Poll: Rocky road seen ahead for Obama  —  A significant majority of voters are considering voting against President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, expressing sour views of his new health care law and deep skepticism about his ability to create jobs and grow the sluggish economy …

Structure of Excuses  —  What can be done about mass unemployment?  All the wise heads agree: there are no quick or easy answers.  There is work to be done, but workers aren't ready to do it — they're in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills.  Our problems are “structural,” and will take many years to solve.

Paladino's wife tells of son's loss, hubby's affair & ‘get over it’ policy  —  Tweet  —  BUFFALO — It was just about a year ago, hours after the death of her son in a car crash, that Cathy Paladino's husband told her he was the father of a 10-year-old girl with another woman …

The Seduction of the Tea Partiers  —  On the surface, the Pledge to America that House Republicans unveiled last week, in obvious imitation of Newt Gingrich's famous Contract With America, feels like a triumph for the Tea Party.  —  Whereas the Gingrich-era contract was a terse …

Millionaire owner of Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of his two-wheel machines off a cliff  —  The multi-millionaire owner of the Segway company died in a freak accident yesterday when he rode one of the high-tech two-wheel machines off a cliff and into a river.

Liberal Groups Planning to Rally on National Mall  —  Hoping to overshadow last month's rally led by Glenn Beck that drew thousands of Tea Party advocates and other conservatives, a coalition of liberal groups plan to descend on Washington on Saturday to make the case that they …

U.S. Wants to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet  —  WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” …

US: Inverted Philippine flag was ‘honest mistake’  —  MANILA, Philippines - The U.S. government said Sunday it made an “honest mistake” when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama.

Ann Coulter At Homocon: 'Marriage Is Not A Civil Right.  You're Not Black.'  —  Ann Coulter doesn't mince words.  And even when speaking to a gay conservative organization, GOProud, at their inaugural Homocon party on Saturday night, she apparently wasn't willing to start.

Guantanamo Bay rations detainees' ice cream portions  —  Detainees' diets at Guantanamo Bay have been a controversial issue for some time and now the U.S. prison is said to be rationing ice cream.  —  The frozen dessert is allegedly being tightly measured, with only one ice cream allowed for each of its 147 detainees.

Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan  —  The first of three articles adapted from “Obama's Wars” by Bob Woodward.  —  President Obama was on edge.  —  For two exhausting months, he had been asking military advisers to give him a range of options for the war in Afghanistan.

Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries  —  SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company in Maryland has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country's fifth-largest library system.  —  Now the company …

Raters Ignored Proof of Unsafe Loans, Panel Is Told  —  As the mortgage market grew frothy in 2006 — leading to a housing bubble that nearly brought down the banking system two years later — ratings agencies charged with assessing risk in mortgage pools dismissed conclusive evidence …

Baker catches Patrick in new poll  —  Voters focusing on economy; Cahill's effect on race unclear  —  With just five weeks to the election, Republican Charles D. Baker has pulled even with Governor Deval Patrick in a gubernatorial race shaped by anti-incumbent sentiment …

No endorsement in U.S. Senate race  —  Californians are left with a deeply unsatisfying choice for the U.S. Senate this year.  The incumbent, Democrat Barbara Boxer, has failed to distinguish herself during her 18 years in office.  There is no reason to believe that another six-year term …