Larry P. Williams and Carri D. Williams’ adopted daughter Hana, who was adopted from Ethiopia in 2008 and came to America in search for a better life, was found in the family’s backyard in Sedro Woolley, Wash. naked and face down in mud in May.

According to court documents, the teen was systematically beaten, starved, forced to shower outside, sleep in a barn and use an outdoor toilet as punishment for being “rebellious”.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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The legislation, which easily passed the House on Monday, is virtually assured to clear the Senate shortly after noon Tuesday by a bipartisan tally. The White House promises Obama will sign the measure into law.

The legislation pairs an increase in the government’s borrowing cap with promises of more than $2 trillion of budget cuts over the upcoming decade. Its passage caps a long, difficult battle between tea party-powered House Republicans and Obama – with House Speaker John Boehner caught in the middle more than once.

After months of fiercely partisan struggle, the House’s top Republican and Democratic leaders swung behind the bill, ratifying a deal sealed Sunday night with a phone call from Boehner to Obama.

“I’m not happy with it,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. “But I’m proud of some of the accomplishments in it. That’s why I’m voting for it.”

Much of the measure was negotiated on terms set by Boehner, which included a demand that any increase in the nation’s borrowing cap be matched by spending cuts at least as large. But it also meets demands made by Obama, including debt increases large enough to keep the government funded into 2013 and curbs on growth of the Pentagon budget.

Even though Obama strongly supported the measure, half of the chamber’s Democrats opposed it. Sixty-six conservative Republicans opposed the measure as well.

Still, after storming the Capital in January – only to see bill after bill die in the Democratic Senate – many junior House lawmakers opted to view the legislation through the prism of optimism.

“It’s about time that Congress come together and figure out a way to live within our means,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. “This bill is going to start that process, although it doesn’t go far enough.”

The measure would provide an immediate $400 billion increase in the $14.3 trillion U.S. borrowing cap, with $500 billion more assured this fall. That $900 billion would be matched by cuts to agency budgets over the next 10 years.

What follows next is more complicated. The measure establishes a special bipartisan committee to draft legislation to find up to $1.5 trillion more in deficit cuts for a vote later this year. They’re likely to come from so-called mandatory programs like federal retirement benefits, farm subsidies, Medicare and Medicaid. The savings would be matched by a further increase in the borrowing cap.

There’s no guarantee the committee, to be evenly split between the warring parties, will agree on such legislation. But there are powerful incentives to do so because more budget gridlock would trigger a crippling round of automatic cuts across much of the budget, including Pentagon coffers.

On Monday, the White House dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to the Capitol to lobby recalcitrant Democrats in both House and Senate. He heard an earful, especially from liberal and black lawmakers upset that Obama surrendered on taxes and agreed to cuts from a budget ledger built up over the first two years of his term, when Democrats dominated Congress.

“They expressed all their frustration,” he conceded after a session with House Democrats.

Biden said the deal “has one overwhelming redeeming feature” – postponing the next debt limit battle until 2013 and leaving the current fight behind. “We have to get this out of the way to get to the issue of growing the economy,” he said.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said the Republicans got the better of the deal.

“Republicans intentionally created a crisis in order to get their way,” Schakowsky said. “This is the wrong medicine for a sick economy. This bill could increase unemployment, slow economic growth and deepen already historic income inequality.”

GOP leaders lobbied their members as well, but with Democratic leaders and Obama behind the legislation, there was far less pressure on them than last week, when they were forced to delay a vote and rewrite an earlier version of the measure to assuage tea party lawmakers.

“This measure is not perfect or the way we would have done it if we were in charge, but it will finally begin to change the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said. “As is the case with any major change, these things will take time and this is the first significant move – of many to come – to turn Washington around.”

In the Senate, support from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky virtually guarantees the measure will receive the 60 votes required to pass on Tuesday. The vote is set for noon, plenty of time to ship the measure up Pennsylvania Avenue to Obama. The administration has said that without the new borrowing authority, the government won’t be able to pay all its bills after Tuesday.

