Durbin: No pre-recess vote on healthcare  —  Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that a pre-recess vote on healthcare reform is unlikely.  —  “We're going to take a little longer to get it right,” Durbin told The Hill when asked …

Obama's Fifth News Conference  —  Following is a transcript of President Obama's fifth news conference, the fourth given in prime-time, as provided by Federal News Service.  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good evening.  Please be seated.  —  Before I take your questions, I want to talk for a few minutes …

Obama: Cambridge police acted ‘stupidly’  —  After spending most of an hour patiently reiterating his arguments for changing the health insurance system, President Barack Obama turned his press conference sharply toward an iconic moment in American race relations: The arrest …

WH discloses health-care execs' visits  —  The Secret Service had earlier rejected a request for the same information, asserting executive privilege.  The issue could have been an embarassment for Obama at the presser in light of his promises during the campaign to make public White House visitors …

54 House Democrats and All Republicans Against Obamacare?  Update: Make that 69 Dems?  —  Today, Nancy Pelosi said: “I have no question that we have the votes on the floor of the House to pass this [health-care] legislation.”  But Joe Pounder of the GOP Whip's press office emails:

Dems Start To Push Back Hard To Prevent A ‘Waterloo’  —  A telling episode recounted by Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley reveals the Obama administration might be more worried than they are letting on that a Republican senator's comparison of the healthcare overhaul to Waterloo might be dangerously close to the truth.

Dude, Where's My Sperm?  —  I've been freaking myself out over the past 24 hours by reading Reece Rushing's CAP report on dangerous chemicals impairing American fertility.  For the fellows, there's reduced sperm count:  —  And the ladies aren't being spared either:  —  What's to blame?  Well:

Liz Cheney: No question on citizenship  —  Liz Cheney is taking some heat today for, amid a discussion on Larry King Live of the fringe movement that doubts Obama's citizenship, appearing to defend it.  —  “People are fundamentally uncomfortable, and they're fundamentally increasingly uncomfortable …

Would You Stand on Short Flights if It Meant Cheaper Fares?  —  Irish-based discount airline Ryanair recently polled 120,000 passengers on its Web site with the following question: would you be willing to stand on short flights?  —  The answer was an overwhelming “yes” - if the tickets were free.

Obama: Greedy doctors are coming after your tonsils or something  —  Gee, I'm really sorry I decided to skip this for “Ghost Hunters.”  Watching The One explain how the medical industry has designs on your body parts would have been much better in hindsight.

Drunkblogging ObamaCare  —  Stephen Green listens carefully to President Obama's press conference on health care — and tries to determine whether care of his vodka-challenged liver will be covered.  (Watch PJTV's virtual health care forum here.)  —  4:48PM I'm watching Fox News tonight, instead of the usual CNN.

L.I. Man Helped Qaeda, Then Informed  —  He grew up in the solid middle class of Suffolk County, the son of an engineer, the child of a couple that had emigrated from South America, a fan of football and video games, an altar boy and, eventually, a Boy Scout.

Oooh, Don't Forget, ‘Now Is The Time To Act’!  —  Senate Republicans e-mail me: … It's good, don't get me wrong, but they left off a few of my favorite Obama cliches, some of which are straw men, some of which are rhetorical crutches: “We inherited these problems”; “the alternative is to do nothing” …

Bin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan  —  · U.S. officials believe Saad bin Laden — a son of Osama bin Laden — has been killed by an American missile in Pakistan.  —  Saad bin Laden reportedly spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan …

Next up for Sanford: 2-week European vacation with family  —  Gov. Mark Sanford said he is leaving the state Thursday with his wife and sons for a two-week European vacation.  —  Sanford said the trip long has been scheduled and was meant as a last family getaway with his family's four sons while they all still are living at home.

Will Obama's health care plan mirror Clinton's '94 failure?  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — In 1994, universal health care was a key policy plan for then-President Bill Clinton.  It eventually failed.  —  Now, 15 years later, another Democratic president is taking on the challenge …

Orrin Hatch quits health care talks  —  The health care Gang of Seven is now down to six.  —  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of seven senators involved in bipartisan Finance Committee negotiations, has left the talks.  —  Hatch informed Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Wednesday afternoon …

PETA video shows Ringling Bros. handlers beating elephants  —  The world-famous Ringling Bros. circus faces fresh accusations of animal abuse today after undercover videos show handlers beating elephants before they enter the ring.  —  The tape, made by a man who posed as a stagehand for six months …

Sarah Palin: Report She Violated Ethics Laws Is ‘Misguided’ And ‘Factually In Error’  —  Leaked Report Says Alaska Governor's Trust Fund Could Violate Ethics Act  —  Independent Counsel Sympathetic to Palin  —  Despite finding probable cause to investigate, Daniel said he was …

Rep. Blackburn: “We're Not Going To Cry ‘Emergency’ Every Time We Have A Katrina” … THE MEANING OF “EMERGENCY”  —  While extolling the virtues of a balanced budget during a PAYGO debate on the floor of the House, Rep. Marsha Blackburn shamefully exclaimed: … This statement is shocking on many levels.

After Senate vote, F-22 loses House support  —  The Senate's decisive vote this week to cut off the F-22 program is resonating in the House, where leading appropriators on Wednesday said they would back away from an effort to continue production of the radar-evading fighter.