The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Rick Santorum says over 40 percent of children are born out of wedlock

During the Feb. 22, 2012, presidential debate in Mesa, Ariz., Rick Santorum offered extended comments on "the increasing number of children being born out of wedlock in America" and "teens who are sexually active." Santorum said, "What we're seeing is a problem in our culture with respect to children being raised by children, children being raised out of wedlock, and the impact on society economically, the impact on society with respect to drug use and all -- a host of other things when children have children. … Two days ago on the front page of the ...

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AP - Faux news host Stephen Colbert isn't the only comedian with a super PAC connection. Political satirist Bill Maher is getting into the act by surprising a political committee that supports President Barack Obama with a $1 million pledge.

The Week - As rising gas prices sour the national mood, Obama accuses Republicans of hoping for more bad economic news so they can use it against him in NovemberThere are no "quick fixes" for rising gasoline prices, President Obama said Thursday, trying to get in front of an issue that threatens to compromise his re-election campaign. Republicans are blaming Obama for the uptick — which could reach $5 per gallon by summer's driving season, according to some analysts — saying he has denied oil companies the chance to drill for more domestic oil. In turn, Obama faulted Republicans for "licking their chops" over rising gas prices, "rooting for bad news" so they can exploit voters' fuel frustrations for political gain. Does Obama have a point?

Politico - He says it's troubling that the candidates are "appealing to people's fears," Fox News reports.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Fox News commentators along with several conservative leaders and politicians have continuously asserted that there is a growing conspiracy among media and news outlets to indoctrinate us with news delivered with a liberal bias. Most of us probably still remember the infamous Katie Couric interview when Sarah Palin could not name a single newspaper that she read, which later became late night television fodder. After that, attacks on the "lame-stream" media and accusations of 'gotcha!' journalism became commonplace in the campaign rhetoric.

The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False | Mitt Romney says Barack Obama 'could have gotten crippling sanctions against Iran. He did not.'

Mitt Romney told an Arizona debate audience that President Barack Obama’s most "serious failure" as president has been "his failure to deal with Iran appropriately." "We simply cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weaponry ..." Romney said at the Feb. 22, 2012, Republican presidential debate in Mesa, Ariz. "This president ... could have gotten crippling sanctions against Iran. He did not." Obama signed new U.S. sanctions against Iran in December. We wondered: What did Romney mean by "could have gotten crippling sanctions against Iran"? And is that true? Romney’s statement
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The New York Times today published an interactive map that allows you to view dependence upon government programs by county in the US. The map details the level of personal income from government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and unemployment benefits. Overall an increase in the level of income from the government has risen from 8% in 1969, to 18% in 2009. More than doubling the amount of government subsidized income.

In Illinois, the state is facing spending cuts to decrease a budget deficit of $8 billion dollars. The state is closing 60 state officesand eliminating two prisons, totaling 1,100 layoffs for public workers. Even though these changes should result in $88.9 million in savings, the state’s finances are still unsustainable. Gov. Pat Quinn is quoted saying, “Today, our rendezvous with reality has arrived,’’ yet the governor proposed a budget this year that out spends last, with a total of $33.8 billion dollars.  Its predicted that without cuts to automatic spending measures – Medicaid and government pensions – the state will not be able to bring spending down to controllable levels in the near future.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has released a new survey of regional businesses on the expectation of inflation in the short and long term. The Wall Street Journal reports, short term the survey found that businesses believed inflation would stay steady at 1.8%, below the 2% target for the Federal Reserve. Long term though the survey indicated that businesses in the region expect inflation to rise to 2.9% in the five to ten year range, slowing an economic recovery with increases in prices. While the survey is the first of its kind to highlight the worry of increased inflation rates in the long term, the Federal Reserve insists they have tools to ensure that inflation will not experience dramatic changes.BA

Andy Pudzer, CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc. explained on Fox News how new provisions in the recently passed health care act, will cost the restaurant industry $315 million dollars. Out of that total number, his company alone will pay $1.5 million to replace menu boards to include caloric information. Nutritional information for all of CKE restaurants, like Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., is currently available online and is already legally required to be posted in every restaurant.

While Mr. Pudzer emphasized that there are many good regulations, unnecessary regulations only increase costs and these costs are inevitably passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Like the R.H. Peterson Co’s struggle, featured in the latest installment of our “Story of Business” series, these new regulations have placed new costs on companies and consumer’s in every industry. Without Congress taking out such regulations, we can expect that companies will be forced to invest in compliance and oversight, instead of investing in jobs and growth.