Enactment of the measure would provide welcome closure for Obama, who has seen his poll numbers sag during the debt limit battle – especially as Tuesday’s deadline neared and the stock market sank.

GOP presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann issued statements opposing the legislation.

“As with any compromise, the outcome is far from satisfying,” Obama conceded in a video his re-election campaign sent to millions of Democrats.

In a tweet, the president was more positive: “The debt agreement makes a significant down payment to reduce the deficit – finding savings in both defense and domestic spending.”

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House Speaker John Boehner’s Budget Control Act of 2011 is the current plan that congress will soon vote on. It is estimated to raise the debt limit by $2.5 trillion, and will reduce the deficit by about $915 billion, according to its revised version.

Here’s a little break down of what cuts will be made to some social services:

Social Security Administration

• Benefits for SSI, Medicare and Medicaid would fall by $2.5 billion over the 2012-2016 period and by nearly $12 billion over the 2012-2021 period.

Health Care

• Benefit outlays for Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP would fall by $1.4 billion over the 2012-2016 period and by about $3.7 billion over the 2012-2021 period.

Student Loans

• Eliminate the subsidized loan program for graduate students. Beginning July 1, 2012, the bill would eliminate the interest subsidy on subsidized student loans for almost all graduate students while a borrower is in school, in the post-school grace period, and during any authorized deferment period.
• Eliminate loan repayment incentives. Beginning July 1, 2012, the bill would terminate, with one exception, the Secretary of Education’s authority to make incentive payments to borrowers to encourage the on-time repayment of their federal loans.
• Cuts To Pell Grants. Significant cuts to student Pell Grants are also expected. Many college students rely heavily on Pell Grants to fund their higher education.

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The lawsuit claimed that research funded by the National Institute of Health violated the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits taxpayer financing for work that harms an embryo. But the administration policy allows research on embryos that were culled long ago through private funding.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, chief of the federal court in Washington, last year said the lawsuit was likely to succeed and ordered a stop to the research while the case continued. But under swift protest from the Obama administration, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here quickly overturned Lamberth’s injunction and said the case was likely to fail.

Lamberth said in his opinion Wednesday that he is bound by the higher court’s analysis and ruled in favor of the administration’s motion to dismiss the case.

“This Court, following the D.C. Circuit’s reasoning and conclusions, must find that defendants reasonably interpreted the Dickey-Wicker Amendment to permit funding for human embryonic stem cell research because such research is not `research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed,’ ” Lamberth wrote.

Researchers hope one day to use embryonic stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. Opponents of the research object because the cells were obtained from destroyed human embryos. Though current research is using cells culled long ago, opponents also fear research success would spur destruction of new embryos. Proponents say the research cells come mostly from extra embryos discarded anyway by fertility clinics.

President George W. Bush also permitted stem cell research, but limited the availability of taxpayer funds to embryonic stem cell lines that were already in existence and “where the life and death decision has already been made.” Obama’s order removed that limitation, allowing projects that involve stem cells from already-destroyed embryos or embryos to be destroyed in the future. To qualify, parents who donate the original embryo must be told of other options, such as donating to another infertile woman.

The Obama administration’s rules expanded the number of stem cell lines created with private money that federally funded scientists could research, up from the 21 that Bush had allowed, to around 100 so far.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two scientists who argued that Obama’s expansion jeopardized their ability to win government funding for research using adult stem cells – ones that have already matured to create specific types of tissues – because it will mean extra competition.

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“Get your a– in line,” he demanded to the caucus.

The GOP has been quite divided between those who back Boehner’s plan and those — mostly Tea Party members — who argue his plan’s spending reductions are “puny.”

Others have accused Boehner of being a traitor for negotiating with President Obama in possibly increasing government revenues.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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In the column, Sharpton encourages African-Americans to address their issues at the National Action Network’s annual march in Washington on August 27, where Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be commemorated, and the unveiling of his national monument will take place.

