Facts Are Stubborn Things  —  Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”  —  Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example …

U.S. journalists reportedly pardoned in N. Korea  —  (CNN) — North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and ordered the release of two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.  —  The announcement came after former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with top North Korean officials …

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder  —  A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.

House Majority Leader's high-speed rail talk turns into high-speed ruckus  —  UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - During a news conference at Union Station in Utica on Tuesday, Congressman Michael Arcuri and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, were interrupted with shouting from taxpayers upset over government spending.

McDonnell leads by 14  —  Bob McDonnell has opened up a 51-37 lead over Creigh Deeds in the race to be Virginia's next Governor, up from a 49-43 advantage four weeks ago.  —  The movement in the race likely has more to do with national trends than anything actually going on in Virginia.

What Obama and My Wife Have in Common  —  Dear Mr. President:  —  First, happy birthday.  I do hope today is an enjoyable day for you and your family.  Coincidentally, I also will be celebrating this week the birth of someone dear to me, my beloved wife, Gena, whose birthday is Aug. 9.

Sotomayor: Qualified, mainstream  —  Judicial confirmation hearings weren't always ideological witch hunts.  —  When John Roberts and Samuel Alito were nominated to the Supreme Court, Republicans argued that they should be confirmed based on their impeccable qualifications and mainstream jurisprudence.

Clinton 51%, Palin 39%  —  If America elects a woman president soon, right now her name appears to be Hillary Clinton.  —  In a hypothetical match-up between the two most formidable female candidates in their respective parties, Clinton defeats former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin 51% to 39% …

Hezbollah stockpiles 40,000 rockets near Israel border  —  Richard Beeston on the Israel-Lebanese border and Nicholas Blanford in Beirut  —  Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again — this time with the militant group better armed than ever.

HONORING AN AMERICA-HATER  —  THE Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor.  Past recipients include John Wayne, Norman Rockwell and Vaclav Havel.  This year, one of the 16 recipients President Obama selected (along with such worthies as Sen. Edward Kennedy and the late Jack Kemp) …

Adelaide man caught up in bid to oust Obama  —  A self-described ‘grey-haired guy in a corner of little old Adelaide’ has been unwittingly implicated in a conspiracy to oust the 44th President of the United States from office.  Unbeknown to David Bomford, a group called the Birthers have used …

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS: JUNE 2009 REVISED ESTIMATES: 1929 THROUGH MAY 2009  —  Personal income decreased $159.8 billion, or 1.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $143.8 billion, or 1.3 percent, in June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Hey, Mister Postman  —  Art Laffer (why is he, of all people, on my TV?) asks what it will be like when the government runs Medicare and Medicaid.  —  But I'd raise a further question: he warns that when the government takes over these, um, government programs, they'll be like the Post Office and the DMV.

CNN Poll: Did Obama act stupidly in Gates arrest comments?  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that white and black Americans don't see eye to eye on last month's arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates.  The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …

For The Modern GOP, It's A Return To The “White Voter Strategy”  —  With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a “white voter” strategy.

More facts behind the GE/Fox deal and a new Olbermann statement  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  On Saturday, I wrote a post under the headline: “GE's silencing of Olbermann and MSNBC's sleazy use of Richard Wolffe.”  In it, I wrote: “now we have an example of GE's forcibly silencing …

Protestor In Connecticut: “Treat” Dodd With Handful Of Painkillers And Whiskey  —  Wow, check out these protestors outside a health care event by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) in Hartford (via My Left Nutmeg).  What follows are some very direct jokes about Dodd's cancer — and the idea of some sort of euthanasia involving booze and pills:

Obama's birthday: Turning the candles  —  President Barack Obama, born 48 years ago today in Honolulu, Hawaii, celebrated his first birthday in the White House with a family breakfast in the private residence, a birthday song at lunch sung by senators in the State Dining Room and a song …

Obama's Birthday Cards From Birthers (PICS)  —  It's the president's birthday!  And what better way to celebrate than to give the birther movement even more media attention.  Of course, we don't really know that Obama was born on August 4th, because he refuses to show his birth certificate …

Finally, the Spleen Gets Some Respect  —  As a confirmed crab apple who has often been compared to the splenetic Lucy Van Pelt character from Peanuts, I am gratified to learn that should my real spleen ever decide to vent in earnest, the outburst may just help save my life.

Insurers only pull your coverage when it hurts  —  Via Yves Smith, an important piece on “rescissions”: cases in which insurance companies retroactively cancel your health coverage.  —  The industry would have you believe that it's a minor issue, because only a small fraction of the insured experience rescissions in any given year.