Hello
Full mishmash of good news ahead.
This will make Sarah Palin's head explode. Thank god not too many brain cells will be wasted:
Views of the US around the world have improved sharply over the past year
For the first time since the annual poll began in 2005, America's influence in the world is now seen as more positive than negative.
As in 2009, Germany is viewed most favourably while Iran and Pakistan are seen as the most negative influences.
Nearly 30,000 people in 28 countries were interviewed for the poll, between November 2009 and February 2010. Fifteen of the countries have been surveyed every year since 2005, allowing long-term trends to be discerned.
In these nations - or 14 of them, not including the US itself - positive views of the US fell to a low of 28% on average in 2007, from 38% in 2005, but recovered to 35% in 2009 and 40% in this year's poll...
..."People around the world today view the United States more positively than at any time since the second Iraq war," said Doug Miller, chairman of international polling firm GlobeScan, which carried out the poll with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (Pipa) at the University of Maryland.
"While still well below that of countries like Germany and the UK, the global standing of the US is clearly on the rise again."
....Meanwhile, negative opinions of the US declined by 23% in Spain, 14 in France and 10 in the UK, with the result that all three lean towards a positive view of the country.
In only two of the 28 countries, Turkey and Pakistan, do more than 50% have a negative view of the US.
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Odierno: All combat troops will be out of Iraq by by Aug. 31
WASHINGTON—The planned withdrawal of nearly 45,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of August is on track in spite of a recent increase in attacks by militant forces, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Sunday.
Army Gen. Ray Odierno said that al-Qaida's strength in Iraq is steadily degrading. Unless there's a dramatic and unforeseen change in the security situation, the U.S. troop drawdown will go ahead as scheduled, he said.
There are now about 95,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to Odierno. The U.S. plans to cut that number to 50,000 by Aug. 31, when it will end combat operations.
"I fully expect us to be at 50,000 by the first of September," Odierno said on "Fox News Sunday."...
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And:
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The two most-senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Security Forces, supported by United States Forces, killed the two most-senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) early Sunday morning during a series of joint security operations 10 km southwest of Tikrit.
Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al Masri, is the military leader of AQI, the terrorist organization responsible for facilitating attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces as well as Iraqi civilians. Abu Ayyub al Masri replaced Abu Musab al Zarqawi when Zarqawi was killed in June of 2006 and is directly responsible for high profile bombings and attacks against the people of Iraq.
Also killed during the engagement was Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al Zawi, otherwise known as Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, who served AQI as the leader of the proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and held the title "Prince of the Faithful."...
...."The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," said United States Forces - Iraq commander, Gen. Ray Odierno. "The Government of Iraq intelligence services and security forces supported by U.S. intelligence and special operations forces have over the last several months continued to degrade AQI. There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists. As the GoI continues to protect the people of Iraq, the U.S. stands ready to assist them."
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Taliban’s supreme leader signals willingness to talk peace
The supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has indicated that he and his followers may be willing to hold peace talks with western politicians.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, two of the movement’s senior Islamic scholars have relayed a message from the Quetta shura, the Taliban’s ruling council, that Mullah Omar no longer aims to rule Afghanistan. They said he was prepared to engage in "sincere and honest" talks.
A senior US military source said the remarks reflected a growing belief that a "breakthrough" was possible. "There is evidence from many intelligence sources [that] the Taliban are ready for some kind of peace process," the source said...
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Leading indicators point to steady recovery
1.4 percent jump in March is fastest pace of growth in 7 months
WASHINGTON - A gauge of the U.S. economy's prospects rose more strongly than expected to a record high in March, pointing to a steady economic recovery, a private research group said Monday.
The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators increased 1.4 percent, rising for the 12th straight month, after an upwardly revised 0.4 percent gain in February.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.0 percent rise in March from a previously reported 0.1 percent gain.
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UnitedHealth to Speed Coverage of Young Adults
UnitedHealth Group Inc. plans on Monday to allow graduating college seniors to stay on their parents' health plans, getting out ahead of a provision of the federal health overhaul package that will go into effect in September.
That law will require insurers to offer coverage of dependents up to age 26 on their parents' health plans. The new UnitedHealth policy will extend such coverage sooner, to about 150,000 children of members when those children graduate from college this spring. Uninsured dependents who aren't graduating this spring will need to wait until Sept. 23 to qualify for coverage, however...
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Lots and lots of goodies in the new health care reform. It's a crime that the public is so misinformed, and i wish our side wouldn't be so active in demonize what is a tremendous improvement in so many areas. This reform really should have been a winning card for November, not something to run away from:
Health care overhaul will help disabled with long term care
The young mother who becomes paraplegic after a wreck. The soldier who returns home with a severe head injury. The middle-aged woman with early dementia.
They, like millions of Americans, need long-term health care.
But few can afford it.
That’s where a little-discussed part of the massive Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the national health care reform package, comes into the picture.
Buried in the law is Title VIII, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or CLASS, one of the earliest programs scheduled to go into effect — on Jan. 1, 2011.
CLASS is designed to give workers a consumer-financed national insurance pool to help pay for long-term care, either in their homes or in care centers, when they’re disabled enough by age, disease or injury to need it.
"It’s a game changer," said Larry Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, who advocated for the concept for years...
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A good read about president Obama's approach to Gay issues. It's the second or third sort-of-positive-Obama-story from the Washington Post over the past week. I wonder who took over the editor chair. Maybe it was me...;)
Gay visitation order shows how Obama brings big change with small actions
President Obama's decision Thursday night to grant same-sex couples hospital visitation rights is the latest and most visible example of a strategy to make concrete steps toward equality for gays and lesbians without sparking a broad cultural debate or a fight with Congress.
The approach has angered some of the president's fiercest supporters, who are eager for bold change, but other politically savvy activists have encouraged Obama to act in small ways to reshape government rules and regulations on behalf of gays and lesbians.
Soon after Obama's election, staffers from the Human Rights Campaign presented the transition team with a list of 70 actions the president could take without congressional approval.
The activists sat in a room at the transition's headquarters as a stream of soon-to-be officials with the departments of Justice, State, Labor and Health and Human Services rotated in for discussions, according to several of those present. Melody Barnes, who now heads the president's domestic policy council, sat in, too.
Over the next several months, the administration quietly began acting on the recommendations: The State Department started issuing embassy ID cards to same-sex partners of diplomats; Housing and Urban Development ended discrimination in housing assistance programs; HHS pledged to change its policies regarding HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
And then, last May, HRC staffers got a call from Obama's legal office. Top officials in the White House had seen a gut-wrenching story about a lesbian couple who had been kept apart in the hospital when one collapsed and died. It was time to act, they decided...
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Yea, some people just do things quietly...
The Obama administration has reached out to Muslims in a widening effort that has left even skeptics surprised
When President Obama took the stage in Cairo last June, promising a new relationship with the Islamic world, Muslims in America wondered only half-jokingly whether the overture included them. After all, Mr. Obama had kept his distance during the campaign, never visiting an American mosque and describing the false claim that he was Muslim as a "smear" on his Web site.
Nearly a year later, Mr. Obama has yet to set foot in an American mosque. And he still has not met with Muslim and Arab-American leaders. But less publicly, his administration has reached out to this politically isolated constituency in a sustained and widening effort that has left even skeptics surprised.
Muslim and Arab-American advocates have participated in policy discussions and received briefings from top White House aides and other officials on health care legislation, foreign policy, the economy, immigration and national security. They have met privately with a senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to discuss civil liberties concerns and counterterrorism strategy....
..."For the first time in eight years, we have the opportunity to meet, engage, discuss, disagree, but have an impact on policy," said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington. "We’re being made to feel a part of that process and that there is somebody listening."....
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Don't miss this Margaret and Helen blog entry. It's just too hilarious.
We survived Bush. You’ll survive Obama
...A few years back, millions of people across this nation and across the globe marched for peace. George Bush ignored us and we had to endure his lazy ass being in the White House for eight years.
So now a black man named Barack Obama, elected by the will of the people, has decided to fight for the poor, and work for world peace... and a bunch of white guys who think Fox really is News just can’t stand it.
Well, they can kiss my ass because I am tired of their belly aching....
It gets better. Go, read, and leave the girls nice comment! :)
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First Lady Michelle Obama embraces Khadija Musame, a Somali immigrant, at a New Roots community farm where Musame grows a variety of vegetables, Thursday April 15, 2010 in San Diego (AP).
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First Lady Michelle Obama holds a vegetable grown by Somali immigrant Khadija Musame. center, as Musame's friend Bilal Muya helps interpret at the New Roots Community Farm Thursday April 15, 2010 in San Diego.(AP)
First Lady Michelle Obamaholds vegetables grown by Zimbabwe immigrant TsiTsi Mutseta at the New Roots Community Farm Thursday April 15, 2010 in San Diego (AP)
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The president takes Malia to her soccer game over the weekend. This time the pool wasn't left behind, so they'll have to find something else to whine about. (AP)
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President Barack Obama listens during a meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the Situation Room of the White House, April 16, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
White House Photo by Samantha Appleton