Having It Both Ways  —  This Radley Balko's post is being used to defend Ross:  —  It is possible that Sarah Palin was both unfairly mistreated and personally attacked by the media and many on the left, and that her family was rather ruthlessly and mercilessly run through the [ringer] …

U.S. Open to Deal on Health Plan  —  WASHINGTON — The White House signaled a willingness Monday to compromise on details of a public plan to compete with private insurance companies as negotiators sought ways to advance health-care legislation.  —  A senior administration official …

Michael Jackson Fans Raise Money To Defeat Peter King  —  There is, it turns out, a political price to pay when you make bold statements calling out Michael Jackson for some of the nefarious moments of his personal history.  —  Fans of Jackson are mobilizing to raise money for an opponent …

Joe The Plumber Says Immigrants Should Get ‘The Hell Out Of Our Damn Country’  —  While protesting government spending at Houston's Independence Day Tea Party, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher stated that American taxpayer dollars would be best spent on the mass deportation of 12 million undocumented immigrants:

New climate strategy: track the world's wealthiest  —  Source: Reuters  —  * World's richest emit about half of Earth's carbon  —  * Tracking the wealthy could break climate impasse  —  * New method would follow individual greenhouse emissions  —  To fairly divide the climate change …

Did the Toppling of Saddam Hussein Lead to Recent Events in Iran?  —  Given the connections between Iraq and Iran, it's not as unlikely as it sounds.  —  The most exciting and underreported news of the past few weeks in Iran has been that the emerging challenger to the increasingly frantic and isolated …

Iran clerics declare election invalid and condemn crackdown  —  Iran's biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown.  —  The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act …

Palin Hit With Another Ethics Complaint  —  In the wake of Governor Palin stepping down from her job, new allegations have surfaced today in Alaska charging Palin with additional violations of the Alaska Executive Ethics Act.  —  Zane Henning — a conservative government watchdog …

New GOP “Racist” Headache  —  Blogs and Stories  —  After “Barack the Magic Negro” and other GOP racial gaffes, a top Young Republican official—who hopes to be elected chairman Saturday—laughs at a racial slur about President Obama.  The Daily Beast's John Avlon on a choice facing GOP brass …

More female veterans are winding up homeless  —  VA resources strained; many are single parents  —  Angela Peacock spent years with no home after serving in Iraq.  —  WASHINGTON - The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the military has jumped dramatically …

US lurching towards ‘debt explosion’ with longterm interest rates on course to double  —  The US economy is lurching towards crisis with long-term interest rates on course to double, crippling the country's ability to pay its debts and potentially plunging it into another recession, according to a study by the US's own central bank

37,000 at Dallas Tea Party — and next steps  —  I returned from the Dallas Tea Party this weekend inspired and motivated by the massive turnout of citizen activists.  The official county estimate of the day-long event's crowd: 37,000!  —  The Tea Party organizers aren't surprised by the MSM games of lowballing numbers.

Democrats Admit That Their Cap and Trade Bill Is a Job Killer  —  By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog  —  In her remarks bringing the debate over the climate bill to a close, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California urged her colleagues to vote in favor of the cap and trade bill …

Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?  —  Nearly 4 in 10 Americans say their views have grown more conservative  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become …

The Atlantic And Salon Dinners: Thoughts From The Boss  —  The first reaction of every journalist to the story of the Washington Post's advertiser-cum-salon dinner proposal was probably one of disgust and moral superiority.  The second reaction: we've all kinda been involved in situations …

We The Common Trash  —  Michael Shaw, publisher of the visual politics blog, BAGnewsNotes, posted an article at The Huffington Post entitled, “Reading The Pictures: Palin Proud To Be Trash”.  —  Mr. Shaw's bio indicates he is a clinical psychologist—an analyst of visual journalism—an interpreter of political images.

Anti-gay rights Reps use Elton John to raise cash  —  At least two members of the House of Representatives-both of whom are on record opposing gay rights-will be hosting fundraisers at the upcoming Billy Joel/Elton John “Face2Face” concert at Nationals Park on July 11.

New National Review Cover Features Dr. Obama — Putting On A Glove...  Check out this new cover from National Review:  —  This is as strong an argument as any other that's been made against the public option: That Obama will be personally telling you to turn your head and cough, then sticking his finger where the sun don't shine.

Iraqi Commentators: Saudi Arabia Is Behind Terror in Iraq - And Will Never Accept Shi'ite Rule There  —  Currently, Iraqi-Saudi relations are at a nadir.  While Iraq has time and again officially reiterated its desire to strengthen relations and resolve disagreements with Saudi Arabia …

Little Information Given About Solo Law Practice Run by Sotomayor in '80s  —  Since Sonia Sotomayor was nominated for a seat on the United States Supreme Court, her career and accomplishments have come to light in public and voluminous fashion.  —  Her Senate questionnaire lists dozens …

Sarah Palin's surprise  —  From my latest American Spectator column: … Please read the whole thing.  Sunday morning, I was driving back from Lake Weiss — where we'd shot our fabulous annual Fourth of July fireworks show — when the editor called asking me to write the column.

Sidebar: In Two States, a Lower Bar for Conviction  —  “Twelve Angry Men” might have been a much shorter movie had it been set in Oregon.  Instead of letting Juror No. 8, the lone holdout played by Henry Fonda, methodically convince his fellow jurors that there was good reason to doubt the defendant's guilt …

Police say suspect in South Carolina serial killings is dead  —  GAFFNEY, South Carolina (CNN) — Investigators believe the serial killer blamed for five deaths in South Carolina died in a shootout with police in neighboring North Carolina on Monday, a South Carolina state police official said.

European Islamophobia A Creeping Threat: Analysis  —  The murder of Marwa Sherbini, a veiled (and pregnant) Egyptian woman, as she prepared to give evidence in a German courtroom against a man who physically assaulted her, has incensed the Muslim World and re-ignited the debate over whether Europe …

JACKIE'S DOOMED LOVE - WITH RFK  —  Jackie Kennedy had a four-year love affair with Bobby Kennedy that began not long after JFK's assassination and grew so intense that when RFK was gunned down, it was she — not his wife — who instructed doctors to pull the plug, an explosive new book claims.