Michael Jackson Dies  —  We've just learned Michael Jackson has died.  He was 50.  —  Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him.  We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Exclusive: Sanford booked 10-day getaway  —  On or around the day his wife asked him to move out, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford booked a ten-day trip to Buenos Aires, a person familiar with the governor's travel plans told POLITICO.  —  Sanford booked the trip on Delta Air Lines on June 10 …

ABC's White House special struggled for viewers  —  President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening.  —  The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers …

Obey, Waters in noisy floor fight  —  Two Democrats got into a verbal altercation — and according to one a physical one — on the floor of the House on Thursday night over an appropriations earmark one was seeking.  —  After the House floor had largely cleared following a series of votes …

Limbaugh to GOP: ‘Screw it’  —  Defying parody once again, Rush Limbaugh lays the Sanford affair at President Obama's feet: … I guess this means we can look forward to a lot more GOP sex scandals...  (via TPM; full audio here)  —Christopher Orr

Kerry Pushes For Public Option Trigger In Closed-Door Meeting  —  In a closed-door meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democratic members and their staff Wednesday evening, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) suggested that if the committee bill didn't have enough votes for a public option it include …

Neocons Bemoan USA Soccer Victory  —  Gary Schmitt, formerly of the Project for a New American Century, has a bizarre post up at an AEI blog in which he laments the fact that the United States upset Spain in the Confederation Cup, then further laments the fact that soccer exhibits a high degree …

Supreme Court Says Child's Rights Violated by Strip Search  —  WASHINGTON — In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking …

Obama at West Wing door to reporters heading to dunk tank with Gibbs.  “They won't let me take a shot.”  —  Sweet pitching at Dunk Booth with Robert Gibbs on the South Lawn of the White House on luau night, June 25, 2009 (Photos by David Corn)  —  WASHINGTON—As reporters were escorted …

Bad taste award  —  I don't find anything funny about the Sanford affair.  It's the mom in me thinking about four handsome boys on Father's Day weekend abandoned by their stupid, selfish father, who was busy tanning with his mistress in Argentina.  Heart-breaking.  Yes.  Nauseating.  Yes.

Final moments  —  Neda was standing a metre away from me... I saw blood gushing out of her chest"  —  The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.  —  Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university …

Bachmann's Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese  —  Last week, Rep. Michele “I'm not a kook” Bachmann (R-MN) boasted about breaking the law in refusing to complete the 2010 Census.  The Census is the perfect boogeyman for Bachmann in that it unites …

Emanuel: Sanford needed a cigarette  —  Perhaps no one knows how to butter up reporters better than White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.  —  The longtime Washington insider is known for personally reaching out to reporters and always being cognizant of the media landscape.