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 …

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 …

Don't talk to me about death panels, Sarah Palin.  —  You, who so carelessly bolstered a lie about healthcare reform to score a cheap political point; you, the most craven of political opportunists, who fearmongers about some dystopian socialist/fascist fantasyland; you …

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 …

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.

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 …

Hill jets may be scrapped  —  The new congressional jets may be getting scrapped.  —  After an uproar over a proposed purchase of new executive jets for use by senior government officials, including members of Congress, the top Defense appropriator in the House has offered to eliminate funding …

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 …

NAKED EMPEROR NEWS: 'OBAMA'S MOTHER OF ALL POLITICAL LIES AND THE TOWN HALL MAYHEM IT CAUSED'  —  “But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf …

Our Fuzzy President Is About To Come Into Focus  —  We're finally going to get to know the real President Obama.  —  Once the final outlines of health-care legislation become clear, we'll know what really matters to him.  Where he draws the line.  How he wields the levers of power.

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 …

Tea Party Rage — Rage Against The Dying Of The Right  —  North Carolina Tea Party Revolution has posted videos from their big protest outside Rep. Brad Miller's (D-NC) office on Friday, which they claim had 695 attendees — and the videos sure to tell you a lot about the nature of right-wing anger right now.

Judge sentences man to 6 months in jail for yawning  —  6-month term given by judge who has doled out the most charges of contempt in Will  —  Clifton Williams arrived at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet and sat in the fourth-floor courtroom where his cousin was pleading guilty to a felony drug charge.

American Graduates Finding Jobs in China  —  BEIJING — Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.  —  Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call.

Who's Ready for a New, Race-Based Government Entity Called the “Native Hawaiian Council”!  —  The 50th state is on the verge of being governed quite differently, now that a pro-sovereignty Hawaiian is in the White House: … Read the Akaka bill here; Wikipedia page here.