WaPo cancels lobbyist event amid uproar  —  Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Katharine Weymouth said today she was cancelling plans for an exclusive “salon” at her home where, for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record …

Things That Make You Go Hmmm  —  John Schwenkler was kind enough to engage Andrew once again over the origins of Trig:  —  [Is] it still possible to think that the Palins might have pulled off the greatest con in American political history by pretending to be the parents of a Downs Syndrome baby …

U.S. Job Losses Rise in June as Unemployment Reaches 9.5%  —  The American economy lost 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent in a sobering indication that the most painful downturn since the Great Depression has yet to release its hold.

Here We Go Again: How to Read Those HELP Numbers  —  Is it possible that everybody is misinterpretating the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the Senate HELP bill...again?  —  Yup.  —  So far I've seen two different set of interpretations.  One, the most common …

Time for an Israeli Strike?  —  With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.  —  Iran's nuclear threat was never …

Sanford's mental state questioned  —  Gov. Mark Sanford is acting like a love-struck teenager.  —  Or, maybe he has a deeper personality disorder, some experts speculate.  —  As the saga of Sanford and his Argentine lover continues, the public, the governor's political rivals and some allies …

Cracks In Obama Facade As Disapproval Grows, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Voter Outlook On Economy, Nation Improve  —  President Barack Obama's first five months in office have seen his job approval remain stable overall - currently at a politically healthy 57 - 33 percent …

Case dismissed against woman in MySpace hoax that led to teen's suicide  —  A federal judge tentatively decided today to dismiss the case against a Missouri woman who had been convicted of computer fraud stemming from an Internet hoax that prompted a teenage girl to commit suicide.

EXCLUSIVE: Taliban buying children for suicide bombers  —  Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.

U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny  —  The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.  —  Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build …

McKinney held in Israel, to be returned to U.S.  —  JERUSALEM (CNN) — Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney — who was aboard a ship the Israeli navy intercepted this week — is in a detention center and will be returned to the United States, the U.S. Embassy said.

Saddam Hussein Said WMD Talk Helped Him Look Strong to Iran  —  Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday.

Barney Frank: Let's spend TARP profits before taxpayers can get them  —  When President Obama announced on June 9 that some financial institutions would be allowed to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program dollars, he said the massively expensive TARP bailout had made money for the federal government.

Honduran Democracy Protesters Bash Obama & CNN  —  Thousands of Hondurans protested in support of democracy, the military and the Micheletti government this week in Honduras.  —  The US media has been ignoring these protests.  —  Tens of thousands of Hondurans demonstrated in support …

Indian Court Overturns Gay Sex Ban  —  NEW DELHI —In a landmark ruling Thursday that could usher in an era of greater freedom for gays and lesbians in India, New Delhi's highest court decriminalized homosexuality.  —  “Discrimination is antithesis of equality,” Delhi High Court judges wrote …

Congress's Overseas Travel Tab Swells  —  Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; From Italy to the Galápagos  —  WASHINGTON — Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows …