Today's Top News from The Washington Times

		Tuesday, July 26, 2011 Must Read Stories Today
Obama uses speech to try and break debt logjam Seeking to reclaim leadership on debt talks, President Obama on Monday night made a last-minute strenuous pitch that tax increases to be included in any deal, and tried to rally voters to demand Republicans reach a compromise. Chinese jets chase U.S. surveillance jet over Taiwan Strait Two Chinese warplanes intercepted an American spy plane over the tense Taiwan Strait last month in China's most aggressive challenge to U.S. surveillance flights since a 2001 collision that touched off an international crisis. 'Arab Spring' dreams dying amid violence The hopes for democracy that bloomed in the "Arab Spring" are drying up in a long, hot summer of crackdowns, civil war and continuing protests. House panel to probe DNC's Obama ad A campaign video filmed inside the White House starring President Obama and a meeting organized for party donors there will be the subject of congressional hearings in the near future, the House of Representative's top investigator said. Calls for D.C. Council's Thomas to quit rise after payback pact D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown declined Monday to join in calls for council member Harry Thomas Jr. to resign amid corruption investigations, instead urging Mr. Thomas to do "what is best for his family and his constituents." Weeklong events mark moving of Walter Reed Army Medical Center The maroon flag that's flown for more than a century above the Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be lowered for the last time Wednesday as part of a weeklong series of events marking the hospital moving its operations from the District to Maryland and Virginia. Issa: ATF warns witnesses to limit testimony The Obama administration sought to intimidate witnesses into not testifying to Congress on Tuesday about whether ATF knowingly allowed weapons, including assault rifles, to be "walked" into Mexico, the chairman of a House committee investigating the program said in an interview Monday. Blaming Republicans, Obama tries to rally Hispanic support In what amounted to a pep talk aimed at disenchanted Hispanic voters, President Obama on Monday blamed Republicans for his unsuccessful efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system, telling Hispanic activists that "the Democrats and your president are with you." NFL player representatives approve deal to end lockout The 32 player representatives to the NFL Players Association on Monday afternoon unanimously approved a labor agreement that will end the owners' lockout and ensure labor peace for the foreseeable future. EPA´s funding facing rollback House Republicans are attempting to slash funding for climate-change programs and reduce the power of regulatory agencies in a spending bill for next year that Democrats call an assault on the environment. Impasse over U.S. debt limit sends stocks lower The debt showdown in Washington is rattling the stock market again. Stocks fell Monday after Republican and Democratic lawmakers offered competing proposals to solve the nation's debt crisis. Values groups file suit to overturn law on homosexual marriages The day after New York became the sixth U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, two traditional-values groups filed a lawsuit to overturn the law, saying that politicians used a "corrupt legislative process" to enact it. Winehouse autopsy inconclusive; 'further toxicology tests' to follow An autopsy on singer Amy Winehouse on Monday failed to determine what killed the 27-year-old star, leaving fans and family with a weeks-long wait for the results of toxicology tests. Teen's father: Alaska bear attacked quickly A grizzly pounced so furiously on a group of teenagers in the Alaska wilderness that they did not have time to pull out their bear deterrent spray to defend themselves, the father of one of the boys said Monday. 20 injured in 2 separate Seattle shootings Two unrelated mass shootings in a span of just a few hours in neighboring communities south of Seattle wounded at least 20 people and left officials surprised over the proximity of the violence and that no one was killed. CURL: Is Obama a pathological liar? In the weird world that is Washington, men and women say things daily, hourly, even minutely, that they know deep down are simply not true. Inside the Beltway, we all call those utterances "rhetoric." But across the rest of the country, plain ol' folk call 'em lies. Commentary EDITORIAL: Hijacking Reagan President Obama is the latest Democrat to try to enlist Ronald Reagan in a campaign to saddle Americans with more taxes. Last week, MSNBC host Chris Matthews took some of Reagan's quotes on taxes out of context and chided, "Would Reagan even be a Republican today?" No doubt the 40th president is in heaven smiling sadly and shaking his head. There they go again. MILLER: Congress agrees: Keep spending Congressional Democrats and Republicans waged a war of words on Monday over their debt-ceiling plans, but their agendas amount to pretty much the same thing. Washington just can't kick its spending habit. BLANKLEY: Bypassing consent of the governed How have we arrived at this place where the fate of our federal budget, our economy - indeed, our capacity to have a functioning federal government - seems to depend on what two men, Speaker of the House John A. Boehner and President Obama, may or may not be secretly talking about in an interior room in the White House? SCHRIVER: Bound to fail If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then surely it's time for a serious examination of the costs and benefits of U.S. government efforts to build a more robust military relationship with China. Since establishing military ties almost 30 years ago, successive U.S. administrations have utterly failed in the many attempts to fashion a U.S.-China bilateral military relationship that advances Washington's goals. NUGENT: Addiction's deadly refrain Another amazing talent is gone. The soulful, jazzy, amazing and unique voice of Amy Winehouse is silenced forever - dead at 27. Other Recent Articles SANDS: U.S.'s Seirawan shines in world team matches Reporter who broke Murdoch scandal gets book deal NFL's free-agent frenzy: About 1k deals to be done Wal-Mart offers video streaming on website Character actor G.D. Spradlin dies in CA at 90 Turkish season postponed amid match-fixing probe Brother of NHL enforcer Boogaard appears in court ACLU likely to drop records lawsuit against NJ gov Atom smasher closes in on elusive particle Winehouse autopsy inconclusive; funeral Tuesday F1 boss not worried about German bribery case Carl Kraushaar, Wooden's first UCLA center, dies Berkman out of lineup with sore right shoulder Vandals pour bleach on green at Canadian Open Eye anatomy at camp? Kids get taste of med careers		Most Read Stories CURL: Is Obama a pathological liar? 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