Obama's Question Time: An Amazing Moment  —  The moment President Obama began his address to Republicans in Baltimore today, I began to receive e-mails from Democrats: Here's an except from one of them: “I don't know whether to laugh or cry that it took a f$$@&$* year for Obama to step …

Statement from James O'Keefe  —  The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu's office.  Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines.  Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

Rahm Emanuel makes me very pessimistic about health-care reform  —  According to the New York Times, the “White House on Thursday signaled the outlines of its strategy for breaking the partisan logjam holding up President Obama's agenda.”  And that outline is the most depressing thing I've read on the chances for health-care reform.

U.S. to Move 9/11 Trial From New York City, Official Says  —  The Obama administration on Friday gave up on its plan to try the Sept. 11 plotters in Lower Manhattan, bowing to almost unanimous pressure from New York officials and business leaders to move the terrorism trial elsewhere.

Obama v. the Supremes  —  Alito wins the oral, and factual, argument.  —  In the case of Barack Obama v. Supreme Court of the United States, that was some oral argument on Wednesday night.  With the Justices arrayed a few feet in front of him in the House chamber, President Obama blistered …

Hatch warns of possible partisan ‘war’ over health reform  —  Politics » Utah Republican senator says Democrats are all bluster on potential compromise.  —  Washington » Sen. Orrin Hatch threatened an all-out political “war” and promised a new high in partisan tensions …

Dude, Where's My Job?  —  The initial estimate is that fourth quarter GDP grew at a blistering 5.7% annual pace.  With the usual caveats—third quarter GDP estimates started high and then were revised down to a much more modest level—that's great news.  —  But man cannot live by GDP alone.

Bin Laden blasts US for climate change  —  CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new audiotape released Friday.

Fact-Checking the President in Baltimore — By: Daniel Foster  —  In this video, a bemused President Obama responds to a claim by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas) that monthly deficits under the Democrat-controlled Congress exceed the annual deficits accrued by Republican Congresses from 1996 to 2007:

Letting You Know About Some “Better Solutions”  —  On Wednesday night, the president asked us to “let him know” if we had any better ideas, and today John Boehner handed him a compilation of the policy alternatives that have been advanced over the past year.

Snowe talking to Dems  —  Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Friday that she has been in conversation with Democrats and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus about a way forward on health care reform.  —  “I have talked with several of my Democratic colleagues, including the chairman …

Scott Roeder convicted of murdering abortion doctor George Tiller  —  A jury in Wichita deliberates for just over a half-hour before finding Roeder guilty.  He had admitted that he shot Tiller, who performed late-term abortions, at a church in May.  —  Reporting from Wichita, Kan. …

More Goo-Goo Than Gipper  —  A number of pollsters have noted that Barack Obama's approval rating is about the same as Ronald Reagan's at a similar stage of his presidency.  Yet it feels that Obama is in far worse shape politically.  I think a key reason for the difference is that Reagan …

Palin On Whether She Will Still Speak At ‘Scammy’ Tea Party Convention: ‘You Betcha!’  —  Tea Party activists and loyalists have recently criticized the National Tea Party Convention set to take place in Nashville, TN next month, balking at the expensive ticket prices and the fact that the “scammy” event is for-profit.

Republicans Pass Watered-Down ‘Purity Test’  —  ABC News' David Chalian reports:  —  The Republican Party steered clear of passing a so-called “purity test” proposed by a handful of conservative members of the Republican National Committee and instead passed a toothless watered-down resolution that …

Do Animals have Animal Spirits?  —  It's quite easy to see how a “real business cycle” could occur in the natural world.  Imagine a pond teeming with life.  One year a parasite infects the lily pads.  Without the lily pads the frogs can't catch flies, the flies swarm, but the frogs go hungry and the pike have less to eat.

... Won't Be Down To Breakfast  —  Two empty places at the table.  J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn.  Well, we can sit here awkwardly silent, listening to the clink of cutlery, or we can have a cheery chinwag!  I vote for chinwag.  —  Salinger first.  I may be one of the few people …