Is the Government Going to Euthanize your Grandmother?  An Interview With Sen. Johnny Isakson.  —  Sarah Palin's belief that the House health-care reform bill would create “death panels” might be particularly extreme, but she's hardly the only person to wildly misunderstand the section …

White House Disputes Pelosi Contention that Town Hall Protests are “Un-American”  —  The White House disagreed this afternoon with the contention by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, that the disruptions at town hall meetings are …

32% Favor Single-Payer Health Care, 57% Oppose  —  Thirty-two percent (32%) of voters nationwide favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone.  A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% are opposed to a single-payer plan.

Lost in Translation: Clinton Says She, Not Bill, is the Secretary of State  —  ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what “Mr. Clinton” thought about a Chinese trade deal …

GOP rebranding effort flames out  —  Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) generated the kind of buzz other politicians covet when he launched his bid to help rebrand the Republican Party last spring.  —  Television crews and reporters wedged themselves among the crowd of party faithful to cover …

MSNBC Anchor: “Socialist' Is Becoming the New N-word'  —  UPDATE at end of post: Is this what Newsweek meant when it proudly declared on its cover, “We're All Socialists Now?”  —  Did you know that when you refer to someone as a socialist, you're really calling them the N-word?

DEFENDING THE BAILOUTS.  —  So Paul Krugman's column today makes the important point that government policy is the central reason that our recession hasn't become a depression and that the economy is poised for recovery.  It's especially timely as conservatives use the health-care debate …

Productivity surges in the second quarter  —  Rises at fastest rate in six years; labor costs tumble  —  WASHINGTON - Productivity surged in the spring by the largest amount in almost six years while labor costs plunged at the fastest pace in nine years.  —  The Labor Department said Tuesday …

GOP senator wants Sanford to be impeached  —  (CNN) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, already under fire for an extramarital relationship, should be impeached for abusing state finances, a Republican state senator said Monday.  —  Sen. David Thomas, in a letter to leaders …

Israel clouds Obama's nuclear summit  —  President Barack Obama's call for a nuclear security summit next March could end up turning an uncomfortable spotlight on at least one nation — Israel - and further strain the administration's relations with the Jewish state, analysts said.

Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns  —  The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with “cookies” and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.  —  A two-week public comment …

It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to figure this one out  —  The conservative opinion magazine Human Events was reputedly Ronald Reagan's favorite read, and to this day fancies itself the house organ for the hard-right intelligentsia.  Among those published regularly in its pages are such luminaries as Newt Gingrich and Ann Coulter.

PhRMA Walks Back Claim Of White House Deal  —  In yet another in a series of evolving statements and backtracks, an official with the country's major pharmaceutical lobby said on Monday that it never struck a “quote, unquote secret deal with the White House” that would have prohibited …

The Next Fannie Mae  —  Ginnie Mae and FHA are becoming $1 trillion subprime guarantors.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Much to their dismay, Americans learned last year that they “owned” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Well, meet their cousin, Ginnie Mae or the Government National Mortgage Association …

Ailing States Face Bleak Outlook in Next Fiscal Year  —  NEW YORK — As states across the country grapple with the worst economy in decades, most have cut services, forced workers to take unpaid days off, shut offices several days a month and scrambled to find new sources of revenue.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies  —  (CNN) — Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and a champion of the disabled who founded the Special Olympics, died Tuesday, the Special Olympics said.  She was 88.  —  Born on July 10, 1921, in Brookline, Massachusetts …