U.S. Braced for Fights With Pakistanis in Bin Laden Raid  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops, senior administration and military officials said Monday.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver announce separation  —  The former first lady has moved out after 25 years of marriage.  Maria Shriver helped bolster Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign against charges that he groped women during his movie career.  —  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver …

Boehner Outlines Demands on Debt Limit Fight  —  WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that Republicans would insist on trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts in exchange for their support of an increase in the federal debt limit sought by the Obama administration to prevent a government default later this year.

Gingrich Set to Run, With Wife in Central Role  —  WASHINGTON — Callista Bisek's friends from rural Wisconsin were stunned when, well over a decade ago, she confided that she was secretly dating an older, married man: Newt Gingrich.  —  Still in her 20s when they met …

Microsoft Near Deal to Acquire Skype  —  Software Giant Could Pay Nearly $8 Billion for Company  —  Microsoft Corp. is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for between $7 billion and $8 billion—the most aggressive move yet by Microsoft to play …

Suspect in flight disturbance had Calif. ID  —  SAN FRANCISCO - The passengers sat stunned as they watched a man walk quickly toward the front of American Airlines Flight 1561 as it was descending toward San Francisco.  He was screaming and then began pounding on the cockpit door.

‘Burn a Bush’?  Michelle Obama invites rapper Common to a poetry reading  —  First Lady Michelle Obama has scheduled a poetry evening for Wednesday, and she's invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet and rapper, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., AKA “Common.”

Republican rift widens on Medicare  —  A deep rift is opening wider and wider in the Republican Party over controversial proposals to cut Medicare.  —  Senate Republicans have decided to avoid jeopardizing their chances of capturing the upper chamber in next year's elections and will not echo …

Poll: Economy fears temper Obama's bin Laden bump  —  But president sees significant jump in questions about leadership, national security, foreign affairs  —  Below:  —  Deputy political director  —  WASHINGTON — In the days after Barack Obama ordered the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden …

Gunter Sachs, the playboy who married Brigitte Bardot, kills himself at 78  —  Millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, the German-born former husband of Brigitte Bardot, has killed himself at the age of 78.  —  He is reported to have shot himself at his home in the Swiss resort of Gstaad.

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.

National Health Preview  —  RomneyCare's bad outcomes keep coming.  —  The ObamaCare preview that Massachusetts has been conducting for the last several years grows more ominous by the month, not that anyone in Washington is paying attention.  So let's check on the Bay State's latest warning …

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 …

Beyond Obama's Bin Laden Bounce  —  A week after the news broke of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, bettors at Intrade, a political futures market, are barely any more likely to think that Barack Obama will win re-election.  —  As of this writing, Mr. Obama's Democrats are given …

Did the U.S. Violate Bin Laden's Rights?  —  The response to the death of Usama bin Laden by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, and two “experts” appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council ought to be ringing a lot of alarm bells right now.

Obama's illegal alien nation  —  Administration fails to enforce program to deport criminals  —  President Obama is in El Paso Tuesday to give a speech on what he calls “the broken immigration system.”  He'd know because he's the one helping break it.  Nowhere is this more apparent …

Obama stakes claim on immigration law reform  —  President Obama plans to unveil a “blueprint” on Tuesday of what he wants Congress to include in a comprehensive immigration reform bill, according to senior administration officials.  —  Obama is scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas …

Ron Paul's land of second-rate values  —  Before last week's South Carolina Republican debate, Ron Paul supporters complained that their candidate was not getting the first-tier attention his polling and fundraising should bring.  It is true that Paul has often been overlooked and dismissed, as one might treat a slightly dotty uncle.

Perry declines Obama's invite  —  Rick Perry has declined the White House's request that he greet President Obama when Air Force One lands in Texas on Tuesday, the Republican governor's office says.  —  “We did try to arrange something with the White House,” Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Perry, told POLITICO.

With Help From NATO, Libyan Rebels Gain Ground  —  QARYAT AZ ZURAYQ, Libya — Rebel fighters made significant gains Monday against forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in both the western and eastern areas of the country, in the first faint signs that NATO airstrikes may be starting to strain the government forces.

2012 battlefield: The Supreme Court  —  Despite a concerted drive by their ideological critics, two Supreme Court justices - Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas - signaled late last month that they have no intention of recusing themselves from the court's all but inevitable consideration of the Obama administration's new health care law.

‘Introduction to Labor Studies’ - My First-Hand Account  —  My name is Philip Christofanelli.  I was a student in the University of Missouri's “Introduction to Labor Studies” course.  The class was taught simultaneously by Professor Don Giljum of University of Missouri-Saint Louis (UMSL) …