An Excerpt Reads:

Consistently on the forefront of social justice and civil rights issues, we at National Action Network can think of no greater time than the present to convene and address many of these challenges at our annual march in Washington, D.C. on August 27th. Paying homage to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we will gather, rally and march for jobs, education, non-violence, equality across the board and our collective future. From the emancipator (Abraham Lincoln) to the liberator (Dr. King), we recognize our advancement, but as this Pew study so distinctly highlights, we have much work that remains before us.

Despite what many economists may have us believe, the poor and working-class are still struggling to gain employment, provide food and clothing for their children, maintain a roof over their heads and afford health care. And now there is no question that Blacks and Latinos are lagging generations behind Whites when it comes to wealth. When Whites are more likely to invest in stocks, they are more likely to sustain themselves as the market improves. But when people of color had invested in homes, they were the first ones to lose that equity — hence unable to pass on wealth to their children as well.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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A statement from the White House rejected the plan, which conditions a debt limit hike on a constitutional amendment that would require the government to balance its books each year. The proposal also requires substantial spending cuts and a statutory spending cap as a precondition for raising the debt ceiling.

The White House’s statement classified the plan as “unrealistic policy goals.”

The Huffington Post Reports:

Republicans have been pushing the Cut, Cap and Balance plan largely as a reaffirmation of their conservative principles. But such a proposal has little chance of becoming law; constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress, which is unlikely in a Democratic-controlled Senate and maybe even a stretch in the House. And even if it were to pass Congress, an amendment wouldn’t take effect until it was ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.

Still, with an eye on 2012 elections, Republicans want votes on the proposal on the record. The House is scheduled to take up the bill on Tuesday, and the Senate is expected to follow later this week.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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According to the National Women’s Law Center’s analysis of Current Population Survey data shows that if chained CPI, a Social Security COLA is cut, the median benefit for African-American single women seniors will dip below the poverty line.

Currently, the median Social Security benefit for a 65-year-old single Black woman is $10, 680, while the median for all single women is $13, 200.

The poverty line for individual seniors is $ 10, 458.

The Huffington Post Reports:

This in itself does not mean that the chained CPI would push many senior African American women into poverty. But according to SSA (Social Security Administration) data nearly half–45.6 percent–of non-married African Americans aged 65 older rely on Social Security for all of their income; 54.1 percent rely on it for 90 percent of their income or more.

Taken together, these two pieces of information–that the median benefit would go below the poverty level for non-married African American women, and that a near-majority of non-married elderly African Americans rely on Social Security for all of their income–lead to the conclusion that the chained CPI would lead to an increase in poverty among elderly African Americans.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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According to A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother, a biography written by Times reporter Janny Scott, Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, had health insurance during her 1995 battle with cancer. Such a claim disputes the narrative told by Mr. Obama.

The significant line that questions Obama’s account reads:

“Ann’s compensation for her job in Jakarta had included health insurance, which covered most of the costs of her medical treatment. Once she was back in Hawaii, the hospital billed her insurance company directly, leaving Ann to pay only the deductible and any uncovered expenses, which, she said, came to several hundred dollars a month.”

However, the president referenced a rather different story:

“For my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they’re saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don’t have to pay her treatment, there’s something fundamentally wrong about that.”

The White House did not dispute Scott’s claim, however, spokesman Nicholas Papas told the Times, “The president has told this story based on his recollection of events that took place more than 15 years ago.”

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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Republicans said that after a heated disagreement with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the president “abruptly” walked out of the meeting.

Democratic lawmakers, however, said that Obama gave a lecture to Cantor and Republicans and left the meeting because it had ended, not because of anger.

Mr. Obama did have ardent words for Republican lawmakers, however.

“Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this,” the president said just shortly before concluding the two-hour meeting.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, warned on Wednesday of a “huge financial calamity” if President Obama and the Republicans cannot agree on a budget deal that allows the federal debt ceiling to be increased.

