including the latest “nano” drones, which can fly after their targets like a killer bee through an open window. It's not too safe to be an al-Qaeda member right now, expect the number of predator drone attacks to increase in the next few months. They save soldiers lives and the public and Congress agrees for the most part. These counter terrorism robots are life savers.

The Predator program is described by many in the intelligence world as America’s single most effective weapon against Al Qaeda

Source:examiner.com/

Obama backs Egypt plan for Mideast peace

Barack Obama's administration supports Egypt's vision for a Middle East peace plan that would include a complete halt of construction in West Bank settlements as well as the release of senior Palestinian officials from Israeli prisons, the Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera reported on Sunday.

The U.S. administration is making efforts to convince Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to the resumption of peace talks through a series of goodwill gestures on the part of Israel - including the release of prisoners and the transfer of territory under Israel's security control (Area B) to Palestinian security control (Area A).

These proposals, however, have still not been agreed to by Israel, while the PA remains adamant in its demand that no further Israeli construction take place in East Jerusalem.

Abbas arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials, including President Hosni Mubarak. Should he accept Egypt's proposal, Israel and the U.S. would be invited to partake in a trilateral summit on the matter.

The Palestinian Authority on Friday said it has not received an official request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a proposed meeting with Abbas that would restart peace negotiations, Ma'an news agency reported.

"We didn't receive anything about such a thing," Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeina, told the Palestinian news agency on Friday evening. "So far what we heard was from the media."


Netanyahu briefed his inner cabinet on Friday on the conversation he had held last week with Mubarak regarding Israel's efforts to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

However, senior Palestinian sources said last week that Abbas was likely to turn down the offer in line with his precondition that negotiations would resume only if Israel extended its settlement construction freeze to East Jerusalem.

The same sources said Abbas may also add to his preconditions that the talks between the two sides be resumed from the point at which they stopped during former prime minister Ehud Olmert's tenure.

As such, the sources said it is highly unlikely that Netanyahu will be willing to meet Abbas' conditions, and therefore expressed pessimism at the likelihood that the two sides would resume talks in the near future.

Following the meeting between Mubarak and Abbas, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman will depart for Washington for talks on possibly renewing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Palestinian sources said that the basis of Egypt's proposals for resuming talks between the two sides is the demand for a freeze in construction in East Jerusalem as well. At the conclusion of talks with Egyptian officials in the American capital, Special Middle East Envoy George Mitchell is due to arrive in the region.

Source:haaretz.com/

Video: Senator McCaskill calls out Senator Demint for holding up TSA chief nominee

Following the attempted terrorist attack about flight 253 Republicans were quick to criticize the Obama administration over the incident. Democrats fired back saying that Republicans were actually not helping matters by blocking the confirmation of Erroll Southers, President Obama's nominee for head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). After since Umar Farouk Abdul Muttalab came in through the not so friendly skies it would seem helpful to have someone in charge at the TSA.

Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) has led the change in blocking Southers. He has attempted to justify his stance by arguing Southers would allow TSA employees to unionize. The theory is that TSA employees would unionize if allowed to do so, that the union would for some reason bargain away security measures , and that these union TSA employees would somehow endanger security.

Today Senator McCaskill was the first to really call out Demint on his claims. Demint provides any evidence to support his claims. Democrats have argued that Demint has the burden of proof since his actions are currently leaving an important national security agency without a leader. Watch the video below.



Source:examiner.com/

News Corp, Time Warner Play to DC Not The Viewers

Was there ever any doubt that News Corp. and Time Warner would come to an agreement that would allow Time Warner’s cable unit to continue showing News Corp’s cable or broadcast properties on its system? The announcement on Jan. 1 that the two sides had averted a showdown that would have kept the BCS football game on the sidelines for 11 million folks is, well, a yawner.

It’s become almost an annual kabuki dance among cable or satellite operators and content providers to show which side – content or distribution – has the most muscle when it comes to such talks. Guess what fellas? Neither of you really have what it takes any longer to force your will on the other.

The last time we had a showdown anywhere near this size was back in 2000, when Time Warner, in the midst of a similar showdown with ABC, allowed Regis Philbin and his then-hit show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to go dark for some 3.5 million homes. The cries from Washington were deafening. Hearings were held, fingers slapped.

