Justice Dept. Report Advises Pursuing C.I.A. Abuse Cases  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended reversing the Bush administration and reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, potentially exposing Central Intelligence Agency employees and contractors …

Don't Blame Obama  —  Throughout the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama's most loyal constituencies were the national press corps and the left wing of the Democratic Party.  —  Those on the left loved him because they thought he was one of them.  They tolerated all the happy talk about bipartisanship …

GOP Would Protect Health Care for Seniors  —  Americans are engaged in a critical debate over reforming our health-care system.  While Republicans believe that reforms are necessary, President Obama's plan for a government-run health-care system is the wrong prescription.

BERNIE ‘DYING’ IN JAIL  —  ‘20 PILLS FOR CANCER’  —  Bernie Madoff had little to lose by confessing to masterminding the world's biggest Ponzi scheme — he's dying of cancer, sources told The Post.  —  Madoff, who is serving 150 years at a North Carolina federal lockup after pleading guilty …

U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient  —  BAGRAM, Afghanistan — American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama's chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

Obama's Plan to Desecrate 9/11  —  The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.

All the President's Zombies  —  The debate over the “public option” in health care has been dismaying in many ways.  Perhaps the most depressing aspect for progressives, however, has been the extent to which opponents of greater choice in health care have gained traction — in Congress …

Healthcare insurers get upper hand  —  Obama's overhaul fight is being won by the industry, experts say.  The end result may be a financial ‘bonanza.’  —  Reporting from Washington - Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied …

Obama White House v. CIA; Panetta Threatened to Quit  —  Tensions Lead to CIA Director's “Screaming Match” at the White House  —  A “profanity-laced screaming match” at the White House involving CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the expected release today of another damning internal investigation …

Franks goes on the attack  —  Congressman critical of Obama's policies  —  KINGMAN - A big, boisterous crowd largely supported an Arizona Congressman, who lambasted the Democratic president and his policies.  —  Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican representing Arizona's 2nd Congressional District …

Journalists, Left Out of The Debate  —  Few Americans Seem to Hear Health Care Facts  —  For once, mainstream journalists did not retreat to the studied neutrality of quoting dueling antagonists.  —  They tried to perform last rites on the ludicrous claim about President Obama's death panels …

In control?  Think again.  Our ideas of brain and human nature are myths  —  The notion of individual autonomy underpins our society, yet new research suggests this guiding principle is an illusion  —  It was browsing in a bookshop that got me started.  I was confronted by a bank …

The risk of a double-dip recession is rising  —  The global economy is starting to bottom out from the worst recession and financial crisis since the Great Depression.  In the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009 the rate at which most advanced economies were contracting was similar …

If Not Health Care, What?  —  The idea of postponing health care reform—until, say, the economy improves— doesn't seem appealing to many Democrats now.  ** But it might soon.  The problem, as Michael Goodwin's recent column points out, is that the issues waiting in the wings …

Senate Democrats Consider Tactic to Push Through Government Health Plan  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats said Sunday that they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority …

Goldman's Trading Tips Reward Its Biggest Clients  —  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. research analyst Marc Irizarry's published rating on mutual-fund manager Janus Capital Group Inc. was a lackluster “neutral” in early April 2008.  But at an internal meeting that month, the analyst told dozens …

THE IRAN SHOW  —  In the grotesque pageant of Iran's show trials, former high officials—hollow-eyed, dressed in prison pajamas, and flanked by guards in uniform—sit in rows, listening to one another's self-denunciations.  Since the disputed Presidential elections of June 12th …

The Competition Cure  —  A better idea to make health insurance affordable everywhere.  —  Washington Wire  —  Obama Has Message for Press Corps: ‘Relax’  —  President Barack Obama, his family and First Dog Bo left Washington for Martha's Vineyard this afternoon, after delaying their flight …

The ‘Recession’ Excuse  —  Joe Lieberman's heterodoxies were, for a time, quite contained.  He might have been a Kristol-ite neoconservative on foreign policy, but he remained a Connecticut liberal on domestic and social policy.  That was before Ned Lamont's challenge …

Scaling Back Reform: Dumb Policy, Dumber Politics  —  Senator Kent Conrad was back on television Sunday morning.  This time the venue was “Face the Nation.”  But the message was the same one he's been delivering for a while: It's time to scale back health care reform.

Netanyahu to tell Mitchell: Israel won't accept limits on Jerusalem  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to tell the special U.S. Mideast envoy on Monday that Israel will not accept any limitations on its sovereignty over Jerusalem, and will allow settlers to continue to live in the West Bank.

The Schiavo Saga and “Death Panels”  —  Ed Kilgore is managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and a frequent contributor to a variety of political journals.  —  At HuffPo today, Sam Stein explores an irony that I've also been thinking about …

Less Than Half of Top Obama Appointees Are in Place  —  WASHINGTON — As President Obama tries to turn around a summer of setbacks, he finds himself still playing without most of his own team.  Seven months into his presidency, fewer than half of his top appointees are in place advancing his agenda.