Obama, Boehner at war over debt talk collapse

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House Speaker John Boehner walked away from negotiations Friday, complaining that Mr. Obama would not agree to Republican demands that the deal not include any tax increases. Shortly after Boehner made his decision public, Mr. Obama, appearing frustrated, appeared before reporters to explain what had been on the table and hammer Boehner for walking away from an "extraordinarily fair deal."
The deal on the table, as Mr. Obama laid it out, included more than $1 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense discretionary spending, as well as $650 billion in cuts to entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He said he asked for approximately $1.2 trillion in revenue increases that he said would have come from eliminating loopholes and deductions and engaging in broad tax reform, not hiking tax rates.
The deal, he said, called for less in tax increases than the deal worked out by the bipartisan "Gang of Six" negotiators, while including as much in discretionary savings. He said if the deal was unbalanced, "it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."

President Barack Obama makes a statement in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, July 22, 2011 on the break down of debt ceiling talks.

Appearing after Mr. Obama spoke, Boehner suggested the president "moved the goalposts" during discussions. He said there had been a closed-door agreement to increase revenues $800 billion through tax reform, but that Mr. Obama then insisted on an additional $400 billion in tax increases over 10 years.
Asked how the deal could break down over $40 billion per year over 10 years, Boehner said the tax increases would have been on "the very people that we expect to invest in our economy and create jobs" -- presumably high-earners. 
"I can tell that you [House Majority Leader Eric] Cantor and I were very disappointed in this call for higher revenue," Boehner said. "Secondly, they refuse to get serious about cutting spending and making the tough choices that are facing our country on entitlement reform. That's the bottom line. I take the same oath of office as the president of the United States. I've got the same responsibilities as the president of the United States. And I think that's for both of us to do what's in the best interest of our country. And I can tell you that it's not in the best interest of our country to raise taxes during this difficult economy and it is not in the best interest of our country to ignore the serious spending challenges that we face."

(Credit: CBS)

Mr. Obama at one point suggested he "couldn't get a phone call returned" from Boehner earlier in the day, and said that when it comes to a deal, "I've been left at the altar now a couple of times." (A senior White House official later said the deal Mr. Obama was still on the table.) He said he was unable to guarantee that Social Security checks and other obligations would go out after the August 2 deadline, and said the blame falls on House Republicans who have been unwilling to compromise to get a deal done.
Mr. Obama said he was calling Congressional leaders to the White House Saturday morning at 11 a.m. "to explain to me how we are going to avoid default," acknowledging that discussions were basically back to square one.
"What this came down to is there doesn't seem to be a capacity for them to say yes," Mr. Obama said.
"I think the challenge really has to do with the seeming inability, particularly in the House of Representatives, to arrive at any kind of position that compromises any of their ideological preferences," he said. "None. And you've heard it. I'm not making this up. I think there are a number of members of that caucus that have been very clear about that."
Asked what he would say to calm skittish markets, Mr. Obama said, "I remain confident that we will get an extension of the debt limit and we will not default," but he was less confident that the GOP will step up and deal with underlying debt and deficits "in a way that is fair." He said he would be willing to sign a debt limit increase that did not include deficit reduction measures if presented such a bill by Congress.
"I think it's very important that the leadership understands that Wall Street will be opening on Monday and we'd better have some answers during the course of the next several days," Mr. Obama said.
Boehner also said he was "convinced" there would be no default.  He said "absolutely not" when asked if he was pressured to walk away from the deal by his caucus.

Holy receipt!

Jesus and the Virgin Mary have "appeared" on everything from grilled cheese to rocks.
But in his most recent appearance, Jesus is showing that even the son of the Big Man has economic issues on the brain: A South Carolina couple claims that the good lord Jesus appeared on a receipt from a recent trip to Wal-Mart.
Jacob Simmons and Gentry Lee Sutherland had just returned home from church (interesting connection, no?), and found what looked like the face of Christ BURNED into the receipt.
Maybe next time, he can make an appearance on the bazillion-dollar tab we've got running on Capitol Hill and save us from that.

U.S.-Pakistan relations "on a collision course"

The killing of Osama bin Laden   
(AP) 
ISLAMABAD - Officials in Pakistan say the country has agreed to let Osama bin Laden's youngest widow return to her native Yemen. But they would not reveal when she'll leave.
Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, two other widows and eight of bin Laden's children were detained following the May 2 U.S. raid that killed the al Qaeda chief in the northwestern Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
 

The Killing of Osama bin Laden


A Pakistani security official said Friday that Pakistan has granted Abdullfattah permission to go home. An official at the Yemeni embassy in Islamabad confirmed an agreement had been reached on her deportation.
Both officials requested anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity.
The security official says Abdullfattah has fully recovered from a bullet that struck her leg during the raid.

