Protesters drown out Tampa health care summit  —  TAMPA - Bitter divisions over reforming America's health care system exploded Thursday night in Tampa amid cat calls, jeering and shoving at a town hall meeting.  —  “Tyranny!  Tyranny!  Tyranny!” dozens of people shouted as U.S …

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform  —  As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don't agree.  Today, I'm going to step over that line.  —  The recent attacks by Republican leaders …

Taliban Leader in Pakistan Was Killed, His Aides Say  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan's fearsome Taliban militia, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. missile strike, two Taliban fighters said Friday, adding that a meeting was taking place to determine which of his top deputies would replace him.

Sotomayor Faces Heavy Workload of Complex Cases  —  Now comes the hard part.  —  With the Senate's approval of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the new justice will soon take on one of the most demanding jobs in the land.

WH to Dems: Punch back twice as hard  —  Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess battle plan on Thursday, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town hall meetings while showing them polling on popular aspects of the reform effort.

Twitter, Facebook attack targeted one user  —  A Georgian blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial of service attack that led to the site-wide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive.

Anti-Obama Protester Compares President To Nazi In Swastika Sign  —  In championing the protests being staged at Democratic town halls, the Republican Party faces the obvious danger of becoming defined by the crazier elements of the crowd.  So it's hard to imagine GOP higher-ups feeling …

Director John Hughes dies at 59  —  ‘Breakfast Club’ helmer died of a heart attack  —  John Hughes, who captured the zeitgeist of 1980s teen life as writer-director of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” and produced and scripted family hits such as “Home Alone,” died Thursday of a heart attack in Manhattan while taking a walk.

Meet the Mob  —  You've heard a lot about this crazy, scary, vicious mob on some shadowy GOP payroll.  By the way the DNC, Rachel Maddow, and President Obama talk, you'd think it was a motley crue of Hell's Angels.  —  Let me introduce you to the mob:  —  I am the mob.  My kids are the mob.

247,000 Jobs Lost in July; Rate Falls Slightly to 9.4%  —  The American economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, and in a reversal, the unemployment rate fell slightly, to 9.4 percent, the government reported Friday.  —  Although businesses are expected to keep cutting jobs through the rest of the year …

Punkin' the Nirthers  —  That “Kenyan birth certificate” promoted by World Net Daily, Orly Taitz, Free Republic, and quite a few bloggers turns out to have been a deliberate prank on the Nirthers.  They were well and truly punk'd.  —  The first words I wrote immediately after seeing the latest incarnation of the Nirth Certifikit: