Obamanomics: How Stupid Do They Think We Are?  —  Pretty stupid.  Watching Fox News Sunday, I caught a panel on which Obama economic advisor Austin Goolsbee conceded that the administration had previously predicted unemployment would top out at around 8%, that it was now up to 9.4% …

Re: Exposing an Irresponsible Anonymous Blogger  —  Before returning to more important matters, let me offer a few thoughts on the mini-firestorm that my exposing of the blogger “publius” seems to have generated: 1.  Law professor John Blevins (aka publius) and others seem to assume that I owed …

Suspect in abortion doctor death warns of violence  —  WICHITA, Kan. — The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days …

France gets its Obama moment  —  PARIS (AP) — People gawked and cameras clicked as the Obamas cut a wide figure through the French capital even while confined to a presidential motorcade.  It was more personal for the few kept not so distant — the restaurant owner who “saw God,” the chauffeur reveling in a “magnificent mission.”

Palin versus GOP  —  Sarah Palin's on-again, off-again appearance at Monday night's gala GOP fundraising dinner is off — again.  —  After being invited — for a second time — to speak to the annual joint fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National …

“We Were All Appalled By the Bush Years”  —  Thus a neighbor of retired State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn, on the “frustration with U.S. policies” shared by all right-thinking people in the upper-Northwest D.C. bastion of liberalism in which they reside.

Obama's Economic Circle Keeps Tensions Simmering  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama was getting his daily economic briefing one recent morning when a fly distracted him.  The president swatted and missed, just as the pest buzzed near the shoes of Lawrence H. Summers, the chief White House economic adviser.

Hugging Republicans Until It Hurts  —  WASHINGTON — As Representative John M. McHugh of New York began planning his retirement from the House after being picked to be the new secretary of the Army, a chunk of Republican morale prepared to depart with him.  —  And that was just what Democrats had counted on.

Reliable Sources: For journalists, how close is too close?  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Author and former Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe is refuting charges that he acted more like Barack Obama's campaign spokesman than as a journalist covering Obama's presidential campaign.

New Orleans mayor quarantined in China  —  (CNN) — The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been quarantined in China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus, his office said Sunday.  —  Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried …

ALL BUSINESS: Bond-market rout lifts mortgage cost  —  NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion plan three months ago designed to push down mortgage rates and breathe life into the housing market.  —  But this and other big government spending programs are turning out to have the opposite effect.

Closed Clinic Leaves Abortion Protesters at a Loss  —  WICHITA, Kan. — For the first time in years, only a Wichita police car has been waiting outside the abortion clinic of Dr. George R. Tiller, who was shot to death a week ago.  Gone are the trucks bearing enormous images of bloody fetuses …

Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks  —  As she describes it, Beth Jacobson and her fellow loan officers at Wells Fargo Bank “rode the stagecoach from hell” for a decade, systematically singling out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages.

TERRORISTS FREE TO KILL ONCE AGAIN AS THEY SLIP THE GRASP OF GITMO'S KID GLOVES  —  THE Pentagon now confirms that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terror ist activities after claiming they weren't terrorists.  —  Such recidivism points up an alarming intelligence failure.

Elections - BNP wins its first seat in European Parliament  —  The British National Party broke into the political mainstream last night when it won its first seat in the European Parliament.  —  The far-Right party won almost 10 per cent of the vote in Yorkshire and the Humber …

Clinton: Obama Has Passed ‘3a.m.’ Test  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said President Barack Obama has “absolutely” answered questions she posed during the Democratic campaign about his lack of experience and ability to handle an international crisis.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Details Vision for Health-Care Reform  —  Government Subsidies Would Help Families; Insurance Firms' Profits Could Decline  —  Three months after he was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) vowed in an emotional Democratic National Convention address …

Tickle Me Obama: Lessons from Sesame Street  —  Most presidents are easy to pin down on our cultural maps.  Ronald Reagan was raised in Dixon, Ill., but we placed him in Hollywood, telling America's story on the big screen.  Bill Clinton may have been the Man from Hope, Ark., but the mischief of nearby Hot Springs was in his blood.