NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World  —  Shown here is NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.  (YouTube)  —  NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his “foremost” mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

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 …

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.

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 …

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,” …

Angle Sends Cease-And-Desist To Reid — For Reposting Her Own Website  —  Sharron Angle has resorted to an unusual maneuver to counter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's attacks on her past quotes and positions, the Reid campaign has announced: A cease-and-desist letter …

Health Care Law  —  60% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law, Just 41% See Repeal as Likely  —  Sixty percent (60%) of voters nationwide favor repeal of the recently passed health care law, including 49% who Strongly Favor repeal.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 36% oppose repeal.

PASS THE DAMN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.... Senate Democrats have spent quite a bit of time lately trying to pass extended unemployment benefits, but to no avail — Senate Republicans and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) refuse to let the chamber vote because, as they see it, the deficit is more important than the economy.

Why I Don't Celebrate July 4  —  It's July 4th, my least favorite holiday.  —  And I'm not referring to the bugs, or the crowds, or the traffic on the highways.  —  I'm talking about the mindless patriotic bubble bath we're all supposed to soak in all weekend long.  —  Well, not me.

A Reasonable Man  —  In a world of loud voices and extreme positions, David Brooks manages to be both irrelevant and absolutely essential.  —  D avid Brooks is angry—for David Brooks, at least.  “This is a damn outrage, to be honest,” he tells David Gregory on Meet the Press.

Arizona Dems contest Obama's assertions on border security  —  Anticipating a furor of voter criticism over the July Fourth recess, Democratic lawmakers from the border region shot back at the White House last week, challenging the president's speech on immigration in which he said that the southern border is secure.

Dutch agency admits error in UN climate report  —  THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A leading Dutch environment agency reported Monday that the seminal 2007 U.N. scientific report on climate change is too generalized and has even more errors than discovered so far — including one contributed by the agency itself.

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?

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.

Judges rule Obama can't close Yucca Mountain nuclear dump  —  WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. John Spratt and Republican Rep. Joe Wilson don't agree on much, yet the South Carolina congressmen are cheering a new ruling that denied the bid by the U.S. Energy Department to withdraw its application …

Plan XVII For Europe  —  So, I was reading Jean-Claude Trichet's latest about how austerity will be expansionary, not contractionary, because confidence will conquer all, and I realized what it reminded me of.  You see, while traveling I reread Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, and there it was: Plan XVII:

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.

Agency Agreed Wildlife Risk From Oil Was ‘Low’  —  The federal agency charged with protecting endangered species like the brown pelican and the Kemp's ridley sea turtle signed off on the Minerals Management Service's conclusion that deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico posed …

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 …

We elected Blago —what were we thinking?  —  The headlines say, “Blagojevich trial,” but the former governor is not the only one who needs to explain himself.  —  If the latest farcical revelations from the Rod Blagojevich trial tell us anything, it's that the people of Illinois …

Turkey threatens to cut Israel ties  —  Turkish foreign minister says Israelis must either apologise or accept international inquiry into deadly raid  —  Turkey has hardened its stance towards Israel over the “freedom flotilla” taking aid to the Gaza Strip, warning today …

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Our Mission Is to Rescue the American People from Its ‘Non-Democratic Bullying Administration’  —  Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian News Channel (IRINN), on June 16, 2010.