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POPSGlenn Beck: Harmful to the Conservative Movement Video at first clip link. Second clip link is to a commentary from Peter Wehner, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Mr. Wehner served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations prior to becoming deputy director of speechwriting for President George W. Bush in 2001. In 2002, he was asked to head the Office of Strategic Initiatives, where he generated policy ideas, reached out to public intellectuals, published op-eds and essays, and provided counsel on a range of domestic and international issues. Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Wehner was executive director for policy for Empower America, a conservative public-policy organization. Mr. Wehner also served as a special assistant to the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and, before that, as a speechwriter for then-Secretary of Education Bill Bennett.
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POPSObama Needs to Reframe the Healthcare Debate: Civil Rights
History suggests that major social policy unfolds on a continuum. The Social Security Act of 1935 disappointed liberal New Dealers because what was called "old-age insurance" covered only about half the adult population. It excluded farmhands, domestics, employees of small businesses, and most blacks. That was because FDR needed the votes of Southern Democrats, the Blue Dogs of their day. (The bill cleared the House Ways and Means Committee with only one Republican vote.) Similarly, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 ... was weak tea. It had to be strengthened by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In the later bills, Lyndon Johnson betrayed Southerners he had made deals with in 1957. If Nancy Pelosi can't break Rahm Emanuel's promise to Big Pharma's Billy Tauzin this year, she can try to break it in the future. And Tauzin will lobby for more favors as the all-important new regulations are issued. Nothing in Washington is ever set in stone.
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POPSStudy Explores Egyptians' Attitudes Towards US On the other hand, the study also found that Egyptians believe that Obama will not succeed in the fight against terrorism and will not be able to achieve peace in the Middle East. His biggest challenges as president are the war on terrorism and the global economic crisis, according to the study. Egyptians believe that it is too early to judge whether change will actually come about during Obama’s presidency. However, those surveyed did predict a slight change with regards to the US policy in the Middle East, but maintain it will not change dramatically. “A negative image is a long term process; you can’t jump from negative to positive. This negative image has to first be changed into a neutral image and then from neutral you can go to positive and this takes time
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POPSSecuring Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency In an ideal scenario, the new office would combine the Joint Inter-Agency Cyber Task Force and DHS National Center for Cybersecurity while recruiting cyber security experts to help create new levels of defense. Click csis.org link if the pdf download link doesn't work.