Winnowing the Field  —  A hard-fought presidential primary campaign is obscuring the uncharacteristic degree of unity within the Republican party.  It has reached a conservative consensus on most of the pressing issues of the day.  All of the leading candidates, and almost all of the lagging ones, support the right to life.

A Bipartisan Way Forward on Medicare  —  Allowing private plans to compete with traditional Medicare will help lower costs and spur innovation.  —  Few issues draw more heated partisan rhetoric than the future of Medicare.  Seniors are a reliable and powerful voting bloc …

U.S. Officially Ends Its Mission in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD — The United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as violence continues to plague the country and the Muslim world remains distrustful of American power.  —  In a fortified concrete courtyard …

FIRST ON CNN: Obama, Dems drop millionaire surtax to pay for payroll tax cut  —  (CNN) - In what would be a major concession, President Obama and Senate Democrats will drop their insistence that a surtax on millionaires pay for extending the payroll tax cut, a Democratic source tells CNN.

Americans face Guantánamo detention after Obama climbdown  —  Defence funding bill allows American citizens to be arrested as terrorists on home soil and held indefinitely without trial  —  Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military …

Sarkozy plan to prop up sovereigns is worrying  —  If Albert Einstein's dictum of insanity being the act of doing the same thing again and again expecting different results were applied to the eurozone, political leaders would be well on their way to being institutionalised.

Tom Friedman, hitting rock bottom  —  Today's Tom Friedman's column has set off a firestorm.  Now, he says and writes many wrong-headed things, about China and other dictatorial regimes, primarily.  But today he hits rock bottom: … You see, in Friedman's eyes, the entire U.S. Congress is bought and paid for by a cabal of Jews.

French ex-President Jacques Chirac guilty of corruption  —  Mr Chirac did not attend the trial because he suffers from memory lapses  —  A French court has given former President Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.

China's epic hangover begins  —  China's credit bubble has finally popped.  The property market is swinging wildly from boom to bust, the cautionary exhibit of a BRIC's dream that is at last coming down to earth with a thud.  —  Chinese stocks are flashing warning signs.  The Shanghai index has fallen 30pc since May.

Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On ‘Furious’  —  Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists “nobody at the Justice Department has lied” about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious.  That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.

Herman Cain's Cabinet dream: DOD  —  Herman Cain says that if he could be a Cabinet secretary, he wants to be head of the Department of Defense.  —  In an interview with Barbara Walters, who chose Cain as one of the “10 Most Fascinating People” of the year, the former presidential hopeful was asked what Cabinet position he would like.

Distracted Driving or Distracted Policymaking?  Why the Proposed Car Cellphone Ban Is Wrong  —  No, you shouldn't text while you drive.  But is talking on a hands-free cellphone just as dangerous?  Instapundit blogger and PM contributing editor Glenn Harlan Reynolds doesn't think so …

Opponents in Philadelphia say bill on Sharia law unfair to Muslims  —  A bill in Harrisburg that opponents say is targeted against Muslims has followers of that faith upset.  —  House Bill 2029 would ban Pennsylvania courts from considering any foreign legal code or system that isn't identical with the Constitution.

‘Dismal’ prospects: 1 in 2 Americans are now poor or low income  —  Juan Morena sits on a Los Angeles, Calif., sidewalk as he waits for the St. Francis Center soup kitchen to open on Sept. 13.  —  By Associated Press  —  WASHINGTON - Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans …