And the award for the most ridiculous poll sampling goes to ...  Move over, CBS.  Hang up the kid-leather gloves, WaPo/ABC.  There's a new sample-skewing sheriff in town, and it's the Associated Press.  In a new definition of “outlier,” the AP reported that its latest poll …

Catholic Academics Challenge Boehner  —  A group of prominent Catholic academics have signed a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, on the occasion of his forthcoming commencement address at the Catholic University of America.  I will provide commentary later today …

Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says  —  CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.

Hoyer Bucks Obama on Disclosure Plan  —  President Obama's plan to force federal contractors to disclose political contributions was dealt a surprise blow yesterday when Steny Hoyer said that he opposed the idea.  —  President Obama's plan to force federal contractors to disclose political contributions …

House GOP freshmen conveniently forget 2010  —  A wide variety of House Republicans, especially freshmen in competitive districts, heard from their constituents over the recent two-week break, and discovered that voters aren't impressed with the GOP plan to end Medicare.

Top Democrats: Huntsman Would Be Toughest to Beat in 2012; Won't Win GOP Nomination  —  Top Democrats in and outside the White House, speaking on background so they could be more candid, suggest that former US Ambassador to China and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman would be the GOP candidate President Obama …

Paul Ryan takes aim at AARP, but misses  —  With the House Republican budget agenda imposing new burdens and hardship on the elderly, it's not surprising that AARP opposes the GOP vision and has said so.  Given that Republicans want to end Medicare and gut Medicaid, the nation's leading advocates …

NJ State Police “Outraged” Over Rapper Invite to White House  —  Common at the 2011 Common Ground Foundation gala fundraiser at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago last month.  —  The invitation of rapper Common to the White House this week is drawing the ire of the union representing New Jersey state police.

Romney backed a *federal* individual health care mandate in 1994  —  Bumped, for Seamus. - promoted by david  —  We're all positively breathless with anticipation over what Mitt Romney might have to say about health care tomorrow in Michigan.  He's tried so many times to explain …

President to Renew Muslim Outreach  —  WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.

Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape  —  WASHINGTON — Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.”  She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.

Galleon's Rajaratnam Found Guilty  —  Updated  —  Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire investor who once ran one of the world's largest hedge funds, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy on Wednesday by a federal jury in Manhattan.  He is the most prominent figure convicted in the government's crackdown …

Donald Trump Lets His Hair Down  —  A conversation with the host of The Celebrity Apprentice  —  Like you, we've always wondered what's inside Donald Trump's wallet.  So, on a recent visit to his office at the top of Trump Tower in Manhattan, the epicenter of his vast real estate empire …

Same-sex marriage and the '16 nomination  —  It's basically self-parody here at POLITICO to write about the 2016 presidential campaign, and I don't plan to do it much.  But I thought it was worth passing on a point Bob Shrum made to me yesterday about one of the three or four Democrats already operating …

GOP blasts NEA grants to Frisco mimes, accordion festival  —  A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday grilled the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts over grants to San Francisco mimes and an international accordion festival.  —  “Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule …

Boeing Is Pro-Growth, Not Anti-Union  —  Washington's actions have assaulted the capitalist principles that have sustained America's competitiveness since it became the world's largest economy nearly 140 years ago.  —  Deep into the recent recession, Boeing decided to invest more than $1 billion in a new factory in South Carolina.

As Breitbart and Loesch Cover Their Tracks, Professors Cleared By University Officials  —  You may recall this video.  It was the first of two posted on Big Government's site two weeks ago alleging that UMSL Professor Don Giljum and UMKC Professor Judy Ancel were teaching impressionable young college students …

Palin and the Curse of a Thin Skin  —  In the June Atlantic, Joshua Green has a terrific piece called “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin” that gets at the maddening aspect of Palin's gifts and strengths as a politician better than any single article has with the exception of Yuval Levin's COMMENTARY piece two years ago.

How Perpetual War Became U.S. Ideology  —  Since the last realist president, George H.W. Bush, left office, two groups— neoconservatives and liberal interventionists—have overtaken American foreign policy  —  The United States has found itself in a seemingly endless series of wars over the past two decades.

Irish Bombshell: Government Raids PRIVATE Pensions To Pay For Spending  —  The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.  —  Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates …