GOP Announces First Round of Proposed Spending Cuts
February 11, 2011

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced the first batch of proposed spending cuts that lawmakers will try to approve next week.
Rogers is taking a knife to a temporary spending resolution that funds the federal government through March 4. Under Rogers plan, the bill would slash money for some 70 programs.
The cuts come in various shapes and sizes. Low end reductions include the elimination of $2 million for the Minority Business Development Agency and $6 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. Higher end cuts focus on chopping $1.6 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency and $1.7 billion for the General Services Administration Federal Buildings Fund.
Money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and AmeriCorps is eliminated in Rogers blueprint, which he bills as the first round of proposed cuts.
"Never before has Congress undertaken a task of this magnitude," said Rogers in a statement. "The cuts in this CR will represent the largest reduction in discretionary spending in the history of our nation."
Speaking before Rogers released the list, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was skeptical of GOP efforts to truly reduce deficit spending.
"I think there's a lot of message and not a lot of substance," said Hoyer. "Substance is tough."
For his part, Rogers argued that the cuts were not what he called "low-hanging fruit," noting that the cuts "are real."
There are alternative ways to calculate as to the total dollar figure in the cuts. One price tag is $58 billion, compared to what President Obama proposed to spend on domestic programs. The figure rises to around $74 billion once defense reductions are considered.

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'Egypt is Free' chants Tahrir after Mubarak quits
February 11, 2011

Cries of "Egypt is free" rang out and fireworks lit up the sky over Cairo's Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium Friday after 18 days of mass pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

Ecstatic protesters hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with residents of the capital of 18 million people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged strangers, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief. Chants of "Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian" roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.

"I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free," an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.

The military, which effectively carried out a coup at the pleas of protesters that it push Mubarak out, announced on state television that is was committed to shepherding demands for greater democracy and that it would announce the next steps soon, possibly including the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government to lead reforms.

Mubarak's downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling authoritarian rulers across the Mideast.

The 82-year-old leader was the epitome of the implicit deal the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for their guarantee of stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants and peace - or at least an effort at peace - with Israel.

The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world's most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.

At the White House, President Barack Obama said "Egyptians have inspired us" and said of the important questions that lay ahead, "I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers."

The United States at times seemed overwhelmed throughout the 18 days of upheaval, fumbling to juggle its advocacy of democracy and the right to protest, its loyalty to longtime ally Mubarak and its fears the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood - or more radical groups - could gain a foothold. His fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah's government in Iran - the prime example of a revolution that turned to Islamic militancy.

Washington's concerns frustrated the young protesters, who argued that while the powerful Brotherhood would have to play a future political role, its popularity would be diminished in an open system where other ideologies were freed to outweigh it.

Neighboring Israel watched with the crisis with unease, worried that their 1979 peace treaty could be in danger. It quickly demanded on Friday that post-Mubarak Egypt continue to adhere to it.

Any break seems unlikely in the near term: The military leadership supports the treaty. Anti-Israeli feeling is strong among Egyptians, and a more democratic government may take a tougher line toward Israel in the chronically broken-down peace process. But few call for outright abrogating a treaty that has kept peace after three wars in the past half-century.

From the oil-rich Gulf states in the east to Morocco in the west, regimes both pro- and anti-U.S. could not help but worry they could see a similar upheaval. Several of the region's authoritarian rulers have made pre-emptive gestures of democratic reform to avert their own protest movements.

The lesson many took: If it could happen in only three weeks in Egypt, where Mubarak's lock on power had appeared unshakable, it could happen anywhere. Only a month earlier, Tunisia's president was forced to step down in the face of protests.

Perhaps more surprising was the genesis of the force that overthrew Mubarak. The protests were started by a small core of secular, liberal youth activists organizing on the Internet who only a few months earlier struggled to gather more than 100 demonstrators at a time. But their work through Facebook and other social network sites over the past few years built a greater awareness and bitterness among Egyptians over issues like police abuse and corruption.

When the called the first major protest, on Jan. 25, they tapped into a public inspired by Tunisia's revolt and thousands turned out, beyond even the organizers' expectations. From there, protests swelled, drawing hundreds of thousands. The Muslim Brotherhood joined in. But far from hijacking the protests as many feared, it often seemed co-opted by the protesters, forced to set aside its hard-line ideology at least for now to adhere to democratic demands.

About 300 people were killed in the course of the turmoil. Police attacked the first protests with water cannons and gunfire and then a force of regime supporters _believed to be paid thugs - assaulted Tahrir trying to dislodge the protesters, only to be beaten back in two days of pitched battles.

Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. executive who earlier this year secretly opened one of the Facebook pages that became an organizing forum for the protests, said he "went mad' when he heard the news of Mubarak's ouster.

"I don't want to become of the face of this revolution ... I did my best," he told The Associated Press. "I expect a bright future. I trust in 80 million Egyptians."

Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control.

He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.

Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title.

But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.

Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the turmoil in Cairo.

Vice President Suleiman - who appears to have lost his post as well in the military takeover - appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," he said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.

The question now turned to what happens next. Protesters on Friday had overtly pleaded for the army to oust Mubarak. The country is now ruled by the Armed Forces Supreme Council, the military's top body consisting of its highest ranking generals and headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

After Mubarak's resignation, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and promised the army would not act as a substitute for a government based on the "legitimacy of the people."

He said the military was preparing the next steps needed "to acheive the ambitions of our great nation" and would announce them soon. He praised Mubarak for his contributions to the country. Pointedly he did not salute his former commander-in-chief. Instead he stood at attention and raised his hand to his cap in a salute to protesters killed in teh unrest.

Earlier in the day, the council vowed to guide the country to greater democracy. It said was committed "to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and endeavoring to their implementation within a defined timetable until a peaceful transition to a democratic society aspired to by the people."

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the protest organizers, said the movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reforms but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

"We still don't have any guarantees yet - if we end the whole situation now the it's like we haven't done anything," he said. "So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands."

But, he added, "I feel fantastic. .... I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a year and a half and now we are now finally sowing the fruits."

Sally Toma, another of the organizers, said she did not expect the military would try to clear the square. "We still have to sit and talk. We have to hear the army first," she said.

For the moment, concerns over the next step were overwhelmed by the wave of joy and disbelief.

Outside the Oruba presidential palace in northern Cairo, where tens of thousands had marched during the day, one man sprawled on the grass, saying he couldn't believe it. Protesters began to form a march toward Tahrir in a sea of Egyptian flags.

Thousands from across the capital of 18 million streamed into Tahrir, where protesters hugged, kissed and wept. Whole families took pictures of each other posing with Egyptian flags with their mobile phones as bridges over the Nile jammed with throngs more flowing into the square.

Mahmoud Ghanem, who came from the northern Nile Delta five days ago to join the Tahrir protest camp, proclaimed, "My children can finally live in freedom."

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Boomer Broads Interview Eyewitness To Protests
February 11, 2011

The Boomer Broads interview Laila Selim, an eyewitness to the Cairo Protests. Laila is an alum of Tufts University and a former producer of The Boomer Broads. Watch as Laila describes her experience in Cairo as the revolution first started and her own opinion on what the revolution means for Egypt and the rest of the world.







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High Speed Rail Authority Seeks Private Sector Ideas
February 10, 2011

The California High-Speed Rail Authority says it's ready to hear from the private sector.
The authority issued on Wednesday a request for expressions of interest from companies that want to help finance, design, construct, operate or maintain the planned bullet train system.
Authority CEO Roelof van Ark says he wants companies to tell the agency "what roles they hope to play in making high-speed rail travel a reality in California."
Companies have until March 16 to respond.
The authority has received $5.5 billion in federal funding toward the project, and more money could be on the way.
The Obama administration announced on Monday a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail as part of a strategy create jobs through infrastructure spending.

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Egypt's foreign minister bristles over U.S. call for prompt transition
February 10, 2011

