Initial Reaction: 40% Positive Toward Kagan Nomination  —  Excellent/Good ratings below average for recent court nominees  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A Gallup immediate-reaction poll to President Barack Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court finds 40% of Americans rating the choice as …

David Cameron is new UK prime minister  —  Conservative leader David Cameron has become the UK's new prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.  —  Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be his deputy after they agreed to the UK's first coalition government in 70 years.

Alabama candidate denounces ‘lie’ that he believes in evolution  —  Evolution has obviously been a political issue for a while, but I'm not sure I've ever seen an attack ad like this one before: It mocks a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Alabama for believing in the theory.

CBO ups health care cost projections  —  Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections.  —  The additional spending …

Elena Kagan and Me: One Semester of Civ Pro With the New SCOTUS Nominee  —  I can count myself as one of the thousands of students that had Elena Kagan as a professor.  She's taught at the University of Chicago School of Law and Harvard Law School.  I had her in 2000 …

Oil firms blame each other for Deepwater Horizon spill  —  But all three oil firms try to blame each other's errors; hearing acknowledges regulatory oversight failed  —  BP insisted last night that its contingency plan had worked, despite coming under fire in Congress for minimising the risks …

Ok, so now I'm a liar  —  I had the opportunity — first time, and very cool — to appear on Rachel Maddow's show last night to discuss the nomination of Elena Kagan.  I was in segment B. Glenn Greenwald was in segment A. I had spent the afternoon reading up on Glenn's views about the nomination.

Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950  —  Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.  —  Some conservative political movements such as the …

McCain Counsels the Wrong Sheriff  —  by Paul Hogarth‚ May. 11‚ 2010  —  Under attack from the Teabagger wing of the GOP, Senator John McCain has a new campaign ad to prove his anti-immigrant credentials - along with a corny website, at completethedangedfence.com.

Sarah Palin's book, ‘America By Heart,’ out Nov. 23  —  NEW YORK — Sarah Palin's new book has a title, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag, and a release date, Nov. 23, publisher HarperCollins announced Tuesday.  —  The Alaska ex-governor and former Republican vice …

Senate Backs One-Time Audit of Fed's Bailout Role  —  The Senate on Tuesday voted unanimously to require a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve's emergency actions during and after the 2008 financial crisis as part of broad legislation overhauling the nation's financial regulatory system …

CNN Contributor Erickson Draws Ire From All Sides  —  MACON, Ga. — In his seven weeks as one of CNN's newest contributors, Erick Erickson has made scarcely more than a dozen appearances on the network.  —  But his every utterance — every Twitter message, blog post and radio rant …

Thieves Steal Mojave Desert Memorial Cross in Nighttime Heist  —  The 7-foot-tall metal cross in a 75-year-old war memorial that withstood the heat of the Mojave Desert and a blazing battle in the Supreme Court over its legality was ripped down and stolen Sunday night, according to federal officials.

Why Sestak might really pull it off  —  Tomorrow, a third poll will come out finding Joe Sestak is leading Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Dem primary.  The poll, from Franklin & Marshall College, will mirror others showing Sestak ahead by around five points, the poll's director confirms to me.

Jawa Exclusive: Capture Of Mullah Omar Confirmed *sticky*  —  An overseas intelligence source has confirmed to the Jawa Report that Mullah Omar has been captured as originally reported by Brad Thor.  —  You can wait for the New York Times to catch up if you'd like, we don't mind.  —  Previous:

DeMint: A conservative kingmaker upends GOP order  —  WASHINGTON — Jim DeMint is becoming something of a tea party hero, even a potential conservative kingmaker, a status that is not making the freshman senator many friends among fellow Republicans in Congress.

The Kagan Rope-A-Dope?  —  There are three possibilities, it seems to me, behind the kerfuffle over Elena Kagan's emotional orientation.  The first is that her orientation is heterosexual and she is merely a dedicated career person who never had time for a date.

Muhammad cartoonist ‘head-butted’ during lecture  —  STOCKHOLM - A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted Tuesday as furious protesters interrupted his university lecture about the limits of artistic freedom.

CD11: Goehring wants to thin ‘liberal’ herd  —  Congressional District 11 GOP candidate Brad Goehring is drawing fire for his confrontational Facebook statement today: … Check out all the comments; 57 when I looked a few minutes ago. … LAV 3:23 p.m. Screen shot posted below.  LAV 4:08 p.m.)

Verizon, Google Developing iPad Rival  —  Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, the carrier's chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said Tuesday, as the company endeavors to catch up with iPad host AT&T Inc. in devices that connect to wireless networks.

Just 41% in Alaska Would Vote for Palin for President  —  Sarah Palin appears to be losing the Alaska vote.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds that just 41% say they would vote for the former Alaska governor if she ran for president in 2012.

State doubled fee paid to anti-gay psychologist in Rentboy scandal  —  Anti-gay psychologist George Rekers charged Florida $300 an hour to testify as an expert witness in a trial defending Florida's ban on gay people adopting.  The state planned to cap Rekers' fee at $60,900 …

Obama's numbers hit high mark  —  For the first time since October a majority of Americans express approval of Barack Obama's job performance on PPP's monthly national poll.  50% give him good marks to 46% who disapprove.  —  Obama's numbers with Democrats are basically steady and he remains …

‘Secret prison’ at US air base  —  The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.  —  Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse.

Video captures Seattle cop kicking Latino suspect in the face, using ethnic slur — and then releasing him  —  A Seattle freelance videographer recently captured a local cop kicking a man in the head while prone on the ground and using ethnic slurs: … One of the most disturbing aspects of the incident …