Barton retracts apology to BP  —  Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is apologizing for his apology.  —  After infuriating Democrats and Republicans alike with his public apology to BP and suggesting that a $20 billion escrow fund was a “shakedown” by the White House, Barton is now “retracting” …

Olbermann leaves Daily Kos  —  Keith Olbermann announced Wednesday night that he will cease blogging for the liberal Daily Kos over a comment directed at the MSNBC host's coverage.  —  Olbermann and some of his MSNBC colleagues surprised their left-leaning fans on Tuesday with eviscerating critiques …

WHO'S IN CHARGE?:  Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Oil-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard  —  59 Days Into Oil Crisis, Gulf Coast Governors Say Feds Are Failing Them  —  Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters.

Pelosi yanks campaign finance bill  —  Following a rebellion by two important factions of rank-and-file House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has pulled a campaign-finance bill opposed by a broad coalition of special interest groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Poll shows Etheridge trailing after video  —  RALEIGH (WTVD) — Days after North Carolina Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) was seen in a video confrontation with a man with a camera on a Washington street, a new poll seems to indicate the incident has damaged him with voters.

A Best Friend?  You Must Be Kidding  —  FROM the time they met in kindergarten until they were 15, Robin Shreeves and her friend Penny were inseparable.  They rode bikes, played kickball in the street, swam all summer long and listened to Andy Gibb, the Bay City Rollers and Shaun Cassidy on the stereo.

Language guru: Obama speech too ‘professorial’  —  (CNN) — President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.  —  Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House …

NRSC warns campaigns on vid trackers  —  After the second clip in a week hit the web showing a confrontation between a Democratic political campaign and a person shooting video, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a memo to its campaigns Thursday reminding them to be sure staffers …

EXCLUSIVE: Alert Issued for 17 Afghan Military Members AWOL From U.S. Air Force Base  —  FILE: Air traffic controllers from the 37th Operations Support Squadron prepare to navigate F-16 Falcons down the runway on Lackland Air Force Base.  —  A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members …

End Is Seen to Free Checking  —  Bank of America Corp. and other banks are preparing new fees on basic banking services as they try to replace revenue lost to regulatory rules, in a push that is expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.

Can Republicans Take Back the House?  —  Editor's Note: These days the best D.C. parlor game is guessing November's House results.  We've recently made our own contribution, with a district-by-district analysis that projects—as of early June—a Republican net gain of 32 seats.

Obama Lunches With Progressive Pundits: Maddow, Robinson, Collins  —  What's Your Reaction: … President Obama met for lunch on Thursday with a group of predominantly progressive columnists to discuss a range of topics, chief among them the oil spill in the Gulf.

UPDATED x2 *** OK, this is really starting to creep me out  —  * Through the looking glass, straight into the Twilight Zone.  —  As the New York Times reports today, Congressman Mark Kirk has long talked about his experience as a teacher...  Kirk's campaign told the NYT …

Palin: Pot is a ‘minimal problem’  —  Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday night that law enforcement should not focus its energy on the “minimal problem” of marijuana.  —  Palin made the comment during an appearance on the Fox Business Network with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

White House Flip Flops On Reining In CEO Pay  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The White House is intervening at the last minute to come to the defense of multinational corporations in the unfolding conference committee negotiations over Wall Street reform.  —  A measure that had been generally agreed …

The Obama Effect  —  Democrats are going to have to think really carefully about how they deploy Barack Obama for campaigning this fall.  Polls we've conducted nationally and in several different states over the last few weeks have found that a candidate being endorsed by Obama is much more likely …

Mohegan Sun Casino Gets $54M In Stimulus  —  Indian Tribe That Runs Connecticut Casino Earning $1 Billion-Plus Per Year Got Government Check  —  With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut's politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe …

Hillary Clinton: Yes, Obama is filing a lawsuit against the Arizona law  —  Hillary Clinton was interviewed by NTN24 out of Quito, Ecuador on June 8, and was asked about how the Obama administration was handling the Arizona law.  She answered frankly, that the justice department …

The Most Important Judicial Nomination You Never Heard Of Set For Vote Today  —  I previously posted about the nomination of John J.  “Jack” McConnell, Jr. to the federal district court in Rhode Island.  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote today.

Pic of the Day: Afghan Woman Having Her Picture Taken For Voter Registration Card...  Every ACORN workers dream...  We have disabled pinging on this post.

BP acknowledges it never followed blowout preventer law, blames MMS  —  In response to a U.S. senator's questions  —  in a letter, BP said it never follows a federal law requiring it to certify that a blowout preventer device would be able to block a well in case of an emergency.

Southwest Finds Shipment of Heads on a Plane  —  Southwest Airlines employee finds human heads on their way to Fort Worth  —  A Southwest Airlines employee called police after finding human heads in a package set to be transported to a Fort Worth medical research company, the airline said.