UPDATED: NY Times' Maureen Dowd Plagiarizes TPM's Josh Marshall  —  Maureen Dowd in today's NY Times: … TPM's Josh Marshall on Thurs: … All Dowd did was change “we were” to “the Bush crowd was”.  —  Now, I'm all for cutting & pasting.  As a blogger I do it all the time, but I always give credit.

The Audacity Of Humility  —  I found his Notre Dame commencement speech deeply Christian.  I was struck by two passages.  The first a simple statement of fact:  —  Understand - I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away.  No matter how much we may want to fudge it …

‘I, Jerk’  —  ANALYSIS/OPINION:  —  In this day of polarized politics, it's incumbent on good citizens to be vigorously truthful.  Even in the heat of battle, partisans should own up to their mistakes.  Rectifying errors builds credibility.  Honest self-criticism ensures a healthy debate and a healthier democracy.

Some on left souring on Obama  —  When President Barack Obama speaks to the Notre Dame commencement Sunday afternoon, television cameras will search the sea of graduates, looking for turned backs and defaced mortar boards that abortion opponents will likely use to register their disagreement with the president.

Green light for Cheney from GOP  —  Republican leaders on Sunday backed Dick Cheney's attacks on President Barack Obama, calling the former vice president a strong asset for the party.  —  “It doesn't hurt us, it helps us,” House Minority Leader John Boehner said on CNN's “State of the Union …

When Democrats start to doubt  —  While researching a liberal blogger who declared that she could “possibly bring [herself] to link to Robert ‘McCrazy’ McCain” — and I'm only too happy to return the favor of non-linkage, Libby Spencer — I ended up on the Detroit News blog, where I encountered Robert Smith Jr.

Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining  —  Superstar atheists are motivated by anger — and boohoo victimhood.  —  Ican't stand atheists — but it's not because they don't believe in God.  It's because they're crashing bores.  —  Other people, most recently the British cultural critic Terry Eagleton …

New Mood in Antitrust May Target Google  —  For decades, the nation's biggest antitrust cases have centered on technology companies.  And they have all been efforts by the government to deal with powerful companies with far-reaching influence, like AT&T, the telephone monopoly; I.B.M. …

Sri Lankan Rebels Declare 25-Year War at ‘Bitter End’  —  NEW DELHI — The ethnic Tamil separatist rebels of Sri Lanka, one of the world's most feared and enduring guerrilla movements, acknowledged Sunday that their war of more than a quarter-century for a homeland had “reached its bitter end.”

Death From Above, Outrage Down Below  —  IN recent days, the Pentagon has made two major changes in its strategy to defeat the Taliban, Al Qaeda and their affiliates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  First came the announcement that Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal would take over as the top United States commander in Afghanistan.