What if We Win the Healthcare Fight?  —  What would it mean to “win” the healthcare fight?  —  For some, the answer is obvious: beat back the president's proposals, defeat the House bill, stand back and wait for 1994 to repeat itself.  —  The problem is that if we do that... we'll still have the present healthcare system.

Drug Industry to Run Ads Favoring White House Plan  —  WASHINGTON — The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama's health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.

Obama's Embrace of a Bush Tactic Riles Congress  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama has issued signing statements claiming the authority to bypass dozens of provisions of bills enacted into law since he took office, provoking mounting criticism by lawmakers from both parties.

Criminal investigation into CIA treatment of detainees expected  —  Insiders say Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is close to naming a prosecutor to look into reports of excessive waterboarding and other unauthorized methods.  Convictions could be hard to get.  —  Reporting from Washington …

Is Obama Punking Us?  —  “AUGUST is a challenging time to be president,” said Andrew Card, the former Bush White House chief of staff, as he offered unsolicited advice to his successors in a television interview last week.  “I think you have to expect the unexpected.”  —  He should know.

Fatah: We'll sacrifice victims until Jerusalem is ours  —  The status of Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state is a red line that no Palestinian leader is permitted to cross, President Mahmoud Abbas' ruling Fatah faction declared in the West Bank on Saturday.

Have You No Decency?  —  Harold Pollack is a professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and Special Correspondent for The Treatment.  —  Governor Palin issued the following statement on her Facebook page yesterday.  I quote it in its entirety so you can judge for yourself.

Hundreds Show Up to Protest SEIU Thuggery & Violence In St. Louis (Video)  —  ST. LOUIS TEA PARTY PATRIOTS DENOUNCE SEIU THUGGERY & VIOLENCE—  St. Louis Tea Party Patriots ask the ACORN-SEIU Union— “Don't Tread On Me!”  —  Gadsen Girls, talk radio host Dana Loesch (left) …

A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2050  —  Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time, an investigation by The Telegraph shows.  —  Last year, five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU countries was Muslim.

Tax and Spend, or Face The Consequences  —  At some point, the Great Recession will end.  Newsweek even says it's already over.  Whenever it happens, we will see that the downturn was but a minor blip in the long story of the economy.  —  In the next chapter, abundance beckons — for some.

Ten Things Obama Did Wrong on Health-Care Reform  —  Helen's right, damn it.  And look at Gibbs' deflection: “We've had a pretty good week.”  Sorry, Gibby, health-care reform is slowly slipping away.  Don't just stand there.  —  Here are my thoughts on what the White House did wrong, in no particular order:

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security  —  WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics …

Video: World's worst TV interview  —  Let's say you're a talk-show host and you get the one guy who precisely predicted the financial collapse a year before it happened.  You want to talk to him about the health-care reform debate and the financial implications of the current legislation.

LIVE BLOG: Deposition of Sibel Edmonds Completed, DoJ a ‘No Show,’ Bombshells Under Oath  —  Live blogging coverage of the Sibel Edmonds deposition at the National Whistleblowers Center in Washington D.C. For background see previous coverage:  — 8/5/09: Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to ‘Break’ Gag Order