Obama vows to keep health care promises

President Obama said Monday he stands by his pledge not to raise taxes on families making $250,000 or less and lashed out at “Washington thinking” and negative chatter questioning the fate of his health care plan while he was traveling abroad.

“During the campaign, I promised health care reform that would control costs, expand coverage and ensure choice, and I promised that Americans making $250,000 a year or less would not pay more in taxes. These are promises that we’re keeping as reform moves forward,” Mr. Obama said in the Rose Garden ceremony before naming Alabama family physician Dr. Regina Benjamin as his choice for surgeon general.

The White House had been dodging questions on whether Mr. Obama would be able to keep the $250,000 tax pledge from the campaign trail and still pay for the sweeping, expensive health care plan he’s seeking.

The remarks came as Democratic lawmakers were to reveal a new plan to pay for health care — taxing those earning more than $350,000 per year by an additional 1 percent and imposing a higher rate on people earning $500,000 to $1 million.

Mr. Obama challenged those in Washington he said are “scared” to change the health care status quo: “You know, the muscles in this town to bring about big changes are a little atrophied, but we’re whipping folks back into shape.”

Thumping his finger hard on the podium for emphasis, Mr. Obama warned “naysayers” who oppose his health care plan: “Don’t bet against us.” He also said the country is “closer than we have ever been” on passing health reform, even as House and Senate leaders have said they won’t meet his August deadline for drafting bills that could be ready for vote shortly after the August recess.

“So I just want to put everybody on notice, because there was a lot of chatter during the week that I was gone. We are going to get this done. Inaction is not an option,” he said.

The message was the same he’s been pushing all summer, but Mr. Obama struck a stern tone that has been mostly absent since he took office.

“If we step back from this challenge right now, we will leave our children a legacy of debt, a future of crushing costs that bankrupt our families, our businesses and, because we will have done nothing to bring down the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, will crush our government,” he said.

Big 3’s heaviest debt load now falls on Ford Motor Company

GM ready for market rivalry

Ford Motor Co. has benefited for months from the woes of its bailed-out Detroit brother General Motors Corp., but GM’s emergence from bankruptcy – freed from its heaviest debts – now puts debt-laden Ford at a disadvantage.

GM used the bankruptcy process and its federal bailout to shed more than $40 billion of past debts and other obligations, and now can operate more nimbly and profitably in the most competitive auto sales market in a generation.

But Ford still faces the steep cost of servicing its $32 billion of debt – nearly twice as much as GM’s and three times as much as Chrysler Group LLC’s – since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy. Moreover, Ford was not able to use bankruptcy to shed other burdens, such as a bloated dealer network and idle manufacturing plants, as its rivals did.

The companies now must compete in a market that has shrunk by more than a third from sales levels that prevailed a year ago. But GM estimates that it can now make a profit with annual U.S. auto sales of about 10 million, down from 16 million in 2007, while Ford would need to have higher sales on average to foot its higher debt costs and make a profit.

“Ford got bupkis for its financial virtue” by going deeply into debt to avoid a government bailout, said Antony Currie, an analyst at Breakingviews.com. Ford’s strategy helped it for a while to gain market share over its rivals, attracting buyers who are repelled by the government’s involvement with the other Detroit automakers.

But in the post-bankruptcy world, Ford now is saddled with obligations GM and Chrysler no longer have to bear, he said.

Liz Cheney open to political run

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that running for political office is on her horizon.

“It’s something I very well may do,” said Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney, a lawyer and State Department appointee who has worked on two Republican presidential campaigns.

Ms. Cheney, 44, has emerged as one of the strongest defenders of the effectiveness and legality of Bush-Cheney policies on enhanced interrogation methods. More recently, she and her father have become two of the most outspoken critics of President Obama’s position on terrorism and other national security issues, which has led Republicans to consider her a strong candidate for national political office.

Ms. Cheney told The Washington Times’ “America’s Morning News” that recent new reports that her father ordered the CIA to hide information from Congress and that a government probe could follow appears like political cover for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who have accused agency Director Leon Panetta of lying.

“It gets more and more appalling every day,” she said. “I think they’re very worried about Speaker Pelosi.”

Portland’s gay mayor faces chances of recall

Portland’s gay mayor faces chances of recall

The Community to Recall Sam Adams from office have filed a petition in with the city to recall the mayor.

Some residents are upset with Adams since he admitted he had an affair with a teen boy, Beau Breedlove. Mayor Adams admits he had sex with Beau less than 3-weeks after the turned 18. Breedlove claims that he and the mayor made out when he was only 17.

The group has 90 days to collect 32,183 valid signatures to qualify the recall for the ballot.

The Attorney General has already cleared Adams saying he didn’t violate any laws.

Former NFL quarterback McNair killed in Tennessee

By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair(notes) and a woman were found shot to death Saturday afternoon inside a condominium in downtown Nashville, police said.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said authorities were still investigating the shootings and that no suspects were in custody.

“I don’t have any answers for you now as to what’s happened, who’s responsible,” Aaron said.

Aaron said the 36-year-old McNair died of a gunshot wound to the head. He said police tentatively identified the woman, but did not release her name.

“There are persons who were around the complex today, visitors, who have been taken to headquarters for questioning, just to see what they know, what they may have seen,” he said.

Aaron said officers went to the scene after receiving a call about injured persons inside the condo.

“When police officers arrived in response to that call, they found two individuals who had been shot to death inside the residence,” he said.

The condominium is one that McNair was known to frequent, but police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford said she didn’t know if he was the owner.

McNair played 13 seasons in the NFL and led the Titans within a yard of forcing overtime in the 2000 Super Bowl, which they lost 23-16 to the St. Louis Rams. He also played for the Baltimore Ravens before retiring in April 2008.

“We don’t know the details, but it is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families involved,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

“We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair’s passing today,” Titans owner Bud Adams said in a statement. “He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl.”

About 50 people crowded just beyond police tape outside the complex in the upscale Rutledge Hill neighborhood, some wearing Titans hats. The condominium is located within walking distance of an area filled with restaurants and nightspots, a few blocks from the Cumberland River and within view of the Titans’ stadium.

McNair began his career in 1995 with the Houston Oilers, who eventually became the Titans, and finished with 31,304 yards passing and 174 touchdowns. McNair played with pain for several years, and the injuries ultimately forced him to retire.

McNair’s most noted drive was the final one of the 2000 Super Bowl. He drove the Titans 87 yards in the final minute, 48 seconds, only to come up a yard short of the tying touchdown. Kevin Dyson caught his 9-yard pass, but was tackled at the 1-yard line by the Rams’ Mike Jones(notes).

McNair accounted for all of Tennessee’s yards in that drive, throwing for 48 yards and rushing for 14. The rest of the yardage came on penalties against the Rams. Before that, he brought the Titans back from a 16-0 deficit to tie the game.

“The people who didn’t know Steve McNair before will know him now,” Tennessee tight end Frank Wycheck said after the game. “Did you see that desire? Did you see that heart?”

During a five-game stretch at the end of the 2002 season, McNair was so bruised he couldn’t practice. But he started all five games and won them, leading the Titans to an 11-5 finish and a berth in the AFC championship game for the second time in four seasons.

A crowd gathers outside the co…
AP – Jul 4, 6:58 pm EDT

McNair played all 16 games in 2006, his first season in Baltimore, and guided the Ravens to a 13-3 record. But he injured his groin during the season opener last season and never regained the form that enabled him to earn a berth in four Pro Bowls.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of today’s tragic news regarding the death of Steve McNair. He was a player who I admired a great deal,” said New England Patriots senior football adviser Floyd Reese, who was GM of the Titans when McNair played there. “He was a tremendous leader and an absolute warrior. He felt like it was his responsibility to lead by working hard every day, no matter what.

“I don’t think there was a player who played with him or against him that didn’t look up to him and respect him,” Reese said. “My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, his friends and the many teammates who loved and admired him.”

Titans coach Jeff Fisher was out of the country, taking part in the first NFL-USO coaches tour to Iraq.

AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker and Associated Press Writer Randall Paul Dickerson contributed to this rep

One killed in Washington-area subway train collision

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two Metro subway trains collided between stations north of downtown Washington, D.C., during afternoon rush hour Monday, killing at least one person, CNN has confirmed.

The crash occurred just before 5 p.m. on an above-ground track on the Red Line in Takoma Park, Maryland, just north of the District of Columbia.

