As President Obama prepares to travel to Denmark to pitch the U.S. bid for the 2016 Olympics, the White House is fighting back against Republicans who are ripping the bid to the bring the games to Chicago.

The White House blog today posts a point by point rebuttal of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, saying he distorted the facts in an effor tto smear the U.S. Olympics bid.

"Last night," the blog says, "Fox News continued its disregard for the facts in an attempt to smear the Administration's efforts to win the Olympics for the United States.

"In the past, hosting the Olympics has been a source of pride and unity for the country, but once again Fox News' Glenn Beck program has shown that nothing is worthy of respect if it can be used as part of a partisan attack to boost ratings."

Beck is one of many conservatives and Republicans who are tearing into Obama for going to Denmark Friday to make the U.S. pitch or into Chicago as a corrupt and violent city unworthy of the games.

The $5 billion comes from the $787 billion economic stimulus passed by Congress earlier this year, and is to cover 12,000 grants. The White House said it is the largest ever capital infusion into biomedical research.

About $100 million will go to autism research. More than $1 billion will be targeted to research using the findings of the Human Genome Project, which could speed cancer research. Grants also will be used to study heart disease, HIV/AIDS and the H1N1 flu.

The president said in a statement: "Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa and the region. I am closely monitoring these tragic events, and have declared a major disaster for American Samoa, which will provide the tools necessary for a full, swift and aggressive response. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in close and constant contact with emergency responders, and the U.S. Coast Guard is fully supporting the deployment of resources to those areas in need of immediate assistance. We also stand ready to help our friends in Samoa and the region. Going forward, we will continue to provide the resources necessary to respond to this catastrophe, and we will keep those who have lost so much in our thoughts and prayers."

President Obama has an important closed-door meeting at 3 p.m. in the White House Situation Room with his national security team, as he considers whether to beef up or scale back ground troops in the war in Afghanistan. Aides say any announcement is still weeks off.

But first, another important meeting for Obama, who's embraced weekend golf outings since taking office. At the 1:30 meeting, the president will sign the Arnold Palmer Gold Medal Act, honoring the 80-year-old golfing great/philanthropist/course designer who's to receive the honor in person. U.S. Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., who introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives to award Palmer the Congressional Gold Medal, noted Palmer's professional accomplishments, promotion of good sportsmanship, health care and environmental philanthropies, spreading golf's popularity beyond country clubs to the masses, Coast Guard service, and, yes, his having a half-lemonade, half-iced-tea beverage named after him.

President Obama and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met earlier today at the White House. No questions, but both made statements to the press pool.

Rasmussen: "I agree with President Obama in his approach: Strategy first, then resources. The first thing is not numbers. It is to find and fine-tune the right approach to implement the strategy already laid down, and all NATO allies are right now looking at McChrystal's review.

"I'm convinced that success in Afghanistan is achievable and will be achieved. And don't make any mistake. The normal discussion on the right approach should not be misinterpreted as lack of resolve. This Alliance will stand united and we will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job."

From today's press briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

Q: Any response to RNC Chairman (Michael) Steele's criticism about the president going to Copenhagen (to pitch Chicago for the 2016 Olympics?

GIBBS: Who's he rooting for? Is he hoping to hop a plane to Brazil and catch the Olympics in Rio?

Earlier, the White House said First Lady MIchelle Obama would be making the pitch to the International Olympic Committee for the Obamas' hometown of Chicago to get the 2016 games, and that the president would have liked to have gone but the health care debate required his presence at home.

The White House this morning says President Obama will be going to Copenhagen after all, for a matter of hours, to be part of the pitch presentation Oct. 2. Michelle Obama remains the leader of the U.S. delegation, will be in Denmark longer, and will still make her own pitch for the games.

Days ahead of crucial talks with global powers, Iran defiantly test-fired short-range missiles Sunday and announced it would follow with tests of long-range weapons capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

If the Irananian show of force was meant to discourage Washington, it didn't seem to work.

Appearing on the ABC Sunday morning talk show This Week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the actions by Tehran underscore that it is worried after President Barack Obama made a surprise revelation that Iran has a second cover uranium enrichment facility. Obama was flanked during his Friday announcement by the leaders of Great Britain and France.

"We have created a problem for the Iranians with this disclosure," said Gates.

Asked whether the U.S. or Israel are now more likely to pursue a military strike on Iranian facilities, Gates said that the current environment is more favorable to "severe sanctions" to cripple Iran's struggling economy, troubled by collapsing global oil prices and high unemployment.

U.S. lawmakers took to the airwaves Sunday to call for tough new sanctions on Iran. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Sen. Jon Kyl-R-Ariz., said the missile tests call into question the Obama strategy of seeking to have dialogue with Iran.

"I think it illustrates the point that at some point talking is counterproductive," said Kyl.

On the same program, Sen. James Webb, D-Va., defended Thursday's talks with Iran, noting they give a change to express views forcefully face to face, rather than through the filter of the media.

Both Kyl and Webb called on China to get on board with sanctions, after Russia and European nations voiced support for a tougher stand against Tehran.

"China is key," said Webb, noting that Iran imports 40 percent of its gasoline consumption, and that China accounts for one-third of that supply, replacing European exporters who have bowed out under pressure from Washington.

Asked why sanctions would work now, when they have failed in the past, Secretary Gates said there are deep "fissures" in Iranian society after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this year. Protests continue, and opponents continue to be jailed and report torture. Gates thinks it wouldn't take too much pressure to significantly raise the political costs of nuclear ambitions for an unpopular government.

Call it a fait accompli that may not be. A federal judge in Camden, NJ., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injuction that could halt Election Systems & Software's Sept. 2 announced acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s Premier Election Solutions.

 The quietly arranged shotgun wedding between voting-machine giants would give ES&S control of election systems in use in almost 70 percent of the nation's voting precincts. Federal Judge Robert Kugler agreed to hear Tuesday the request for immediate injunction brought by a small competitor Hart InterCivic Inc.

Hart argues that resolving the matter at some distant date could potentially impact elections across the nation because state and local officials couldn't wait on a decision and would have to do business with ES&S.

Hart's attorney Jonathan Rubin, an anti-trust specialist for the Washington law firm Patton Boggs, contends that jurisdictions across the nation select voting-machines based on competitive bids, which would be next to impossible if the acquisition went through.

"We're hopeful that the judge will recognize the profound public importance of putting an immediate stop to the deal," Rubin told McClatchy.

Although the law does not require ES&S to inform the federal government of its merger plans, the public nature of voting machines demands a certain measure of advance disclosure, Rubin maintains.

"The reason the government isn't here is because these parties did a stealth transaction in an apparent attempt to end-run the government," he said.

ES&S executives could not be reached Friday night, but have defended the merger with a weaker rival as in the public interest. Premier Election Solutions is owned by Diebold, a company caught in a swirl of controversy during the 2004 presidential election amid charges of irregularities and technical glitches.

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your President is a robot," says Eric Spiegelman on his webpage. "Or a wax sculpture.  Maybe a cardboard cutout.  All I know is no human being has a photo smile this amazingly consistent."

In his strangely compelling montage, he pieced together a load of photos of the president with guests at a New York reception, showing how Obama's face never changes.

"On Wednesday," he writes, "the Obamas hosted a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, during which they stood for 130 photographs with visiting foreign dignitaries in town for the UN meeting.  The President has exactly the same smile in every single shot."