U.S. Inquiry Is Said to Focus on S.&P. Ratings  —  The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation's largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed …

Perry's Public Service  —  Behold, a hard-money Texas politician.  —  All the world's right-thinkers are denouncing Rick Perry for suggesting this week that Texans would get “pretty ugly” with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if he guns the money supply any more between now and the 2012 election.

Rick Perry calls global warming an unproven, costly theory  —  The Texas governor says scientists have ‘manipulated data’ to win research dollars.  —  Reporting from Bedford, N.H.— Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday reaffirmed his view that global warming is an unproven scientific theory …

3 attacks target Israelis near Egypt, 6 dead  —  JERUSALEM (AP) — Assailants armed with heavy weapons, guns and explosives launched three attacks in quick succession in southern Israel near the border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding about a dozen more, officials said.

New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy  —  Ratings on Afghanistan and foreign affairs have also declined  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new low of 26% of Americans approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since Gallup last measured it in mid …

Score one for the professional left  —  Greg Sargent has a nice take on the e-mail an Obama campaign official sent mocking Paul Krugman and the “firebaggers.”  But whenever I read these periodic eruptions about “the professional left,” my main thought is: if I were a member of the professional left, I would be stoked.

West: I'll lead you off ‘plantation’  —  Rep. Allen West says he is a “modern-day Harriet Tubman” who wants to lead black voters away from the “plantation” of the Democratic Party.  —  There is a “21st century plantation” of African-American voters unwaveringly supporting Democrats …

O'Donnell walks out of CNN interview  —  (CNN) - Christine O'Donnell, the former Delaware GOP Senate candidate, walked off the set of CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight” Wednesday when asked about her views on sexual abstinence and gay marriage.  —  “I'm not talking about policies.

Coburn: Good thing I can't pack a gun  —  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) ripped his colleagues during a tour of northeast Oklahoma, calling them “career elitists,” “cowards” and said, “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”  —  Coburn's gun-on-the- floor comment comes less …

Gov. John Kasich asks union leaders to compromise on Senate Bill 5; union group says repeal it, then we'll talk  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich backtracked on Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday, asking union leaders to negotiate a compromise on the collective bargaining law he championed and end efforts to repeal it.

S.E.C. Files Were Illegally Destroyed, Lawyer Says  —  WASHINGTON — An enforcement lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission says that the agency illegally destroyed files and documents related to thousands of early-stage investigations over the last 20 years, according …

Presidential vacations: How does Obama compare?  —  President Obama and his family will be staying at the 28-acre Blue Heron Farm in Martha's Vineyard.  (Ivy Ashe for the Vineyard Gazette)  —  Following his three-day bus tour to promote his economic agenda — and not to mention …

Malcolm's moment  —  As I read Paul Rahe's recent Ricochet post “Rioting for fun and profit,” it occurred to me that events in England had made this Malcolm's moment — Malcolm as in Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm.  Professor Malcolm is a historian and constitutional scholar specializing …

The Dirty Thirties  —  Larry J. Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics  —  President Obama has found himself in the cellar for the first time since taking office: He fell to 39% in Gallup Poll tracking over the past weekend.  Obama may or may not have a month or months when his average is below 40%.

Phone hacking: News of the World Hollywood reporter is arrested  —  James Desborough is arrested by London police investigating UK hacking allegations  —  James Desborough, an award-winning reporter at the former News of the World newspaper, has been arrested by officers investigating the phone-hacking scandal.

Multiple terror attacks rock south; 7 killed  —  In four separate attacks, terrorists use rifles, missiles against Israeli vehicles, among them two buses, also wounding 31.  Defense officials say attacks were well-coordinated, believe terrorists from Gaza were attempting to kidnap Israelis  —  Ynet

Hispanic Democrats Set Sights on New Texas Seat  —  DALLAS—A newly drawn Central Texas congressional district is creating tensions about who best can serve its mostly Hispanic residents—one of their own, or a long-time congressman who happens to be white.  —  As a result of redistricting led …

Rush Limbaugh's “Or-Bam-eo” Slur  —  Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh described a new Oreo that will have both chocolate and vanilla cream as a “biracial” cookie and said that “it isn't going to be long before it's going to be called the Or-Bam-eo or something like this.”

Bachmann Staffer Arrested for Terrorism in Uganda in 2006  —  The charges were dropped after he spent more than a month in prison.  Now he's rallying Bachmann's faith-based support and prepping for a movie about his ordeal.  —  Updated 6:35 p.m.  —  The evangelical organizer …