So when the chorus started again in Washington on Dec. 30 on the current impasse you knew that Fox and Time Warner were destined to do whatever they could to avoid having DC on their backs. First, Sen. John Kerry urged the sides toward arbitration, and then FCC commissioners started encouraging peace. If there is anything that a media company wants less than a shutdown in the ad markets, it’s to have the feds on their backs. So Time Warner and News Corp. wisely extended the Dec. 30 deadline, then scurried to cut a deal that you know is less than the monthly $1 per subscriber fee that News Corp. had all but insisted was their right to get from cable operators.

One thing News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, who owns TV stations, newspapers and internet sites, understands is that he sure as heck doesn’t want an angry FCC looking over his shoulder. In the past, he’s done back flips to keep them happy, whether it was striking a deal that allowed him to own the New York Post and New York area TV stations, or to get his deal to buy DirecTV passed a few years back. As for Time Warner, do you think they want the feds thinking bad thoughts about them when the FCC is still contemplating rules on such things as “net neutrality” – that is, whether Time Warner’s online offerings are to be regulated? Uh, no.

Sure, it was good theater. News Corp. told America that it might not get the NFL, American Idol or Glee. Time Warner said it was fighting to keep consumer prices from zooming if Fox high jacked higher fees from them. Yeah, yeah. A good show boys. It sure played in Washington.


Source:businessweek.com/

ANALYSIS - Counterterrorism competes with jobs in Obama agenda

KAILUA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Job creation will take a backseat to counterterrorism on President Barack Obama's agenda next week after an al Qaeda-linked man's failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane forced the White House to shift its focus.

Obama returns to Washington from a roughly 11-day Hawaiian vacation faced with a public concerned about new threats, an opposition party ready to jump on a perceived political vulnerability, and a high U.S. unemployment rate that was supposed to be his top priority for months to come.

A lot can change in 11 days.

In the advent of the failed attack, national security issues and their domestic political ramifications will take up more of Obama's time as he kicks off the second year of his presidency and tries to wrap up healthcare reform and pursue other domestic priorities.

That shift has already begun. Obama is waiting for final results from reviews he ordered into how 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was allowed to get on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit allegedly with explosives in his underclothes.

On Tuesday he will meet with top intelligence officials at the White House -- a sign that his schedule is reflecting his new priorities.

The White House had planned a major push on job creation this year, ahead of mid-term elections in November, when Republicans are likely to lambast Obama's Democrats for not doing more to reduce double-digit unemployment.

But the botched plane attack -- and the sense that the Obama team was not ready for it -- has given Republicans new ammunition and jolted the White House to hone its message.

Source:reuters.com/

Oh, Brother

Philadelphia — Marcus and Markieff Morris completed a brief on-court interview with ESPN2’s Len Elmore Saturday night in Liacouras Center, then raced over to their own 50-person cheering section behind the Kansas University basketball bench.

The KU sophomores — who combined for 18 points and seven rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 84-52 rout of Temple — planted kisses on their mom, Thomasine, who lives in Lawrence, and bear-hugs on grandmother Shirley, granddad Thomas and brother, Blake, who all reside in Philly, before finally heading through the tunnel to the showers.

All that was missing was the soundtrack from “Rocky” to make more perfect the Morris twins’ triumphant return to the place they were born and reared.

“You can’t ask for a better homecoming than that,” Markieff Morris said after the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks slaughtered a No. 18-ranked Temple team that had allowed an average of 54.2 points a game. “We played really good defense, even better than we played on offense.”

The Jayhawks performed so well on both ends that they ended this one early. KU used a 21-6 run to turn a narrow 19-17 lead into a 40-23 halftime advantage.

“They came to beat up Temple, I hate to say,” grandmom Shirley Morris said with a smile. “They wanted to play well with their family here. All this is our family. Everybody here is from (Washington) D.C. and Philly,” she added, asking all the Morrises to wave to a Journal-World reporter.

“I’m ecstatic for them. They are my cornbread babies,” Shirley added of her grandsons.

The twins returned to the court 15 minutes later to visit with all of their relatives and those of New Jersey native Tyshawn Taylor (eight points, two assists) and Washington, D.C., product Thomas Robinson (two points, three boards).

Markieff Morris held teammate Robinson’s 6-year-old sister, Jayla Paris, high in the air, while preparing to chat with reporters.

“It was great to come home and get a victory,” Marcus Morris said after scoring 13 points off 6-of-12 shooting. “I wouldn’t say I was nervous. It was exciting. I missed a couple bunnies in the beginning, but then I got going.”

It was easy for the Jayhawks to become motivated for this one. Temple’s fans, who chanted “We Want Kansas” after a recent victory over No. 3-ranked Villanova, taunted KU’s players with chants of “overrated” during warmups.

