Approval Ratings Drop for Obama on Health Care, Other Issues  —  Approval Rating on Health Care Falls Below 50 Percent  —  Obama's approval ratings on other front-burner issues, such as the economy and the federal budget deficit, have also slipped over the summer, as rising concern …

President Obama's Conference Call with Liberal Bloggers: John Amato asks Congress to work through the August recess  —  You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!  —  DOWNLOADS: 220  —  PLAYS: 730 … President Obama and David Axlerod hosted …

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home  —  Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in.  The incident raised concerns among …

D-Day for DeMint  —  Amy Kremer of the National Tea Party Patriots sends on the full audio recording of a conference call I wrote about Friday, on which Sen. Jim DeMint said health care reform could be Obama's “Waterloo.”  The comments have attracted attention, and an attack from President Obama today.

2012 Match-ups: Obama, Romney Tied at 45%; Obama 48%, Palin 42%  —  If the 2012 presidential election were held today, President Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Obama's Gitmo Task Force Blows Its Deadline  —  Exclusive: why a key report on closing the facility has been delayed until the fall.  —  Brennan Linsley / Reuters-Landov  —  A U.S. journalist walks past sleeping quaters at Camp Justice, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 14, 2009.

Rep. Mike Castle Fends Off the Birthers  —  I got a little friendly fire from my friend and colleague Matt Welch over last week's article on the Obama birth certificate conspiracy.  He took issue with my “contention that the movement ‘dogs Republicans’ (there being so very many other issues that have more bite than a few barkers).”

Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion  —  A series of bailouts, bank rescues and other economic lifelines could end up costing the federal government as much as $23 trillion, the U.S. government's watchdog over the effort says - a staggering amount that is nearly double the nation's entire economic output for a year.

Fox News Guest Ralph Peters Suggests Taliban Should Kill U.S. Soldier If He Deserted  —  Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who has been captured by the Taliban and appears in a video released this weekend by his captors, “went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan on June 30.”

Gay Marriage and the Constitution  —  Why Ted Olson and I are working to overturn California's Proposition 8.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  When I got married in California in 1959 there were almost 20 states where marriage was limited to two people of different sexes and the same race.

Obama Loves Mayo, But Mayo Does Not Love Him (Update: Gibbs Responds, Badly)  —  Throughout his push for health-care reform, President Obama has held up the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota as an example of great medicine at lower prices—something that could and should be emulated all over the country …

Maloney apologizes for using N word  —  (CNN) - New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, apologized Monday for using the N word in a recent interview while recounting a phone call she had received.  —  “I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting,” Maloney said in a statement.

Obamacare Is At War With Itself Over Future Costs  —  Right now, Obamacare is at war with itself.  Political efforts to buy off Big Pharma, private insurers, and the AMA are all pushing up long-term costs — one reason why Douglas Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget Office …

Ross Is Blue Dogs' Bulldog  —  He warned them.  —  Months ago, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), chairman of the Blue Dogs' health care task force, told House leaders and chairmen they'd better include Blue Dogs in the writing of their health care bill.  But that didn't happen.

Health Care Bill Directs HHS Secretary to Develop ‘Standards for Measuring Gender’—As Opposed to ‘Male’ and ‘Female’  —  (CNSNews.com) - The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's health care legislation will give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to develop …

Lawyer Leads an Immigration Fight  —  DALLAS — On a recent morning, Kris W. Kobach, a conservative law professor, rushed late into a federal courtroom here with his suit slightly rumpled and little more than a laptop under his arm.  His mission was to persuade the judge to uphold …

JENNA AND BARBARA BUSH GAVE SECRET SERVICE FITS  —  WHEN it came to protecting Jenna and Barbara Bush, the Secret Service truly had its hands full, with President George W. Bush's wild and crazy daughters doing everything in their power to escape them, a new book reveals.

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Affair admission leads to cancellation of bash  —  Gibbons, Reid, Obama up, down in voter polls  —  Add this to the human toll taken by Sen. John Ensign's sex scandal: It's forced the cancellation of a rockin' party.  —  An “Ensign Reunion” of the senator's former staffers …

New iPhone app helps you score pot  —  States that are low on funds are steadily inhaling the idea of taxing the sale of a substance that gets you high.  —  Meanwhile, as if anticipating an uptick in demand, the folks at Apple have approved a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that will allow …

Obama Health Plan to Cover 12 Million Illegals  —  On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation's estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev. …

President Obama, Democratic Congress's Squandered Stimulus  —  It's not surprising that the much-ballyhooed “economic stimulus” hasn't done much stimulating.  President Obama and his aides argue that it's too early to expect startling results.  They have a point.  A $14 trillion economy won't revive in a nanosecond.

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court - Sonia Sotomayor - Questions for the Record  —  Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee submit questions for the record to nominees following confirmation hearings.  Judge Sotomayor's responses to questions for the record follow.

More South Carolina residents losing health insurance  —  Lawmakers struggling to find cure for medical coverage problems  —  After 25 years with the same company, Andy Stark lost his job and his health insurance.  —  While he found other work, it paid 30 percent less and had no benefits.