A Letter to Michael Steele  —  You are, I know, a patriot.  So I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican party.  —  Your tenure has of course been marked by gaffes and embarrassments …

U.S. Economy Shed 125,000 Jobs in June; Rate Is 9.5%  —  The United States added just 83,000 private-sector jobs in June, a dishearteningly low number that could add to the growing number of economists who warn that the economic recovery is stalling.  —  Multimedia

What is the Tea Party?  A growing state of mind  —  WASHINGTON — The “Tea Party” is less a classic political movement than a frustrated state of mind.  —  A year and a half after the idea of a Tea Party burst into view, three of 10 Americans describe themselves in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll …

Kagan Reminds Senators: Legislation Is Your Job  —  WASHINGTON — Supreme Court confirmation hearings are usually designed to probe a nominee's conception of the role of the justices.  But this week's questioning of Elena Kagan turned into a tutorial on Congressional responsibility.

Hurricane GOP On The Way  —  MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: THERE IS A WAVE OUT THERE, AND FOR DEMOCRATS, THE HOUSE IS, AT BEST, TEETERING ON THE EDGE.  —  Imagine sitting in Washington's Verizon Center, listening blissfully to Carole King and James Taylor, thanks to a fast-thinking friend who managed to score four floor seats.

Myths of Austerity  —  When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options.  Now I know better.  Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis.  And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions.

Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage  —  BEDFORD, Ohio — Factory owners have been adding jobs slowly but steadily since the beginning of the year, giving a lift to the fragile economic recovery.  And because they laid off so many workers — more than two million since the end of 2007 …

Democrats shaping battle plan against Republicans for November  —  Architects of President Obama's 2008 victory are braced for potentially sizable Democratic losses in November's midterm elections.  But they say voters' unease about a GOP takeover will help their party maintain congressional majorities.

Broadband Grants  —  It's good that this is happening, but sad to see it happening so late in the game considering when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed: … I think this episode highlights some of the tensions and problems that have plagued our efforts at doing discretionary fiscal stimulus on an adequate scale.

Congressional Report Claims Administration Misled About Efforts on Oil Spill  —  (CNSNews.com) - Billy Nungesser, president of New Orleans' Plaquemines Parish, sensed that a chart showing 140 oil skimmers at work — a chart given to him by BP and the Coast Guard — was “somewhat inaccurate.”

Barack Obama is among best presidents ever - George W. Bush not so much, say scholars in Siena poll  —  George W. Bush was no FDR, but Barack Obama could be.  —  That's the verdict of 238 of the nation's leading presidential scholars, who - for a fifth time - rated Franklin Delano Roosevelt …

Obama and Reid in animated discussion before Byrd service  —  President Obama had an animated discussion with the top Senate Democrat en route to the memorial service for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.) at the West Virginia State Capitol.  —  Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) …

Death by stoning imminent for Iranian woman, attorney says  —  (CNN) — Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, is waiting to die in Iran by a method of execution described by her lawyer as “barbaric” — stoning.  —  She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be …