Budget Analyst Assails Cost of Congress's Health-Care Proposals  —  CBO Chief Says Democrats' Proposals Lack Necessary Controls on Spending  —  Congress's chief budget analyst delivered a devastating assessment yesterday of the health-care proposals drafted by congressional Democrats …

Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’  —  (CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.

Video: Witness rips Boxer for racial condescension  —  Red meat by the slab, folks!  Barbara Boxer wound up getting reamed by Harry Alford, the chair of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, after attempting to challenge his testimony on energy policy.  When Boxer started waving position papers …

RNC Web site promoting anti-Semitic, anti-Latino, and pornographic literature  —  (UPDATE: I understand the Latino book is not anti-Latino, but in fact debunks anti-Latino prejudice.  Fair enough.  But I'm still looking forward to the RNC's explanation for including “bondage,” “anal,” and “clitoris.” )

How Republicans missed their chance with Sotomayor  —  Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are down to their last chance to make the case that there are serious questions about Sonia Sotomayor's fitness for the Supreme Court.  One of the things they will do is stress a subject …

Susan Roesgen Out at CNN  —  Breaking: TVNewser has learned CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen's contract will not be renewed and she will be leaving the network.  —  Roesgen, you'll recall, was criticized for her coverage at the tax day tea parties in April, when she said the event she was covering …

Senators: No bipartisan health deal this week  —  The bipartisan group of senators working to hash out an agreement on healthcare reform delivered a message to President Obama and the Democratic leadership Thursday: You'll just have to wait.  —  After another intense day of closed-door negotiations …

Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Any Failure  —  President Obama delivered a fiery sermon to black America on Thursday night, warning black parents that they must accept their own responsibilities by “putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour,” …

Federal judge dismisses reservist's suit questioning Obama's presidency  —  A federal judge this morning dismissed the suit filed here by a U.S. Army reservist who says he shouldn't have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president.

REPUBLICANS BECOMING UNHINGED  —  VA-GOP CANDIDATE JUST SAID: “IF WE LOSE AT THE BALLOT BOX, WE WILL HAVE TO TURN TO THE BULLET BOX.”  VIDEO TO COME!!  —  UPDATE: Quote corrected (it's actually worse):"We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box …

Tracking Michelle Obama's slave roots  —  GEORGETOWN, South Carolina (CNN) — In many places across the South you can walk in the footsteps of slaves, and if you understand the history, it is not a happy journey.  The same is true at Friendfield Plantation outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels  —  At least nine people including some foreigners have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.  —  One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel.

Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions  —  A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers.  —  The so-called card-check provision — which senators decided to scrap to help secure …

Roubini: Views on Economy Unchanged Despite Reports  —  Nouriel Roubini, the economist whose dire forecasts earned him the nickname “Doctor Doom,” said after markets closed Thursday that earlier reports claiming he sees an end to the recession this year were “taken out of context.”

LEAKED: More Than Fifty House Progressives Privately Commit To Oppose Weak Health Care Bill  —  Progressive Democrats are taking a hard stand on health care reform, with a majority committing to oppose any health care reform package that doesn't include a robust public option.

Obama and the Speech  —  What is the point and purpose of the President's orations?  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Can Barack Obama talk his way onto Mount Rushmore?  He might.  In fact, if just half of what Mr. Obama has said that he, we or the world should do comes to pass, he's going straight to that mountain.

The real price of Goldman's giganto-profits  —  Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein in Washington DC in November 2008 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) … So what's wrong with Goldman posting $3.44 billion in second-quarter profits, what's wrong with the company so far earmarking $11.4 billion in compensation for its employees?

And Now For Something Completely Crazy  —  The news is coming so thick and fast these days that it's hard to keep up.  The Supreme Court, socialized medicine, cap and trade, record deficits, foreign policy fecklessness—it's easy to lose track of smaller issues with all that is going on.

The President Moves the Economic Goalposts  —  The stimulus isn't working as originally advertised.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  So what's a president to do when the promises he made about his economic stimulus program fail to materialize?  If you're Barack Obama …

BREAKING: AMA Endorses House Bill.  —  Via Health Care for America Now: The American Medical Association just sent a letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, endorsing the health reform proposal put forward by three House committees.  —  This is unexpected.  Or, at least, I wasn't expecting it.

When to Let a Bank Fail  —  The CIT Group, one of the nation's largest commercial lenders serving a million small and midsized companies, is on the verge of collapse now that federal officials have rebuffed pleas to rescue it with more taxpayer money.  It had received $2.33 billion bailout from the feds in December.