President Barack Obama sharpened his criticism of Republicans in a series of campaign fund-raisers Sunday on the West Coast, saying the GOP would “cripple” America and beginning to engage his 2012 challengers.

Mr. Obama took aim at Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry at a California fund-raiser, without naming the Texas governor, and he criticized the behavior of the audience during the party’s recent debates.

“I mean, has anybody been watching the debates lately? You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change,” Mr. Obama said in a reference to Mr. Perry that drew applause from the 350 donors at a fund-raiser in Woodside, Calif.

“You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s not reflective of who we are.”

Perry spokesman Mark Miner called it “outrageous” that the president “would use the burning of 1,500 homes

This evening reminds us of both the timeless teachings of a great religion and the enduring strengths of a great nation. Like so many faiths, Islam has always been part of our American family, and Muslim Americans have long contributed to the strength and character of our country, in all walks of life. This has been especially true over the past 10 years.

"In one month, we will mark the 10th anniversary of those awful attacks that brought so much pain to our hearts. It will be a time to honor all those that we’ve lost, the families who carry on their legacy, the heroes who rushed to help that day and all who have served to keep us safe during a difficult decade. And tonight, it’s worth remembering that these Americans were of many faiths and backgrounds, including proud and patriotic Muslim Americans.

"Muslim Americans were innocent passengers on those planes, including a young married couple looking forward to the birth of their first child. They were workers in the Twin Towers

"Just remember, this is the United States of America. We write 80 million checks a month. There are millions and millions of Americans that depend on those checks coming on time," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told "FOX News Sunday."

"Not just people that supply our military, but people who get Social Security benefits, Medicare [and] Medicaid benefits. And we can not put those payments at risk and we do not have the ability to limit the damage on them if Congress fails to act in time."

For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty,” but the bureau’s definition of poverty differs widely from that held by most Americans. In fact, other government surveys show that most of the persons whom the government defines as “in poverty” are not poor in any ordinary sense of the term. The overwhelming majority of the poor have air conditioning, cable TV, and a host of other modern amenities. They are well housed, have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food, and have met their other basic needs, including medical care. Some poor Americans do experience significant hardships, including temporary food shortages or inadequate housing, but these individuals are a minority within the overall poverty population. Poverty remains an issue of serious social concern, but accurate information about that problem is essential in crafting wise public policy. Exaggeration and misinformation about poverty obscure the nature,

"Every aspect of life in America today is worse than it was when [President Obama] took over. Unemployment higher. Interest rates. The only thing that has gone down in America over the last two years is the value of your home. This president has mismanaged this economy. He has been incompetent in his management of this economy," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on "Hannity."

Finally this evening, the last draftee is set to retire from the army this summer at the age of 58. Command Sergeant-Major Jeff Mellinger was drafted back in 1972. In recent years, he survived 27 roadside bombings while deployed in Iraq.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports on another long-serving veteran with a great story.

In Afghanistan being a doctor can be a frontline position. But even back from the fighting, men and women of the U.S. Military have tough jobs and the medical problems to match.

An experienced eye makes all the difference, and few are more experienced than Dr. John Burson, an ear, nose and throat specialist from Villa Rica, Georgia. At age 76, he may not have seen it all, but he brings a lot of history to his work at this US military clinic in Kabul.

"There not sure if I'm a father figure or a grandfather figure," Dr. Burson says. "I carry with me mostly an appreciation for the incredible sacrifice I see among the young people here.

It's William Whipple's turn to be recognized.

The New Hampshire merchant is one of the lesser-known signers of the Declaration of Independence. This year, there are plans for Whipple and 11 others to be honored for their place in history with a small bronze plaque at their gravesites or homes, thanks to a group of descendants of the Founding Fathers.

Whipple, one of three men from New Hampshire who signed the famous document — the others were Josiah Bartlett and Matthew Thornton — had no direct descendants. His only child, a boy, died as an infant and is buried near him at the Old North Cemetery in Portsmouth. Whipple, who also commanded troops during the Revolutionary War and served as a state judge and legislator, died in 1785 at age 55.