Egypt's foreign minister bristled Wednesday over comments from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who called Tuesday for a prompt transition of power in Egypt.
"When you speak about 'prompt,' 'immediate,' 'now' ... you are imposing your will on him," Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the PBS "NewsHour."
President Hosni Mubarak has already put into place a plan to hand over power to a successor, Aboul Gheit said. "So, for Americans to come and say 'Change is now,' but already we are changing! Or 'You start now.' We started last week. So better understand the Egyptian sensitivities and better encourage the Egyptians to move forward and to do what is required. That is my advice to you."
Asked about the foreign minister's remarks, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs summarized Biden's remarks to his Egyptian counterpart: "I think ... that an orderly transition must begin now, and it must produce without delay immediate and irreversible progress.
"And I think it is clear that what the government has thus far put forward has yet to meet a minimum threshold for the people of Egypt."
Aboul Gheit expressed surprise that Biden would raise the issue of repealing the 30-year-old emergency law at a time of such upheaval. "When I read it this morning, I was really amazed, because because right now, as we speak, we have 17,000 prisoners loose in the streets out of jails that have been destroyed. How can you ask me to sort of disband that emergency law while I'm in difficulty? Give me time, allow me to have control to stabilize the nation, to stabilize the state and then we would look into the issue."
Aboul Gheit repeated several times his plea for Mubarak's nearly 30-year-old government to be given time to effect change, saying that acceding to opposition calls for him to step down immediately could result in the formation of an unconstitutional government -- or worse. "Maybe the armed forces would feel compelled to intervene in a more drastic manner," he said. "Do we want the armed forces to assume the responsibility of stabilizing the nation through imposing martial law, and army in the streets?"
Aboul Gheit said that, during the first days of the unrest, he had often felt "angry, infuriated" at the Obama administration, but those feelings have since mollified. "Through discussions with the administration, I think now we have an administration that understands exactly the difficulties of the situation and the dangers and the risks that are entailed in a rush towards chaos without end. So the the administration's message now is much better."
The two countries "have to work together," he said.
Asked if Mubarak, with whom he had spoken earlier Wednesday, feels indispensable, Aboul Gheit said, "As a president, not as a person. As a president."
In response to a question, Aboul Gheit said he does not hold the Egyptian government responsible for the violence that erupted last week in Cairo's Tahrir Square, but said Mubarak on Tuesday established a commission to investigate.
Aboul Gheit called for "some rationality with the people in Tahrir Square" and said the "wise men of Egypt" -- unofficial mediators -- should help decide how to handle the uprising.
But if the standoff continues, he said, violence remains a threat. A "stupid fellow would throw a Molotov bomb against a tank or a soldier and it explodes. So we have to be careful. This is our country."
Asked if Egyptians have the patience to accept the gradual change he is seeking, Aboul Gheit said, "I hope that we are all rational enough to go on a gradual change. An abrupt sudden change might entail very deep risks for Egypt. Chaos. violence. I detest, I hate to see the country being engulfed in that kind of violence.

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Obama to Help States' Debts with Unemployment Extension Interest Relief
February 10, 2011

President Barack Obama is set to propose a suspension of interest payments on loans to state governments used to cover their shortfalls in unemployment extension benefits during the recession. According to the Washington Post, the plan would be to allow states relief from their repayment burdens to the federal government for two years so that they would not have to raise business taxes in order to make up the shortfall, taxes that could result in the stymying of nascent economic progress, a decrease in potential jobs creation, and hasten states toward a bankruptcies already looming on their debt-filled horizons. The proposal is to be included in the budget request that is scheduled to be sent to Congress for their approval next week.
The proposal is already meeting with Republican opposition due to its second basic component, that of raising the business taxes sharply after the two years to help replenish the unemployment insurance coffers that were depleted by the recession and the extensions reauthorizations. Republicans maintain that the proposal is a jobs killer.
Of course, that has been the Republican mantra -- "it's a jobs killer" -- for quite some time with regard to proposed legislation by many Democrats and especially any legislation proposed and/or supported by President Obama. In fact, the first major bill introduced by the 112th Congress, the H.R.2: "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," had the descriptor in the title of the legislation. Members of the GOP maintain that the Affordable Health Care Act will eventually place undue burdens on businesses, forcing them into not being able to provide for growth and new jobs creation.
It was the same note taken with regard to the argument against allowing the George W. Bush-era tax cuts to expire. Democrats argued that letting the tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000 would bring in revenue that could both lower the fiscal deficit and lower the national debt. Republicans presented the opposing view that raising taxes hurt jobs growth by elevating taxes in businesses that might normally be able to provide more jobs if they weren't paying higher taxes. Republicans pressed the point that this would be especially true of small business owners. Whether it was the job-killing rhetoric or the attachment to the unemployment extension reauthorization that finally swayed enough votes is unclear, but what has become known as the Obama Compromise Bill passed in mid-December.
But is there any validity to the claims? Possibly. To be certain, when a business acquires increased overhead in its operations, it tends to tighten its economic belt, cut costs. This can result in lower job availability or an outright elimination of job creation.
But the opposite argument can also be made. Generally, higher overhead can also lend itself to being passed on through a business increasing the price of its service or its products. Although this, too, is not optimal, it is the way business is usually conducted.
But what about deficits and debt? Allaying the problem does not make it go away and postponing the repayment of interest does not eliminate the debt. States are now in arrears to the federal government to the tune of $42 billion. With the current state of affairs in most state governments moving toward impending bankruptcy, a short-term alleviation of the debt burden might be helpful, bring some economic relief, and foster an improving economy. It will not, however, pay back the loans made by the federal government, the nonpayment of which also increases the national debt.
So does one allow the President's proposal to pass, a position that will most likely help the states in the short run but may not affect businesses one way or the other, at the same time taking the chance on an increase in taxes in two years to either kill jobs or see the cost of products and services rise? Or do legislators not accept the proposal and maintain the status quo, which is a creep toward as many as forty-odd states facing bankruptcy, something that is a real job-killer in the making?
One thing is certain: Doing nothing maintains the status quo. Instead of labeling everything a "job killer," perhaps Republicans could, in their efforts to gain complete control of Congress and the White House in 2012, stop reacting to the Democrats and their proposals and present legislation that increases the job opportunities. The way things stand in Congress now, the Republicans simply counter what the Democrats propose or are working to repeal or eliminate whatever the Democrats have pushed through in the last two years. In so doing, this basically pushes the state of legislation back to the end of 2008 and the end of the Bush administration. And everyone knows what kind of job-killing was going on at that time.

