Top Obama advisers walk away from public option  —  There was a reason the White House sent out Obama's top three advisers to the talk shows today.  As I said below, “they're selling something as we approach the final push for health insurance reform.”  Unfortunately, what they're selling, most of us aren't buying.

White House admits: We ‘control’ news media  —  Communications chief offers shocking confession to foreign government  —  TEL AVIV - President Obama's presidential campaign focused on “making” the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was …

Sheriff: Balloon hoax ‘aha!’ moment on CNN  —  (CNN) — Three days after the world watched a giant balloon fly through the air as a tearful family expressed fears that their 6-year-old boy could be inside, authorities announced what millions already suspected: The whole thing was staged.

Giuliani Stokes Fears of a Thompson Victory  —  Raising the specter of a return to higher crime and greater anxiety, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani warned on Sunday that New York could become a more dangerous city if Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is not re-elected in November.

Energy Firms Deeply Split on Bill to Battle Climate Change  —  WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation's energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades.

READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States  —  Group asks police and military to lay down arms in response to orders deemed unlawful  —  Depending on your perspective, the Oath Keepers are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia.

Global Warming in SuperFreakonomics: The Anatomy of a Smear  —  1. Let the wild rumpus start.  —  Yes, it's an ancient cliché: a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.  But it's still accurate.  —  The final chapter in our forthcoming book …

Cash for Clubbers  —  Congress's fabulous golf cart stimulus.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic.  Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part …

How Moody's sold its ratings — and sold out investors  —  WASHINGTON — As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts and executives who warned of trouble and promoting those who helped Wall Street plunge …

Specter rips GOP: ‘A Party of obstructionism.’  —  Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who until late April of this year was a lifelong Republican, castigated his former party this morning on Fox News.  Specter ripped the GOP for refusing to be a good-faith negotiator in the health care debate:

Mr. Deeds for Governor  —  A LEGACY of sound policies, coupled with the proximity of the federal government, has partially protected Virginia from the harsh retrenchments that the recession has forced on many states.  Yet the commonwealth faces a daunting crisis in the form of a drastic shortfall …

Giraldo anxious to be reunited Monserrate, despite assault  —  Just days after her boyfriend, state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, was convicted of assaulting her, Giraldo told the Daily News she will ask a judge to lift the order of protection that has kept them apart for 10 months.  —  “I love him.