“It is what it is,” Markieff said of the chants. “I know they heard our fans chant, ‘You got what you asked for.’’’

More than 2,000 of the 10,206 fans were cheering for the Jayhawks and rocked the arena with the Rock Chalk chant the final 2 1/2 minutes.

“I was a little surprised how many (KU) people were there. The great thing is we have Jayhawk fans all over the country,” Cole Aldrich said after scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks. “We played far west at UCLA and had great fan support. Now we’re in Philly and have another great fan base. It’s fun to have Crimson and Blue in the crowd when we are on the road.”

Morris family members, of course, helped hike the crowd total in KU’s favor.

“They got all the tickets,” senior Sherron Collins said with a laugh after scoring 14 points with four assists and three steals. He set the tone early with a steal and layup and also scored KU’s first seven points.

Coach Bill Self noticed that at least one of the twins didn’t fare so well early.

“Marcus missed two bunnies to start the game. You could tell he and Kieff were tight,” Self said. “I was especially happy for those two to come home and leave here with a win.”

It was a historic win of sorts: the biggest margin of victory by a KU team in a road game in the seven-year Self era.

That made for one happy twin homecoming.

“To finally get to play at home ... that felt good, and it felt good to be in this building,” said Markieff, who noted he had the best game of his life in the same building in a city championship game at Philly’s Prep Charter High, when he collected 23 points and 21 boards.

Marcus provided the highlight-reel play between the twins, cupping the basketball for a vicious one-handed jam in the second half, following his steal.

“I do it ’cause my hand is small. I can’t palm the ball,” said Marcus, who always seems to come up with something new to tell the media in postgame chats. “It’s like my trademark (to cup the ball).”

Of getting the last laugh on Temple’s fans, Marcus said: “I didn’t hear the ‘overrated’ chant. I think Temple has great fans. I don’t think you can call us overrated after that. I think we were the better team, the more aggressive team.”

KU sure seemed to play like the No. 1 team in the land.

“They are playing great. They are No. 1 and are going to stay No. 1. That’s how it should be,” the twins’ older brother, Blake, said proudly.

Of his brothers, Blake Morris said, “They’ve improved. It’s how it should be their sophomore year. You break out.”

“They are at least 50 percent better than last year,” grandpa Thomas Morris added. “I’ve noticed a big improvement this year.”

As far as all the chit-chatting, Saturday’s Morris family reunion had to end sometime.

“Goodbye, KU,” one of the Morrises said, waving as the Jayhawks were finally herded out to the team bus.

“I’m staying,” Thomas Robinson told staff members Kurtis Townsend and Brett Ballard, looking lovingly at his mom and sister.

“Tell coach I’m going back to D.C.” he added with a big smile on his face.

For the record, he departed with the rest of his teammates and will be ready for the next test: Wednesday’s 7 p.m. home battle against Cornell.

Source:kusports.com/

Obama Calls For Bipartisan Approach To Fighting Terrorism

Melvin Baker - AHN Reporter
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - President Barack Obama on Saturday pushed for a bipartisan approach to fighting terrorism.


In his weekly radio address, the president noted the attempted bombing of an American passenger jet on Christmas Day and a suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed seven employees of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Reflecting on his inauguration nearly one year ago, Obama repeated his pledge on that day to "do whatever it takes to defeat [terrorists] and defend our country, even as we uphold the values that have always distinguished American among nations."

In attacking terrorism, he said the United States had forged new partnerships. "[W]e've disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al Qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the United States, and saved countless American lives."

He promised changes would be made to prevent attacks such as those in Detroit and Afghanistan during the past week, but said the country should avoid divisiveness over what those changes should be.

"But as we go forward," the president said, "let us remember this-our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans, not each other. Let's never forget what has always carried us through times of trial, including those attacks eight Septembers ago.

"Instead of giving in to fear and cynicism, let's renew that timeless American spirit of resolve and confidence and optimism. Instead of succumbing to partisanship and division, let's summon the unity that this moment demands. Let's work together, with a seriousness of purpose, to do what must be done to keep our country safe."

Source:allheadlinenews.com/

Media painting Obama healthcare plan bleak?

The traditional US media has been painting a picture of President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan as a lot worse than it is and may be ignoring the positive things about the reform, according to author Michael Lux.Political battles over Barack Obama’s healthcare reform are now gaining momentum in the United States.