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Patriot Act Extender Shot Down in House
February 10, 2011

Patriot Act extender legislation was not passed Tuesday night by the House. The bill is slated to expire at the end of the month.

If it were to pass, the bill would be extended by another 10 months. The House voted 277-148 in favor of the bill, but missed the two-thirds majority vote needed for it to be passed.

With the vote, 122 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted against the bill.

The Obama administration backed extending the homeland security measure for another two years.

The bill has be criticized by a number of civil liberties organizations since it was passed in 2002 under the Bush administration. The act "allows law enforcement to conduct surveillance without identifying the person or location to be wiretapped," said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The three provisions that failed to pass in the House "lack proper and fundamental privacy safeguards." The ACLU hailed the Tuesday House decision as a major victory.

A number of the 26 Republicans who voted against the Patriot Act extender were newly-elected.

"In a free society you have to be very careful as to taking away the civil liberties of the American people," Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) said, according to the Electronic Freedom Frontier. "Even if the bill is well intentioned and the law is well intentioned it can be used against innocent people. So that was my concern."

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said that congress members who voted against the extension of the bill did not understand why they voted against it.

"People didn't understand it," he said, according to the New York Times. "A lot of the complaints that we heard were about sections [of the law] not in this bill."

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Egypt has power transfer plan, vice president says
February 9, 2011

Egypt has a plan and timetable for the peaceful transfer of power, the vice president said on Tuesday, as protesters called more demonstrations hoping to show their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak remains potent.
With signs growing the government may be gaining the upper hand in the struggle for power, Vice President Omar Suleiman also promised no reprisals against the protesters for their two-week campaign to eject Mubarak after 30 years in office.
"A clear road map has been put in place with a set timetable to realize the peaceful and organized transfer of power," said Suleiman, Mubarak's long-time intelligence chief who has led talks with opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood -- Mubarak's sworn enemy.
So far the government has conceded little ground in the talks. The embattled 82-year-old president, who has promised to stand down when his term expires in September, appears to be weathering the storm engulfing Egypt, at least for the moment.
Negotiations that brought together the government and opposition factions took place this week under the gaze of a giant portrait of Mubarak.
"The president welcomed the national consensus, confirming that we are putting our feet on the right path to getting out of the current crisis," Suleiman said in comments broadcast by state television, after briefing Mubarak on the talks.
Hundreds of thousands have joined previous demonstrations and the United Nations says 300 people may have died so far. But many in a country where about 40 percent of people live on less than $2 a day are desperate to return to work and normal life, even some of those wanting to oust Mubarak.
Some normality is returning to Cairo. Traffic was bumper to bumper in the city center on Tuesday and queues quickly built up at banks, which are still open only for restricted hours.
While opposition groups talk to Suleiman, mainly younger protesters called for a push to remove Mubarak as the authorities tried to squeeze them out of central Cairo.
Suleiman promised that the harassment of protesters would end. "The president emphasized that Egypt's youth deserve the appreciation of the nation and issued a directive to prevent them being pursued, harassed or having their right to freedom of expression taken away," he said.
Tuesday's demonstrations will test the protesters' ability to maintain pressure on the government. Those camped out in tents on Tahrir Square have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits, and plan more mass demonstrations on Tuesday and Friday.
The release of a Google Inc executive, Wael Ghonim, after two weeks in which he said he was kept blindfolded by Egyptian state security may galvanize support. Activists say the Egyptian was behind a Facebook group that helped to inspire the protests.
"I am not a symbol or a hero or anything like that, but what happened to me is a crime," he told private Egyptian station Dream TV after his release on Monday. "We have to tear down this system based on not being able to speak out."
A posting on the social network site after the interview said: "Anyone who saw the Wael Ghonim interview and is not going to Tahrir tomorrow (Tuesday) has no heart."
LITTLE PROGRESS
Egyptian opposition figures have reported little progress in talks with the government.
The Muslim Brotherhood, by far the best organized opposition group, said on Monday it could quit the process if protesters' demands were not met, including the immediate exit of Mubarak.
U.S. President Barack Obama, however, said the talks were making progress. "Obviously, Egypt has to negotiate a path and they're making progress," he told reporters in Washington.
The United States, adopting a cautious approach to the crisis, has urged all sides to allow time for an "orderly transition" to a new political order in Egypt, for decades a strategic ally.
But protesters worry that when Mubarak does leave, he will be replaced not by the democracy they seek but by another authoritarian ruler. Many young men in Tahrir Square on Monday dismissed the political dialogue taking place.
The opposition has been calling for the constitution to be rewritten to allow free and fair presidential elections, a limit on presidential terms, the dissolution of parliament, the release of political detainees and lifting of emergency law.
The state news agency MENA reported on Monday that Mubarak had set up two committees to be involved in drawing up changes to the constitution.
The potential rise to power of the banned Muslim Brotherhood troubles Cairo's Western allies and Israel, which has a peace treaty with Egypt.
The White House has expressed concern about the group's "anti-American rhetoric," but stopped short of saying it would be against the group taking a role in a future government.
Keen to get traffic moving around Tahrir Square, the army has tried to squeeze the area the protesters have occupied. Some slept in the tracks of the army's armored vehicles to prevent them being used to force the protest into a smaller space.
The army's role in the next weeks is considered critical to the country's future.

