Reuters - The White House is reviewing all options for responding to a court ruling stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

AP - The White House says federally funded stem cell research should continue and is exploring how to respond to a judge's order halting it.

AFP - The White House said Tuesday it was examining a court's decision to put a temporary block on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to see how it could keep the "life-saving" work going.

AP - The White House is hailing the Iraq troop drawdown as a "truly remarkable achievement."

Time.com - As reports surface that the Obama Administration plans to expand legal travel opportunities to Cuba, observers are wondering if the action will spur the end of the entire travel ban

Americans increasingly are convinced — incorrectly — that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion

One of the earliest to exit the White House after the midterms could be the National Security Adviser, Jim Jones, who from the start has been an awkward fit

President Barack Obama made four recess appointments Thursday for nominees who have waited an average of 303 days for confirmation, the White House said.

Peter Baker, NY Times
The official end of America’s combat mission in Iraq next week will fulfill the campaign promise that helped vault President Obama to the White House, but it also presents profound risks as he seeks to claim credit without issuing a premature declaration of victory.As columns of vehicles crossed the border and troops arrived to happy homecomings last week, Mr. Obama released a restrained written statement and made a one-sentence reference at a pair of fund-raisers.

AP - President Barack Obama had a simple task for his first morning on vacation: shoot over to a Martha's Vineyard bookstore to fill out his daughters' summer reading list and grab himself a novel.

AP - As the White House eagerly highlights the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the small army of American diplomats left behind is embarking on a long and perilous path to keeping the volatile country from slipping back to the brink of civil war.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Pastors who've prayed with President Barack Obama defended his Christian faith Thursday as the White House downplayed new polling that showed a steep climb since he took office in the percentage of Americans who think he's Muslim or at least don't believe that he's Christian.

Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit, and instead stressing a promise to "improve it."

AP - President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion.

Politico - A company that tracks changes to the White House site says “whole cloth” changes were made.

AFP - Serving meals for US President Barack Obama and his family is not as tough a job as outsiders like to think, according to White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford.

AP - The Obama administration has decided to support the creation of a United Nations commission to look into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Myanmar.

AFP - US President Barack Obama will travel to Lisbon in November for two separate summits with EU and NATO leaders, the White House announced Tuesday.

Steve Forbes, Forbes
Railroading The Taxpayer Washington likes to think that government-funded infrastructure projects boost economic activity. It was just such a belief that the President tapped into last year to justify part of his expensive grab bag of projects and programs that constituted his initial $787 billion stimulus package. But there is at least one form of Washington-generated infrastructure spending we could manifestly do without: high-speed rail projects.emailprintreprintnewslettercommentssharedel.icio.usDigg It!yahooFacebookTwitterRedditrssIf the White House has its way the federal...

AP - A White House spokesman says politics wasn't a factor in President Barack Obama's remarks about building a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.

Politico - Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was forced to retire in July after an embarrassing Rolling Stone article quoted him and his staff making disparaging remarks about top White House officials, is taking a job at Yale, POLITICO has learned.

AP - Remarks by President Barack Obama on the plans to build a mosque near ground zero, as provided by the White House:

AP - The Obama administration says it's wrong to try to change the constitutional amendment that grants automatic citizenship to babies born in the United States.

The United States of America has had numerous hostile rifts with Russia (Soviet Union) in the past. One of the most notable was the Cold War where fears of nuclear annihilation were instituted. It was during that time where both the U.S. and Soviet Union (now Russia) developed massive amounts of nuclear weapons in order to serve as nuclear deterrence against each other. Both nations developed intense hate for each other that a single wrong move by any party would trigger another major war. Eventually, the Soviet Union collapsed and the most feared war didn’t actually materialize.

Today, there are still conflicts that involve both the U.S. and Russia. For instance, the Russia-Georgia war was greatly condemned by the U.S. Also, the plan of the U.S. to install a missile defense complex in Poland was also contradicted by Russia. Eventually, Pres. Obama decided to scrap the missile defense plan in order to ease tensions with Russia. Since Obama took the highest position in office, the U.S. has put greater emphasis in rebuilding trust and partnership with Russia.

As proof that the long time rivals has finally decided to step up cooperation, U.S. Pres. Barack Obama told Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev that they are sending aid in the form of firefighting equipment in order to help Russia battle wildfires. If you have been hearing the news lately, you probably heard that over 500 separate wildfires have swept over 2000 homes and claimed not less than 50 people in Russia. In a move that might certainly ease tensions between two former rivals, the U.S. is helping Russia battle wildfires.

The White House clearly emphasized that there were no U.S. personnel involved and that the aid was purely firefighting equipments and protective gears. Russia reportedly asked for assistance from the U.S. and thus they obliged. It has also been reported that several nuclear installations in Russia are being threatened to be destroyed by these fires. With several Russian cities engulfed by thick black smoke, it is evident that Russia needs all the help it can get in fighting these destructive wildfires.

This move by the U.S. government is a strong indication that the two nuclear powers are easing tensions with one another and are starting to develop partnership. Also just recently, the U.S. held Anti-terrorist drills with Russia most specifically in intercepting hijacked aircraft. Both American and Russian citizens will benefit from this breakthrough as fears of the Cold War will finally ease. A stronger cooperation and partnership will yield better results rather than remain in hostility and fear.