The NYTimes Reports:

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, said he raised the idea of taking what savings could be achieved now — roughly $1.4 trillion — and then having additional votes to raise the debt limit again before the elections in November 2012, with Republicans ultimately seeking a total of at least $2.4 trillion in cuts with no tax increases.

At this, Mr. Cantor said, the president “got very agitated, seemingly.” Mr. Cantor quoted the president as saying: “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people with this.”

Then, Mr. Cantor said, “He shoved back and said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and walked out.”

Read More At NYTimes.com

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Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted against the measure Thursday, demanding that poor middle-class Americans need to do more.

“I hear how they’re so caring for the poor and so forth,” Hatch said in remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, in reference to Democrats. “The poor need jobs! And they also need to share some of the responsibility.”

Video Below:

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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Laura Adiele was pulled out of the security line after having gone through the Advance Imaging System and was told she needed a pat-down.

“When I first heard her say, ‘We’re going to have to pat you down,’ I thought she was talking about my body. I was turning around and putting my arms out and she said, ‘no, we’re going to have to examine your hair,’ and I said, ‘no, we’re not going to do that today and you’re going to have to get security or your supervisor,’” said Adiele.

VIDEO:

“The supervisor shows up and she says, ‘It’s our policy that we examine anything that poofs from the body,’ and I’m looking around me at all these women with bigger hair if you will and I’m thinking ‘why am I the only one being singled out here for poofy hair?” Adiele said.

Adiele filed a complaint about the incident, but has not received a response.

Read more at TheGrio.com

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Walter Blair, 24, celebrated his birthday in Washington and was involved in a brawl with the cops, who were working as bouncers. Blair was never accused or charged with any crime, however, the beating resulted in the major injury.

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The tour is scheduled to commence this summer in Chicago, and will visit cities including Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles. The national unemployment rate is currently at 9.1 percent, however for African-Americans, the unemployment rate sits at 16.2 percent.

The Root Reports:

The CBC plans to continue introducing legislation based on this community response. At the tour’s end, the organization will commission a newly created CBC jobs advisory council of top black economic and business experts, to draft a report tying together each component of the initiative. The report will detail the outcomes of each event and propose a long-term solution for job creation and economic growth.

Read More At TheRoot.com

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WASHINGTON — Ignoring calls from several top Democrats for his resignation, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) seems determined to keep his place in Congress. Recent reports indicate that Weiner would soon be checking into a treatment center.

Huffington Post reports:

Weiner’s office put out a statement confirming those reports and announcing that he had requested a “short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.”

Earlier reports suggested that Weiner had no immediate intention of resigning. “Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents,” the statement from his office continued.

Despite his apparent refusal to officially step down, Weiner may no longer have an option as enough Congressional votes could see him removed.

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

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Delta Air Lines is facing intense criticism after it charged nearly $3000 in extra baggage fees to a group of 34 U.S. soldiers returning home from Afghanistan.

In a video released Tuesday, Army Staff Sgt. Robert O’Hair is recorded talking about the incident in which each soldier was charged $200 for having a fourth bag, in spite of an agreement between the United States government and Delta that authorized them to do so.

The total bill for the excess luggage came out to a whopping $2,800, which the soldiers were required to pay out of their own pockets.

The military has said they will reimburse the soldiers for the fees, and Delta changed its baggage policy for the armed forces, allowing soldiers to have up to five bags at no additional cost.

READ MORE AT HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

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LINK: BLACK MUSIC MOMENTS #67: LaFace Records Founded

Michelle Obama invited a group of Native American children to her plot on Friday to help plant what are called the “three sisters” — corn, beans and squash. They also harvested vegetables that were planted two months ago, and some of that will be used on Tuesday.

Planting corn, beans and squash together apparently is good all around: the corn gives the beans something to grow on, the beans provide nitrogen for the soil and the squash blocks sunlight and prevents weeds.

