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: 694  —  PLAYS: 2123 … President Obama and David Axlerod hosted …

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.

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 …

Budget accord reached  —  Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agree on ways to close California's $26.3-billion deficit.  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal …

Amman begins stripping state's Palestinians of citizenship  —  Article's topics: Jordan, Palestinians, West Bank, PLO  —  Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be “resettled” …

Iran's Tragic Joke  —  NEW YORK — Allow me to quote the British novelist Martin Amis, writing about Persia in The Guardian: “Iran is one of the most venerable civilizations on earth: it makes China look like an adolescent, and America look like a stripling.”  —  Iranians, aware of that history, are a proud people.

Poll: Public losing trust in Obama  —  Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll.

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.

Presidential approval tracker  —  The Gallup organization first started asking Americans how they approved of the job the president was doing in the 1940s.  See how each president since then has fared in the approval poll, look at some news events that influenced public opinion and compare …

New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter  —  Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.  —  Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark …

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.

The Unbearable Lightness of Greg Mankiw  —  A friend e-mails: … I would respond by saying that there's a weird tendency among people to think that very banal comments are very important insights when they come from Greg Mankiw.  And this is worse than a very banal comment: It's disengaged with the debate.

Democrats Want to Teach You to Die With Dignity  —  H.R. 3200 is the Democrat healthcare bill.  —  Let's back up for a minute.  I noted some time ago Jay Rockefeller went on record to say that at some point the government has to decide whether or not you are allowed to receive …

Pennsylvania Gov's Approval Drops To Lowest Ever, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Rendell Gets More Blame For Budget Stalemate  —  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's job approval rating has shrunk to its lowest level ever, 39 - 53 percent negative, and voters see him as most responsible for the state's budget mess.

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 …

Obama Outlines Expectations for Health Reform Timeline, Economic Recovery  —  JIM LEHRER: Mr. President, it must have been a little unpleasant for you to wake up this morning and see this headline: Washington Post poll shows Obama slipping on key issues, approval rating on health care falls below 50 percent.

‘New York Times’ Defends Palin Story that Quotes Hairdresser  —  NEW YORK A story on The Huffington Post Monday reporting that Sarah Palin's hairdresser was upset about being inaccurately cited in a New York Times piece drew a response from a Times spokeswoman today claiming the hairdresser had praised the story.

Let's Face It: Obama Is No Post-Partisan  —  Only last summer we were told that Barack Obama's political appeal rested on his vision for a “post-partisan future.”  The post-partisan future was one of the press corps' favorite phrases.  It served as shorthand for the candidate's repeated references to …

US car dealer offers free Kalashnikov with every purchase  —  A Missouri car dealer has taken a novel approach to combating the fall in US vehicle sales by offering a free Kalashnikov assault rifle with every truck, whether new or used.  —  Mark Muller, whose business slogan is “God, Guns …