Obama Calls Berlin a ‘Symbol of the Victory of Hope’  —  US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama started his much-anticipated trip to Germany on Thursday, and the expectations are massive.  SPIEGEL ONLINE will be following his every move through Berlin with its Live Ticker.

McCain Makes Significant Gains in Four Key Battleground States  —  Majority of Voters in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin Favor Keeping Troops in Iraq, According to Quinnipiac-washingtonpost.com- Wall Street Journal Survey  —  Republican John McCain has quickly closed …

Another John McCain Gaffe — Iraq Was the First Major Conflict After 9/11  —  There is one more John McCain gaffe that the media missed from the now famous CBS interview with Katie Couric.  —  This is the same interview in which McCain claimed the surge led to the Anbar Awakening, which is demonstrably false.

Documents Released by the CIA and Justice Department in Response to the ACLU's Torture FOIA  —  Contains “communications from the CIA to OLC on a matter in which the CIA requested legal advice from OLC” and shows that CIA interrogators were permitted to use both “Standard Techniques” and …

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA'S ELECTION TO WIN  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Obama's election to win: How important has this overseas trip been for Obama?  Look no further than our latest NBC/WSJ poll, which has Obama leading McCain by six points (47%-41%), unchanged from last month.

Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up  —  FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.  —  And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact …

Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told  —  Don't ask, don't tell.  And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military.  —  The House Armed Services personnel subcommittee made just such a miscalculation yesterday.

GOP losing the new-media war  —  Republicans have no lack of would-be George F. Wills.  —  But what they really need are some more Robert D. Novaks.  —  The distinction between the two prominent conservative journalists isn't always obvious, but it's nevertheless important to understand …

Voters Want Less Pork, Even in Their Own District  —  If you want to know how out of touch Congress is on the issue of wasteful spending, listen to Florida Rep. John Mica defend his pork projects: “There's no way in hell I would support banning earmarks.  That's our job, getting elected and making decisions.”

Chris Hayes on MoveOn  —  Chris is convinced that MoveOn represents today's silent majority, or rather a slice of today's silent majority.  I was surprised that he didn't reference Matt Bai characterization of MoveOn as built on the angry energy of besieged liberals surrounded by conservative suburbanites.

Americans on American Soil  —  It's a small passage from Obama's Berlin speech, but this formulation, common in some circles, grates on some ears, like mine: … Yes, the victims were from all over the globe — places like Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and Manhattan, and Queens, and Staten Island, and New Jersey — all over.