Newsweek's Evan Thomas: Obama Is ‘Sort of God’  —  Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama's Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God.”

New Scrutiny of Judge's Most Controversial Case  —  WASHINGTON — Near the end of a long and heated appeals court argument over whether New Haven was entitled to throw out a promotional exam because black firefighters had performed poorly on it, a lawyer for white firefighters challenging …

Obama Urges Effort on Health Care  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama, signaling the start of his health care push, called on Congress and his government to tackle “the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs.”  —  In his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday morning …

Labour suffers wipeout in its worst local election results  —  Gordon Brown was dealt another huge blow last night when Labour lost all its remaining county councils in its worst ever local election results.  —  Counties turned from red to blue in quick succession as the Labour vote collapsed in its heartlands.

U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases  —  The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.

Eureka!  Writers Get Paid  —  I confess to never having read Harlan Ellison's novels but he has just become my hero — and a hero to all professional writers everywhere — since I watched this A-plus rant of his against all those who expect writers to offer their work gratis.

National Review's Wise Latina Caricature Inexplicably Asian  —  As part of a cover package called “The Wise Latina,” the folks over at the conservative National Review—apparently flummoxed by the very idea of a “wise Latina”—have caricaturized the Puerto Rican-descended Sonia Sotomayor as an Asian Buddhist.

U.S. Pushed Fiat Deal on Chrysler  —  Internal Emails Reveal Resentment; Court Upholds Pact  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration rushed an alliance between Chrysler LLC and Fiat SpA despite Chrysler's worries about Fiat's financial health and its willingness to share technology, according to internal company emails.

U.S. Charges Couple With Spying for Cuba  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department charged Friday that a former State Department analyst and his wife worked as spies for Cuba for nearly 30 years, using a short-wave radio to pass on secret diplomatic information to their Cuban handlers.

Brand Spanking New Katherine Sebelius Motivational Poster  —  Barack Obama's HHS Secretary — Katherine “Plan B” Sebelius — followed orders to a tee this morning, Sergeant Schultz-style.  She announced that America needs socialized medicine because, well, she just made some s*** up.

Palin takes low-key return to the road  —  SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — Governor Sarah Palin paused Friday afternoon at the in front of a monument bearing the Declaration of Sentiments, an early feminist touchstone.  —  “We anticipate no small amount of ridicule,” she read, and remarked: “Some things never change.”

Ex-President Carter praises Obama Mideast policy  —  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who helped broker the 1979 Camp David peace accords, said Israel faced a make-or-break moment after President Barack Obama called on the Jewish state to freeze settlement building.

The Bleak Jobs Outlook  —  David Madland's analysis of the latest jobs numbers reflects the fact that notwithstanding improvements in the rate of change the situation is still very bad and this chart remains alarming:  —  Of course for people who haven't lost their jobs, 401(k) …

IT TAKES REAL EFFORT TO BE THIS AWFUL.... Once in a while, Sean Hannity's painful on-air antics are so over the top, they're almost hard to believe.  —  Last night, for example, whining incessantly about President Obama's speech in Cairo, Hannity told Fox News viewers that the president …