Israeli Troops Fire as Marchers Breach Borders  —  JERUSALEM — Israel's borders erupted in deadly clashes on Sunday as thousands of Palestinians — marching from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank — confronted Israeli troops to mark the anniversary of Israel's creation.

How Drudge Has Stayed on Top  —  For most big news Web sites, about 60 percent of the traffic is homegrown, people who come directly to the site by dint of a bookmark or typing in www.latimes.com or www.huffingtonpost.com.  The other critical 40 percent comes by referrals …

Gay CNN Anchor Sees Risk in Book  —  Don Lemon, the weekend prime-time anchor for CNN, was on the air on Sunday night this month when the news broke that President Obama would address the nation at the unusual hour of 10:30 p.m.  —  By the time the news network was confirming the reports …

Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces further claim of sexual assault  —  Socialist party official says her daughter was left traumatised after alleged attack by Strauss-Kahn in 2002  —  By this time next year, Dominique Strauss-Kahn might well have been president of France.

A Verdict on Obama's “Stimulus” Plan  —  Economists Timothy Conley and Bill Dupor have studied the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the purported stimulus bill) with great rigor.  Earlier this week, they reported their findings in a paper titled “The American Recovery …

Newt Tacks Left, Slams Ryan's Medicare Plan  —  Newt Gingrich's appearance on “Meet the Press” today could leave some wondering which party's nomination he is running for.  The former speaker had some harsh words for Paul Ryan's (and by extension, nearly every House Republican's) plan to reform Medicare, calling it “radical.”

The NYT Doesn't Understand Marginal Tax Rates  —  The NYT ran a column asking whether people who make more than $250,000 are really rich.  It told readers that the richest 2 percent of the population face money problems also, suggesting that those near this cutoff for tax increases by President Obama might be unfairly victimized.

Gates: Obama made a ‘gutsy’ call  —  President Barack Obama made a “very gutsy call” to send Navy SEALs into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday.  —  “I worked for a lot of these guys.

A Sports Executive Leaves the Safety of His Shadow Life  —  Last month, in a Midtown office adorned with sports memorabilia, two longtime friends met for a private talk.  David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, sipped his morning coffee, expecting to be asked for career advice.

Ron Paul Calls Social Security and Medicare Unconstitutional, Compares Them to ‘Slavery’  —  Appearing on Fox News Sunday this morning, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) defended his longstanding view that Medicare, Social Security (and pretty much everything else) violate the Constitution.

The budget debate we all deserve  —  Despite Washington coming to grips with the fact that the debt threat is real, policymakers still are not having the debate Americans deserve.  —  The talk is too often restricted to “shared sacrifice.”  This sets up a debate where we are really just arguing …

Shadow Stat Misery Index Highest on Record  —  John Williams, over at Shadow Stats, compiles economic data for inflation and unemployment the way it used to be calculated pre-1990.  Based on that data, the CPI inflation rate is over 10%, and the unemployment rate is over 15% (see charts).

Patterico Criticizes Google; Gets Locked Out of Gmail  —  Over the last day or so, I have written several posts criticizing Google's treatment of Ann Althouse.  So did my guest blogger Aaron Worthing.  —  I collected several examples of people getting locked out of their Google accounts …

Union whistleblowers: We were beaten and harassed after they accused bosses of looting  —  Unionized phone company employees say they were beaten or threatened after they accused their labor bosses of looting their coffers through various scams.  —  One member of Communications Workers …

The Other Torture Debate  —  IT wasn't long after Osama bin Laden's killing that the arguing began: did the Bush administration's torture policy produce essential intelligence that led the United States to Bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan?  —  Bush administration figures weighed in “yes” …

Ryan will decide soon on Wisconsin Senate race  —  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Sunday he'll decide this week if he'll run for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Herb Kohl.  —  “Herb just announced this Friday,” Ryan said on CNN's “State of the Union.”