Dems spark alarm with call for national ID card  —  A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation's immigrations laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday.  —  Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker …

EXCLUSIVE: Administration Vows No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation is Complete  —  Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Threatens to Jeopardize President Obama's Offshore Drilling Policy  —  As some Democratic lawmakers call on President Obama to suspend his plans to expand offshore oil drilling …

Boehner: GOP Will Repeal Health Care Law  —  House Republican Leader John Boehner has said that his party will repeal the new health care law if the GOP gains a congressional majority in November.  —  “I think that we need to repeal the health care law and replace it with common-sense steps …

Greene Enters Fla. Senate Race  —  Just when we thought the Florida Senate race couldn 't get any stranger...  No sooner did GOP Gov. Charlie Crist announce that he'll run as an independent, clearing the way for Marco Rubio to secure the Republican nomination, than billionaire credit default …

At some point you have grabbed enough power  —  Given that poorer citizens always outnumber the rich, the classic political philosophers held that government based on majority rule was untenable.  They were of the view that it would lead to organized theft from the wealthy by the democratic masses.

Leslie Buck, Designer of Iconic Coffee Cup, Dies at 87  —  It was for decades the most enduring piece of ephemera in New York City and is still among the most recognizable.  Trim, blue and white, it fits neatly in the hand, sized so its contents can be downed in a New York minute.

‘Fed up’ billionaire Greene launches Florida campaign today  —  Florida billionaire Jeff Greene, who is shaking up the wild Senate race with a bid for the Democratic nomination, will announce today that he's running as a “fed up” outsider seeking to channel popular discontent with the poltiical class.

Consumers Help Drive U.S. Economy to 3.2% Growth Rate  —  The United States economy continued to expand in the first quarter, but economists cautioned that the pace of growth is still not nearly fast enough to recover ground lost during the recession.  —  National output grew …

Prosecutors Said to Start Inquiry at Goldman  —  By LOUISE STORY and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED  —  Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

Obama Criticizes Liberal Supreme Courts of '60s and '70s  —  WASHINGTON — In a seeming rejection of liberal orthodoxy, President Obama has spoken disparagingly about liberal victories before the Supreme Court in the 1960s and 1970s — suggesting that justices made the “error” …

Debate, British Style  —  I started watching this debate hoping that Nick Clegg would wipe the floor with the other guys.  This is not solely because Pavlovianly, I salivate at any mention of the words “Liberal Democrat”; in the past (from a safe distance to be sure) I've always preferred Labour …

Afghanistan Goes Gaga  —  Meet the soldiers behind the hit viral remake of “Telephone” video  —  In what may be the most entertaining music video homage ever shot in a war zone, a group of American soldiers stationed at a military base in southwest Afghanistan star in a lip-synced version of Lady Gaga's hit “Telephone.”

The man in the middle  —  Back in 1987, the man hired to crack wise at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner had a case of jagged nerves.  —  Ronald Reagan was president, and Jay Leno was just turning 37 — already a celebrated comic, not yet one of the country's most familiar faces.