GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups  —  Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away …

‘US special squad killed Benazir’  —  NEW YORK (Online) - Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.

Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers  —  Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full.  Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards …

Speaker Michael Martin to resign this afternoon  —  ‘Moat’ MP to step down |  Vote for next speaker |  Runners and riders |  Profile: Michael Martin |  Archive: disgraced Speaker, 1695 |  Brown's bad night  —  Michael Martin is to resign today as Speaker of the House of Commons …

CNN Poll: Pelosi facing Gingrich-like approval ratings  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Nancy Pelosi continues to face a firestorm over what she may have known about aggressive government interrogation techniques, and when, a new survey has more unpleasant news for the House Speaker.

Obama's $1,300 car tax  —  Nobody in the White House is going to call the president's “mileage and pollution” plan what it is.  —  It's a $1,300 car tax.  On the working class.  On the middle class.  On everyone who has responded to the government's consumption-mania incentives …

Palin camp eyed Clinton alliance  —  In an unusual attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent families in American politics, John Coale, a Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee …

Obama Tells Netanyahu He Has an Iran Timetable  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he expected to know by the end of the year whether Iran was making “a good-faith effort to resolve differences” in talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, signaling to Israel as well as Iran …

CIA Officials Fear That New Rules May Hinder Interrogations  —  Intelligence Officials Privately Warn That New Rules May Hinder Their Interrogations  —  Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself …

Obama Avoids Test on Gays in Military  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to accept an appeals-court ruling that could undermine the military's ban on service members found to be gay.  —  A federal appeals court in San Francisco last year ruled that the government must justify …

LEARNING THE WRONG LESSONS.... I don't want to dwell on the controversy surrounding Maureen Dowd using content from TPM without attribution, but some on the right are using the incident to draw the wrong conclusion.  A prominent conservative site called Hot Air, a project created by Michelle Malkin …

Poll: Reid's re-election numbers don't add up  —  CARSON CITY — Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.  —  About a third of the state's voters …

Talk of insurance mandate growing  —  Health care could soon go the way of the automobile, with users having no choice but to buy insurance coverage.  —  Within four years, every American could be required to own health insurance or pay their way through tax penalties.

U.S. to Check Immigration Status of People in Local Jails  —  Obama Administration's Enforcement Push Could Lead to Sharp Increase in Deportation Cases  —  The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails.

Housing Starts Hit Record Low in April  —  This is not a green shoot: … That said, I don't really see this as “disappointing” or much of a “sign for the future.”  The supply of new housing ought to be fairly fundamentals-driven.  There are so many people in the country …

Steelers' Harrison won't visit Obama … PITTSBURGH — James Harrison plans to pass on another trip to the White House with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  —  Harrison, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, says he'll skip the Super Bowl champion's visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama …

George Will's Irritable Mental Gestures  —  It's probably not fair to say that conservatives have no idea, but this entire George Will column is basically the same as the column he wrote about how he hates jeans, except this time it's about how he hates Portland.

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GREEN MILE  —  *** The Green Mile: In covering this young Obama administration, the news never seems to stop, does it?  A day after President Obama discussed Iran and Middle East peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he today will unveil new regulations on auto emissions …