The government appointed group, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)'s message to women:"Women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year, an influential federal task force has concluded, challenging the use of one of the most common medical tests."
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.
A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama.
President Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships.
After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.
But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?
Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur.
Indeed, an argument could be made that Obama should have canceled the Indian event, out of respect for people having been murdered at an Army post a few hours before. That would have prevented any sort of jarring emotional switch at the event.
Did the president's team not realize what sort of image they were presenting to the country at this moment? The disconnect between what Americans at home knew had been going on -- and the initial words coming out of their president's mouth was jolting, if not disturbing.
Guantanamo Bay detainees will be receiving the H1N1 vaccine, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday, even though White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said minutes earlier that the vaccine is not "on the way."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Gibbs was correct in saying the vaccine is not currently on its way, but clarified that it is scheduled to be at the naval base on Cuba by the end of November.
"The department has an obligation to care for persons in its custody and we take that seriously," Whitman told Fox News. "There is a limited supply of this vaccine so we have prioritized our population."
Gibbs was less forthcoming when asked about earlier reports in which military officials said the vaccine would soon be on its way. Following some complaints that the detainees could be receiving the treatment before other Americans, Gibbs seemed to suggest that there were no plans to vaccinate the 215 detainees remaining in the facility.
"There is no vaccine in Guantanamo. There is no vaccine on the way to Guantanamo," Gibbs said. "I don't know what the Pentagon said. ... There wasn't any there and there wasn't any on the way."
U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October, government data showed on Friday, driving the unemployment rate to 10.2 percent, the highest in 26-1/2 years.
The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since April 1983 and October's non-farm payrolls loss was the smallest since August last year. It revised job losses for August and September to show 91,000 fewer jobs lost than previously reported.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to drop by 175,000 and the jobless rate to edge up to 9.9 percent from 9.8 percent in September.
The White House argues that the actual job number is actually larger than 640,000 -- closer to 1 million jobs when one factors in stimulus jobs added in October and, more importantly, jobs created indirectly, such as "the waitress who's still on the job," Vice President Biden said today.
So let's see. Assuming their number is right -- 160 billion divided by 1 million. Does that mean the stimulus costs taxpayers $160,000 per job?
Jared Bernstein, chief economist and senior economic advisor to the vice president, called that "calculator abuse."
He said the cost per job was actually $92,000 -- but acknowledged that estimate is for the whole stimulus package as of the end of 2010.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Colorado company said it created 4,231 jobs with the help of President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan. The real number: fewer than 1,000.
A child care center in Florida said it saved 129 jobs with the help of stimulus money. Instead, it gave pay raises to its existing employees.
Elsewhere in the U.S., some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two, three, four or even more times.
The government has overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under the president's $787 billion recovery program, according to an Associated Press review of data released in the program's first progress report.
The Obama administration has reportedly overstated thousands of jobs it claims were saved or created by the $787 billion stimulus bill. Accounts in the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today give examples of questionable job figures.
The Journal estimates at least 2,000 of the 640,000 jobs the administration claimed to have saved or created do not exist.
USA Today reports that a Texas public housing authority manager told the government he had hired six people with the $26,000 in stimulus aid he was given. The government told him that was not correct. When he reported the total hours worked, 450, that figure ended up in the "jobs created" column.
The AP says 9,500 jobs claimed by the Health and Human Services Department weren't saved at all, but were included when existing employees were given pay raises and benefits. HHS spokesman Luis Rosero defended the practice saying, "If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job."
Click here to view video.Republican Rep. Joe Wilson proposed an amendment Wednesday that would force all members of Congress to receive health insurance coverage through the government-run plan proposed in the House's reform bill.
Though Republicans oppose the so-called "public option," the South Carolina gadfly -- who gained notoriety for shouting "you lie" at President Obama during his address to Congress two months ago -- is proposing the requirement to draw attention to what he sees as the plan's flaws.
"They know the government-run option will not be in the interest of the American people, either individually or for the American citizens at large," Wilson said Wednesday, arguing that's the reason Congress does not require its members to sign up.
The current House health care legislation states that members of Congress "may enroll" in the public plan. Wilson wants that changed to "must enroll."
"If the public option is good enough for the American people, then it's certainly good enough for Congress," Wilson said. "If this government-run plan is so good, why don't members of Congress take the plan?"
House Democrats have published their final adjustments to the 1,900-page health care bill, starting a 72-hour clock before the bill comes to the floor.
