White House Drafts Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects  —  The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely …

The Climate Change Climate Change  —  The number of skeptics is swelling everywhere.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming.  When the administration proved unhelpful …

Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him  —  LONDON, England (CNN) — How many people does it take to break the Internet?  On June 25, we found out it's just one — if that one is Michael Jackson.  —  The biggest showbiz story of the year saw the troubled star take a good slice …

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change  —  WASHINGTON — Overcoming deep divisions within its Democratic majority, the House passed legislation on Friday intended to address the threat of global warming and transform the way the United States produces and uses energy.

Sanford: King David Didn't Resign, So Why Should I?  —  Mark Sanford has been holding a televised cabinet meeting this afternoon.  —  And the South Carolina governor started out by using an interesting comparison to respond to calls for his resignation.  King David didn't back down after …

White House Watched  —  Today's column is my last for The Washington Post.  And the first thing I want to say is thank you.  Thank you to all you readers, e-mailers, commenters, questioners, Facebook friends and Twitterers for spending your time with me and engaging with me over the years.

The Obama Pattern  —  The Obama Administration appears to me to be pursuing many goals, poorly.  Here are four:  —  1) The stimulus failed to meet Larry Summers' famous criteria of timely, targeted, or temporary.  —  2) The cap and trade legislation maximizes rent-seeking …

Does The White House Have a Secret Strategy for Health Reform?  —  As Paul Krugman writes today, it's a bit tricky to say exactly what the White House's bottom line is on health care — or even if it has one.  “The only thing that's non-negotiable is success,” Rahm Emmanuel likes to say.

Cap-and-Trade, State-by-State  —  Regional considerations tend to loom larger in debates over environmental policy than in other sorts of affairs.  Some states consume more energy than others.  Some states have more carbon-intensive economies than others.  Some states are more or less likely …

Palin Responds To Sen. Kerry Joke: “Why The Long Face?”  —  Speaking to a group of servicemen in Kosovo, Gov. Sarah Palin responded to a crack made by Sen. John Kerry earlier this week.  Sen. Kerry joked he wished Palin went missing along with Sanford.  “He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad,” she said.

U. of I. jobs-for-entry scheme  —  E-mails reveal law school put a price on admission of unqualified candidate  —  What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school?  —  Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.

Cap and tax liveblog, Pt II: Pay attention to House floor games; 14 undecideds; let's play “Where's the Bill?”  —  At approx. 2:35pm Eastern, GOP Rep. Joe Barton announced that there is now a placeholder in the bill to be determined later.  —  Barton notes that this is unprecedented.

BAD ‘WEEK’ FOR MORNING JOE  —  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was all set to appear this Sunday on ABC's “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos until yesterday, when Scarborough canceled because David Gregory, the host of NBC's “Meet the Press,” allegedly threw a fit.

Iranian cleric says “rioters” should be executed  —  TEHRAN (Reuters) - A hardline Iranian cleric called on Friday for the execution of leading “rioters” to teach a lesson to the tens of thousands who have protested against the result of the presidential election two weeks ago.

Unions' Health Benefits May Avoid Tax Under Proposal  —  The U.S. Senate proposal to impose taxes for the first time on “gold-plated” health plans may bypass generous employee benefits negotiated by unions.  —  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate …

Joe Biden Gaffe update: He fires N.J. gov, moves another guy in  —  For your Joe Biden Gaffe files:  —  Washington.  Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  LGBT fundraiser.  Hauled in about $1 mill.  33% better than last year with Michelle Obama.  —  Maybe four dozen protesters outside …

D.C. Summer Jobs Contractor Fired for Posts on Twitter  —  The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who was working with youths in the city's summer jobs program after officials became aware of messages on his Twitter site that Anacostia is “ghetto” and that he was loafing at work.