James Murdoch contradicted by his ex-legal manager

LONDON (AP) — James Murdoch was under pressure Friday over claims he misled lawmakers about Britain's phone hacking scandal, as a lawmaker called for a police investigation and Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the media scion had "questions to answer" about what he knew and when he knew it.
Two former top staffers in the Murdoch media empire released a statement late Thursday saying they told James Murdoch years ago about an email that suggested wrongdoing at the News of the World tabloid was more widespread than the company let on — contradicting a claim by Rupert Murdoch's son that he was not aware of evidence the eavesdropping went beyond a jailed rogue reporter.
The claim could be a serious problem for the embattled James Murdoch, who heads the Europe and Asia operations of his father's News Corp. Deliberately misleading Parliament is a crime in Britain.
It's also the first sign that Murdoch executives are starting to turn against the empire in the wake of a scandal that has already cost it one of its British tabloids, two top executives and a $12 billion-dollar bid for control of lucrative satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.
Tom Watson, a legislator from the opposition Labour Party, called for Scotland Yard to look into the allegation and said it "marks a major step forward in getting to the facts of this case."
"If their version of events is accurate, it doesn't just mean that Parliament has been misled, it means police have another investigation on their hands," Watson told the BBC.
News International, News Corp.'s British newspaper arm, said James Murdoch stood by his statement Tuesday to the parliamentary committee investigating the phone-hacking scandal, which exploded with revelations journalists at the News of the World tabloid hacked the phone of a 13-year-old murder victim while police were still searching for her and broadened to include claims reporters paid police for information.
That set off a firestorm which hit at the highest reaches of British society. It forced Rupert Murdoch to shutter News of the World, prompting a spate of high-profile resignations and departures at News Corp. and delivering the 80-year-old media baron and his son to be grilled before lawmakers.
Cameron, who himself has been tainted by the scandal after hiring an ex-News of the World editor, continued to distance himself from a once-cozy relationship with the Murdochs.
"Clearly James Murdoch has got questions to answer in Parliament and I am sure that he will do that," Cameron said Friday, adding the Murdochs had "a mess to clear up."
James Murdoch, in his testimony on Tuesday, batted away claims he knew the full extent of the illegal espionage at the News of the World when he approved a 700,000 pound ($1.1 million) payout in 2008 to soccer players' association chief Gordon Taylor, one of the phone hacking victims.
News International had long maintained that the eavesdropping was limited to a single rogue reporter, Clive Goodman, and the private investigator he was working with to break into voice mails of members of the royal household.
But an email uncovered during legal proceedings seemed to cast doubt on that claim. It contained a transcript of an illegally obtained conversation, drawn up by a junior reporter and marked "for Neville" — an apparent reference to the News of the World's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck.
Because it seemed to implicate others in the hacking, the email had the potential to blow a hole through News International's fiercely held contention that one reporter alone had engaged in hacking. If James Murdoch knew about the email — and was aware of its implication — it would lend weight to the suggestion he'd approved the payoff in an effort to bury the scandal.
James Murdoch told lawmakers he was not aware of the email at the time, but former legal adviser Tom Crone and ex-editor Colin Myler contradicted him.
"We would like to point out that James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken," they said. "In fact, we did inform him of the 'for Neville' email which had been produced to us by Gordon Taylor's lawyers."
The Conservative lawmaker who heads the committee, James Whittingdale, said James Murdoch would be asked in writing to clarify his testimony, but would not be recalled before the committee.
Murdoch's News Corp. is trying to keep the damage from spreading to its more lucrative U.S. holdings, including the Fox network, 20th Century Fox and the Wall Street Journal.
British politicians have felt the heat too, with the country's top two party leaders falling over each other to distance themselves from papers they once courted assiduously.
Cameron's former communications director — Murdoch newspapers veteran Andy Coulson — came under fresh scrutiny Thursday after it was reported that he did not have a top-level security clearance, which spared him from the most stringent type of vetting.
The former News of the World editor was arrested this month in connection with allegations that reporters at the tabloid intercepted voice mails. Victims included celebrities, crime victims and politicians.
Lawyers could also have been targeted, according to The Law Society. It said solicitors had been warned by police that their phones may have been hacked by the paper.
Scotland Yard, accused of failing to properly investigate the scandal for years, has also been asked to investigate another explosive claim: That journalists bribed officers to locate people by tracking their cell phone signals.
The practice is known as "pinging" because of the way cell phone signals bounce off relay towers as they try to find reception. Jenny Jones, a member of the board that oversees the Metropolitan Police Authority, called for the inquiry into the alleged payoffs by journalists at the News of the World.

White House Holding Out Hope for Grand Deficit Deal, Budget Director Says

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White House budget director Jack Lew said Sunday that the Obama administration is holding out hope for a grand deal to reduce the deficit and raise the debt ceiling, though negotiators appear to be drifting farther apart. 

In multiple interviews, Lew said President Obama wants to strike "the largest deal possible" over the next two weeks. 

"There's still time to get something big done," Lew said. 

However, Lew acknowledged that the deficit and debt talks are proceeding on "multiple tracks." 

On one track, House Republicans are pushing a plan to cut and cap federal spending, while tying a debt-ceiling increase to a balanced-budget amendment -- a plan Democrats say is doomed. On another track, Senate Democrats and Republicans are drafting a backup plan that would allow the president to win a debt-ceiling increase without a congressional majority supporting it -- a plan conservatives say they will not endorse. On the third track, Lew said there have been continuing "conversations" since the last bipartisan meeting Thursday about some semblance of a deal. 

