Obama defends DOMA in federal court.  Says banning gay marriage is good for the federal budget.  Invokes incest and marrying children.  —  UPDATE: Mormon Bush holdover helped write and file anti-gay DOMA brief.  —  UPDATE: Gay groups rip Obama.  —  UPDATE: Are gay politicians …

Both sides claim victory in Iran election  —  TEHRAN (Reuters) - State media declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of Iran's election on Friday, but challenger Mirhossein Mousavi alleged irregularities and claimed victory for himself.  —  The head of the state election commission …

US Guantanamo deal ‘kept from UK’  —  The US made a secret deal with Bermuda - a British overseas territory - to accept the Uighur detainees  —  A senior US official has told the BBC Washington decided not to tell London ahead of time about a deal to resettle four Guantanamo detainees in Bermuda.

New York Lawmaker Calls on CBS to Fire Letterman for Palin Comments  —  New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, a Republican, is calling on the CEO of CBS to fire David Letterman for crude comments he made about Sarah Palin and her daughter.  —  In the letter to CBS chief Les Moonves …

What Judith Warner Left Out  —  Reading Judith Warner's column this morning on the recent upsurge in hate crimes, I was struck by what she left out.  Two weeks ago, a Muslim extremist shot two soldiers, killing one, outside a recruiting station in Arkansas.

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.

Former President GHW Bush stands up for Sotomayor  —  (CNN)-Former President George H.W. Bush stood up for his former judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor Friday, telling CNN Anchor Robin Meade that GOP critics who called President Obama's Supreme Court pick a racist were off-base, and unfair.

Remember Iraq?  You will soon enough  —  Iraq is receding from our national consciousness (Stephen Colbert's efforts to remind us about the war notwithstanding).  The combined effects of the success of the surge, President Bush signing a restrictive Status of Forces Agreement …

Underground Drama  —  For some reason, the mainstream media don't seem to realize this is even happening: … It goes on to discuss the recalcitrance among anti-war members in the House along with those Democrats who are properly skeptical of the IMF in general and who recognize that these bailouts have become politically toxic.

House Health-Care Bill to Include $600 Billion in Tax Increases  —  Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.

Insta-Hack Watch  —  He's up to his partisan shenanigans again.  He must know that the huge deficits projected in the future have virtually nothing to do with Obama's proposals on healthcare or energy.  They are a function of inherited entitlement spending, the legacy of two open-ended wars …

White House Browbeats Dem Freshmen On War Money: “You'll Never Hear From Us Again”  —  The White House is playing hardball with Democrats who intend to vote against the supplemental war spending bill, threatening freshmen who oppose it that they won't get help with reelection and will be cut off …

We Need a New National Anthem  —  In the Age of Karaoke, more people (including me) like to join in the singing when they strike up the national anthem at public occasions.  No one can stop you, no matter how embarrassed she might be by your obvious lack of talent.

Climate pact in jeopardy as China refuses to cut carbon emissions  —  China will not make a binding commitment to reduce carbon emissions, putting in jeopardy the prospects for a global pact on climate change.  —  Officials from Beijing told a UN conference in Bonn yesterday that China …

Poll: GOP risks loss of respect if it goes after Sotomayor  —  WASHINGTON — Republicans may have a window of opportunity to turn public opinion against President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, but a new poll finds that such a campaign could hurt their party's already weak standing …

Bush Lawyer Ordered to Testify  —  A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote crucial memorandums justifying harsh interrogation techniques, will have to answer in court to accusations that his work led to a prisoner's being tortured and deprived of his constitutional rights.