Liberal Suicide March  —  It was interesting to watch the Republican Party lose touch with America.  You had a party led by conservative Southerners who neither understood nor sympathized with moderates or representatives from swing districts.  —  They brought in pollsters to their party conferences …

Most will carry Obama press conference; time shifted after NBC balked  —  UPDATED: After some hesitation and a time shift, three major broadcast networks have agreed to carry Barack Obama's latest primetime news conference.  —  The event was announced Friday afternoon as Obama battles …

Lawyer's Statement on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr.  —  Charles Ogletree gives Gates' side of the story in controversial arrest of The Root's editor-in-chief.  —  Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — by Charles Ogletree  —  This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client …

Fighting Over Fighter Jets: Obama, Gates and the F-22  —  Co-written by Lawrence J. Korb and Krisila Benson.  —  The Senate is locked in a heated debate on the future of the F-22, the Air Force's 5th generation fighter plane.  It is the most advanced air-to-air combat fighter plane in the world …

Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform  —  Key Senator Baucus Is a Leading Recipient  —  As liberal protesters marched outside, Sen. Max Baucus sat down inside a San Francisco mansion for a dinner of chicken cordon bleu and a discussion of landmark health-care legislation …

Budget accord reached  —  Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agree on ways to close California's $26.3-billion deficit.  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal …

Amman begins stripping state's Palestinians of citizenship  —  Article's topics: Jordan, Palestinians, West Bank, PLO  —  Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be “resettled” …

The Fed's Exit Strategy  —  The depth and breadth of the global recession has required a highly accommodative monetary policy.  Since the onset of the financial crisis nearly two years ago, the Federal Reserve has reduced the interest-rate target for overnight lending between banks (the federal-funds rate) nearly to zero.

Top Earners' Pay Erodes Social Security  —  Fund Expected to Be Exhausted in 2037  —  The nation's wealth gap is widening amid an uproar about lofty pay packages in the financial world.  —  Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S. …

New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter  —  Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.  —  Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark …

Benjamin: Too Heavy to Be Nation's Top Doc?  —  Leading Experts Say Dr. Benjamin, Though Stellar Nominee, Gives Wrong Message  —  Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, Obama's pick for the next surgeon general, was hailed as a MacArthur Grant genius who had championed the poor at a medical clinic she set up in Katrina-ravaged Alabama.

For the record, today I was able to figure out the allegation about my staff flipping off protestors at my St Louis office on Friday.  There was only one male staffer at the office on Friday, and I knew he wouldn't do that.  He is an Iraq veteran, who handles almost all of our case work for our veterans.

President Barack Obama authorizes extended Secret Service guard for former VP Dick Cheney  —  WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service protection has been extended for at least another six months, beginning Tuesday.  —  Normally, ex-veeps only get six months of protection at taxpayer expense.

Democrats Want to Teach You to Die With Dignity  —  H.R. 3200 is the Democrat healthcare bill.  —  Let's back up for a minute.  I noted some time ago Jay Rockefeller went on record to say that at some point the government has to decide whether or not you are allowed to receive …

Is the Sun Missing Its Spots?  —  The Sun is still blank (mostly).  —  Ever since Samuel Heinrich Schwabe, a German astronomer, first noted in 1843 that sunspots burgeon and wane over a roughly 11-year cycle, scientists have carefully watched the Sun's activity.

WAY TO GO, SNOWE?.... If the Democratic campaign for health care reform is going to get any support from Republicans at all, the most likely GOP supporter is Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine.  In April, the moderate Republican signaled, for example, at least some support for a public option.

Presidential approval tracker  —  The Gallup organization first started asking Americans how they approved of the job the president was doing in the 1940s.  See how each president since then has fared in the approval poll, look at some news events that influenced public opinion and compare …

Big Estimate, Worth Little, on Bailout  —  Just how much could the bailout of the financial system end up costing American taxpayers?  —  Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program set up by the Treasury Department, came up with the largest number yet …

Why America Shouldn't “Buy American”  —  Is your iPod unpatriotic?  —  Its 451 parts are made in dozens of nations, and creating the little doodads employs thousands of foreigners.  Final assembly is done in China—a country that right-wingers and left-wingers alike fear is an economic threat to the U.S.

Iran's Tragic Joke  —  NEW YORK — Allow me to quote the British novelist Martin Amis, writing about Persia in The Guardian: “Iran is one of the most venerable civilizations on earth: it makes China look like an adolescent, and America look like a stripling.”  —  Iranians, aware of that history, are a proud people.

Obama's Gitmo Task Force Blows Its Deadline  —  Exclusive: why a key report on closing the facility has been delayed until the fall.  —  Brennan Linsley / Reuters-Landov  —  A U.S. journalist walks past sleeping quaters at Camp Justice, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 14, 2009.

Fake Pro-Life Abortion Bill Expected in Congress, Ups Planned Parenthood Funds  —  Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A former leader for one of the nation's largest pro-abortion groups and a congressman who abandoned his pro-life views to such a large extent that a pro-life group kicked him off …

CalPERS expected to report losing nearly one-quarter of investment portfolio  —  The estimated $56.8-billion drop at the U.S.' largest pension fund, the second annual loss in a row, would have a huge effect on what state and local governments must shell out to support retirees.