Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce  —  Affairs on both sides  —  AlaskaReport has learned this morning that Todd Palin and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to divorce.  Multiple sources in Wasilla and Anchorage have confirmed the news.  —  A National Enquirer story exposing previous affairs …

Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out  —  Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.  —  Because of emergency extensions already enacted …

Small Beer, Big Hangover  —  THE comforting thing about each “national conversation on race” is that the “teachable moment” passes before any serious conversation can get going.  —  This one ended with a burp.  The debate about which brew would best give President Obama Joe Six-Pack cred …

Honesty and TV Booking  —  House Democrats have the congress considering a bill that involves around $540 billion in new taxes, along with several hundred billion in offsetting spending cuts, in order to pay for a substantial expansion of health insurance coverage in the United States.

With Health Care Talks Uncertain, Democrats Consider a Last Resort  —  WASHINGTON — With bipartisan health care negotiations teetering, Democrats are talking reluctantly — and very, very quietly — about exploiting a procedural loophole they planted in this year's budget to skirt Republican filibusters against a health care overhaul.

Skype could be cut off for good over dispute  —  Skype might have to shut down because of a dispute over the core technology used to make the internet telephone system work.  —  EBay, which paid $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) for the voice-over-the-internet system in 2005 …

Afghan mission falls short of expectations: Lawmakers  —  The international military mission in Afghanistan has delivered “much less than it promised” due to the lack of a realistic strategy, an influential committee of lawmakers said Sunday.  —  In a report, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee …

A Man, a Plan .  .  .  —  When one branch of government declares war on another.  —  The Court-Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy  —  by Burt Solomon  —  Walker, 352 pp., $27  —  On February 5, 1937, just 16 days after his inauguration …

Too Big to Pass  —  One of the most notorious news stories of the past week was Democratic Congressman John Conyers' ridiculing of the idea that he and his fellow legislators should actually read bills—here, the health care “reform” act—before voting on them:

Pelosi to Use House Recess to Sell Obama's Health-Care Plan  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi returned home to San Francisco this weekend carrying a red, white and blue pocket card that will help guide her through the August recess.  The card lists talking points she hopes will convince everyday Americans …