Can Palin ever come back?  —  A closer look at the words of Obama, Depeche Mode and U2.  Plus: Why do straight actresses make the best lesbo porn?  —  Dear Camille,  —  Just wondering.  Do you still think Sarah Palin is ready for the big stage?  —  James L. Somers  —  Good question!

Health Deals Could Harbor Hidden Costs  —  WASHINGTON — The deals, trumpeted loudly by the White House, would each help pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system.  —  First, it was a broad consortium of health industry groups — doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurers …

Introducing the Google Chrome OS  —  It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser.  Already, over 30 million people use it regularly.  We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news …

Obama girls take Russia by storm  —  MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — An unexpected visitor wandered into the bedroom of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in the wee hours of Tuesday morning — but the Secret Service wasn't worried about a security breach.

The Obama justice system  —  Spencer Ackerman yesterday attended a Senate hearing at which the DOD's General Counsel, Jeh Johnson, testified.  As Ackerman highlighted, Johnson actually said that even for those detainees to whom the Obama administration deigns to give a real trial in a real court …

Madigan Declines Senate, Gov Bids  —  Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) will run for re-election to her current post in 2010, according to a Democratic source aware of the decision, ending months of speculation about whether she might make the leap to a Senate or gubernatorial bid.

Henry Waxman: GOP ‘rooting against’ USA  —  Waxman: GOP ‘rooting against’ USA  —  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has had an eventful couple of weeks to say the least, believes House Republican opposition to climate change legislation and the stimulus indicates they're cheering against the good ol' US of A.

In Retooled Health-Care System, Who Will Set Limits?  —  The question came from a Colorado neurologist.  “Mr. President,” he said at a recent forum, “what can you do to convince the American public that there actually are limits to what we can pay for with our American health-care system?

Obama makes pointed quip on Russian sale of Alaska  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama made a pointed quip Tuesday about Russia's sale of Alaska to the United States in the 19th century.  —  Referring to the long history of Russia-U.S. trade stretching back more than two centuries …

Unpersons  —  One of the mysteries of the way issues are covered in much of the news media is how certain views get ruled “out of the mainstream” and just don't get covered — even when many well-informed people hold those views.  —  The most notorious example was during the buildup to the Iraq war …

The Man Who Crashed the World  —  Almost a year after A.I.G.'s collapse, despite a tidal wave of outrage, there still has been no clear explanation of what toppled the insurance giant.  The author decides to ask the people involved—the silent, shell-shocked traders of the A.I.G. Financial Products unit …

What happened to those bad bank assets?  So far, nothing  —  WASHINGTON — In March, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a Public-Private Investment Program in which the government and private firms would bid together to purchase toxic assets from banks, freeing them to increase lending and help revive the economy.

It's official: Franken makes 60 for Dems  —  Former comedian Al Franken officially became Minnesota's junior senator on Tuesday, continuing his policy of silence and seriousness but giving the Democratic Party a critical 60-seat Senate majority.  —  Franken was sworn in twice by Vice President Joe Biden …

G-8 Nations Fail to Agree on Climate Change Plan  —  L'AQUILA, Italy — The world's major industrial nations and emerging powers failed to agree Wednesday on significant cuts in heat-trapping gases by 2050, unraveling an effort to build a global consensus to fight climate change, according to people following the talks.

Lights, Camera, Lots of Action.  Forget the Script.  —  The actress known as Savanna Samson once relished preparing for a role.  “I couldn't wait to get my next script,” she said.  —  There's no reason to look at them anymore, she said, because her movies now call almost exclusively for action.

GOP war-games Sotomayor hearings  —  Senate Republicans are finalizing their line of attack against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, casting the nominee as a biased, closed-minded judge who's on the wrong side of gun rights and affirmative action cases.

Does Obama Want to Own the Airlines?  —  Welcome to government for the benefit of government officials and their hangers-on.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Only luck and falling oil prices saved Washington from having to face mass bankruptcy of the airline industry last year.  Now the specter is rising again.