Last week, Mrs. Obama focused her anti-obesity campaign on Native Americans. The White House says 1 in 3 Native American children are overweight or obese by age 5.

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WASHINGTON — A White House official says President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner will play a round of golf together later this month.

Obama and Boehner – both avid golfers – will hit the links June 18. No word on where the round will take place, or whether they’ll be joined by any colleagues.

The president’s invitation comes as Boehner has urged Obama to take a more active role in the ongoing negotiations over how to reduce the nation’s deficit. Vice President Joe Biden has been leading bipartisan negotiations, but those talks appear stalled.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to disclose the president’s private invitation.

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WASHINGTON — Employers in May added the fewest jobs in eight months, and the unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent. The weakening job market raised concerns about an economy hampered by gas prices and the Japanese nuclear disaster.

The key question is whether the meager 54,000 jobs added last month mark a temporary setback or are evidence of a more chronic problem. That total is far lower than the previous three months’ average of 220,000 new jobs per month.

Private companies hired only 83,000 new workers in May – the fewest in nearly a year.

Stocks on Wall Street fell for the third straight day. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 94 points in the first hour of trading. Broader indexes also opened lower.

Local governments cut 28,000 jobs last month, the most since November. Nearly 18,000 of those jobs were in education.

Cities and counties have cut jobs for 22 straight months and have shed 446,000 positions since September 2008.

The anemic pace of job creation presents a huge challenge to President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects next year. And it followed a string of disappointing economic data in the past month that suggest the economy is hitting a soft patch.

The manufacturing sector, a key driver of the economic recovery, grew at its slowest pace in 20 months in May. Home prices are still falling and reached their lowest level since 2002 in March.

Higher gas prices have left less money for consumers to spend on other purchases. And average wages aren’t even keeping up with inflation. As a result, consumer spending, which fuels about 70 percent of the economy, is growing sluggishly.

Economists have said that most of the factors slowing the economy are temporary. But some are now concerned that the impact is greater than they first envisioned.

“Economic activity has clearly hit a soft patch,” said Steven Wood, chief economist for Insight Economics. “The open question is whether this is temporary and will quickly reverse itself over the next couple of months or whether this is an adjustment to a slower permanent growth rate.”

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at HIS, called it a “pretty bad report. It’s tempting to say it’s an outlier, but I’m a little worried.”

More people entered the work force in May. But most of the new entrants couldn’t find work. That pushed the unemployment rate up from 9.0 percent in April. The number of unemployed rose to 13.9 million.

And the government revised the previous months’ job totals to show 39,000 fewer jobs were created in March and April than first thought.

The weakness in hiring was widespread. Manufacturers cut 5,000 jobs, the first job loss in that sector in seven months. That included a drop of 3,400 jobs in the auto sector.

Car makers are cutting back on production because they are having a difficult time purchasing parts. Many auto parts, including some key electronic components, are manufactured in Japan and the March 11 earthquake in that country has disrupted supply chains.

Parts of the economy most dependent on consumer spending saw some of the steepest job losses. Retailers cut 8,500 positions, after adding 64,000 in April. And leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants and hotels, cut 6,000 jobs. That came after they added an average of 43,000 in the previous three months.

There were some bright spots in May. Professional and business services added 44,000 new positions, most of them in accounting, information technology services, and management.

Still, the economy needs to generate at least 100,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth and prevent the unemployment rate from rising. And economists say the gains need to be at least double that total to drive down the rate.

About 8.5 million Americans worked part time, even though they would have preferred full-time jobs. Another 2.2 million have stopped looking in the past year. All told, the “under-employment” rate was 15.8 percent, down from 15.9 percent the previous month.

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WASHINGTON — President Obama announced yesterday that June will be African-American Music Appreciation Month .

Read the full proclamation from the President below:

The music of our Nation has always spoken to the condition of our people and reflected the diversity of our Union. African-American musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters have made enormous contributions to our culture by capturing the hardships and aspirations of a community and reminding us of our shared values. During African-American Music Appreciation Month, we honor the rich musical traditions of African-American musicians and their gifts to our country and our world.

