TRENDING: Palin: ‘Fine with me’ to be called a ‘redneck’  —  (CNN) - She's a politician, an author, cable news contributor and sought-after speaker.  But perhaps former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is interested in a new title: comedienne.  —  In what can only be described as a bit of a schtick …

Making the Grade: Kagan's Transcript  —  How promising a lawyer was young Elena Kagan?  Judging by her grades at Harvard Law School, you'd be lucky if she was drawing up a contract for you, but maybe less so if you wanted to sue someone over a fender-bender.

The Health Care Reform Already Costs More Than We Thought It Would  —  There's been a spate of bad news recently about the health care bill.  —  Henry Waxman canceled his War on Accounting, not because there was a sudden breakout of common sense on Capitol Hill, but because his committee's …

Horrible: Full video of the attack on Sweden's Mohammed cartoonist  —  Via Ace, whose post you should read if only for the brilliance of his headline.  Some of you will be tempted twice over to skip this: It's long, and you've already seen the most dramatic bit.  Don't skip it.

Maine GOP Forced To Apologize After Convention-Goers Vandalize An Eighth-Grade Classroom  —  Although Maine is known for its two moderate Republican senators — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — last week's state GOP convention showed the growing influence of far-right activists.

Proposal Would Delay Hearings in Terror Cases  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's legal advisers are considering asking Congress to allow the government to detain terrorism suspects longer after their arrests before presenting them to a judge for an initial hearing, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Obama rips executives, calls oil spill hearing a ‘ridiculous spectacle’  —  President Barack Obama excoriated the companies involved in the Gulf oil spill Friday for failing to take responsibility.  —  In remarks from the Rose Garden after a meeting with cabinet officials about the ongoing spill …

WiFi data collection: An update  —  Nine days ago the data protection authority (DPA) in Hamburg, Germany asked to audit the WiFi data that our Street View cars collect for use in location-based products like Google Maps for mobile, which enables people to find local restaurants or get directions.

GOP Kills Science Jobs Bill By Forcing Dems To Vote For Porn  —  In an example of Republican obstructionism rendered beautiful by its simplicity, the GOP yesterday killed a House bill that would increase funding for scientific research and math and science education by forcing Democrats to vote …

Euro Breakup Talk Increases as Germany Loses Proxy  —  Romano Prodi recalls how he persuaded Germany to allow debt-swamped Italy into the euro: support our membership and we'll buy your milk, he said.  —  When Prodi toured Germany's agricultural heartland after becoming Italian leader in 1996 …

Nexus One changes in availability  —  We launched Nexus One in January with two goals in mind: to introduce a beacon of innovation among Android handsets, and to make it quick and easy for people to buy an Android phone.  We're very happy with the adoption of Android in general, and the innovation delivered through Nexus One.

Schwarzenegger budget would eliminate welfare  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers Friday to eliminate the state's welfare program starting in October and dramatically scale back in-home care for the elderly and disabled as part of his May budget revision to close a $19.1 billion deficit.

Governor out to rebrand Arizona over immigration law criticism  —  Acknowledging that Arizona has developed a serious image problem because of its tough new immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer and tourism-industry leaders said Thursday that they will launch a new effort to stanch the flow of lost trade and convention business in the state.

Big shakeup for ketchup  —  Your fries may never taste the same again!  —  For the first time in 40 years, Heinz ketchup is changing its famous recipe — by lowering the salt content in an effort to appeal to more health-conscious consumers, the company said yesterday.

Pennsylvania special election could be 2010 pivot point  —  For months, the conventional wisdom about the coming 2010 midterm elections has been that Republicans are not only poised to make major gains this fall but that they also have a realistic chance of taking the chamber back.

School Official in Basketball Flap Is No Stranger to Controversy  —  The school official who nixed an Illinois girls high school basketball team trip to Arizona once supported a controversial program that required students to attend a “freshman advisory” class where gay upperclassmen shared stories …

Book: Rahm “begged” Obama for days not to pursue ambitious health reform  —  Rahm Emanuel spent nearly a week in the summer of 2009 aggressively trying to talk Obama out of moving foward with an ambitious version of health care reform, and by his own admission “begged” him not to do it, a book out next week reports.

Read Elena Kagan's college thesis and decide if she's “an open and avowed socialist”...  ... which is what Erick Erickson has concluded.  —  ADDED: I've read the last few pages of the thesis, and a key sentence, at page 130, is: “The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who …

Miss., La. govs contrast in responses to oil spill  —  JACKSON, Miss. — The ambitious Republican governors of Mississippi and Louisiana are a study in contrasts as an oil spill threatens coastal economies still reeling from Hurricane Katrina.  —  Mississippi's Haley Barbour …

Swiss retreat helps Transocean save millions  —  In the foothills of the Swiss Alps four new steel-gray towers rise from what used to be a grassy field.  One of them is home to Transocean Ltd., the world's biggest offshore drilling contractor and owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded …

Obama Administration Makes Emergency Funding Request for Teachers  —  Despite President Obama's pledge for honest budgeting and billions of dollars in stimulus money spent to save teachers' jobs, the Education Department is asking for off-the-books emergency funding to keep local districts …