Gov. Sanford not heard from since Thursday  —  The whereabouts of Gov. Mark Sanford have been unknown to state officials since Thursday, and some state leaders are questioning who is in charge of the executive office.  —  Neither the governor's office nor the State Law Enforcement Division …

US says hot dog diplomacy still on with Iran  —  WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.  —  President Barack Obama's administration …

Family, friends mourn Iranian woman whose death was caught on video  —  Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, ‘was a beam of light’ and not an activist, friends say.  The video footage of her bleeding to death on the street has turned her into an international symbol of the protest movement.

Iranian protester pleads for U.S., world to intervene  —  An Iranian student protester in Tehran made a passionate plea for help from the world community this morning in a phone call to CNN's “American Morning.”  —  For safety reasons, CNN can only identify the student by his first name, Mohammad.

Under Misspelled Banner, Buchanan And White Nationalist Brimelow Argue For English-Only Initiatives  —  On Saturday, Pat Buchanan hosted a conference to discuss how Republicans can regain a majority in America.  During one discussion, panelists suggested supporting English-only initiatives …

Poll: Americans Less Upbeat About Stimulus Bill's Impact  —  Expectations for President Obama's stimulus package have diminished, with barely half of Americans now confident the $787 billion measure will boost the economy, and the rapid rise in optimism that followed the 2008 election has abated …

HEAD-BANGING TIME?.... Michael Tomasky surveyed the landscape on the political debate over health care reform, and has come to the conclusion that if President Obama wants Congress to send him a good bill, he's going to have to “start banging some heads.” … I found all of this pretty compelling.

INITIAL THOUGHTS ON NAMUDNO: CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS BLINKED  —  Despite Chief Justice Roberts' longstanding skepticism of the Voting Rights Act and his blistering set of questions to supporters of section 5's constitutionality during oral argument, the Chief has managed to put together a coalition …

McCain's Iran Neda speech raises domestic political stakes for Obama  —  Here's anew video involving the violent events in Iran and the politics they are now forcing within the United States.  —  The video is from C-SPAN of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who over the weekend …

Gawker Says ‘Hi’ to Fox News Stalker; He Drives Away Like a Coward  —  We finally met Bill O'Reilly's stalker-producer Jesse Watters on Saturday.  It was a fleeting and civil encounter—jovial, even—but ultimately unsatisfying.  We asked him some questions about his stalking, and then he drove away, because he's a coward.

Rights, Responsibilities and Love  —  On Sunday, The Meriden Record-Journal published the following op-ed by Senator Chris Dodd  —  Public officials aren't supposed to change their minds.  But I firmly believe that it's important to keep learning.  Last week, while I was in Connecticut meeting …

Understanding Obama on Iran  —  Call me thick, but I continue to be baffled by a lot of the commentary, cited by Rich and others, which gives as the rationale for President Obama's diffidence his purported determination to preserve the opportunity to negotiate with the mullahs on their nuclear program.

Fenty: 4 Killed in Deadliest Crash in Metro History; Rescues Still Underway  —  WASHINGTON - Metro confirms two trains have collided on the Red Line between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, killing four people and injuring 66 others, including two patients with life-threatening injuries.

Republicans are trying to shoot their own feet  —  What in name of Pierre S. duPont IV do the Republicans in the State Legislature think they are doing?  It's got to be the most ludicrous political strategy ever conceived, certainly in this state.  —  Republicans want to spare every teacher …

Climate change fantasies  —  A while back I wrote about anti-green economics — the insistence, by opponents of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that the economic cost of cap-and-trade would be immense and unsupportable.  I cited Robert Samuelson, who ridiculed the Environmental Defense Fund …

Obama Invites Gay Rights Advocates to White House  —  As advocates for gays and lesbians intensify their criticism of the White House, President Obama has invited some of their leaders to an East Room reception next Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion …

Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology  —  After L. Ron Hubbard died, David Miscavige became Scientology's leader.  Former church executives say Miscavige beat his staff.  Church officials say the defectors are lying.  —  Reuters/Corbis (2006)]

No Country for Burly Men  —  How feminist groups skewed the Obama stimulus plan towards women's jobs.  —  A “man-cession.”  That's what some economists are starting to call it.  Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men.

Corker Impatiently Blows Off Meeting With Sotomayor Because She Was Slowed By Temporary Disability  —  Last Thursday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was scheduled to meet with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.  Yet when Sotomayor was delayed because of her recent injury, Corker decided …

Supreme Court Ends Plame Case Against Cheney, Libby, Bush Officials  —  The high court decides not to take a case dismissed by lower court that the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame caused suffering for Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson.  —  FOXNews.com  —  The Supreme Court announced Monday …

Fictions on the Ground  —  I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements ("a small village or collection of houses" or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary).  —  In the early 1960s, I spent time on Kibbutz Hakuk …