From the cadenced hums of spirituals to the melodies of rhythm and blues, African-American music has been used to communicate, to challenge, to praise, and to uplift in times of both despair and triumph. The rhythmic chords embedded in spirituals have long expressed a deep faith in the power of prayer, and brought hope to slaves toiling in fields. The soulfulness of jazz and storytelling in the blues inspired a cultural renaissance, while the potent words of gospel gave strength to a generation that rose above the din of hatred to move our country toward justice and equality for all.

Today, African-American musicians continue to create new musical genres and transform the scope of traditional musical formats. The artistic depth of soul, rock and roll, and hip-hop not only bring together people across our Nation, but also energize and shape the creativity of artists around the world. The contributions of African-American composers and musicians to symphony, opera, choral music, and musical theater continue to reach new audiences and encourage listeners to celebrate fresh interpretations of these and other genres.

In cherished songs passed down through generations and innovative musical fusions crafted today, African-American music continues to transcend time, place, and circumstance to provide a source of pride and inspiration for all who hear its harmonies. This month, we celebrate the legacy of African-American music and its enduring power to bring life to the narrative of our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2011 as African-American Music Appreciation Month. I call upon public officials, educators, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs that raise awareness and foster appreciation of music which is composed, arranged, or performed by African Americans.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

________________

Radio One has also launched a national campaign in celebration of African-American Music Month.

Click here to see a breakdown of the many exclusives that will be getting under way this month including The Urban Daily’s very own FourSquare check-in sweepstakes, Black Music Trivia Text contest and the “It’s All Black Music Meter,” just to name a few.

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House Democrats accused the GOP of political demagoguery, while the Obama administration maneuvered to avoid taking sides – or giving offense to majority Republicans.

The debate was brief, occasionally impassioned, and set a standard of sorts for public theater, particularly at a time when private negotiations continue among the administration and key lawmakers on the deficit cuts Republicans have demanded.

The bill “will and must fail,” said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the House Ways and Means Committee chairman who noted he had helped write the very measure he was criticizing.

“I consider defeating an unconditional increase to be a success, because it sends a clear and critical message that the Congress has finally recognized we must immediately begin to rein in America’s affection for deficit spending,” he said.

But Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., accused Republicans of a “ploy so egregious that (they) have had to spend the last week pleading with Wall Street not to take it seriously and risk our economic recovery.”

He and other Democrats added that Republicans were attempting to draw attention away from their controversial plan to turn Medicare into a program in which seniors purchase private insurance coverage.

The proceedings occurred roughly two months before the date Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said the debt limit must be raised. If no action is taken by Aug. 2, he has warned, the government could default on its obligations and risk turmoil that might plunge the nation into another recession or even an economic depression.

Republicans, who are scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Wednesday, signaled in advance that the debt limit vote did not portend a final refusal to grant an increase. And in fact, the White House is negotiating with top lawmakers in both houses on a package of deficit cuts to accompany a debt limit increase in the coming weeks.

The roll call vote was to be held late in the day, when it would be least likely to rattle the U.S. financial markets while still allowing rank-and-file lawmakers to vote against unpopular legislation the leadership has said eventually must pass.

For its part, the administration appeared eager to avoid criticizing Republicans.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” presidential press secretary Jay Carney said when asked about the Republican decision to tie spending cuts with more borrowing.

“We believe they should not be linked because there is no alternative that’s acceptable to raising the debt ceiling. But we’re committed to reducing the deficit,” Carney said.

The government has already reached the limit of its borrowing authority, $14.3 trillion, and the Treasury is using a series of extraordinary maneuvers to meet financial obligations.

By no longer would making investments in two big pension funds for federal workers and beginning to withdraw current investments, for example, the Treasury created $214 billion in additional borrowing headroom.

At the same time, the Obama administration and congressional leaders are at work trying to produce a deficit-reduction agreement in excess of $1 trillion to meet Republican demands for spending cuts.

