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.”

How Pharma and Insurance Intend to Kill the Public Option, And What Obama and the Rest of Us Must Do  —  I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

We Stand With Sonia Sotomayor  —  [Poster by Favianna Rodriguez for Presente.]  —  The Right is throwing every little bit of ugliness they can at Sonia Sotomayor in hopes of derailing her nomination to the Supreme Court.  —  They've called her a racist.  They've compared the National Council of La Raza to the Ku Klux Klan.

Semi-Submarines, Stealthily Plying Pacific, Arrive as a Way to Smuggle Cocaine  —  MEXICO CITY — When anti-narcotics agents first heard that drug cartels were building an armada of submarines to transport cocaine, they thought it was a joke.  —  Now U.S. law enforcement officials …

Obamacare plan finally released; Update: Goodbye, 4th Amendment  —  And it's so large that Patients United Now had to split it into nine different parts, and to put out a bleg for an Army of Patients to scour the bill.  The title:Quality Affordable Health Care for All Americans.

Tetris: From Russia With Fun!  —  Sputnik burned up in the atmosphere, Berlin is now one city, but 25 years later, the Soviet-designed Tetris remains one of the most popular and ubiquitous video games ever created.  It has sold over 125 million copies, been released for nearly every video-game platform …

Hijab-wearing Muslim Crashes Remembrance rally for US Soldier Murdered by Jihadi in Arkansas  —  A Remembrance rally was held yesterday for the soldiers who were gunned down Monday by a Muslim.  Here is a first person account:  —  Secure Arkansas organized a rally in remembrance of the first terrorist attack since 9/11.

Lawyers Agreed on the Legality of Brutal Tactic  —  WASHINGTON — When Justice Department lawyers engaged in a sharp internal debate in 2005 over brutal interrogation techniques, even some who believed that using tough tactics was a serious mistake agreed on a basic point: the methods themselves were legal.

Alabama County Set to Halt Services, Shut Buildings  —  Alabama's most populous county is preparing to stop road maintenance, close courthouses and shutter services for the elderly after a court struck down taxes that pay for about 35 percent of its budget.  —  Jefferson County …

Obama's message of weakness  —  Recommend  —  As recently as last summer, General Motors filing for bankruptcy would have been the biggest news story of the week.  But it's not such a very great step from the unthinkable to the inevitable, and by the time it actually happened the market barely noticed …

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.

EXCLUSIVE: GE/NBCU TRYING TO STIFLE OTHER MEDIA'S COVERAGE OF COMPANY: Immelt Orders Nielsen Media Iced Over GE-NBCU-Obama Story: NBCU's Zucker Follows Orders And Freezes Out The Hollywood Reporter For Past 6 Weeks  —  It's a very dangerous situation when any huge multinational corporation wages war against media companies.

State Dept. Retiree, Wife Accused of Spying for Cuba for Decades  —  Official, Wife Passed Secrets to Cuba For Decades, Federal Prosecutors Say  —  A former State Department official with top-secret security clearance and his wife have been charged with spying for Cuba over the past three decades …