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Obama's Continuing Cold War With the Chamber
February 9, 2011

President Barack Obama's public battles with the Chamber of Commerce may be over but the reception his speech received today at Chamber headquarters suggest the two sides are headed less for a full-blown peace than a simmering cold war.
The President began his talk on a humorous note, saying his relationship with the Chamber could have been smoother had he and his staffers traveled the roughly two blocks from the White House, bearing fruitcakes. More substantively, the President touted his business-friendly moves in recent weeks: the tax cut deal with Congressional Republicans, the visit of nearly 20 CEOs to Blair House, his hiring of Bill Daley as chief of staff, and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt's recent appointment as the head of the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He echoed many of the State of the Union address' optimistic themes: For America to succeed in the 21st century, "We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors."
But the President wasn't all sweetness and light. It's not enough to blame government for the pace of economic recovery, he said. Business, with an estimated $2 trillion on its balance sheets, shares responsibility. "I understand you're under incredible pressure to cut costs and keep your margins up. I understand your obligations to your shareholders," he told the crowd of nearly 200, mostly CEOs of mid-tier companies. Business-owners should ask themselves, he said: "What can you do to hire American workers, to support the American economy, to invest in this nation." (See "Obama's Risky Fight Against the Chamber of Commerce.")
It's unclear how that message will resonate with business owners like Harold Jackson. The CEO of Buffalo Supply Inc., a Lafayette, Colo., medical equipment purveyor, has cut his staff by nearly half in the last two years. On Monday, Jackson said he was "encouraged" by President Obama's support for measured regulations. "The proof will be in his actions," Jackson said, adding, "Until he actually removes regulations, I don't have confidence to hire the way I'd like."
Nearly every American president in the last century has addressed the Chamber. As President, Obama has twice visited the chamber's building: once, for an event for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and for an education event early last year. But neither event was officially sponsored by the chamber. The group has invited Obama to events at least twice, but each time was rebuffed. That's helped drive the popular narrative of war between Obama and business. (See "Obama's Reform Agenda: Is He Trying to Do Too Much?")
And that's the story Obama's trying to reverse. He and his aides point out that Obama regularly consults with American business leaders - "his" CEOs, not necessarily those anointed by the Chamber of Commerce. His tone, especially in the weeks since the mid-term elections, unmistakably borrows traditional Chamber, and conservative, rhetoric.
Presidential politics, of course, is driving this. But so is the larger goal: getting the American economy back on its feet. That will require truly careful consideration of things like regulation. And it will also mean business has to take some risks. For the chamber, it will mean accepting its place in Obama's Washington, backing off the strident rhetoric it displayed for much of last year - which marginalized its influence, especially on policies that must pass through a Senate still dominated by Democrats.
None of that can happen, though, without a real peace, not just an absence of outright war.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2046871,00.html#ixzz1DQZhe1pr

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Boomer Broads Interview Eyewitness To Protests
February 9, 2011

The Boomer Broads interview Laila Selim, an eyewitness to the Cairo Protests. Laila is an alum of Tufts University and a former producer of The Boomer Broads. Watch as Laila describes her experience in Cairo as the revolution first started and her own opinion on what the revolution means for Egypt and the rest of the world.







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