Political maneuvering on legislation to raise the debt limit has become common in recent years, as federal deficits have soared and presidents of both political parties have been forced to seek authority to borrow additional trillions of dollars.

Because such legislation is unpopular with voters, presidents generally look to lawmakers from their own political party to provide the votes needed for passage. In the current case, though, Republicans control the House, and without at least some support from them, Obama’s request for a debt-limit increase would fail.

However, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced months ago that he would demand spending cuts as a condition for passage.

“It’s true that allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” he said on May 9 in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. “But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt limit without simultaneously taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and to reform the budget process.”

He added that any spending cuts should be larger than the increase in borrowing authority, a statement meant to lay down a marker for the deficit-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden.

Few details have emerged from those negotiations, although Biden said recently the negotiators had made progress. He expressed confidence they would be able to agree on specific cuts in excess of $1 trillion over the next decade, and then look to procedural mechanisms known as “triggers” to force further automatic deficit cuts adding up to another $3 trillion or so.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a participant in the talks, said afterward, “I am confident that we can achieve over a trillion dollars in savings at this point, and hopefully more.”

Earlier, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., had said the discussions centered on deficit cuts totaling in the range of $150 billion to $200 billion over a decade, but that was from a relatively small category of programs.

Among the areas eyed for spending cuts is the federal pension program, where the White House has signaled it is receptive to a Republican proposal for employees to make greater contributions.

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President Obama concludes his European trip today after visiting four nations over the course of six days: Ireland, Britain, France, and Poland.

In Ireland, he drank a beer at the birthplace of his maternal great-great-great-grandfather and in England he became the first United States President to speak in front of British Parliament.

The Washington Post reporters:

His achievement, though, is difficult to measure. How his public diplomacy will translate into policy that strengthens his hand in Afghanistan, Libya and the broader Middle East remains unclear.

But at the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, Obama did reap the benefits of his effort to “reset” relations with Russia, securing from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev a pledge to help push Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi from office.

The final stop on the European trip, Poland, was where Obama discussed the nation’s security and relations with Russia.

“One of the important roles that Poland can play is not just as a promoter of ideas but as a living example of what is possible when countries take reform seriously,” he said at the news conference.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday pardoned eight people convicted of crimes ranging from conspiring to import marijuana to selling alligator hides.

The action marked the second set of pardons Obama has granted since becoming president. The first pardons, last December, went to nine people whose crimes included possessing drugs, counterfeiting and mutilating coins.

Like the earlier pardons, the latest did not involve anyone well-known. The cases date back as far as 1975, when Randy Eugene Dyer of Burien, Wash., was sentenced to serve five years in prison in the conspiracy to import marijuana and two related crimes.

Another pardon recipient was Bobby Gerald Wilson of Summerton, S.C., sentenced in 1985 to 3 ½ months in prison for aiding and abetting the possession and sale of illegal American alligator hides.

Others who received pardons:

– Allen Edward Peratt Sr. of Sioux Falls, S.D., sentenced in 1990 to 2 ½ years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

–Christine Marie Rossiter of Lincoln, Neb., sentenced in 1992 to three years of probation for conspiring to distribute less than 110 pounds of marijuana.

– Patricia Ann Weinzatl of Prentice, Wis., sentenced in 2001 to three years of probation for structuring financial transactions to evade bank reporting requirements.

– Michael Ray Neal of Palm Coast, Fla., sentenced in 1991 to six months in prison for unauthorized decryption of satellite cable programming.

– Edwin Alan North of Wolcottville, Ind., sentenced to six months of probation for transferring a firearm without payment of tax.

– Danny Alonzo Levitz of Angola, Ind., sentenced in 1980 to two years of probation for conspiracy.

The White House, as is typically the case with every administration, offered no elaboration for the president’s pardons.

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WASHINGTON — United States Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates stated that there was no evidence that anyone in the upper echelons of Pakistan’s leadership knew that Osama Bin Laden was hiding in their country.

