Op-Ed Columnist: Punishing the Unemployed  —  There was a time when everyone took it for granted that unemployment insurance, which normally terminates after 26 weeks, would be extended in times of persistent joblessness.  It was, most people agreed, the decent thing to do.  —  But that was then.

Obama tasks NASA with building Muslim self-esteem  —  In the video below, Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera that the “foremost” task President Obama has given him is “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help …

Conservatives Are More Than Twice as Likely as Liberals to Be Strongly Patriotic, Says Gallup Poll  —  (CNSNews.com) - Conservatives are more than twice as likely as liberals to express very strong patriotism, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll in which 48 percent of conservatives said they were …

Former hot dog eating champ arrested  —  New York (CNN) — He didn't compete for the hot dog eating title this year, but he did cause a scene at the contest.  —  Takeru Kobayashi was arrested at Coney Island after his rival, Joey Chestnut, won the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Companies Find Ways to Bypass Ban on Earmarks  —  TOLEDO, Ohio — Just one day after leaders of the House of Representatives announced a ban on earmarks to profit-making companies, Victoria Kurtz, the vice president for marketing of a small Ohio defense contracting firm, hit on a creative way around it.

Teachers' Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention  —  NEW ORLEANS — For the last two years, Barack Obama addressed educators gathered for the summer conventions of the two national teachers unions, and last year both groups rolled out the welcome mat for federal Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Steele Scrambles to Contain Fallout From War Remark as GOP Criticism Mounts  —  Shown here are Sen. John McCain, left, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, center, and Sen. Jim DeMint, right.  (AP Photos)  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was scrambling to contain the fallout …

Dying Lockerbie bomber ‘could survive for 10 years or more’  —  The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to a cancer specialist who last year said he would be dead within three months of his release.  —  Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi …

Islamist leader Burhan Hanif tells Aussie Muslims to ‘shun democracy’  —  Briton Salim Atchia from global Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir addresses the conference yesterday.  Picture: Amos Aikman  —  The Australian Protectionist Party said Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir have no place in society.

Determining oil spill's environmental damage is difficult  —  How dead is the Gulf of Mexico?  —  It is perhaps the most important question of the BP oil spill — but scientists don't appear close to answering it despite a historically vast effort.  —  In the 2 1/2 months since the spill began …

Petraeus Urged to Change Rules of Engagement for U.S. Troops in Afghanistan  —  Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, speaks during a ceremony July 4 in Kabul.  (AP Photo)  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday urged Gen. David Petraeus to change the rules of engagement …

Strike warning over redundancies  —  Unions are warning of strikes after the government confirmed plans to change civil service redundancy payments.  —  One union leader called industrial action an “inevitability” if payouts to axed staff were to be reduced.

Big Peace: The July 4th Happy Birthday to America Launch!  —  A little less than a year after announcing it, in front of Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and many other American foreign policy elites at Frank Gaffney's “Keeper of the Flame” Award Dinner in October 2009, we are finally launching Big Peace.

Declaration of Independence: A Fisking  —  This post was originally published July 4, 2006.  —  Today marks the 230th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Jim Lynch sent out an email to several of us asking us to blog the event as if we were there.