WASHINGTON (The Associated Press)--Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Obama's health care overhaul, putting them on track to pass historic legislation before Christmas that would remake the nation's medical system and cover 30 million uninsured.

Read the Full AP article HERE

All 58 Democrats and the Senate's two independents held together early Monday against unanimous Republican opposition, providing the exact 60-40 margin needed to shut down a threatened GOP filibuster.

The vote came shortly after 1 a.m. with the nation's capital blanketed in snow, the unusual timing made necessary in order to get to a final vote by Christmas Eve presuming Republicans stretch out the debate as much as the rules allow. Despite the late hour and a harshly partisan atmosphere, Democrats' spirits were high.

(NPR) -The Obama administration may be trying to mount a case against digital finger-imaging of federal food assistance applicants, a practice four states are implementing in order to combat fraud.

Anti-hunger workers say it discriminates against the country's poor and treats them like criminals when they are entitled to benefits.

Listen the original NPR story HERE

COPENHAGEN (Politico) — A visibly angry Barack Obamathrew down the gauntlet at China and other developing nations Friday, declaring that the time has come "not to talk but to act" on climate change.

Emerging from a multinational meeting boycotted by Chinese Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Obama warned delegates that U.S. offers of funding for poor nations would remain on the table “if and only if” developing nations, including China, agreed to international monitoring of their greenhouse gas emissions.

See the original post from The Politico HERE

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration's new civil rights chief said Thursday that he was "shocked" to learn of the steep decline in hate-crime prosecutions during the Bush presidency and vowed to combat violence stemming from hatred and bias. READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Washington (CNN) -- Civil rights leaders Wednesday lobbied Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and top Census Bureau officials to press for a better count of African-Americans in the 2010 census.

Read original article HERE

(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Copenhagen early Thursday morning amid concerns that time is running out at the climate change summit for world leaders to agree a deal to combat global warming.

Read original CNN article HERE

COPENHAGEN - The climate change issue offers an enormous opportunity for addressing a broad range of social issues of critical concern to minority communities across the world, according to members of the U.S.-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change who are attending the United Nations’ climate talks here.

“Climate change is the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” said Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College for Women and a nationally recognized economist, writer and syndicated columnist in the U.S. “Climate change hits minority communities the hardest, but at the same time we must ensure that policies aimed at reversing climate change bring opportunities and not further misery to our communities.” Read the full release HERE

Talks Stalled at Climate Conference with President Obama set to arrive:

It's been a WILD week here in Copenhagen.

The huge rift between developed and developing nations forces a walkout.

Students and acticists have been doing all they can to ensure the voice of the voiceless is heard as world leaders begin to arrive.

See Ebony's Live from Copenhagen blog HERE

Copenhagen (NPR)- Danish police and protesters clashed outside the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen on Wednesday, as disputes inside the 193-nation summit threatened to derail a historic global warming agreement.

Police clad in riot gear used truncheons and fired tear gas in a running battle with environmental protesters angered at their exclusion from the summit and the slow pace of the talks. More than 200 demonstrators were detained, police said.

Read full NPR article here

Washington, DC City Council votes to legalize gay marriage:

Washington (CNN) -- The nation's capital is expected to take a major step Tuesday toward legalizing same-sex marriage.

The Washington City Council is scheduled to vote on, and expected to easily pass, a measure that would recognize gay marriages as legal. The council passed the bill in an 11-2 vote December 1.

Tuesday's second vote is needed to send the measure to District Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has said he will sign the bill. Then the measure goes to Congress for a 30-day review period, but it's considered unlikely that the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill will block the bill.

Read the article HERE

The Obama administration has found 22 million e-mails that went missing in the White House of President George W. Bush. The administration says it will restore e-mails from 94 specific days. That includes some periods of drama in the Bush White House.

Listen to the NPR report HERE

NTV Kenya reports as thousands of people marched through Copenhagen as part of global protests to demand action from leaders at the UN climate talks:

The White House released, Open Government: A Progress Report to the American People, which gives updates on the work being done to break down the barriers between the Federal Government and the people it serves.

The three principles at the heart White House report are:

• Transparency: promotes accountability.
• Participation: allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise to government initiatives.
• Collaboration: improves the effectiveness of government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the federal government, across levels of government, and between the government and private institutions.

Read "Open Government: A Progress Report to the American People and watch the video see what action has been taken to increase transparency, participation, and collaboration, between the Federal Government and the people it serves.

OSLO (BBC)--President Barack Obama has said the US must uphold moral standards when waging wars that are necessary and justified, as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize.

In his speech in Oslo, he defended the US role in Afghanistan, arguing the use of force could bring lasting peace.

He also said his accomplishments were slight compared to previous laureates.

Mr Obama was given the prize in October for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

See the Original BBC article HERE

See video

Democratic Senate negotiators struck a tentative agreement Tuesday night to drop the controversial government-run insurance plan from their overhaul of the health-care system, hoping to remove a last major roadblock preventing the bill from moving to a final vote in the chamber.