The New York Times reports:

“I have seen no evidence at all that the senior leadership knew,” Mr. Gates said. “In fact, I’ve seen some evidence to the contrary.”

Asked if the Pakistani senior leadership should pay a price for apparently not knowing that Bin Laden was there, Mr. Gates replied swiftly. “If I were in Pakistani shoes, I would say I’ve already paid a price — I’ve been humiliated, I’ve been shown that the Americans can come in here and do this with impunity,” he said.

At the same news conference, Mr. Gates said that there had been too much public discussion about the details of the raid and that there were concerns about security for the families of the Navy Seal members who had carried it out.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

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WASHINGTON — House Republicans have told the top U.S. foreign aid official that the country’s earthquake relief efforts in Haiti have been pathetic.

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz says only 5 percent of the rubble has been removed and 22 percent of the needed transitional shelters have been built. Those figures came from inspector general reports.

Obama administration aid official Rajiv Shah told Chaffetz at a hearing Wednesday that major progress has been made in providing safe drinking water and medical care. He says a new industrial park will create 5,000 jobs.

Republican Darrell Issa of California told Shah that if a recovery effort was that slow in the United States, the administrator would be fired.

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Washington — Immigration is an issue that many Latinos across the country have criticized President Obama on for his substantial deportations in comparison to President Bush.

Obama, who held a closed door meeting with numerous politicians and civil rights leaders across the country yesterday, has tapped Rev. Al Sharpton to join him in the immigration debate.

Sharpton called the session a “very healthy beginning” and said that immigration reform is something we must do together as a country.

“Immigration reform must be a priority,” he said.

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SEATTLE — A Seattle teen shown on video shoving a police officer who then punched her in the face has apologized to the officer in a private meeting.

Seattle police say Officer Ian Walsh accepted the apology Friday.

Separately, the King County prosecutor charged the 17-year-old girl as a juvenile with third-degree assault, which is punishable by a maximum 30 days in detention.

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The incident happened Monday as the teen was intervening in a friend’s arrest for jaywalking. James Kelly of the Urban League of Seattle says he requested Friday’s meeting between the teen and the officer at a community center to help calm the situation.

Police have said the department’s civilian-led Office of Professional Accountability is investigating the 39-year-old officer’s actions.

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From King5.com

AUBURN, Wash. – A prank at an Auburn high school leads to two seniors banned from Saturday’s graduation ceremony, as well as another student arrested, accused of assaulting a school security guard.

“We bought the bananas,” Andrew Carel said, “got about 3 feet of fishing line, and the tied them up on the balcony.”

And why string up bananas in that particular location? Carel said students it’s because of the nickname that stairwell has received for the black students who gather there.

“They all hang out under the stairs,” he said, “and we just call it “The Jungle” because… that’s what even the black people call it too.”

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From The Washington Post

Gilbert Arenas already faces a difficult week ahead, with his sentencing for felony gun possession set for Friday. But Arenas’s troubles were magnified recently, when he discovered that his estranged mother, Mary Francis Robinson, died in Miami.

Robinson passed away on March 13, but Arenas didn’t find out until a few days later, according to multiple sources. The cause of her death is not known.

Arenas had been estranged from his mother who abandoned him when he was three.

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From MSNBC:

TACOMA, Wash. – Thousands of people are taking part in a memorial service Tuesday to pay their respects to four officers who were shot to death last month as they sat in a coffee shop in a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.

Among the 20,000 officers and civilians expected to turn out for the event at the Tacoma Dome was FBI Director Robert Mueller, as well as law enforcement officers from around the country, including officers from Minneapolis, Oakland, Bozeman, Mont., Langley, B.C., and municipalities across Washington state.

The caskets of Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, were to be taken from McChord Air Force Base to the Tacoma Dome in a procession of red-and-blue police lights that was expected to stretch for up to 10 miles in the largest memorial in state history.

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