As Confrontation Deepens, Iran's Leader to Speak  —  TEHRAN — As another day of defiance and uncertainty loomed in Iran's capital on Friday, it was increasingly apparent that there was no clear path out of a deepening confrontation that has posed the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic in its 30-year history.

Obama Misses the Point With Iran Response  —  Millions of Iranians take to the streets to defy a theocratic dictatorship that, among its other finer qualities, is a self-declared enemy of America and the tolerance and liberties it represents.  The demonstrators are fighting on their own …

The Washington Post fires its best columnist.  Why?  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV)  —  One of the rarest commodities in the establishment media is someone who was a vehement critic of George Bush and who now, applying their principles consistently …

Text of Doug Hampton's letter to Fox News  —  Editor's note: Doug Hampton, the husband of Cynthia Hampton, who had an affair with Sen. John Ensign, explains in a letter to a Fox News Channel anchorwoman, Megyn Kelly, how the senator's affair with his wife has"completely ruined" the couple's lives.

Obama health plan imperiled  —  President Obama's campaign for health care reform by this fall, once considered highly likely to succeed, suddenly appears in real jeopardy.  —  Top White House advisers, especially Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, are still privately predicting massive changes to the health care system in 2009.

EXCLUSIVE: The Finance Committee's Health Reform Outline  —  A Senate source just passed me the latest outline of the Senate Finance Committee's health reform proposal.  This is the post-CBO revision.  Apparently, after the committee staff received the scores, they dug deep and quickly developed …

Mom fined to tune of $1.9M for 24 illegal songs  —  (CNN) — A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each — a total of $1.9 million — for 24 songs.  —  Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case …

At fundraiser, Obama laughs at critics  —  As he looks to expand Democratic majorities in Congress, President Obama on Thursday night also used a fundraiser for his congressional allies to target his critics.  —  The president, speaking at a joint fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee …

Pick for Protocol Post Corrects Failure to File Taxes in 2 Years  —  President Obama's choice as chief of protocol for the State Department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, errors she corrected last November.

Japan warns that North Korea may fire missile at U.S. on Independence Day  —  North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.  —  The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles …

Out of the Shadows  —  Would the Obama administration's plan for financial reform do what has to be done?  Yes and no.  —  Yes, the plan would plug some big holes in regulation.  But as described, it wouldn't end the skewed incentives that made the current crisis inevitable.  —  Let's start with the good news.

Mousavi Spokesman Smacks Obama  —  In an interview with the Washington Post's Foreign Policy blog, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, described as Mir Hussein Mousavi's “external spokesman,” had some sharp words for President Barack Obama's recent comments about the demonstrations in Tehran.

Google translates Persian  —  Today, we added Persian (Farsi) to Google Translate.  This means you can now translate any text from Persian into English and from English into Persian — whether it's a news story, a website, a blog, an email, a tweet or a Facebook message.