Obama Says Afghan Policy Won't Change  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday fired his top Afghanistan war commander after only a brief meeting in the Oval Office, replacing Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal with his boss and mentor, General David H. Petraeus, and sending a clear signal …

‘Joe Barton was right,’ Joe Barton tweets  —  Hours after getting a respite from House Republicans, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) has cheekily responded to criticism over his “apology to BP” by tweeting a link to an American Spectator article titled “Joe Barton was right.”

EXCLUSIVE: GORE SEX SCANDAL  —  ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: AL GORE has been accused of sexually attacking a masseuse in Portland, Oregon - and is named in the official police report about the alleged assault, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively!  —  The bombshell story will appear …

Poll: Spill drags Obama's rating down  —  A silver lining for Obama is that his personal scores are still strong  —  President Obama's favorable/unfavorable rating is now at 47 percent to 40 percent, down from 49 percent to 38 percent in early May and 52 percent to 35 percent in January.

Sharia Comes to Michigan  —  Under Sharia law, it is forbidden to proselytize to Muslims, and no Muslim can leave the faith.  Dearborn, Michigan, is home to a substantial Muslim population, and there is strong evidence that local authorities now enforce sharia in preference to the Constitution of the United States.

Coroner: Charter captain working oil spill killed himself; former co-worker 'surprised something like this hasn't already happened'  —  FORT MORGAN, Ala. — An Orange Beach, Ala., charter boat captain shot and killed himself this morning just before his vessel was scheduled to set out to take part …

Federal Gov't Halts Sand Berm Dredging  —  Nungesser Pleads With President To Allow Work To Continue  —  NEW ORLEANS — The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.  —  The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil.

Spitzer, Parker to host primetime CNN show  —  CNN announced Wednesday that Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer will host its new 8 p.m. program.  —  Washington (CNN) - Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Kathleen Parker will co-host …

Remains of 72 people found at World Trade Center site  —  New York City officials say a renewed search this year of debris in and around the World Trade Center site has recovered 72 human remains.  —  The sifting of more than 800 cubic yards (612 cubic meters) of debris recovered from ground zero …

MoveOn Scrubs “General Betray Us” Page From Website . . . Update: Flashback to 2007, Obama Skipped Senate Vote to Condemn MoveOn . . . Update 2: Rationale Page Also Flushed. . .  It was there the last time Google cache took a screen shot of it (June 18th), so it was scrubbed sometime between then and today.

The Emerging Republican Minority  —  The Center for American Politics' Ruy Teixeira, one of the top political demographers in the country, has a new paper out in which he examines the two major party coalitions, with a focus on the current and future prospects of the Republican Party.

Gillard becomes Australia's first female PM  —  (Reuters) - Julia Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister on Thursday when Kevin Rudd stepped down, as the Labor government sought to avoid election defeat later this year by changing leaders.  —  Gillard is expected to present …

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economic recovery is proceeding and that the labor market is improving gradually.  Household spending is increasing but remains constrained by high unemployment …

The Last Ironing Board to Die for a Mistake  —  Yesterday, The Washington Post told the sad story of the last ironing board factory in the United States.  To protect the jobs of 200 workers, imported Chinese ironing boards are hit with tariffs from 70 to 150 percent.

THE ICK FACTOR...  The reaction over a reported quote from my most recent interview with the New Yorker has gained a lot of attention on the blogs and Internet.  —  Let me set the record straight.  —  My exact quote was this:  —  “I do believe that God created male and female and intended …

Graphic Sex Ed Class Under Fire  —  Parents are outraged after young teenagers were instructed on graphic sexual acts during a Planned Parenthood sex education class at the local high school in Shenandoah, Iowa.  —  “It was horribly inappropriate,” Colleen Dostal told Fox News Radio.

Problem With Cap Causes More Oil to Gush in Gulf  —  BP suffered another setback in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, when a discharge of liquid and gases forced the company to remove the containment cap that for three weeks had been able to capture a large portion of the oil gushing from its damaged well.

Vitter Aide Resigns After ABC News Disclosures About Past  —  Drunk Driving, Attack on Girlfriend, Open Warrant Detailed in ABC News Report  —  A trusted aide to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter resigned Wednesday morning after ABC News reported that he had been arrested for attacking his ex-girlfriend …