Blogger admits Hawaii birth certificate forgery, subverting Obama claims  —  Posted on Photobucket and in comments attached to the Daily Kos blog post where the purported Obama birth certificate appears  —  Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist …

The political establishment and telecom immunity — why it matters  —  Nancy Soderberg was deputy national security advisor and an ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration.  Today, she has an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times defending the FISA bill and telecom amnesty.

Obama Refines Plans for Germany Trip  —  Barack Obama's planned European tour might make a major whistlestop in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.  The candidate's schedule isn't set, but a Berlin appearance before the end of July looks likely.  —  Plans for a visit by Barack Obama …

Obama backs late, mental-health abortion  —  Sen. Barack Obama clarified his position today on mental-health exceptions to late-term abortions, saying he supports such exceptions and that comments he made during a recent magazine interview shouldn't be interpreted as opposing them.

re: Civics  —  A totally crazy Saturday-morning thought: Wouldn't George W. Bush make an awesome high-school government teacher?  Wouldn't it be something if his post-presidential life would up being that kind of post-service service?  How's that for a model?  Who needs Harvard visiting chairs and high-end lectures?

McCain Battles a Nemesis, the Teleprompter  —  LAS VEGAS —Senator John McCain was performing relatively smoothly as he unveiled his energy plan.  —  He managed to limit the mechanical hand chops and weirdly timed smiles that can often punctuate his speeches.

Inside Mugabe's Violent Crackdown  —  Notes, Witnesses Detail How Campaign Was Conceived and Executed by Leader, Aides  —  HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe summoned his top security officials to a government training center near his rural home in central Zimbabwe on the afternoon of March 30.

FLASHBACK: Ten Years Ago, Bin Laden Demanded Barrel Of Oil Should Cost $144  —  In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” …

Rising Convention Costs and Delays Worry Democrats  —  For all Senator Barack Obama's success at raising money and generating excitement among voters, he faces a daunting challenge as he prepares to claim the nomination in August: a Democratic convention effort marred by costly setbacks and embarrassing delays.

Teaching Arabic and Propaganda  —  At Harvard, the star of Arabic A is a girl named Maha.  Maha Muhammed Abulaal, to be precise.  She's the pouty protagonist in the melodrama that runs throughout “Al-Kitaab,” the standard beginning text in Arabic classes at Harvard and other American universities.

Wesley Clark ‘moving on’  —  Four days after his controversial “Face the Nation” appearance, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is taking a break from the presidential campaign — but many Democratic insiders think he has already been crossed off the list of Barack Obama's potential running mates.

McCain to get air cover from vets  —  For the first time, the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is about to get a substantial hand from advertisements by an outside group.  —  Conservative and Republican groups have been largely quiet, leaving McCain heavily outmatched …

Man rips head off Hitler waxwork at Berlin's Madame Tussauds  —  A man has torn the head from a controversial waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler on the opening day of Berlin's Madame Tussauds museum today.  —  A police spokesman said that the man, 41, had ripped off the head in protest at the exhibit.

How Jesse Helms Made a Difference  —  If Ronald Reagan was the sunny and optimistic face of modern conservatism, the uncompromisingly defiant exemplar of it was Jesse Helms, who died yesterday at age 86.  —  While Reagan has undergone a revisionist makeover by many historians who now recognize …

The Helms Legacy  —  One fascinating thing about the death of Jesse Helms is the conservative reaction.  One might expect that Helms' death would prompt from conservatives the sorts of things that I might say if, say, Al Sharpton died — that he and I had some overlapping beliefs and I don't regard …

Obama and Clinton to Work Hard for the Money  —  Fresh from their love-in at Unity, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will collect cash together for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee in New York City next week.  —  Mr. Obama, who is in the midst of a spree …