"There've been a lot of conversations within each of the party caucuses, within the House and the Senate, phone calls and conversations back and forth," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." "That's how the president left it on Thursday. We kind of put all of the items on the table. It was now a question of Congress figuring out what it could do. So I think that will continue over the next day or so." 

Lew, while claiming he does not believe the country will be pushed into default, said the president still wants to achieve a "balanced package," one which includes taxes. 

But Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., suggested that as long as the president insists on taxes, Republicans in the Senate will continue working on the backup plan with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. At the very least, he said, Congress can avert a default. 

"As to whether or not we can achieve savings in the process, again, depends on the president," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Refugee group finds 250,000-plus Afghans displaced

                                                                                                                


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - More than 250,000 Afghans have fled their villages during the past two years of fighting, Refugees International says, in a report critical of U.S. Special Forces and other international and Afghan military operations for exacerbating the displacement of civilians.
The total cited in the report, to be released on Tuesday, is less than 1 percent of Afghanistan's estimated population of 28 million people, but it reflects people's concerns about their security as the war here nears its 10-year mark and the U.S. is poised to start withdrawing combat forces.
President Barack Obama announced last week he was ordering 10,000 U.S. troops home by year's end; as many as 23,000 more are to leave by September 2012. That would leave 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
"As the U.S. begins to draw down its forces and transition responsibilities to the Afghan government, the Obama administration must mitigate further displacement and ensure that the Afghan government takes greater responsibility for the protection of displaced people," the report said.
It noted that Afghan civilians are caught in the crossfire of an intensifying military campaign against insurgents. Since the beginning of this year, more than 91,000 have fled their villages, compared with 42,000 during the same period last year, the report said.
Refugees International, based in Washington, D.C., blames the increase on military operations by Afghan forces and the foreign military contingent called the International Security Assistance Force.
"The increasing use of airstrikes by the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan national security forces as well as night raids by U.S. Special Forces is destroying homes, crops and basic infrastructure, traumatizing civilians and displacing tens of thousands of people," the report said.
The military coalition has embraced night raids as a tactic for targeting the insurgents' leadership, preventing it from making a comeback and forcing it to the negotiating table. Some Afghan analysts, however, think it's impossible to bomb the insurgents to the negotiating table, saying the airstrikes and night raids only embolden militants' fighting spirit.
In northern Afghanistan alone, nearly 30,000 individuals have been displaced, a more than sevenfold increase compared to last year, the report said.
"Before the military escalated its campaign, Afghans were fleeing for brief periods and returning home shortly thereafter. Now, people are increasingly unwilling to return home because they fear their villages are no longer safe," the report said. "To address this increasing instability, ISAF and Afghan national security forces must reduce the displacement caused by their operations."
Refugees International also contended the proliferation of militias is increasing insecurity, especially in the north. Many new militias operate under the guise of the U.S. and ISAF-backed Afghan Local Police, it said.
Security analysts and representatives of displaced individuals, government and humanitarian groups told the refugee organization that the "expansion of poorly vetted, ill-trained and unsupervised Afghan Local Police units and irregular militias are a major threat to civilians and stability."
The report said such armed groups have allegedly committed abuses including murder, theft, extortion, bribery and intimidation.
The international military coalition defended the local police initiative, saying any allegations against the Afghan Local Police brought to the attention of Afghan forces are investigated.
Refugees International also cited a March study by the United Nations that cited concerns regarding the Afghan Local Police's "weak oversight, recruitment, vetting and command and control mechanisms, limited training for recruits."
Separately, the U.N. World Food Program announced Monday it will cut food assistance to more than 3 million Afghans in about half the country's 34 provinces because of a shortage of money from donor nations.
The U.N. agency said it had planned to help feed more than 7 million people in Afghanistan this year, but a shortage of donor funds means only 3.8 million people will be helped through meals provided at schools and training and work programs. It said it needed an additional $220 million to continue its work in Afghanistan at the level originally planned.
The program will focus food assistance on helping the most needy Afghans, especially women and children, said Bradley Guerrant, the agency's deputy country director.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Bin Laden courier's phone provides leads

WASHINGTON – A cellphone of Osama bin Laden's trusted courier recovered in the U.S. raid last month that killed both men in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan's intelligence agency, The New York Times reported late Thursday.
In a story posted on the Times website, senior American officials and others briefed on the findings said the discovery indicates bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistan.
It raises questions about whether the group and others helped shelter and support the al-Qaida leader on behalf of Pakistan's spy agency.
The officials and analysts told the Times that Pakistan's intelligence agency had mentored Harakat and allowed it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years.
In tracing the calls on the cellphone, U.S. analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, the senior American officials said. One said they had met. The officials added that the contacts were not necessarily about bin Laden and that there was no "smoking gun" showing that Pakistan's spy agency had protected bin Laden.
Beyond providing leads about why bin Laden was able to live comfortably for years in Abbottabad, a town dominated by the Pakistani military just 35 miles from the capital city of Islamabad, the discovery also may help shed light on bin Laden's secret odyssey after he slipped away from U.S. forces in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan.