White House Drafts Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects  —  The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely …

Sanford: King David Didn't Resign, So Why Should I?  —  Mark Sanford has been holding a televised cabinet meeting this afternoon.  —  And the South Carolina governor started out by using an interesting comparison to respond to calls for his resignation.  King David didn't back down after …

Rep. Broun receives applause on the House floor for calling global warming a ‘hoax.’  —  During the floor debate this morning over the historic American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) received a round of applause from GOP colleagues when he claimed that man …

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change  —  WASHINGTON — Overcoming deep divisions within its Democratic majority, the House passed legislation on Friday intended to address the threat of global warming and transform the way the United States produces and uses energy.

Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him  —  LONDON, England (CNN) — How many people does it take to break the Internet?  On June 25, we found out it's just one — if that one is Michael Jackson.  —  The biggest showbiz story of the year saw the troubled star take a good slice …

Cap-and-Trade, State-by-State  —  Regional considerations tend to loom larger in debates over environmental policy than in other sorts of affairs.  Some states consume more energy than others.  Some states have more carbon-intensive economies than others.  Some states are more or less likely …

The Obama Pattern  —  The Obama Administration appears to me to be pursuing many goals, poorly.  Here are four:  —  1) The stimulus failed to meet Larry Summers' famous criteria of timely, targeted, or temporary.  —  2) The cap and trade legislation maximizes rent-seeking …

Climate bill clears House in close vote  —  WASHINGTON — The highly publicized Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill (H.R. 2454) cleared the House Friday afternoon by a roll call vote of 219 to 212.  —  Proponents hailed its passage as a crucial step towards the creation of what prominent Democrats have called a new green energy economy.

White House Watched  —  Today's column is my last for The Washington Post.  And the first thing I want to say is thank you.  Thank you to all you readers, e-mailers, commenters, questioners, Facebook friends and Twitterers for spending your time with me and engaging with me over the years.

Palin Responds To Sen. Kerry Joke: “Why The Long Face?”  —  Speaking to a group of servicemen in Kosovo, Gov. Sarah Palin responded to a crack made by Sen. John Kerry earlier this week.  Sen. Kerry joked he wished Palin went missing along with Sanford.  “He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad,” she said.

Cap and tax liveblog, Pt II: Pay attention to House floor games; 14 undecideds; let's play “Where's the Bill?”  —  At approx. 2:35pm Eastern, GOP Rep. Joe Barton announced that there is now a placeholder in the bill to be determined later.  —  Barton notes that this is unprecedented.

U. of I. jobs-for-entry scheme  —  E-mails reveal law school put a price on admission of unqualified candidate  —  What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school?  —  Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.

Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee snapped up or dumped bank stocks as bottom fell out of market  —  WASHINGTON — As financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several members of Congress who oversee …

China ‘to block’ Hummer takeover  —  A Chinese firm's bid to buy the gas-guzzling Hummer car brand will be blocked on environmental grounds, according to Chinese state radio.  —  Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery emerged as the surprise buyer for the brand earlier this year.

D.C. Summer Jobs Contractor Fired for Posts on Twitter  —  The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who was working with youths in the city's summer jobs program after officials became aware of messages on his Twitter site that Anacostia is “ghetto” and that he was loafing at work.