Obama's Conundrum: Shunning Iran's Opposition  —  The turmoil in Iran since last week's election has confused the foreign policy debate here in the United States in interesting ways.  Supporters of President Obama, who until very recently had railed against the Bush administration's …

In Poll, Obama Is Seen as Ineffective on the Economy  —  A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care …

Out of Washington, Edwards Finds Worries Remain  —  John Edwards says he has few illusions.  He knows the picture many Americans hold of him is not a pretty one.  He also knows that even before he was engulfed in tabloid scandal, his electoral appeal had limits.

ENSIGN, WHOA.... Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't much care what Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) does in his personal life.  What he does in his bedroom is his business.  —  But the larger context of this story matters a great deal.  Stupid personal mistakes are easily overlooked; breathtaking hypocrisy isn't.

Fired AmeriCorps IG responds: White House charges are false  —  Fired AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin strongly denies the White House's claim that he was “confused, disoriented [and] unable to answer questions” at a May 20, 2009 board meeting of the Corporation for National and Community Service …

Bachmann Boasts About Breaking The Law: I'm Refusing To Fill Out The Census  —  Next year, the 2010 Census will be sent to every American household, as required by the U.S. Constitution.  The far right has issued dire warnings of the Census; on a May 29th episode of Bill Bennett's radio show …

Why are Iranian police markings written in English?  —  Post-election protests continued in Tehran for the fifth day on Wednesday.  In many photos, riot police wear uniforms with the English word police on them.  Ambulances, too, bear the word ambulance in English.

Barney Frank throws us under the bus.  Lauds incest brief.  Says language was appropriate.  —  Well, it seems a trip to the Oval Office is all openly gay congressman Barney Frank needs to stab his community in the back.  After criticizing the DOJ's anti-gay DOMA brief this morning …

ABC REFUSES OPPOSITION ADS DURING WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL  —  ABC is refusing to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, including a paid-for alternative viewpoint!  —  The development comes a day after the network denied a request …

Strategic Nonviolence  —  Jon Chait observes that “For a revolution to succeed, it generally needs one of two things to happen: Either it needs its own weapons, or it needs mass defections by the state security forces.”  He also sees some evidence that some elements of the security forces may be contemplating defection.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Beautiful Eyes  —  Of the many reckonings that black people of honest political consciousness must endure, the appointment with black slavery is the most agonizing.  I don't mean the appointment with the notion of white people as the enslavers of our ancestors …

Paul Krugman's Prophetic Prescience  —  Wow.  Just . . . wow. … As Arnold Kling says, there's a paragraph I'm sure glad I didn't write.

New Protest Builds in Iran  —  TEHRAN — Iranians angry at the results of last week's election pushed their protest forward on Wednesday, from tens of thousands who again flooded the streets here to six soccer players on the national team who wore opposition green wristbands at a World Cup qualifying game.

Maureen Dowd Thinks You're an Idiot  —  The New York Times' Maureen Dowd has written a piece that seems to indicate that President and Mrs. Obama are responsible for providing the rest of the nation with good examples of how we should eat.  —  Seriously.  —  Dowd writes:

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off  —  SADLY, AND TO my horror, I am divorcing.  This was a 20-year partnership.  My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work.  I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued.  This turn of events was a surprise.

Healthcare CEOs Shoot Themselves in the Foot  —  Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations decided to investigate the practice of recission.  This is when you pay your premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled.

Crying To God For Freedom  —  They may not have any cell-phones; or news.  They may be being squeezed off the web.  But they have their voices.  Through the darkness of the night, in the face of great force, sustained by unimaginable courage: listen to the audacity of hope:  —  God bless them.

‘I CAN HAVE 2 VOTES’  —  ESPADA'S DEADLOCK ‘SOLUTION’: GIMME SENATE SUPERPOWERS  —  ALBANY — Renegade Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada claimed yesterday he and his Republican allies are forging an explosive new plan to give him an unprecedented two votes to break the newly emerged deadlock in the state Senate.

Weekly Standard sold to Washington Examiner parent company  —  Clarity Media Group CEO Ryan McKibben announced today that the company had acquired The Weekly Standard magazine, which he characterized as “one of the most highly respected publications of public policy and political commentary in America.”

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Primary  —  Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Specter 51% Sestak 32%  —  Senator Arlen Specter leads Congressman Joe Sestak by 19 percentage points in an early look at the 2010 Democratic Senatorial Primary in Pennsylvania.

I'm pretty sure this is why Juan Williams isn't allowed to associate himself with NPR when he appears on The O'Reilly Factor  —  If folks didn't see this clip from Monday night, it's a beaut.  Not only does the reliable O'Reilly backstop Juan Williams eagerly assure the host that he was right …

The recession tracks the Great Depression  —  Green shoots are bursting out.  Or so we are told.  But before concluding that the recession will soon be over, we must ask what history tells us.  It is one of the guides we have to our present predicament.  Fortunately, we do have the data.

Pence: US needs to show support for Iranian protesters  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican Rep. Mike Pence, criticizing President Obama for not saying more in support of protestors in Iran, said Wednesday that he is taking another step to show solidarity for the dissenting citizens of the country.