Can The One Drop the Buzzer-Beating No. 23 Act?  —  Of the many exciting things about Barack Obama's election, one was the anticipation of a bracing dose of normality in the White House.  —  America had been trapped for eight years with the Clintons' marital dysfunction disastrously shaping national events …

BP Agrees to Create Fund to Pay for Spill  —  WASHINGTON — The White House and BP agreed on Wednesday that the oil giant would create an independent $20 billion fund to pay claims arising from the worst oil spill in American history.  —  Multimedia  —  How does the public ensure …

Jobs Bill Bombs In Senate, 45-52  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Deficit concerns trumped jobless aid in the Senate Wednesday as a key vote on a bill to reauthorize several expired programs, including extended unemployment benefits, failed 45-52, with 12 Democrats voting against it.

All about Sharron Angle  —  When Sharron Angle stepped into National Review's boardroom on Monday, she wasn't flanked by a phalanx of aides.  It was just her; her husband, Ted; and a friend.  They sat down, cracked open Diet Cokes, and began to chat.  Sen. Harry Reid, we thought, would be the main topic of conversation.

O'Reilly Pwns Palin  —  A moment of truth on the Factor: … He clearly realizes what a total farce she is - and he slowly dismantles her mindless partisanship by the end of the segment.  Good for O'Reilly.  Particularly good for exposing just how little this phony knows about energy policy, her alleged expertise.

More Dirty Details From My BP Mole  —  You know the story: Boy calls girl, girl goes to pick up boy, boy and girl go sit on a beautiful beachside deck to enjoy the night breeze and listen to the waves crash as he tells her a bunch of terrible things that are going on at an oil-spill cleanup site.

The Debbie Schlussel Experience Part 2: The Fixation  —  Imagine, if you will, that you're a normal person and then one day a quasi-famous mentally ill blogger becomes fixated on you the way Gollum was fixated on the Ring.  Even though she hasn't been setting the world on fire lately …

Dems flirt with backing Crist  —  The emergence of a politically unknown billionaire self-funder in the Florida Senate race is prompting top Democrats in the state to say publicly what some have been whispering for weeks: If Jeff Greene, who got rich betting on the collapse of the housing market …

8 House members investigated over fundraisers held near financial reform vote  —  The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight lawmakers who held fundraisers within 48 hours of a major House vote on a Wall Street reform bill or received substantial donations from business people …

Hatch wants drug testing for people on assistance  —  Welfare » Low-income advocate calls proposal ‘immoral.’  —  People seeking unemployment benefits or welfare would have to first pass a drug test under a proposal Sen. Orrin Hatch will try to add to legislation extending …

British media fall out of love with Obama  —  The BBC reports of Barack Obama's speech last night are about as derisive as it would be possible to be about someone you were describing only a few months ago as the incarnation of Hope and Optimism.  Yes indeed, the romance is over.

Congress Releases Personal Investments Today  —  Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and at least three other federal lawmakers have sold their holdings in companies tied to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Center for Public Integrity learned ahead of today's disclosure of 2009 personal financial records by all members of Congress.

More straight talk from Chris Christie - The day of reckoning is here  —  Dude, this guy needs no explanation because he does it so well himself.  I'll be honest, I can't get enough of Christie.  I need this guy to be president right freaking now!!!!  It's painful to hear such great words coming …

Texas, here we come  —  IN THE ten years I've lived in New York I forgot how to drive.  Lately I've been spending lots of time in Austin, Texas.  Enough so that I've had to start driving again.  When you go many years without driving, it becomes terrifying.

American Man in Limbo on No-Fly List  —  WASHINGTON — As a 26-year-old Muslim American man who spent 18 months in Yemen before heading home to Virginia in early May, Yahya Wehelie caught the attention of the F.B.I. Agents stopped him while he was changing planes in Cairo …

Seattle officer punches girl in face during jaywalking stop  —  SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating what they call an assault of an officer in South Seattle.  —  However, a police officer is seen punching a 17-year-old girl in the face during the incident captured by a video camera on Monday.

Poll: Enthusiasm dips for Democratic voters  —  USA TODAY's Susan Page mentioned findings from a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll in today's analysis of President Obama's Oval Office address, including a widening “enthusiasm gap” between Democrats and Republicans looking at the November elections.

Pence: ‘There will be a cost’ for Turkey drawing toward Iran  —  Democratic and GOP lawmakers put Turkey on notice Wednesday, saying “there will be a cost” for that country's increasingly cozy relationship with Iran.  —  GOP Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), a self-described proponent of Turkey …

Dershowitz backs Schakowsky challenger  —  The Harvard Law Professor and Israel hawk Alan Dershowitz is headlining a fundraiser for Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky's Republican challenger, turning that race into (yet another) minor rift in the Israel debate.  —  The candidate, Joel Pollak …

Dickensian Moment of the Day  —  BP's Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, explaining to the press why President Obama is frustrated with his company: … Unless the discussion veered off into a direction that was unanticipated — i.e., a mutual cognizance of the struggles that dwarfs …

Afghanistan: Graveyard of Assumptions?  —  These past few weeks have brought a fresh torrent of bad news from Afghanistan: a governor in a key district assassinated, U.S. and allied operations in flux, Afghan leadership in question.  Policy-makers in Washington and allied capitols are wondering …