Health Care Showdown  —  America's political scene has changed immensely since the last time a Democratic president tried to reform health care.  So has the health care picture: with costs soaring and insurance dwindling, nobody can now say with a straight face that the U.S. health care system …

Guardian Council: Over 100% voted in 50 cities  —  Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.  —  The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic …

Rafsanjani ally calls for ‘political bloc’  —  A political party affiliated with Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the former president and key member of the Iranian regime, on Sunday called on Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the opposition leader, to form a “political bloc” that would pursue a long-term campaign …

White House Changes the Terms of a Campaign Pledge About Posting Bills Online  —  During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that once a bill was passed by Congress, the White House would post it online for five days before he signed it.  —  “When there's a bill that ends …

Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology  —  After L. Ron Hubbard died, David Miscavige became Scientology's leader.  Former church executives say Miscavige beat his staff.  Church officials say the defectors are lying.  —  Reuters/Corbis (2006)]

No Country for Burly Men  —  How feminist groups skewed the Obama stimulus plan towards women's jobs.  —  A “man-cession.”  That's what some economists are starting to call it.  Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men.

Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology  —  By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS in New York and LORETTA CHAO in Beijing  —  The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet …

SEX SCANDAL: ENSIGN'S APPROVAL RATING DROPS  —  But he's still Nevada's most popular senior elected official  —  Since admitting an extramarital affair with a former staffer, Sen. John Ensign's approval rating in his home state has plunged.  —  In a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll of Nevada voters …

GOP Outnumbered in Senate, but McConnell Tries to Ensure It Is Not Outflanked  —  Senate GOP Chief Assumes Higher Profile  —  When he was fighting campaign finance reform a decade ago, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was dubbed Darth Vader by his critics.  He embraced the nickname, even announcing …

Dodge facts, skip details, govern Chicago-style  —  We pundits like to analyze our presidents and so, as Barack Obama deals with difficult problems ranging from health care legislation to upheaval in Iran, let me offer my Three Rules of Obama.  —  First, Obama likes to execute long-range strategies …

Silvio Berlusconi: the parties, the trinkets, the cash  —  He has made no secret of his love of women but the sex scandal surrounding Silvio Berlusconi is now threatening to topple him, as more claims emerge of the systematic recruitment of young women paid to attend private parties at his homes in Rome and Sardinia.

Iran Poses Dilemma for Obama  —  Protesters hit the streets demanding freedom and fair elections.  A repressive government strikes back and denounces the dissidents as unpatriotic subversives.  Change, even revolution, is in the air.  —  Liberals and progressives should be natural allies …

Section 5 survives  —  With only one Justice voting to strike down Congress's 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act's controversial Section 5, the Supreme Court on Monday interpreted the law in a way that saves it.  The Court said that all local units of government must be given the option …

Regime Change Iran: Movement Seeks to Eliminate ‘Supreme Leader’ Position  —  [Update at Bottom.]  —  Folks, this is huge.  Huge.  A report from Saudi Arabia's al-Arabiya, Iranian clerics seek supreme leader alternative, indicates that Rafsanjani is seeking to eliminate the Supreme Leader.

Support Trader Joe's  —  Beneath the attention of major media coverage, the boycott of Israeli products has arrived in America.  Its first reported target over this past weekend was the couscous at Trader Joe"s.  —  The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg comments: “My recommendation …

Obama's War: A U.S. Captain's Personal Touch in Afghanistan  —  In the Afghan Mountains, a Company Commander Strives to Gain the Trust of Frustrated Villagers  —  KONAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan The father arrived at the gate of Capt. Michael Harrison's base earlier this month cradling the limp body of his 9-year-old daughter.

FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments  —  Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon.  —  What some fail to realize, though …

Numbers On Welfare See Sharp Increase  —  Welfare rolls, which were slow to rise and actually fell in many states early in the recession, now are climbing across the country for the first time since President Bill Clinton signed legislation pledging “to end welfare as we know it” more than a decade ago.

Ross to Iraq desk?  —  From Mike Allen:  —  ROBIN WRIGHT, VETERAN DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, tells Playbook that the White House is preparing to announce that Ambassador Dennis Ross' NSC portfolio will be Iraq.  Robin hears grumbling that the change will leave 'two ingenues in charge …

Fox News Anchor Draws Ratings, and Ire of Conservative Critics  —  At various points on his Fox News program, the anchor Shepard Smith irritated Rush Limbaugh, teased Glenn Beck and grilled Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (a k a Joe the Plumber) over his attacks on President Obama.