Barack Obama

President Barack Obama showed his lighter side and a knack for comedy Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' dinner.

His monologue began by poking fun at his "open mic" controversy with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in March.

"Seriously guys, what am I doing here?" Obama joked backstage as he pretended to be unaware that the mic was on. "I'm the president of the United States and I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel? I have the nuclear codes. Why am I telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian? Why is she famous anyway? That's it. Next year, we send Biden." more >>

James Lovelock, the scientist who developed the "Gaia theory" of Earth, said in a MSNBC interview that he was too "alarmist" in an earlier book on global warming.

The science supporting global warming, Lovelock said, does not understand as much about how the Earth's climate changes as scientists had previously claimed.

"The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened," Lovelock said. "The climate is doing its usual tricks. There's nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now." more >>

President Obama may not be planning to publicly embrace same-sex marriage before the election, but he is touting his accomplishments on behalf of the gay community on his campaign website.

A timeline, highlighted in rainbow colors, outlines his administration's work on issues that benefit gay rights in some form or fashion. It begins in June of 2009 after he ordered the federal government to extend limited benefits to the partners of homosexual federal employees. It ends with him denouncing the North Carolina marriage amendment in early March.

Obama has been under steady pressure from the gay community for not signing an executive order mandating that firms working on federal contracts give full rights to same-sex couples. Several gay activists publically criticized him for the decision when his staff delivered the news to them last week. more >>

Voters with high levels of religiosity favor Mitt Romney, while voters who are moderately religious or nonreligious favor President Barack Obama, according to a new Gallup poll.

Fifty-four percent of registered voters categorized as "very religious" said they are currently supporting Romney, while 37 percent said they would vote for Obama, in the presidential race. Among the "moderately religious," 54 percent support Obama and 40 percent support Romney. Among the "nonreligious" Obama's support is even greater, 61 percent, while Romney gets only 30 percent.

Voters are more closely split when comparing Catholics and Protestants. Protestants favor Romney, a Latter-day Saint, 48 to 43 percent. Catholics favor Obama, a Protestant, 51 to 45 percent. more >>

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Monday that a Medicare Advantage demonstration program set up by Health and Human Services was likely used to avoid political fallout from planned cuts to Medicare Advantage. His conclusions are based upon a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO), a non-partisan government agency, completed at his request, which said the program is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Medicare Advantage, a Medicare program that lets seniors buy private insurance, was cut in 2010 to help pay for the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began a pilot demonstration program in November 2010 that would pay bonuses, $8.35 billion worth over 10 years, to Medicare Advantage insurers who meet certain benchmarks.

The GAO's analysis of the program concluded that the program should be canceled. The two main issues cited were that most of the payments would go to insurers that only received average ratings and there is no control group to determine if the program is effective. more >>

Correction Appended

Joel Osteen, the popular megachurch pastor from Houston, appeared Tuesday afternoon on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and said that he considers both presumed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and President Obama to be Christians.

Osteen, when asked about Romney's faith, said the former Massachusetts governor is indeed a Christian – which is a similar statement to the one he made in January. more >>