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 …

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.

Democrats hope Obama 2008 model will help stem midterm losses  —  To become the nation's first black president, Barack Obama not only won heavy percentages of the black and Hispanic vote but also managed to trim the Democratic Party's traditional deficit among white voters.

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.

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.

CNN Editor Mourns Death of Hezbollah's Spiritual Leader  —  How did CNN senior editor of Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr celebrate July 4?  By mourning the passing of Hezbollah's Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.  Here's what the CNN editor posted on her Twitter account:

Blistering heat expected in Northeast  —  New York (CNN) — A heat wave of historic proportions could strike some Northeastern states as forecasters warn of prolonged triple-digit temperatures that could trigger “a dangerous situation,” the National Weather Service advised Monday.

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 …

Clyburn says Greene's candidacy in South Carolina designed to stir trouble  —  House Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) theorized that an operative ran unemployed Army veteran Alvin Greene's (D) South Carolina Senate campaign to create a “mess.”  —  Greene managed to win the June 8 Democratic primary …

AP owes China an apology  —  From an Associated Press article today on the conviction in China of an American citizen accused of spying and collecting “state secrets”: … A few cigarette stubs into a forearm for a handful of days?  That's it?  That's “torture”?

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 …

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 …

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.

Environmentalist faces jail for hanging banner in Senate office building  —  A 60 year-old environmental activist who hung two banners in a government building will be sentenced Tuesday — and faces up to three years in prison.  —  Bloomfield, NJ resident Ted Glick will be sentenced Tuesday …

Senate bill to repeal health reform lacks backing from GOP leaders  —  Although they've called repeatedly for repeal of the Democrats' new health reform law, some senior Senate Republicans have not endorsed a bill that would actually do it.  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) …

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 …

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.

Flag mural on Sunol Grade restored to Old Glory  —  The flag is still there.  Or, rather, it's back.  —  After an absence of a few days, a mural of an American flag has returned to a hillside above Interstate 680 in Sunol — just in time for the Fourth of July.