Op-Ed Columnist: Punishing the Unemployed  —  There was a time when everyone took it for granted that unemployment insurance, which normally terminates after 26 weeks, would be extended in times of persistent joblessness.  It was, most people agreed, the decent thing to do.  —  But that was then.

On The Economist's Cover, Only a Part of the Picture  —  It was the ideal metaphor for a politically troubled president.  —  There was President Obama on the cover of the June 19 issue of The Economist, standing alone on a Louisiana beach, head down, looking forlornly at the ground.

Sen. Brown: 'I'm liking what I see' on financial reform legislation  —  Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) offered a hint that he may support the financial reform bill when it comes to a final vote later this month.  —  “I'm going to be making a decision soon, but I'm liking what I see,” …

Confusion at The Washington Post  —  Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander gives us another case study in how difficult it is for established institutions to transition into a new world: … Someone's sure confused here!  But are readers really going to be “confused” if someone …

Companies Find Ways to Bypass Ban on Earmarks  —  TOLEDO, Ohio — Just one day after leaders of the House of Representatives announced a ban on earmarks to profit-making companies, Victoria Kurtz, the vice president for marketing of a small Ohio defense contracting firm, hit on a creative way around it.

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Barack Obama: The great jobs killer  —  As former President Ronald Reagan might have said, “Obama, there you go again.”  —  The current occupant of the White House claims to know how to create jobs.  He claims jobs have been created.  But so far the score …

Planck reveals ‘spectacular sky’  —  This is the extraordinary place where we all live - the Universe.  —  The picture is the first full-sky image from Europe's Planck telescope which was sent into space last year to survey the “oldest light” in the cosmos.

Obama's CEO problem — and ours  —  The American economy is sputtering and we are running out of options.  Interest rates can't go any lower.  Another burst of government spending — whether a good or bad idea — looks politically impossible.  Can anything protect us from the dangers of stagnation or a double dip?

Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern: Charts  —  The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.  —  “Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it …

Tea party gatherings on the Fourth mix the educational and the patriotic  —  BEALETON, VA. — “Tea party” activists across the nation tried to put the “independence” back in Independence Day this weekend with festivals and other gatherings focused on the Constitution — and how to use it for political gain.

Obama tasks NASA with building Muslim self-esteem  —  In the video below, Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera that the “foremost” task President Obama has given him is “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help …

Editorial: The Supreme Court's Aggressive Term  —  John Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, did not write the most important opinion of his court's just concluded term, the one that allowed unlimited corporate and union spending in election campaigns.

With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932  —  The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever.  The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc.  Wages are flirting with deflation.  —  “The economy is still in the gravitational pull …

My Private Obama  —  We in the progressive community have projected our own visions onto Barack Obama ever since we first noticed him as a remarkable political novice.  It was clear from the 2008 campaign that he was a basically a centrist and seeker of common ground.  But sometimes a crisis makes a presidency.

Lieberman: Rules of engagement protecting civilians ‘hurt morale’  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) called on President Barack Obama and the top general in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, to “loosen” the rules of engagement put in place to lessen civilian casualties.  —  Fox News reported: