Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama  —  (CNSNews.com) - Following a testy exchange during today's briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control …

Palin E-mails Show Infighting With Staff  —  Exclusive: Spat Over Todd Palin's Membership In Secessionist Party Was Major Distraction On Critical Day In '08 Campaign … Internal campaign e-mails exchanged three weeks before Election Day offer a rare look at just how frustrated …

Fox hosts on Franken victory: “in denial”; Franken and nation crazy; Coleman originally won  —  SUMMARY: Several Fox News hosts have expressed bewilderment, disappointment, and denial about Al Franken's victory in the Minnesota Senate race.  —  After Norm Coleman conceded the 2008 Minnesota Senate race …

S.C. GOP: Sanford must go  —  Gov. Mark Sanford's long and emotional interview with The Associated Press Tuesday appears to have been the final straw for South Carolina's Republican establishment, much of which is now actively seeking his resignation.  —  While Sanford seemed to have weathered …

Taliban capture U.S. soldier  —  KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — A U.S. soldier has been captured by militants in Afghanistan, the U.S. military and the Taliban said Thursday.  —  The unidentified soldier has been missing since Tuesday.  U.S. forces are exhausting all resources to find the soldier, the military said.

Karl Malden, Actor Who Played the Uncommon Everyman, Dies at 97  —  Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning character actor who for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun authenticity to roles in theater, film and television, from “A Streetcar Named Desire” to …

Wal-Mart and Health Insurance: The Theories of the Case  —  I find it hard to believe that none of the liberal commentators breathlessly celebrating Wal-Mart's “capitulation” on national health care have even entertained the most parsimonious explanation: that Wal-Mart is in favor …

Ant mega-colony takes over world  —  A queen and worker Argentine ant have many, many relatives  —  A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.  —  Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony …

U.S. Marines Launch Major Operation in Afghanistan  —  Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday morning, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

39 trips for Sanford with no security in '09  —  EXCLUSIVE: Governor's secret trip prompts scrutiny  —  Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor's Mansion without a security escort, 38 times in 2008.  In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times.

Let the Usurpers Writhe  —  TEHRAN — Think of normalized relations with the United States as the big prize.  Who gets to deliver it?  One thing is certain: Iran's ruthless usurpers are determined to ensure reformists are never in a position to claim the breakthrough.

Rigged?  ‘Suspicious’ Iranian ballot papers show name Ahmadinejad scrawled in same handwriting  —  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called off a trip to Libya today as his regime continued to face heavy criticism over the disputed Iranian elections.  —  In the latest development, images have emerged …

Just Go Be With Her!  —  In part two of his leave-no-rock-unturned interview with the Associated Press, Mark Sanford says that at least he will “be able to die knowing I had met my soul mate,” as David noted below.  And if that's not enough, he says that for all the grief his affair has caused …

Times Square Tea Party Denounces Obama, Media, Imaginary Tax Rates, Etc.  —  They had another one of those Tea Party things this evening, this time right next to the Times Square subway station on Broadway.  The anti-Obama pep rally occupied part of the street and part of the sidewalk …

Bush's ‘Town Halls’ vs. Obama's Town Halls  —  The New York Times is covering President Obama's health care town hall-style meeting today in Northern Virginia rather credulously.  This is the orchestrated political event that will feature a hand-picked audience and pre-screened questions about Obama's health care plan for the nation.

Health Care Stagecraft  —  President Obama held an “online town hall” health care meeting in Annandale, Virginia today.  It was televised and, coincidentally, I happened to catch the emotional centerpiece of the production on CNN.  Obama gave a long introductory pitch in support of his health care plan …

Romney Urges Republicans to ‘Stand Up’ to Obama's Policies  —  At a time when Republicans desperately are searching for a unifying leader and message, and Democrats add to their ranks in Congress, the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 presidential candidate is taking a no-excuses attitude toward his party.

A few victory laughs for Sen.-elect Franken  —  Al Franken is funny again.  —  The senator-elect alternated between jokes and emotion Wednesday in a victory rally that was, as he acknowledged, more than two years in the making.  —  “It was close,” Franken began, garnering a big laugh for his even bigger understatement.

Another View: In Praise of Law Firm Layoffs  —  Dan Slater, the former writer of The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, argues that layoffs at law firms are the best thing to happen to the legal industry in years.  —  Last July, I received a call from a public relations executive at Cadwalader …

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 …

The Costs of the Cap-and-Trade Bill  —  On June 25, the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate stabilization act, which would institute a cap-and-trade system to restrict Americans' carbon emissions.  While proponents of the bill have sought to argue that the costs of such a system would be negligible …

We're Getting A Bad Feeling About Our Food  —  Editor's Note: Gut Check is a new biweekly column on the politics of food.  —  “Does for the supermarket what ‘Jaws’ did for the beach,” says Variety's John Anderson.  “Everyone should see ‘Food, Inc.,’ ” enthuses this newspaper.