The Big Hate  —  Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Obama's Americorps scandal — and the First Lady's meddling  —  President Obama is hoping you won't notice his abrupt change of inspectors general over at Americorps, the government-run, taxpayer-subsidized “community service” boondoggle (which Republicans helped expand as part …

Oh my: NOW inducts Letterman into its “Media Hall of Shame”  —  Credit where credit's due. … People on Twitter are grumbling about that last paragraph but (a) given how peeved the sisterhood will be that they're defending Palin, surely you won't begrudge NOW some sort of ass-covering knock …

Obama Gives Up on Resettling Cleared Guantanamo Detainees in U.S., Officials Say  —  Administration Gives Up on Bringing Cleared Inmates to U.S., Officials Say  —  The Obama administration has all but abandoned plans to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been cleared for release to live …

The Ice Age Cometh  —  Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what I think we should do to rebuild the GOP and begin our certain and inevitable comeback.  My answer disappoints them: “Build an ark.”  —  I say this because I've made a career out of counting votes …

Right-Wing Neocons Rooting For Ahmadinejad Win  —  American neoconservatives have often used the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to bolster their case for aggressive action against Iran.  So the assumption might be that they would be rooting for Iranians to take care of the problem themselves …

Barack Obama Surveys the World  —  “And the Spirit of God hovered upon the face of the waters”  —  When President Obama returned from his first European trip, I observed that while over there he had been “acting the philosopher-king who hovers above the fray mediating” between America and the world.

Angered By His Holocaust Museum Shooting Coverage, The Far Right Goes After Shepard Smith  —  On Wednesday, Fox News' Shepard Smith responded to the tragic shooting at the Holocaust Museum by a white supremacist by saying that it was time to re-think the Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism that conservatives disparaged.

Has Kent Conrad Solved the Public Plan Problem?  An Interview.  —  (Earlier today, Sen. Kent Conrad, the North Dakota Democrat who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, introduced a “potential compromise” on the public plan: A system of federally-chartered co-ops that could offer …

Obama defends DOMA in federal court.  Says banning gay marriage is good for the federal budget.  Invokes incest and marrying children.  —  Joe and I have been trying since last night to get a copy of the government's brief just filed in this case.  This is not the GLAD case that we've written …

Democrats and the Health Tax Taboo  —  The president attacked McCain for proposing a benefits tax.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  To understand why Sen. Max Baucus has taken so long to release his health-care reform, tune in to Oregon radio.  That's where Mr. Baucus's fellow Democrat …

Boehner: Republicans ‘took it in the shorts with Bush-Cheney.’  —  In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) pinned the blame for his party's current failures on the Bush presidency: … Boehner has only to blame to himself.

Hundreds protest Obama's visit  —  GREEN BAY - Organizers said about 1,000 people lined the east side of Packerland Drive Thursday morning to protest President Obama's stop in Green Bay.  Stretching four blocks long, the protest parked itself along the motorcade route between Austin Straubel Airport and Green Bay Southwest High School.

Abuse Photos Part of Agreement on Military Spending  —  WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators reached tentative agreement on Thursday on a $105.9 billion spending measure that would provide money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September but would drop a ban …

Blaming the Guy Who Came Before Doesn't Work Long  —  WASHINGTON — As President Obama struggles to turn around the moribund economy and confront multiple international issues, he wastes few opportunities to remind the country that the problems are not of his making.

Netanyahu yields on Palestinian sovereignty  —  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a major shift, will accept the notion of a Palestinian state — a policy pushed by the Obama administration but resisted until now by Mr. Netanyahu, Israeli officials and Americans briefed on the Israeli leader's thinking said.

A Daring Trade Has Wall Street Seething  —  Texas Brokerage Firm Outwits the Big Banks in a Mortgage-Related Deal, and Now It's War  —  A canny trade by a small brokerage firm in two markets at the heart of the financial crisis has left some of the biggest players on Wall Street crying foul.

Lebanon's Triumph, Iran's Travesty  —  WITH elections in Lebanon and Iran occurring in the same week, it's inevitable that they are viewed as twin tests of efforts to spread democracy to the Muslim world.  Should we celebrate the outcome in Lebanon and push for elections throughout the Middle East …