Bush takes swipes at Obama policies  —  Defends interrogations  —  Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were within the law, declaring the private sector not government will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care.

Senator questions firing of 3 inspectors general  —  Removal of 2 inspectors general prompts questions  —  WASHINGTON - — He was appointed with fanfare as the public watchdog over the government's multi-billion dollar bailout of the nation's financial system.

U.S. Struggling for Right Response to Iran  —  Obama Seeks Way to Acknowledge Protesters Without Alienating Ayatollah  —  The political unrest in Iran presents the Obama administration with a dilemma: keep quiet to pursue a nuclear deal with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader …

Robert Fisk: Secret letter ‘proves Mousavi won poll’  —  They were handing out the photocopies by the thousand under the plane trees in the centre of the boulevard, single sheets of paper grabbed by the opposition supporters who are now wearing black for the 15 Iranians who have been killed in Tehran …

Health Care Reform in Danger  —  Health reform is, I think it fair to say, in danger right now.  The news out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee was bad.  The Congressional Budget Office had scored a partial bill and the result was a total fiasco.

Two sources: Supreme Court ruling on U.S. Senate race to arrive tomorrow!  —  PIM has now heard from two sources on different sides of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race recount scene that the final Minnesota Supreme Court ruling is expected to arrive tomorrow, Thursday, June 18th.

Outcry on Federal Same-Sex Benefits  —  WASHINGTON — The package of domestic partnership benefits that President Obama established for federal workers on Wednesday drew the loudest protests from some of those it was intended to help, gay men and lesbians who criticized the move as too timid.

Clinton clashes with Israelis over settlers  —  Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, clashed face to face with her Israeli counterpart on Wednesday as the two countries remained at loggerheads over the expansion of settlements in occupied territory.  —  In what appeared …

Hillary Clinton Fractures Her Elbow  —  The Secretary of State will undergo surgery to repair the damage next week  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell down on her way to the White House late Wednesday afternoon, fracturing her right elbow, her Counselor and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills …

Global Insurance Fraud By North Korea Outlined  —  Government Has Collected Millions Of Dollars on Large, Suspicious Claims  —  For Kim Jong Il's birthday, North Korean insurance managers prepared a special gift.  —  In Singapore, they stuffed $20 million in cash into two heavy-duty bags and sent them …

Bailout Costs vs Big Historical Events  —  It is exceedingly difficult to convey exactly how much we are spending on all these bailouts.  Whenever I start talking trillions (versus mere billions), I get puzzled looks from people.  Humans have a hard time conceptualizing any number that large.

Post-Election Iran as it Develops  —  12:43 pm: Thanks to Jill at PSR, a tweeted translation of Mousavi's statement to supporters early afternoon today: … 12:12 pm: Basij scared and cover their faces  —  The Basij have now begun to cover their faces, whereas previously they hadn't.

Court rejects DNA access claim  —  Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an individual whose criminal conviction has become final does not have a constitutional right to gain access to evidence so that it can be subjected to DNA testing to try to prove innocence.

Overwhelming majority oppose preventive detention without charges  —  A new NYT/CBS News poll just released today asked a question designed to test support for Obama's proposal to indefinitely detain Guantanamo detainees without charges — and it found overwhelming opposition to that plan (click to enlarge):

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.