Taryn McNeil, a spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said there were reports of injuries, but she was unable to provide confirmation

Michelle Obama kicks off volunteer campaign in SF

By MICHELLE LOCKE – Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — First lady Michelle Obama plans to kick off a summer of community service Monday by helping refurbish a school playground, while a number of cabinet officials fan across the country donating time to promote the campaign.

The initiative, known as United We Serve, was announced by President Barack Obama in a video message last week.

The president is urging people to help in the nation’s economic recovery by volunteering at schools and hospitals and pitching in on community needs ranging from tutoring to trash pickup.

First lady Michelle Obama eats a pea with fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in the First Lady’s Garden after they harvested some of the vegetables that they planted in a garden on the South Lawn of The White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Michelle Obama is putting the idea into action by joining California first lady Maria Shriver and local volunteers at Bret Harte Elementary School in San Francisco, where the playground is being refurbished to include an edible garden with a farmers market stand where kids and seniors can sell vegetables to raise money for the school.

Later, the first lady is scheduled to speak at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

A number of other people are also set to speak, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Earlier, a volunteer driver from the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans participated in the United We Serve program by transporting Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and two Vietnam-era veterans through commuter traffic to a VA hospital in Washington.

Shinseki said he was amused by the advice the veterans gave the driver to quickly get to their appointments.

“Except for them, we’d still be in traffic,” Shinseki told staff members at the hospital after the ride.

More than 80,000 people donated time last year helping with VA-related programs, but Shinseki said there’s concern that there’s been a decline in the number of volunteers.

Other senior VA officials volunteered at homeless shelters and in other ways.

Tammy Duckworth, a VA assistant secretary who lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in an attack in Iraq in 2004, recalled a fellow veteran offering to wash her hair when she was injured and another volunteer pulling up a blanket for her when she was on a gurney in a hospital hall and unable to move her arms.

“Sometimes, it’s the smallest gesture that makes the difference to these vets,” Duckworth said.

Other officials promoting the event included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who was to play basketball and talk with young people at the Police Athletic League in Philadelphia.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was visiting La Mesita Homeless Shelter for Families in Mesa, Ariz. to read to children and serve lunch at the child care center.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan was set to help rebuild a home in New Orleans.

United We Serve is led by the government-run Corporation for National and Community Service.

Associated Press Writer Kimberly Hefling in Washington contributed to this report.

Stimulus Dollars to be Released for Schools

By LIBBY QUAID
AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first round of school dollars from the economic stimulus law is going to states this week.

To mark the occasion, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Wednesday is visiting first- and fifth-grade classes at Doswell Brooks Elementary School in Capitol Heights in the Maryland suburbs of Washington.

Public schools will get an unprecedented amount of money – double the education budget under President George W. Bush – from the stimulus law over the next two years.

On Wednesday, the administration is making available half of the dollars for federal programs that fund kindergarten through 12th grade and special education. In addition, Duncan will provide applications for states to get money from a special fund to stabilize state and local budgets.

President Barack Obama says the stimulus will save teachers’ jobs, although there is no estimate of how many jobs will be rescued. Nationwide, about 294,000 teachers – 9 percent – may face layoffs because of state budget cuts, according to a University of Washington study.

However, loopholes created by Congress could let states and school districts spend the money on other things, such as playground equipment or new construction.

The White House has stymied efforts by lawmakers in South Carolina to accept that state’s share of $48.6 billion made available under the stimulus law to help states cope with their budgets and keep teachers employed. South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford has said he may decline more than $700 million because the White House won’t let him spend the money to pay down his state’s debt.

In a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the White House said there was no provision in the stimulus law for a state legislature to accept that money without approval by the governor. In its letter, obtained by The Associated Press, the White House Office of Management Budget urged Congress to change the law.

“It would be an unfortunate (and we believe an unintended) policy outcome if the children of South Carolina were to be deprived of their share of federal stimulus dollars … because the governor chooses not to apply for stimulus funds,” OMB Director Peter Orszag wrote Tuesday.

Duncan said last week he will “come down like a ton of bricks” and withhold the second round of funds from anyone who defies Obama’s wishes.

At the same time, the administration wants to do more than save teachers’ jobs. Obama wants to transform the federal government’s role in education. His administration views the stimulus bill as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put lasting reforms in place.

In their applications, states must show improvement in teacher quality, data systems, academic standards and tests and supporting struggling schools.

States and districts will also have a chance to compete for money from a $5 billion fund solely for these kinds of innovations. Previous education secretaries had a fraction of that, about $16 million a year, to distribute for their own priorities.

Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this story from Columbia, S.C.

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Black Man’s Killing by Police Shakes La. Town

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writers
Shaun Monroe holds a program from the funeral of his father Bernard Monroe Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at his fathers house in Homer, La.

HOMER, La. (AP) — For 73 years before his killing by a white police officer, Bernard Monroe led a life in this northern Louisiana town as peaceful as they come – five kids with his wife of five decades, all raised in the same house, supported by the same job.

The black man’s shooting death is attracting far more attention than he ever did, raising racial tensions between the black community and Homer’s police department.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize a massive 2007 civil rights demonstration in Jena after six black teenagers were charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate, planned to lead a Friday afternoon rally in Homer to protest Monroe’s killing.

“The parallel here is that the local community cannot trust law enforcement and cannot trust the process to go forward without outside help,” Sharpton said.

Rendered mute after losing his larynx to cancer, Monroe was a 73-year-old retired power company lineman who was in his usual spot on a mild Friday afternoon in February when events unfolded: A chair by the gate led to his Adams Street home. A barbecue cooker smoked beside a picnic table in the yard. A dozen or so family members talked and played nearby.

All seemed calm, until two Homer police officers drove up.

In a report to state authorities, Homer police said Officer Tim Cox and another officer they have refused to identify chased Monroe’s son, Shaun, 38, from a suspected drug deal blocks away to his father’s house.

Witnesses dispute that account, saying the younger Monroe was talking to his sister-in-law in a truck in front of the house when the officers arrived.

All agree Shaun Monroe, who had an arrest record for assault and battery but no current warrants, drove up the driveway and went into the house. Two white police officers followed him. Within minutes, he ran back outside, followed by an unidentified officer who Tasered him in the front yard.

Seeing the commotion, Bernard Monroe confronted the officer. Police said that he advanced on them with a pistol and that Cox, who was still inside the house, shot at him through a screen door.

Monroe fell dead. How many shots were fired isn’t clear; the coroner has refused to release an autopsy report, citing the active investigation.

Police said Monroe was shot after he pointed a gun at them, though no one claims Monroe fired shots. Friends and family said he was holding a bottle of sports water. They accuse police of planting a gun he owned next to his body.

“Mr. Ben didn’t have a gun,” said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. “I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him.”

Frazier said Monroe was known to keep a gun for protection because of local drug activity.

Despite the chase and Tasering, Shaun Monroe was not arrested. He and other relatives would not comment afterward.

Monroe’s gun is being DNA-tested by state police. The findings of their investigation will be given to District Attorney Jonathan Stewart, who would decide whether to file charges.

The case also has led to FBI and State Police investigations and drawn attention from national civil rights leaders.

“We’ve had a good relationship, blacks and whites, but this thing has done a lot of damage,” said Michael Wade, one of three blacks on the five-member town council. “To shoot down a family man that had never done any harm, had no police record, caused no trouble. Suddenly everyone is looking around wondering why it happened and if race was the reason.”

Homer, a town of 3,800 about 45 miles northwest of Shreveport, is in piney woods just south of the Arkansas state line. Many people work in the oil or timber industries. In the old downtown, shops line streets near the antebellum Claiborne Parish courthouse on the town square.

The easygoing climate, blacks say, masked police harassment.

The black community has focused its anger on Police Chief Russell Mills, who is white. They say he’s directed a policy of harassment toward them.

The FBI and State Police said they received no complaints about Homer police before the shooting.

Mills declined interview requests, saying he retained a lawyer and feared losing his job.

Hours before Friday’s scheduled rally, music blared from Azzie Olds’ home, where the 53-year-old schoolteacher and her neighbors enjoyed a cookout. Olds, who is black, said she expected a peaceful march despite the anger many were feeling.

“You’ve got a lot of people upset about what happened, not just the black folks,” Olds said. “I hope the national attention can help the town realize that something really needs to be done about the situation.”

Elsewhere in Homer, some white residents expressed concern that Sharpton’s visit could enflame tensions.

“I just hope everybody behaves and don’t use it as an excuse to start trouble,” said Vanessa Efferson, 49, whose bookstore is one of the shops ringing the courthouse.

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