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.

María Belén Chapur Photo Mark Stanford Lover Named  —  NEWS BIZARRE Exlusive: Pictures of Mark Stanford mistress, Maria Belen Chapur...  Maria Benlen Chapur lover to South Carolina Governor..  —  The woman at the centre of the Mark Sanford South Carolina Governor love affair …

Limbaugh suggests Obama may be catalyst for Sanford's affair  —  From the June 25 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:  —  Please upgrade your flash player.  The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player.  If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime version of the video.

Not Enough Audacity  —  When it comes to domestic policy, there are two Barack Obamas.  —  On one side there's Barack the Policy Wonk, whose command of the issues — and ability to explain those issues in plain English — is a joy to behold.  —  But on the other side there's Barack the Post-Partisan …

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 …

Specter: Schumer Has It Right On The Public Option  —  Speaking moments ago to a large and animated crowd of union organizers and health reform advocates in a brewing house just North of the Capitol, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) said he supports a public insurance option.

Cap and trade vote today, complete with AP spin; Update: 300-page, last-minute amendment  —  In pre-Norman England, King Canute once had his bearers carry him to the sea, where he ordered the ocean to recede.  Often this story is told to indict Canute for having delusions of grandeur …

The Not-so-beautiful Game  —  Yesterday, in what might be one of most stunning upsets ever, the U.S. men's soccer team beat Spain 2-0.  In doing so, the U.S. team beat the top-ranked national team in the world, ended Spain's record-setting unbeaten streak of 35 games, and put the Americans …

Cap and Trade to Limp Across Finish Line?  —  It looks that way, in the House, anyway.  With a vote scheduled to take place tomorrow, Nancy Pelosi thinks she has barely enough votes to pass one of the great follies in legislative history, the carbon tax.  It will be close, though …

Rockefeller wants to cut private health insurance influence  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., dates his concerns about health care back to 1964, when he first moved to West Virginia as a VISTA volunteer.  —  “The town of Emmons was a place where nobody had health care.

Risk of major social upheaval likely if bank bonanza continues  —  Is a Democratic administration and a Democratically controlled Congress presiding over one of the most regressive wealth transfers in history?  Roosevelt Institute Braintruster Marshall Auerback investigates.