What America Has Lost  —  It's clear we overreacted to 9/11.  —  Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat?  Since that gruesome day in 2001, once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden's terror network has been unable …

McCain: Dems ‘flailing around’  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday called a series of tax breaks to be proposed by the White House this week “a deathbed conversion” and slammed Democrats for wanting to let tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans expire.  —  “They're just flailing around,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Democrats Plan Political Triage to Retain House  —  WASHINGTON — As Democrats brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party leaders are preparing a brutal triage of their own members in hopes of saving enough seats to keep a slim grip on the majority.

Fearing for image, First Lady's aides warned against Spain vacation  —  The New York Times reports First Lady Michelle Obama's aides cautioned against her going on the early August European vacation in which she stayed at a 5-star resort in Spain and mingled with royalty.

Enduring Obama's pressure  —  Op-ed: PM Netanyahu should take advantage of broad support for Israel in America  —  Yoram Ettinger  —  support among Americans is as robust as always, expected to be reinforced following the midterm November 2010 election.  —  Anyone claiming …

Palin Derangement Syndrome Outbreak: There Are Still Five A's in Raaaaacism … Some things are predictable — i.e., that the Palin-haters would decide it was a good time to recycle the old SPLC/LGF attacks on me in order to exploit my interview with Todd Palin for a guilt-by-association smear.

Spain's Eta ‘declares ceasefire’  —  It is not clear on whether the ceasefire is permanent or temporary  —  Armed Basque separatist group Eta says it will not “carry out armed actions” in its campaign for independence.  —  In a video obtained exclusively by the BBC, the group said it took …

Iran ‘stoning woman’ to be lashed over photo: son  —  Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.  —  In an interview published on the website …

America's History of Fear  —  A radio interviewer asked me the other day if I thought bigotry was the only reason why someone might oppose the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan.  No, I don't.  Most of the opponents aren't bigots but well-meaning worriers — and during earlier waves …

Superbroke, Superfrugal, Superpower?  —  In recent years, I have often said to European friends: So, you didn't like a world of too much American power?  See how you like a world of too little American power — because it is coming to a geopolitical theater near you.

Inside Al Qaeda  —  Nine years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden's network remains a shadowy, little-understood enemy.  The truth, as revealed by one of its fighters, is both more and less troubling than we think.  —  The incident didn't get much international attention at the time …

America has a cow over Alan Simpson's candor on deficits  —  There was a time, not too long ago, when a politician could talk about tits in public.  —  In 1992, Sen. Alan Simpson, a Wyoming Republican, complained in a speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures about how Social Security …