Playing Politics with Children: Join the Live Chat
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/01/02/liveblogfinal.copy.jpg]
Members of Congress are playing politics with children's futures. 1,200 orphans being adopted by American families have been waiting for months for a crucial vote in the House that would make them U.S. citizens. The bill has bipartisan support, but a vote has been mysteriously delayed. Plus, tonight's other headlines.
Scroll down to join the live chat during the program. It's your chance to share your thoughts on tonight's headlines. Keep in mind, you have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules.
Here are some of them:
1) Keep it short (we don't have time to read a "book")
2) Don't write in ALL CAPS (there's no need to yell)
3) Use your real name (first name only is fine)
4) No links
5) Watch your language (keep it G-rated; PG at worst - and that includes $#&*)
U.S. pilots to get speedier screening procedures
Mike M. Ahlers and Jeanne Meserve
CNN
Washington (CNN) - Airline pilots who want to skip certain airport screening measures - saying it's wasteful to search pilots for sharp objects when they can bring down planes with their bare hands - are finally getting their way.
The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it is taking steps to streamline screening for U.S. airline pilots.
Pilots traveling in uniform on airline business will be allowed to bypass normal security screening by presenting screeners with their airline ID and another form of identification, the TSA said. The screeners will check the information against a secure, real-time airline crew member database, which includes a picture and other information to verify the pilots' employment status, the TSA said.
Pilots will be subject to random screening and other layers of security, the TSA said.
The TSA said the changes will take effect immediately while it phases in a more permanent system.
Beat 360° 11/19/10
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attend the North Atlantic Meeting during the NATO Summit 2010 at Feira Internacional de Lisboa on November 19, 2010 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo credit: Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
Update: Beat 360° Winners:
Staff
Sean Yates
Hillary: “Get a sense of humor and maybe your numbers would go up. Carville was joking.”
Viewer
Michael Payne, Pine Bluff, AR
Obama: "This may be the perfect time to ask her to run with me"
Clinton: "I so hope he doesn't think this is the perfect time to ask me to run with him"
___________________________________________________________________________
Letters to the President: #669 'Time for a course correction?'
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Reporter's Note: Democrats are warring with each other over the direction their party should take in the wake of the disastrous midterms; should they bet everything on more of the same policies they have pushed in the past two years, or try something new?
Dear Mr. President,
I’ve been reading reports of the closed-door meeting between your team and congressional Democrats, the “raucous caucus” as it is being called, and I would understand if it has you a tad concerned.
As I understand it, some of them fear that your agenda and the way you have pursued it not only set up the shellacking in the midterms, but could bring even greater calamity in the next couple of years unless there is a major course adjustment. In other words, you’re at a crossroads.
On one side you have moderates, those who either barely survived this election because they are in moderate districts or fear they won’t survive the next vote. They think if you can’t come more to the middle and fulfill your long ago campaign promise of finding a way to end the rancor in Washington, the whole ship will keep sinking and them with it.
On the other side you have liberals, who about half-think you’ve sold them out already and believe any more attempts at deal-making with the opposition is a waste of time and effort, especially since some top Republicans so clearly want nothing more than to make sure you are not re-elected.
FULL POST
Scans and pat-downs: What you should know
Marnie Hunter
CNN
(CNN) - Heading to the airport for the first time in months? My, how things have changed.
New security checkpoint measures, which some travelers call "groping" and "virtual strip searches," have sparked a public outcry.
The ramped up use of pat-downs and full-body scanning is needed to stop non-metallic threats including weapons and explosives from getting aboard planes, the Transportation Security Administration says. And it appears that most Americans agree. In a recent CBS News poll, 4 out of 5 Americans supported the use of full-body scans.
Carville defiant on Obama comment
CNN Political Unit
Washington (CNN) – Democratic strategist James Carville compared President Barack Obama to his Democratic primary rival and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday, implying in rather lewd terms that Obama needs to toughen-up.
And he's not sorry for it.
"If Hillary gave up one of her balls and gave it to Obama, he'd have two," Carville said at a "Christian Science Monitor" breakfast discussion.
His comment was a response to whether Obama is taking strong enough stands on taxes and repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy.
Carville made a similar comment to "Newsweek" during the 2008 campaign season when he compared Clinton and Obama's toughness.
"If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two," he said.
Powell: Obama failed to focus on what's 'most important'
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - While saying he talks regularly with President Obama and his administration's officials, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that the nation's 44th president has overreached and lost focus in his first term - and lost votes because of it.
Powell, a self-described moderate Republican who served as a top military, national security and diplomatic official under presidents ranging from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, said he did not regret backing the then-Illinois senator over Republican Sen. John McCain during the 2008 election campaign.
But he said that Democrats suffered "a real body blow" in the recent midterm elections - when the party lost seats in the Senate and control of the House - in large part because Obama didn't prioritize or communicate effectively enough.
"He should have focused on the economy ... to the exclusion of most everything else domestically," Powell told CNN's Larry King. "When you're starting out as a president, you have to figure out (what) is most important."
House and Senate Democrats plan tax cut votes after Thanksgiving
Deirdre Walsh, Dana Bash and Ted Barrett
CNN
Washington (CNN) – Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate have decided to move ahead with votes after Thanksgiving to extend the Bush tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less.
These decisions come hours after Democratic leaders met at the White House with President Obama, where several sources say they talked extensively about the tax cuts. Until now, how or whether Democrats would proceed on the thorny issue of extending the Bush era tax cuts was unresolved.
In the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CNN that Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote. "At least that will be available for members to have a vote on," Hoyer said.
What is still unclear is if that House vote would extend so-called middle class tax cuts permanently, or just on a temporary basis.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said he plans to vote on the middle class tax cut extension most Democrats want, but he will also allow Republicans to hold a vote on what they are demanding: a permanent extension of all Bush-era tax cuts.
Holloway family awaits results of forensic testing
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - Natalee Holloway's family may soon learn whether a jawbone found on an Aruban beach last week belongs to the 18-year-old teen, who disappeared five years ago.
Investigators are first trying to determine whether the bone is that of an animal or human.
If the bone is human, authorities will then attempt to find out through DNA testing whether it belongs to Holloway, who was last seen on the island in 2005.
The results of the testing, which is being carried out by the Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague, Netherlands, may be available Friday.
Holloway's dental records were sent to the forensic institute on Wednesday, the FBI said.
