Altered mural fuels racial debate in Prescott  —  A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school.  —  The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity.

Helen Thomas: Go home to Europe, Jews  —  Tony Snow once accused her of stating “the Hezbollah view” in her questions during the Israel/Lebanon war.  Little did he know how right he was.  Or maybe he did know: Watching this, it occurred to me that an 89-year-old reporter who's moved …

Flotilla passengers: Go back to Auschwitz  —  Audio: IDF soldiers warn flotilla vessels they are nearing area under naval blockade, latter respond with anti-Semitic slurs  —  The IDF released on Friday an audio reproduction of the moments before Monday's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Obama Knew the Spill Was Hopeless  —  Blogs and Stories  —  As the president visits the Gulf anew, Richard Wolffe reports that he was first briefed in April on how bad the spill would be.  Plus: the real reason the White House is so mad at Carville—and why Obama would rather talk about the economy.

Liz Cheney attacks Obama for saying flotilla deaths were “tragic”  —  It's not surprising that Liz Cheney is now faulting Obama's handling of the Israeli raid on the flotilla.  What is noteworthy is how she's doing it: She's faulting the President for describing the loss of life as “tragic.”

‘Rachel Corrie’ boarded, no one hurt.  —  Reported on Twitter at about 5:50 am.  Three navy boats involved.  Passengers under arrest.  Reports awaiting confirmation.  —  Talkbacks (11)  —  Make JPOST.COM your Home Page  —  Iranian Threat  —  Jewish World  —  Local Israel  —  Arts & Culture

NOTE TO GOP: LET IT BE.... President Obama hosted an event this week with Paul McCartney, where the legendary artist was awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize.  That wouldn't be especially noteworthy, were it not for a 17-word joke the songwriter told.  Salon's Alex Pareene had this report:

BP Funneling Some of Leak to the Surface  —  HOUSTON — BP and government officials said Friday that a cap installed over a gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico was funneling some oil and gas to the surface, but they cautioned that much was still leaking and that it would be days before they could declare …

Haley will ‘resign’ if affairs proved  —  South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley is vowing to resign if either of the two men who say they've had an affair with her is ever able to prove it.  —  Both blogger Will Folks and lobbyist Larry Marchant have in the last two weeks claimed …

Glimpses of Kagan's Views in Clinton White House  —  WASHINGTON — A new cache of documents from Elena Kagan's days as an adviser to President Bill Clinton shows that she frequently scribbled notes in the margins of memorandums yet rarely expressed forceful views.

State parole board votes to release 1973 cop killer  —  A state parole board has voted to release a cop-killing kidnapper involved in a 47-hour hostage standoff in Brooklyn in 1973, officials said today.  —  Shuaib Raheem was initially granted parole three years ago in a decision …

BP hives off ‘toxic’ oil spill operation  —  Chief executive Tony Hayward hands responsibility for clean-up to American as new containment cap is placed on top of leak  —  BP is to hive off its Gulf of Mexico oil spill operation to a separate in-house business to be run by an American …

Report: Clapper to be nominated national intelligence director  —  President Barack Obama has tapped James Clapper to be the fourth director of national intelligence, according to a report in The Washington Post.  —  Clapper, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, succeeds former U.S. Navy …