Spotify is the latest online service that is used by Obama 2012 campaign. At present it is already utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr. This is its way to reach a wider audience and entice the younger generation to go out and re-elect the current president.

The Spotify playlist has 28 tracks, which includes various artists from Wilco to the Electric Light Orchestra to Ricky Martin. Some of the tracks are chosen for their message, such as Bruce Springsteen’s We Take Care of Our Own.

As of press time, there are already more than 1,000 subscribers to the playlist. Spotify has the ability to spread music fast and can help the campaign go viral in an instant. Spotify users can also share the playlist in Facebook.

As more Americans are connected to the internet, it is not a surprise that both Democrats and Republicans use online services to spread their message. The importance of digital platforms will be showcased in the upcoming presidential election.

They said that majority of women would not have coverage if the mandate is taken out. This would disenfranchise women’s rights advocates. Vice President Joe Biden and White house chief of staff Bill Daley, both Catholics, said that the mandate would be viewed as an intrusion by the government into religious institutions.

Obama’s decision was announced last January 20 and it became one of the topics in the presidential campaign. Republican hopefuls accuse the president of stepping on religious freedom. Catholic bishops have voiced their opposition to the mandate.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said that President Obama has started a war on religion when the administration requires Catholic schools and hospitals to provide free contraceptives to their employees even though it violates their religious conscience. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that Obama understands the concerns from religious organizations and the administration would try to find ways to resolve them when the policy is implemented.

The ruling brings the issue closer to the US Supreme Court. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the voter-approved Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. But the 2-1 ruling has revealed a split in judicial philosophy over a state’s ability to prevent same sex marriage. This could be the preview of what’s to come in the Supreme Court.

Proposition 8 supporters said that they plan to appeal the ruling. The appeals court ruling upheld that of former San Francisco Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who also struck down Proposition 8 in 2010. Gay rights advocates celebrated after the announcement of the ruling. Conservatives criticized it. Legal observers said that it would face equal support when gay marriage issue reaches the Supreme Court.

Proposition 8 supporters can ask the 9th Circuit to reopen the case with an 11-judge panel or go to the Supreme Court. It would take a long time before a final ruling will be reached. Legal observers say that it would stretch until next year.

The book is titled Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath. It is written by Mimi Alford, who was a 19 year old debutante working at the White House for the summer. During that time she was known as Mimi Beardsley.

She kept the affair a secret, even to her family. That was until her name was mentioned in JFK’s biography that was published eight years ago. The biography mentioned her affair with the president. Alford’s agent, Mark Reiter, said that Alford was stunned when the affair was posted in tabloids and decided to come out with her version of the events to take control of the story.

According to the book, the affair started after Alford was invited by an aide to go for a midday swim in the White House pool and President John F. Kennedy was there. He then invited her to evening drinks. She admitted that she was a virgin when the affair began in the bedroom of the first lady, who was away at that time. The president then sent her home in a White House car after their first sexual encounter.

Three other Occupy protesters were charged with assault on a police officer. The Park Police will continue in clearing the park of unsanitary conditions as they faced no untoward incidents Sunday. It was Saturday night when the demonstrators vowed not to leave the premises and urged people to remain nonviolent in their protest.

The Occupy D.C. has been low-key because of the way the authorities handled the protesters. But around 100 arrests have already been made since it started. Demonstrators created havoc on Capitol Hill and they managed to close down K Street Northwest, which is the power corridor of Washington lobbying.

Over the past weeks, officials have been concerned about the cost of monitoring the camps. They were also worried about the unsanitary kitchens, trash and rats, especially around the McPherson camp.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced last month as part of an effort to guarantee that women would get free healthcare services, which include breast pumps, cervical cancer screening, and contraception. They require employers to include the services in their company health insurance plans by August.

Religious organizations can ask for an exemption if the rule violates their beliefs but not if they employ large number of people who don’t share the same beliefs. A Catholic hospital or university with large number of non-Catholic workers must include free contraception in its employees’ health insurance.

The rule change sparked outrage from various religious organizations. Aside from the Catholic bishops, it was criticized by the evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews and other religious groups. The Catholic bishops branded the rule changes as a violation of conscience.

The jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent, which is the lowest level since February 2009. The Labor Department announced that the nation had a 243,000 increase in jobs, which is the biggest in the past nine months and has exceeded the forecast made by analysts. Service industries grow the most.

Stocks and bond yields jumped on optimism that the US economy would weather the European debt crisis as the labor market improves that led to an increase in household spending. The data showed that factories and retailers increased and this could boost President Barack Obama’s re-election bid. The announcement was made after Fed Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke stated that unemployment rate’s decline would be slow.

Standard and Poor’s 500 index increased 1.5 percent to 1,344.90 at the close of the trading in New York. This is the best start to a year since 1987. The index is up 6.9 percent in 2012. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note is up to 1.92 percent from 1.82 percent.

It turned out that US agents lost track of weapons. As many as 2,000 weapons were sold by gun dealers to people believed to be part of the Mexican drug cartels. But as of January 2011, fewer than 600 were recovered.

The Fast and Furious ran from late 2009 until early 2011. It came to light after two weapons from the operation were found in Arizona in December 2010 near the scene of a shootout between the US Border Patrol and illegal immigrants that killed agent Brian Terry.

Republican Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a memo that described how other federal authorities were already tracking down the gun smugglers of the drug cartel a year before Terry was killed.

Issa and the other Republicans on the committee said that senior Justice Department officials could have known guns were sold without adequate surveillance from wiretap apps and the information they had about a similar sting during the Bush administration called Wide Receiver.

Rasmussen said that the deficit would go up to $4 trillion in debt in 2012. The government ignored the cost of benefits that were promised for future Medicare and Social Security recipients. Estimates vary when it comes to the costs but they would be in the range of $3 trillion a year.

The CBO is not to be blamed for the accounting fiasco. The agency does a good job within the ground rules made by Congress but they often don’t make sense. Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said that the debt from the past is a problem but the future potential debt is a crisis.

The government doesn’t consider the debt piling up for future Social Security and Medicare benefits because they are officially declared as non-existent. The Federal Government uses the term trust fund, which has a different meaning from the private sector. A private trust owns the trust’s income and could also own the trust’s assets.

Obama wants to include in his 2013 budget proposal a set of business measures that have been sitting in Congress or have already passed the Republican controlled House to give entrepreneurs incentives to expand existing businesses or start new ones. He made these proposals during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. The president noted during the meeting that Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, participated as a full member of the Cabinet.

The White House wants to remove the taxes on capital gains from investments in small businesses as well as a one year extension on the ability of all businesses to deduct the costs of software and equipment purchases. The administration also wants a new 10 percent tax credit for small businesses that would spur jobs or increase wages in 2012.

The president’s proposals would make it easier for new companies to raise money for capital and go public. It embraces the measures that have already passed the House or have bipartisan support in the Senate.