In its bluntest challenge to President Obama since taking office, the Congressional Black Caucus expressed disappointment with Obama's Tuesday jobs speech -- and reminded the first black president he promised not to "ignore" race during his famous Philadelphia speech in 2008.

There are so many issues on the table at the Copenhagen U.N. climate conference that politicians from all the major players have already declared there is no hope of reaching a binding legal agreement. But progress is still possible. Participants speak of reaching a "political agreement." Exactly what that would be remains undefined, but it would represent some form of commitment to address global warming that goes beyond mere rhetoric — yet falls short of a legally binding treaty.

Associated Press (Washington)--The Environmental Protection Agency took a major step Monday toward regulating greenhouses gases, concluding that climate changing pollution threatens the public health and the environment.

The announcement came as the Obama administration looked to boost its arguments at an international climate conference that the United States is aggressively taking actions to combat global warming, even though Congress has yet to act on climate legislation. The conference opened Monday in Copenhagen.

The EPA said that the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly shows that greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of the American people" and that the pollutants – mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels – should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The press has been billing it as a jobs summit, but the White House prefers a less grandiose moniker: Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth.

Whatever you call it, the half-day Pennsylvania Avenue brainstorming session is likely to dominate much of the West Wing on Thursday. About 130 executives, academics and local government officials will come together to discuss new ideas to get the nation’s unemployment number down below the scorching 10.2 percent it registered in October.

When the Bush administration ran the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, career lawyers wanted to look into accusations that officials in one state had illegally intimidated blacks during a voter-fraud investigation.

But division supervisors refused to “approve further contact with state authorities on this matter,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office auditing the activities of the division from 2001 to 2007.

Congress is set to release that report, which did not identify the state in question, on Thursday as the House of Representatives takes up its first oversight hearing of the Civil Rights Division under the Obama administration.

The 180-page report, obtained by The New York Times, is densely packed with statistics about civil rights enforcement by the division’s sections. The accountability office also examined a sampling of matters that were closed without further action, finding several cases — including the curtailed voter intimidation inquiry — in which supervisors rejected the recommendations of career lawyers to go forward.

The White House recently released a "viewing guide" for the Senate debate on healthcare reform that attempts to dispel nonfactual claims surrounding what health reform will or will not do for the American people. Click here to see the original White House posting.

It's bad enough losing a job with the economy as bad as it is. But losing affordable health insurance is at least as big a worry for millions of Americans.

Under the starry night sky of north-eastern Uganda, the lyrics to ‘Education is the Key’ resonate against the backdrop of a pulsating bass line and syncopated drum beats.

Performing the song is hip hop artist Michael Angaun, who goes by the stage name ‘Original Lopetha.’ Born and raised here in Moroto District, Angaun says that music has been his path away from a troubled and often violent past...See the full article from UNICEF Online

With a slim lead of 620 votes, a former state senator claimed victory in the race for Atlanta's mayor early Wednesday, though the contest was too close to call and appeared headed for yet another rematch.

President Obama made his case to the nation Tuesday night on why he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a decision that gives him full responsibility for an unpopular war that sharply divides his party.

President Obama is taking a huge step in his presidency. After weeks of careful deliberation, the president has sided with military officials who have been pushing for an escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Explaining his objectives and exit strategy, Obama is expected to announce that he will be sending 30,000 troops, and possibly more, into the region.

With this decision, Obama inches closer to becoming a wartime president. Even though the White House insists that they will continue to work hard on their domestic agenda, historically, presidents who become involved in protracted ground wars find that their presidencies are defined by their military conflicts. The politics that surround a military operation play an enormous role in the political success or failure of an administration.

Watch President Obama outline his strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. on December 1, 2009:

Senate Democrats resume their efforts this week to advance global warming legislation as President Obama readies for the international glare of U.N. climate negotiations next week in Copenhagen, Denmark.

While New Jersey's unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, 38 of the 96 New Jersey communities with more than 25,000 residents are experiencing higher jobless rates. In South Jersey, Cumberland County has an unemployment rate of 12.7 percent, for example. The situation is even worse in some of the state's major cities. Newark has 15.5 percent unemployment, and Camden and Trenton are experiencing just over 18 percent each. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the new governor to make every effort to create jobs in our cities as well as our rural communities.

After an exhaustive three-month strategic review, President Obama is launching his second significant strategic escalation of the U.S. military's involvement in Afghanistan.

A lengthy set of deliberations that included 10 high-level war council meetings has led to a speech scheduled for Tuesday night at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where Obama will explain why he is sending 30,000-plus additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total American force there to about 100,000.

More broadly, he will be trying to convince a skeptical American public that the United States still has the time — and the capability — to reverse the deterioration in Afghanistan.