Should Congress give up trying to pass health care?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
A majority of Americans want Congress to put the brakes on health care reform.
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A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows 55 percent of those surveyed say lawmakers should suspend work on the current health care bills and consider alternatives. Only 39 percent say they want Congress to try to pass the current bill.
32 percent say the president and Democrats are right to make health care reform their top priority right now. 46 percent say health care is important, but other problems should be addressed first; and 19 percent say it shouldn't be a top priority.
Meanwhile, President Obama is vowing to press ahead - even though he acknowledges health care reform has "run into a bit of a buzz saw." Party leaders like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi insist health care will move forward - but other lawmakers, much like the American public, are losing their appetite for fast action.
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd says his colleagues should "maybe take a breather for a month, six weeks" to regroup after the loss in Massachusetts.
There's no question this week's election has made the road to health care reform more difficult. Pelosi has ruled out what was the preferred option for some Democrats - the House passing the Senate bill as is. She doesn't have the votes.
And, although there's a sense that a scaled-back health care bill might be the best route for Congress to take - even that might be easier said than done with the current political winds blowing across Washington.
Here’s my question to you: Should Congress give up trying to pass health care?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Meaning of only U.S. liberal radio network shutting down?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Air America has crashed. The liberal talk radio network is going out of business.
The network that once boasted hosts like Al Franken and Rachel Maddow launched in 2004 during the Bush administration. It was meant as a liberal alternative to right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
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But Air America struggled from the beginning - with several management shake-ups, a bankruptcy, followed by a $4 million sale.
The network described itself as "the only full-time progressive voice in the mainstream broadcast media world" when it launched... saying it offered dissenting views on things like the Iraq War - when such positions were called un-American.
But nearly six years later - and 1 year after the inauguration of Democratic President Barack Obama - Air America says it will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy – ending programming for good on Monday. The network cites the "very difficult economic environment," pointing to a steep decline in radio ad revenues.
Conservatives suggest the "passing" of Air America is a reminder that the country is center right. After all - tough economy or not, Limbaugh still draws in 10 to 20 million listeners each week.
Meanwhile a recent Gallup Poll shows that conservatives finished 2009 as the number one ideological group in the U.S. for the first time in five years. 40 percent of Americans identify as conservatives, compared to 36 percent for moderates and just 21 percent for liberals.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that the country's only liberal radio network is going out of business?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Have your views of Obama changed during 1st year?
(PHOTO CREDIT: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As President Obama marks his first anniversary in the White House and the State of the Union approaches, there's criticism coming at him from all corners.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes that doubts he had about the president - since the primaries - have been realized... including that Mr. Obama may not be ready to fight for what his supporters want.
In a piece called "he wasn't the one we've been waiting for," Krugman describes the president talking about health care... saying lawmakers should "try to move quickly to coalesce" around elements of the bill that people agree on. Krugman mocks the message - saying it's like the president is telling lawmakers to "run away."
And when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Krugman's critique - he ducked the question.
Meanwhile from the right, Pat Buchanan suggests that white voters are one group that might be of particular concern to the president.
In a column called "Has Obama lost white America?"... Buchanan explains how the racial breakdown of the vote in recent elections in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia could spell trouble for the president.
In 2008 - Mr. Obama took a larger share of the white vote - 44 percent - than John Kerry or Al Gore had done before him. But since then - Republicans have won these three major races because there were more white voters; and Republicans swept that vote in "Reagan-like landslides."
Here’s my question to you: How have your views of President Obama changed during his first year in office?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
13-yr-old Saudi girl sentenced to 90 lashes for bringing cell phone to school?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
A 13-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 90 lashes in front of her classmates. Her crime? She brought a cell phone to school.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/21/art.saudi.woman.jpg caption="FILE PHOTO: A Saudi woman poses for a photo in the city of Riyadh. This is not the 13-year-old girl from this story."]
A Saudi account of the story printed in "The Daily Mail" says a court also sentenced the child to two months in jail.
The girl reportedly assaulted her teacher after she was caught with the phone. Cell phones are banned in girls' schools in Saudi Arabia. This punishment is harsher than what some Saudi thieves get.
This is sick. Saudi Arabia is one of the United States' closest allies in the Middle East - because they have all that oil. And this is how they treat children. But as long as we need their oil, we just look the other way.
The country is an absolute monarchy that uses one of the strictest versions of Sharia - or Islamic law - anywhere.
They interpret the law to justify cruel punishment like amputation, stoning, public beheadings and crucifixions.
Saudi women are not allowed to drive - and in public, they must be completely covered and accompanied by a male relative at all times. Flogging is mandatory for "moral" offenses like adultery or being alone with an unrelated person of the opposite sex.
The ruler, King Abdullah, has supported some social reforms in the last few years - but in many instances, the religious clerics have so much power they can pretty much call the shots.
Here’s my question to you: What does it say when America’s ally Saudi Arabia sentences a 13-year-old girl to 90 lashes after bringing a cell phone to school?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
What will it take to get a viable third party going in U.S.?
(PHOTO CREDIT: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The independent voter is one of the main reasons Democrats lost Ted Kennedy's long-held Senate seat in Massachusetts this week.
A survey conducted by one GOP pollster found Republican Scott Brown won 64 percent of independents... compared to 34 percent for the Democrat Martha Coakley.
One short year ago - it was these same independents who overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama and launched him into the presidency.
But with the Democrats now in control of Congress and the White House for the past year, independents are sick and tired of feeling ignored by their so-called representatives.
These critical independent voters are mostly white, middle-class and middle-aged suburbanites, and they're sick of high unemployment, bank and auto bailouts, government spending and taxes, among other things.
So what we're seeing in places like Massachusetts, and also in those governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia, is swing voters swinging the other way.
It's sort of like watching large groups of people rushing from one side of the Titanic to the other, causing the ship to lurch alternately from port to starboard - left to right.
We just went through this a year ago when they all ran away from the Republicans and to the Democrats.
Fact is, neither option is any good. Both parties stink. Our government is broken and no longer serves the needs of the people. Time for real change.
Here’s my question to you: What will it take to get a viable third party going in this country?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Why would the Pentagon ignore Ft. Hood shooter's ties to Islam?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The Pentagon report into the massacre at Fort Hood that left 13 dead is a joke. There is no mention of the suspect's views of Islam. None.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/21/art.hasan.jpg caption="Major Nidal Hasan"]
In fact, the 86-page report doesn't even once mention Major Nidal Hasan by name. It lumps in radical Islam with other fundamentalist religious beliefs... and instead focuses on things like military personnel policies and the emergency response to the Nov. shootings.
This despite the fact that Hasan made no secret of his radical Islamic faith. He allegedly proselytized to his fellow service members and spoke out against the wars the U.S. military is waging in Muslim counties.
John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission, tells Time magazine the Pentagon's silence on Islamic extremism "shows you how deeply entrenched the values of political correctness have become." The Texas Congressman whose district includes Fort Hood says this report "ignores the elephant in the room - radical Islamic terrorism is the enemy."
The Pentagon acknowledges it didn't focus so much on Hasan's motives as on "actions and effects." They say they didn't want to interfere with the criminal probe into Hasan. Garbage.
Meanwhile a new Gallup poll shows 43 percent of Americans admit to feeling at least a little prejudice toward Muslims - that's more than twice the number who feel that way about Christians, Jews and Buddhists.
The survey also finds Islam is the most negatively viewed religion - one-third of those surveyed say their opinion of Islam is "not favorable at all."
Here’s my question to you: Why would the Pentagon choose to ignore the Fort Hood shooter's ties to Islam in its report?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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