We had no choice, commando who killed 6 tells ‘Post’  —  “They were coming at us with murder in their eyes,” says S., describing the “battlefield” aboard the ‘Mavi Marmara’; He hit the deck to see three officers lying wounded.  —  Talkbacks (18)  —  Make JPOST.COM your Home Page  —  Iranian Threat

SC senator: We've 'got one raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the governor's mansion.'  —  Today, the Christian Broadcasting Network published a story about Nikki Haley, the frontrunner to become South Carolina's GOP gubernatorial nominee, saying that she …

Amateur blogosphere, RIP … Only five years ago, the progressive political blogosphere was still predominately a gathering place for amateur (that is, unpaid or barely paid) journalists and activists unattached to existing media companies and advocacy organizations.  Those days are almost completely over.

Jobs flap seeps across Senate map  —  Blowback from White House attempts to dangle administration jobs in front of insurgent Democratic challengers is now threatening to burn candidates in some of the most competitive Senate contests in the nation, expanding the scope of damage well beyond the two states where the furor originated.

EXCLUSIVE: Documents Show Kagan's Liberal Opinion on Social Issues  —  Elena Kagan has kept her cards so close to the vest that in the days after President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court, some on the left worried she was too moderate to replace liberal Justice John Paul Stevens.

Caught in the oil  —  A short entry - AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island.  As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident.

Debrahlee Lorenzana sues Citigroup, claims bank fired her for being too sexy  —  Debrahlee Lorenzana, 33, of Queens, is suing her ex-employer, Citigroup, for sexual harassment, alleging she was fired because she wore clothes that were ‘too distracting.’  —  A Latina lovely says her bosses …

Obama Cancels Asia Trip as Concern on Spill Mounts  —  WASHINGTON - President Obama canceled his trip to Australia, Indonesia and Guam late Thursday night as oil continued to stream into the Gulf of Mexico in what he has called the worst environmental disaster in American history.

Ocean currents likely to carry oil along Atlantic coast … BOULDER—A detailed computer modeling study released today indicates that oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and open ocean as early as this summer.

Pentagon Told to Save Billions for Use in War  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the military and the Pentagon's civilian bureaucracy to find tens of billions of dollars in annual savings to pay for war-fighting operations, senior officials said Thursday.

Oil-fearing Florida wants more aid  —  PENSACOLA — As tar balls and oil sheen appeared just four miles from Pensacola's beaches Thursday, state leaders demanded oil giant BP pay more money and that the Obama administration pay more attention to the Sunshine State and its thousands of miles of threatened coastline.

Gov. Christie to NJEA bullies taking money from taxpayers: “You punch them, I punch you.”  —  Governor Chris Christie gives remarks regarding teachers and the teachers Union, the NJEA during a Town Hall Meeting in Robbinsville, NJ.  —  Christie explained that his fight is not against teachers.

U.S. ‘secret war’ expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role  —  Beneath its commitment to soft-spoken diplomacy and beyond the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups …

Kirk says he ‘misremembered’ military record  —  Watch live streaming video from chicagosuntimeslive at livestream.com  —  Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk on Thursday struggled to explain how a decorated Naval intelligence officer such as himself felt the need to exaggerate his military record.

Congresswoman: White Supremacist Groups Behind Arizona Immigration Law  —  Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. views a older NFL football helmet during a hearing entitled “Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries, Part II” in Detroit, Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.  (AP)

Wal-Mart to Offer Its Workers a College Program  —  FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Now on sale at Wal-Mart: college degrees for its employees.  —  The purveyor of inexpensive jeans and lawnmowers is dipping its toe into the online-education waters, working with a Web-based university to offer …

Interview: Alexander Zaitchik on his new biography of Glenn Beck, ‘Common Nonsense’  —  Last summer, when Glenn Beck was rocketing from talk radio stardom to the status of a national icon, he got the full profile treatment from Alexander Zaitchik at Salon.  That profile was the first serious …

New York City to Pay $9.9 Million in Frame-Up Case  —  New York City agreed on Thursday to pay $9.9 million, the largest personal settlement in its history, to a man who served almost two decades in prison but was released after evidence surfaced that he had been framed for murder by a corrupt detective.

Jimmy Carter + Rod Blagojevich = Barack Obama  —  Obama has big problems.  No doubt about that.  To be considered as incompetent as Jimmy Carter, and as sleazy as Rod Blagojevich, is no one's idea of “good news” on even the worst of days in the White House.