Sarah Palin Is Right About ‘Blood Libel’  —  Judaism rejects the idea of collective responsibility for murder.  —  The term “blood libel”—which Sarah Palin invoked this week to describe the suggestions by journalists and politicians that conservative figures like herself are responsible …

Conservatives Accuse Obama Of Lying About Giffords Opening Eyes; Her Doctors Disagree  —  In one of the most cynical displays in recent memory, following the lead of Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, several conservative websites - including Fox Nation and MRC arm CNS News - suggested that President Obama lied …

An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson  —  Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend.  Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet …

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison won't seek re-election in 2012  —  gjeffers@dallasnews.com  —  Kay Bailey Hutchison will not run for re-election to the U.S. Senate.  —  In a letter to supporters, Hutchison said she enjoyed serving Texas.  —  “I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate …

Rep. Keith Ellison: Sarah Palin May Have Hit ‘The End Of Her Political Ride’  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin took a lot of heat on Wednesday for her seven-minute-long statement on the shootings in Arizona, in which she mourned the tragedy and accused her critics of “blood libel.”

Palin to Do TV Interview Monday  —  Sarah Palin is scheduled to sit for her first extended interview since the Tucson shooting rampage on Monday night, on the Fox News Channel.  —  An executive at Fox News Channel said that Ms. Palin would appear on the program of the conservative host Sean Hannity …

Charity worker fired over Facebook comments  —  Director of Chicago chapter of Coats for Kids fired after commenting about Arizona shootings  —  Glen Busch has been a director of the Chicago chapter of Coats for Kids since he and his wife began their charter in 2005.

Dems settle on branding for GOP repeal effort: “The Patient's Rights Repeal Act”  —  “The Patient's Rights Repeal Act.”  —  At a House Dem leadership meeting last week, Dem leaders decided that this is the phrase they will officially use to brand the House GOP's push to repeal health reform, aides tell me.

Across America, Latino Community Sighs With Relief … Daisy Hernandez (no relation to Daniel Hernandez) is the co-editor of Colonize This!  Young Women on Today's Feminism.  —  I wasn't the only person on Saturday who rushed to her Android when news came of the Tucson shooting.

CAIR Says Poster Warning Against Helping FBI is Misinterpreted  —  Image from the CAIR website that uses a poster encouraging people not the talk to the FBI to promote an upcoming conference.  —  The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it will remove a poster from the group's website promoting …

Tears and Rain  —  I've been thinking about the president's speech all night and this morning, how something about it left me feeling left out.  Obama's presence—physical, moral, emotional—was palpable.  It carried the charge of authority, of mastering a moment.

The Peak Oil Crisis: Civil Unrest  —  Buried in the millions of words that were written about the shootings in Arizona last week was a recent poll showing that only 13 percent of the American people think favorably of the U.S. Congress.  The implication, of course, is that as 87 percent …

Don't Try This at Home: Adultery in the Marital Bed  —  THE woman who came to see Ken Altshuler, a divorce lawyer, had reason to be enraged: her husband was not only having an affair, he was also having an extravagant, money's-no-concern, fabled-and-faraway-beaches affair.

DOJ Files DOMA Defense in First Circuit Cases  —  Today, the Department of Justice filed its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a single filing for both Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States.

Limbaugh: Obama's speech was poll-driven “pep rally”  —  Glenn Beck and his colleagues on Fox News may have been complimentary of President Obama's speech last night, but Rush Limbaugh sure wasn't.  —  He criticized the timing of the memorial service on Wednesday, four days after the Tucson shootings …

Banks, Allies Circling Wagons After Ibanez Ruling  —  According to the Treasury Department's schedule, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan met with “leaders of unions, civil rights and minority advocacy groups to discuss the Administration's foreclosure prevention efforts.”

If Elected President, Pawlenty Tells Fischer He'll Reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell  —  There are few Religious Right leaders active today who can compete with the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer in terms of openly hostile bigotry against gays, Muslims, and all those who do not share his radical worldview:

Sheriff: Gunmen In Mexico Shoot At Road Crew In Hudspeth County, Texas  —  EL PASO, Texas — Hudspeth County, Texas Sheriff Arvin West confirmed a Hudspeth County road crew came under fire Thursday morning from gunmen in Mexico.  —  Sheriff West told ABC-7 that around 10:30 a.m …

Obama's Finest Hour  —  During the 2008 presidential campaign, I wrote a comparison of Barack Obama's Philadelphia speech on race with Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union address during his own 1860 campaign.  I noted that both men had to separate themselves from embarrassing associations …

NICK GILLESPIE: Palin's Not Complicit in Loughner Shooting, but She Sure Ain't Presidential, Either.  Has any other public figure ever had to try to act “Presidential,” though, while being accused of complicity in mass murder?  —  On the other hand, if (as isn't clear to me) …

Politics to a child  —  There's a line from the president's speech last night that I've not been able to get out of my head.  It comes in the section about Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old who was killed last Saturday in Tucson.  “She was off to meet her congresswoman,” Obama said, “someone she was sure was good and important.”

Boehner Didn't Really Snub Obama, Tucson Memorial  —  House Speaker John Boehner is catching a lot of flak for missing last night's memorial service in Tucson, reportedly declining an Air Force One invitation from President Obama in order to slap backs and clink glasses at an RNC event.

McCarthy unveils strict gun-control bill  —  The fiercest gun-control advocate in Congress released the text of a bill she plans to introduce next week that would outlaw high-capacity magazines like the one a gunman used to shoot 20 people in a matter of seconds in Arizona this weekend.