2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy  —  Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you'll learn two lessons, over and over again.  One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans …

US's Bin Laden deal with Pakistan  —  US forces were given permission to conduct unilateral raid inside Pakistan if they knew where Bin Laden was hiding, officials say  —  The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden …

NBC's Three-Hour ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Down 23% … A supersized edition of Donald Trump's competition series Celebrity Apprentice spanned three hours, going head-to-head against the rest of primetime on Sunday.  —  But, NBC's three-hour telecast — which saw Star Jones and LaToya Jackson fired …

Why I Will Not Support Jon Huntsman.  Ever.  [UPDATE]  —  UPDATE: A lot of people take issue with this and the core argument is, in essence, he was a good ambassador.  This doesn't matter to me.  My position is not about partisan, politics, or ideology.  It's about being an American.

Whose Foreign Policy Is It?  —  For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office.  But last week made it official: When the story of America's post-9/11 wars is written …

John Boehner: Cut ‘trillions’ as debt limit nears  —  NEW YORK — Speaker John Boehner will call on Congress to offset a debt ceiling hike with spending cuts of a greater amount, an ambitious proposal that puts House Republicans on a collision course with Democrats who want much more modest spending restrictions attached to the vote.

Home Market Takes a Tumble  —  Turnaround More Distant After 3% Drop, Steepest Quarterly Decline Since 2008  —  The U.S. housing market's 1Q 2011 decline was the steepest in three years.  Additionally, a Zillow.com survey indicates nearly 30% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.

The Unwisdom of Elites  —  The past three years have been a disaster for most Western economies.  The United States has mass long-term unemployment for the first time since the 1930s.  Meanwhile, Europe's single currency is coming apart at the seams.  How did it all go so wrong?

The Hill Poll: Voters see president's ratings bounce vanishing soon  —  Most voters believe the popularity boost President Obama has received following the killing of Osama bin Laden will disappear quickly, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.  —  Almost three in five likely voters think the …

Unspoken Truths  —  Until cancer attacked his vocal cords, the author didn't fully appreciate what was meant by “a writer's voice,” or the essential link between speech and prose.  As a man who loved to talk, he turns to the masters of such conversation, both in history and in his own circle.

Gallup poll sees growing support for third party in GOP, Tea Party  —  A majority of Republicans said for the first time that a third party was needed in American politics, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.  —  Fifty-two percent of Republicans, and an even stronger number of Tea Party supporters …

Osama Bin Laden Tapes Show ‘Pathetic’ Side of Al Qaeda Leader: Experts  —  Osama bin Laden speaks in this undated image taken from video provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and released on Saturday, May 7, 2011.  The videos show bin Laden watching himself on television and rehearsing for terrorist videos.

Brooklyn, NY - After Outrage Hasidic Newspaper Issues Statement On Altered White House Photo  —  Brooklyn, NY - Much has been written about a controversial altered photograph of the White House situation room published by Der Tzeitung, a Chareidi newspaper, based out of Brooklyn.

Bristol Palin Reality Show: Palin, Massey Brothers In New BIO Channel Show … Bristol Palin , Bristol Palin Bio Channel , Bristol Palin Kyle Massey , Bristol Palin Reality Show , Entertainment News  —  Bristol Palin is making it a reality show hat trick.  —  The daughter of former Alaska …

South Carolina Taking Light Bulb Ban into Its Own Hands  —  Fed up with the federal government's ban of the traditional incandescent light bulb, state representatives in South Carolina are pushing for the state to produce and use incandescents solely for its state.

Why Success Starts With Failure  —  Tim Harford is a columnist for The Financial Times and the author of “The Undercover Economist.”  He's part of the growing cadre of journalists who try to write about economics in plain English.  His new book, “Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure,” will be published this week.