Israeli troops board aid ship bound for Gaza  —  Israeli naval forces boarded an Irish-owned ship bound for Gaza today, just five days after killing nine passengers in a bloody raid on a previous aid convoy.  —  The commandos boarded the ship “with the full compliance” …

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.

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.

IDF Releases Apparently Doctored Flotilla Audio; Press Reports As Fact  —  The IDF's propaganda is increasingly unbelievable, yet the media is enthusiastically playing along.  This audio, which purports to show flotilla passengers telling the IDF to “go back to Auschwitz,” …

Ari Fleischer: Fire Helen Thomas  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas caused more than a few eyebrows to perk up when video surfaced on Friday of her declaring that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Germany and Poland.

Queen's birthday gaffe leaves Hillary Clinton red faced  —  Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has been left red faced after mistakenly sending a birthday message to the Queen a week early.  —  An official statement from the US foreign policy chief paid tribute to the …

Ostracizing The Losers —  Unemployed need not apply  —  Ostracizing The Losers  —  The other day Brad Delong asked if we are seeing the creation of an underclass of long term unemployed.  Here is some more evidence that we are: … There's more evidence that this is fairly widespread at the link.

Dem strategists turning to Crist in Florida Senate race  —  WASHINGTON — Top Democratic strategists are abandoning their party's frontrunner in the Florida Senate race in favor of Independent Charlie Crist, who bolted the Republican party over the state party's rightward lurch toward the Tea Party.

Die In A Fire, You Vicious Racist Scumbag  —  I didn't address State Sen. Jake Knotts' “raghead” comments earlier, because I had little to say to the refuted man, save for some rather colorful words.  Today, he proved himself even more odious than even first thought.  Via Hot Air (emphasis theirs):

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.

BLASTS FROM THE PAST!  Old patterns could return, some liberals warn.  Other libs seem to embrace them:  —  The news is a novel/The Kiss was just a kiss: On Tuesday's Hardball, a marvelous moment occurred, involving a treasured press corps novel.  The most dishonest broadcaster of our age …