Watch our latest “Story of Business” feature here.BA

The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Rick Santorum charts explosion of federal entitlement spending since 1958

During the Feb. 22, 2012, presidential debate in Mesa, Ariz., Rick Santorum offered some historical comparisons of the federal budget. "When I was born" -- which was 1958 -- "less than 10 percent of the federal budget was entitlement spending. It's now 60 percent of the budget. Some people have suggested that defense spending is the problem. When I was born, defense spending was 60 percent of the budget. It's now 17 percent. If you think defense spending is the problem, then you need a remedial math class to go back to." ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Rick Santorum says defense spending has fallen since 1958 as percent of federal budget

During the Feb. 22, 2012, presidential debate in Mesa, Ariz., Rick Santorum offered some historical comparisons of the federal budget. "When I was born" -- which was 1958 -- "less than 10 percent of the federal budget was entitlement spending. It's now 60 percent of the budget. Some people have suggested that defense spending is the problem. When I was born, defense spending was 60 percent of the budget. It's now 17 percent. If you think defense spending is the problem, then you need a remedial math class to go back to." ...

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AP - Lawyers have told Britain's High Court that singer Charlotte Church has settled her claims against the publisher of the News of the World over alleged phone hacking.

Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times
At a campaign stop in Michigan on Tuesday, Mitt Romney made news by telling the truth about the economy. He said: “If you just cut, if all you’re thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you’ll slow down the economy. So you have to, at the same time, create pro-growth tax policies.” That’s similar to what Paul Krugman, TheTimes editorial board, and many liberal economists have been arguing since the downturn: You can’t cut your way to growth. It’s also in keeping with the Obama...

The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire! | Rick Santorum says you can’t “name one time in the last 20 years that the French stood by us with anything”

At a presidential campaign event in Georgetown, Ohio, on Feb. 17, 2012, Rick Santorum took a shot at France. President Barack Obama, Santorum said, "actually went to France a year or so ago and was with Nicolas Sarkozy and said that, 'Here I am with the French Prime Minister, our best ally in the world.' Now think about this. Name one time in the last 20 years that the French stood by us with anything. But in Barack Obama's eyes, that makes them our best ally, because they fought what was in the best interest ...

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During a recent Fox News Channel debate about the Obama administration’s tax policies, Democrat Bob Beckel raised the issue of “fairness.”

He pointed out that a child born to a poor woman in the Bronx enters the world with far worse prospects than a child born to an affluent couple in Connecticut.

Keep reading this post . . .

With seemingly every day bringing more bad news from Europe, many are beginning to ask how much longer the United States has before our welfare state follows the European model into bankruptcy. The bad news is: It may already have.

This year, the fourth straight year that we borrowed more than $1 trillion to support the U.S. government, our budget deficit will top $1.3 trillion, 8.7 percent of our GDP. If you think that sounds bad, it’s because it is. In fact, only two European countries, Greece and Ireland, have larger budget deficits as a percentage of GDP. Things are only slightly better when you look at the size of our national debt, which now exceeds $15.3 trillion, 102 percent of GDP. Just four European countries have larger national debts than we do — Greece and Ireland again, plus Portugal and Italy. That means the U.S. government is actually less fiscally responsible than countries like France, Belgium, or Spain.

Keep reading this post . . .

Reuters - Here are highlights of Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos's news conference in Athens on Tuesday after returning from Brussels talks where euro zone finance ministers clinched a 130-billion-euro bailout package.

Here’s a roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories:

Roll Call says the House will focus in the coming weeks on passing measures to help small businesses.

Gannett reports the President’s budget cuts home heating assistance for the poor.

The Hill looks at the prospect of passing corporate tax reform while Fox News looks at who pays federal income taxes.

The Los Angeles Times says rising gas prices could hurt the still-recovering economy.

The New York Times, Reuters and The Washington Post report European leaders have reached a bailout deal for Greece.

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ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Rick Santorum is in the news again due to his frighteningly intense case of foot-in-mouth disease. Having recently claimed Barack Obama subscribes to "a different theology," Santorum is in the difficult position of having to explain away his comments. He's also making a splash as connecting with Republican voters as being "like them." Both of these things paint a picture of a candidate who should never be permitted to become president.

ContributorNetwork - To mark Presidents Day, Yahoo! News asked politics aficionados from Yahoo! Contributor Network to look back at previous chief executives and extract the top achievements and failures that help inform today's political climate. Below is one writer's perspective.

James Taranto, WSJ
(Best of the tube tonight: Watch us on "Hannity," Fox News Channel, 9 p.m. ET, with a repeat showing at midnight ET. The "Great American Panel" starts around 40 minutes in.) This column has tended to agree with the conventional wisdom that among the Republicans running for president, Mitt Romney is the safest choice, the most "electable." See, for example, our rebuttal of Richard Miniter's contrarian column from late last month. We still think Romney, on balance, would be a stronger general-election candidate than Newt Gingrich for reasons of the...

5 “President Obama urged men to ‘go big’ for Valentine’s Day. In fact, Obama bought Michelle the nicest bracelet China’s money can buy.” –Jimmy Fallon

4 “Rick Santorum picked up an endorsement from the lead singer of the heavy-metal band Megadeth. Santorum is the only candidate who is both pro-life and pro-Megadeth.” –Conan O’Brien

3 Cartoon: Budget Banditos

2 ”Some election news. This weekend was the Maine caucuses. And here’s the crazy part — Adele actually won that, too.” –Jimmy Fallon

1 Cartoon: President’s Budget

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Authorities have arrested a man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation’s most symbolic landmarks, Fox News has learned exclusively.

The man, in his 30s and of Moroccan descent, was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, initiated after he expressed interest in conducting an attack. It’s unclear how the FBI learned of his aspirations.
The man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda.

When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying with him a vest supposedly packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous, Fox News was told.

A short time earlier, he had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area. His destination was Capitol Hill.

The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, officials said.

In a statement that did not get into the details of the alleged plot, the U.S. Capitol Police said the suspect was “closely and carefully monitored.” Capitol Police confirmed the suspect was arrested on Friday.

“At no time was the public or congressional community in any danger,” the department said.

A senior source involved with law enforcement at the Capitol also told Fox News the investigation was “all very controlled.” The source said the U.S. Capitol Police was involved with the FBI and other agencies in tracking the suspect “not more than a year.”

An arrest usually indicates charges have been filed in some form, but it’s unclear when or how charges would have been filed in this case. It’s also unclear if the suspect will be appearing in court Friday. In similar past cases, suspects have made their initial court appearance within hours of their arrest.

Sites in Washington have long been a target for terrorists, especially self-radicalized extremists caught in FBI stings.

In September, a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly plotting to fly bomb-laden model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol. FBI agents claiming to be associates of Al Qaeda provided 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus with what he thought was explosive material for the remote-controlled planes.

Nearly a year earlier, a Virginia man was arrested for trying to help Al Qaeda plan multiple bombings against Washington’s Metrorail system. For months, 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed of Ashburn, Va., had been meeting and discussing “jihad” with individuals he thought were affiliated with Al Qaeda, but in fact he was meeting with FBI agents.

In the past year alone, at least 20 people have been arrested in the United States on terrorism-related charges, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Most of the arrests” have involved “lone wolves,” radicalized online and able to use the Internet to build bombs, FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate committee last month.

At the time of Ahmed’s arrest in October 2010, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil MacBride, said the case showcases “our ability to find those seeking to harm U.S. citizens and neutralize them before they can act.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/17/feds-arrest-man-heading-to-us-capitol-for-suicide-mission/

The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Rick Santorum ad says Mitt Romney favors cap and trade

Here’s the visual: Mitt Romney is armed and tearing through an empty warehouse, firing on his target, Rick Santorum. It's not the real Mitt Romney; it's a look-alike. Santorum is a cardboard cutout, and the ammo in the gun is mud. The Santorum campaign ad, "Rombo," is airing in Michigan ahead of the state’s presidential primary. Its message: Romney is attacking his rivals to mask his own record. "Romney and his super PAC have spent a staggering $20 million brutally attacking fellow Republicans. Why? Because Romney’s trying to hide ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | In "Rombo" ad, Rick Santorum says Mitt Romney adviser equated Massachusetts health care law with Obama's

In the run-up to the Michigan primary, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum released a television ad titled "Rombo" that portrayed rival Mitt Romney as a gun-toting mudslinger. In the ad, a Romney look-alike, clad in a pitch-perfect white dress shirt and a tie, aims a paintball gun at cardboard cutouts of Santorum, hoping to cover them with mud. The visuals made the ad an instant classic, but the ad’s substance has received less attention in the media. We thought we’d look at one of the ad’s claims. One of the on-screen visuals ...

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