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.”

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

U.S. 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.

Focus on la Familia: How Dobson's outfit inspires one of the deadliest Mexican drug cartels  —  Most of us are familiar with James Dobson's Focus on the Family outfit, since they've played a major role in promoting the religious right's positions for the past decade and more nationally …

FDL Book Salon: Idiot America with Charles Pierce  —  Don't want to be an American idiot.  —  One nation controlled by the media.  —  Information age of hysteria.  —  It's calling out to idiot America.  — Green Day, “American Idiot”  —  Nearly every day for the past four years …

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.

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 …

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’  —  On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.”  The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion …

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 …

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.

Nominee Pulls Out as Role at CIA Is Studied  —  A longtime CIA official chosen by President Obama to be the intelligence chief at the Department of Homeland Security withdrew from consideration yesterday after it became apparent that senators examining his nomination planned to scrutinize …