Senate Committee's Bipartisan Health-Care Reform Talks Move Toward Center  —  Bipartisan Talks On Reform Move Toward Center  —  Senate negotiators are inching toward bipartisan agreement on a health-care plan that seeks middle ground on some of the thorniest issues facing Congress …

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face  —  ‘Political’ Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism  —  Between Jack Nicholson's 1989 portrayal of the Joker in “Batman” and Heath Ledger's 2008 characterization in “The Dark Knight,” something sinister happened to the villain's iconic makeup.

Poll: Obama approval drops 7 points over last 100 days  —  CNN Deputy Political Director  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — As President Obama approaches 200 days in the White House, a new national poll shows his approval rating has dropped seven points since the 100-day mark in April.

Dear Huffington Post, About That Headline  —  Yesterday was a pretty big day.  The lives of two amazing journalists were saved, their families spared more emotional agony.  It all started, as the New York Times reported it, after being arrested on March 17 near the North Korean border …

No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users  —  They Sit for Hours and Don't Spend Much; Getting the Bum's Rush in the Big Apple  —  A sign at Naidre's, a small neighborhood coffee shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., begins warmly: “Dear customers, we are absolutely thrilled that you like us …

Furor Over an Obama Puff Piece  —  Student Barack Obama in a 1980 photo shoot at Occidental College.  (Lisa Jack/Getty Images)  —  It was only a matter of time before someone combined a certain memorable image of a young future president with a jokey twist on his campaign slogan …

Crowd laughs and applauds at Rep. Akin's comment about lawmakers almost being ‘lynched’ at town halls.  —  At a “Freedom Conference” meeting earlier this week, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) mentioned that some Democratic lawmakers were almost “lynched” by angry protesters around the country at town hall meetings.

Murdoch vows to charge for all online content  —  Rupert Murdoch has vowed to charge for all the online content of his newspapers and television news channels, going well beyond his prediction in May that the company would test pay models on one of its stronger papers within the year.

White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost  —  WASHINGTON — Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

U.S. Considers Remaking Mortgage Giants  —  ‘Bad Bank’ Would Wipe the Slate Clean for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac by Taking Their Toxic Loans  —  The Obama administration is considering an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would strip the mortgage finance giants of hundreds of billions …

Obama's dissident database could be secret — and permanent  —  The White House request that members of the public report anyone who is spreading “disinformation” about the proposed national health care makeover could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret …

Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme to be released  —  (CNN) — The president she once pointed a gun at has been dead for nearly three years, and her longtime idol and leader, Charles Manson, remains in prison.  —  However, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is about to get her first taste of real freedom in more than three decades.

You can never say, “Y'know, that's a good point, maybe I'm wrong”  —  Marc Ambinder marches on past his intellect  —  And it isn't just people trying to rationalize why the hell they were all for invading Iraq six and a half years ago.  It applies to just about every villager when they get called …

Psychologists Reject Gay ‘Therapy’  —  The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.  —  In a resolution adopted by the association's governing council …

Healthcare debate gets uglier  —  Special interests are accused of organizing disruptive outbursts as Democrats try to answer voter concerns.  —  Reporting from Washington — An effigy of Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. was hung outside his office on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Barack Obama's Golf Game  —  Presidents, like normal people, tend to seek in others what they admire about themselves.  Which brings us to the par-5 12th hole at Woodlawn golf course in Fort Belvoir, Va., on Father's Day.  Vice President Joe Biden, an 8 handicap, has leaked a 3-wood into the trees near the green.

The Guns of August  —  Jon Cohn says he's “been obsessing over the lack of passion and organization on the left,” though now feeling slightly better.  I agree, but it is worth saying that this is almost 100 percent the fault of Max Baucus.  —  There's a reason, after all …

CHRISTY ROMER ARGUES FOR THE STIMULUS.  —  Well, can't get a much better speech title than “So, Is It Working?”  That's the question answered in Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer's speech today, and she answers it with one word: Absolutely.