White House

President heading to Burbank Thursday President Barack Obama will join host Jay Leno on ?The Tonight Show? Thursday, becoming the first sitting president to appear on the late night talk show taped in Burbank. Obama will hold a town hall-style meeting today in Costa Mesa and then tour an electric vehicle factory in Pomona on Thursday, the White House said. Obama was a featured guest on comedy shows as a candidate, but NBC and the White House said this will be the first time a serving president has been on ?

President Obama decided to end the National Day of Prayer event at the White House, which for years was a staple for President George W. Bush, disappointing evangelicals and other religious groups who saw it as an important endorsement of the role of religion in guiding a nation. What message do you think rescinding the event sends? And what role, then, should the president and other government leaders play in promoting faith-based messages?   In the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln “highly” resolved that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

UNITED STATES President Barack Obama president@whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov/ president The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1111 Vice President Joe Biden vice_president@ whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov/ vicepresident The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1111 Congressman Adam B. Schiff (D-29th District)

Claudia Peschiutta I thought the power blue suit and a purposeful walk would make me blend in. I was wrong. To look like a White House press corps veteran, you need only carry a cheap paperback or a well-worn copy of that day's Washington Post and slump into any given seat. My lesson came during a recent evening spent following President Clinton around Washington, D.C. The moment I walked into the White House press office, it was obvious I was too enthusiastic to blend in with my more seasoned counterparts.

Congressman Schiff and his recently announced Republican opponent unfortunately voice the same platitudes and safe, sanitized views on issues. With neither willing to risk bold statements, the only difference for voters will be the amount of mud each will sling. Voters should insist that the candidates speak specifically about what they advocate on the following: Putting 200,000 U.S. troops in a land war in Iraq; bringing prices of U.S. prescription drugs in line with the lower cost in Canada for identical products; stopping U.S. businesses from moving offices offshore to avoid taxes, which go to provide services to these businesses; assuring citizens that their full constitutional rights will not be compromised; and plugging the loopholes in the recently passed campaign finance reform act so the FOR SALE signs can come off the White House and the Capitol.

It is, in short, a fine time to be a Democrat. The American two-party system has swung back and forth like a pendulum over the last century, with neither the Democrats nor the Republicans putting more than two consecutive candidates in the White House since 1928. Sometimes, the two parties run neck-and-neck; Tuesday, it was little short of a Democratic free-for-all, as Sen. Barack Obama won the presidency in a landslide, and his fellow party members decisively took the House and Senate.

REEL CRITIC Josh Kleinbaum is the city hall reporter for the News-Press, the Leader's sister publication. Throughout Maj. Ben Marco's wild ride in "The Manchurian Candidate," as the character played by Denzel Washington tries to uncover a plot to install a president brainwashed by a mega-corporation, dueling thoughts battled in the back of my mind -- this is completely implausible, yet it strangely rings true....

MEDIA DISTRICT ? The national media is rife with hacks who endorse President Obama?s socialist agenda by committing sins of omission and co-mission, a large group of protesters said this weekend outside NBC Studios in Burbank. Each with their own issue, though most fell under the umbrella of massive government spending, ?Can You Hear Us Now? demonstrators also stood their ground Saturday outside CNN in Atlanta and affiliate stations of NBC, ABC and CBS across the nation. The 145 local protesters criticized what they view as unscrupulous cheerleading of the Obama administration.

Good morning, readers. Today is Thursday, November 8. Rep. Brad Sherman may have won a hard-fought seat in the Valley, but his rival, Rep. Howard Berman, may end up in the White House. Berman is among those mentioned to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , reports the L.A. Times .  Remember when people tried to make the Valley its own city? The Daily News   looks back 10 years ago when the measure failed to receive enough votes to pass . Will the Valley eventually split away from L.A.?

Flanked by her family and colleagues, President Obama today called Burbank Unified teacher Rebecca Mieliwocki - the 2012 national Teacher of the Year - “the definition of 'above and beyond.'” Mieliwocki, a Glendale resident who teaches English at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, was given the national prize Monday by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Known for an unconventional teaching style that emphasizes critical thinking, Mieliwocki beat out more than 50 other nominees.

A House resolution to acknowledge the Armenian genocide narrowly moved out of a key legislative committee Thursday, a day after the Obama administration cautioned against a vote that it feared could jeopardize Armenia’s and the United States’ relations with Turkey. The resolution by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) declared that 1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1923 in a campaign “conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire.” The legislation moved out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on a 23-22 vote after an impassioned discussion in which some members expressed fears that the resolution could adversely affect American military operations in Iraq.

President Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House last week. The visit had been postponed since last year, due to concerns that it could ?trouble the waters ahead of a U.S.-China summit last fall,? according to a story that aired on KCRW-FM?s ?Which Way, L.A.? The Dalai Lama visited the White House as a religious leader, not as a statesman. The Dalai Lama also appeared alongside musician Sheryl Crow in a visit to Southern California over the weekend, where he spoke on behalf of a nonprofit organization.

MEDIA DISTRICT ? The national media is rife with hacks who endorse President Obama?s socialist agenda by committing sins of omission and co-mission, a large group of protesters said this weekend outside NBC Studios in Burbank. Each with their own issue, though most fell under the umbrella of massive government spending, ?Can You Hear Us Now? demonstrators also stood their ground Saturday outside CNN in Atlanta and affiliate stations of NBC, ABC and CBS across the nation. The 145 local protesters criticized what they view as unscrupulous cheerleading of the Obama administration.

UNITED STATES President Barack Obama president@whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov/ president The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1111 Vice President Joe Biden vice_president@ whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov/ vicepresident The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1111 Congressman Adam B. Schiff (D-29th District)

So I’m driving home the other day and we pass a barber shop. The kids notice the candy stick-like barber pole out front and ask what that means. “I’m glad you ask,” I tell them, and proceed to enlighten them with what Wikipedia told me. “In the Middle Ages,” I start, “barbers not only cut hair, but also performed surgery and tooth extractions. Oh, and they used leeches for bloodletting. A basin at the top of the pole represented the vessel in which the leeches were kept.

President heading to Burbank Thursday President Barack Obama will join host Jay Leno on ?The Tonight Show? Thursday, becoming the first sitting president to appear on the late night talk show taped in Burbank. Obama will hold a town hall-style meeting today in Costa Mesa and then tour an electric vehicle factory in Pomona on Thursday, the White House said. Obama was a featured guest on comedy shows as a candidate, but NBC and the White House said this will be the first time a serving president has been on ?