It's about time he was honored, said Blaine Whipple in Portland, Ore., a distant relative who has researched and published several volumes on 15 generations of the Whipple family in America.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard was still upset after the U.S. lost the Gold Cup final, but his strongest reaction had nothing to do with the four goals Mexico slotted in his net.

After El Tri's 4-2 victory at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., Howard blasted CONCACAF officials for conducting the title ceremony in Spanish.

"CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves," Howard said. "I think it was a [expletive] disgrace that the entire postmatch ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass that if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn't be all in English.

"But that's not why we lost the game. They've got some special players who put us in some bad situations."

Fans cheer prior to the Gold Cup Final at the Rose Bowl. The U.S. team was roundly booed as a vast majority of attendees supported Mexico, which won 4-2. "We're not booing the country, we're booing the team," one fan said.

"It was uniquely American", says the LA Times.

A Chinese national company is interested in developing a 10,000- to 30,000-acre technology zone for industry, retail centers and homes south of the Boise Airport.

Officials of the China National Machinery Industry Corp. have broached the idea — based on a concept popular in China today — to city and state leaders.

They are also interested in helping build and finance a fertilizer plant near American Falls, an idea company officials returned to Idaho this month to pursue.

This ambitious, long-term proposal would start with a manufacturing and warehouse zone tied to the airport, and could signify a shift in the economic relationship between the two superpowers — a relationship once defined by U.S. companies like the J.R. Simplot Co., Hewlett-Packard and Morrison-Knudsen that would head to China to build and develop.

Mitt Romney is opening his first formal day as a 2012 Republican presidential candidate by pitching himself as the one to heal the economy and issuing a direct challenge to the man he wants to replace: "Barack Obama has failed America," he says.
In excerpts released ahead of his formal kick-off speech Thursday, Romney homes in on the economic woes that are frustrating voters: a lack of jobs, persistent foreclosures and runaway spending in Washington.
It's a pitch tailored to the conservatives who hold great sway in picking the GOP's presidential nominee in Iowa and South Carolina — and the independents who are the largest politic bloc in New Hampshire. And it is as much a thesis on his viability as it is an indictment of Obama's leadership.

President Barack Obama honored America's fallen service members, and called on Americans to remember their sacrifice.

In a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery Monday, Mr. Obama expressed the honor and solemn responsibility he feels serving as commander in chief of "one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known."

He paid tribute to service members who lost their lives in service: "Venerable warriors who lay here and across this country and around the globe. Each of them adds honor to what it means to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine and Coast Guardsman. Each is a link in an unbroken chain that stretches back to the earliest days of our republic.

The Defense Department announced 8 new U.S. casualties in Afghanistan over the Memorial Day weekend, bringing the total number of U.S. casualties in the almost-decade-long war in that country to 1,503.

Twenty-eight U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan in May. These heroes hailed from all regions of America, calling 17 states and Puerto Rico their homes.

933 of the 1,503 U.S. casualties over the course of the Afghanistan war have come since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009. That equals 62 percent of the total.

When it comes to national and international affairs, many, if not most, Americans seem to have taken the mythical wizard's advice. They seem oblivious to the man behind the curtain. And make no mistake about it: there is a man (or group of men) behind the

What would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you! In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals a

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It is my belief that it would not be necessary to remove all of the illegal aliens but that once our nation showed real resolve in enforcing the immigration laws, many illegal aliens would simply leave the United State of their own accord and at their own

Dengue fever is spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean in one of the worst outbreaks in decades, causing agonizing joint pain for hundreds of thousands of people and killing nearly 200 so far this year. The mosquitoes that carry dengue are thriv

Among the repertoire of rationalizations repeatedly presented by supporters of illegal immigrants to convince the American public that illegal immigrants are beneficial to America is the one that asserts illegal immigrants are hard working people who pay

The always witty Texas Rainmaker notices Canada is expressing pain over a new influx of illegal immigrants: Mexicans, slipping over the border from the United States.

President Bush's strategy for bolstering border security by sending 6,000 National Guard troops to aid the Border Patrol turns a year old this weekend. With that anniversary, the process of drawing down the number of troops here also begins. By Sept. 1, t