NBC's David Gregory Defends Medicare Question As Newt Gingrich Spokesman Blasts Media ‘Minions’ … NEW YORK — When Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sits down on “Meet the Press” this Sunday, he can expect to be asked about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comparing his Medicare voucher plan to “right-wing social engineering.”

How Not to Write Satire  —  An Esquire writer lobs an egg at the birthers, but the yolk's on him.  —  “In a stunning development one day after the release of Where's the Birth Certificate?  The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President, by Dr. Jerome Corsi …

Osama bin Laden praises Arab spring in posthumously released tape  —  Bin Laden praises protest movements across Middle East and predicts revolutions will spread  —  A tape recorded by Osama bin Laden before his death in a US special forces raid earlier this month has been released posthumously onto Islamist militant websites.

Peter Fonda calls Obama ‘traitor’ at Cannes  —  CANNES, France — Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, calling him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

Harsh Light on Two Men, but Glare Falls on Women  —  A flotilla of TV news trucks was stationed outside a Bronx apartment building this week, as photographers scrambled to get a shot of the hotel cleaning woman who accused the managing director of the International Monetary Fund of sexually assaulting her.

Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling  —  The individual stories are familiar.  The chemistry major tending bar.  The classics major answering phones.  The Italian studies major sweeping aisles at Wal-Mart.  —  Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought …

Loud cell-phone talker removed from quiet car by police  —  A woman who was escorted off an Amtrak train by police this weekend after she allegedly refused to stop talking loudly on her cell-phone has the Internet cheering her fate.  —  Civilians and quiet-car champions are supporting …

Cornel West on Obama is no better than a birther  —  Anyone who knows me, and knows me well, knows that I have little patience for the “Blacker than thou” crowd.  These are the self-appointed guardians of what it means to be black — a decidedly limited and ignorant perspective …

You idiot!  Shamed politician John Edwards rages at mistress Rielle Hunter for not destroying sex tape  —  Furious John Edwards has allegedly vented his anger at mistress Rielle Hunter over the steamy sex video they made during his White House run.  —  In an amazing outburst …

The Twitter Trap  —  Last week my wife and I told our 13-year-old daughter she could join Facebook.  Within a few hours she had accumulated 171 friends, and I felt a little as if I had passed my child a pipe of crystal meth.  —  I don't mean to be a spoilsport, and I don't think I'm a Luddite.

CDC Warns Public to Prepare for ‘Zombie Apocalypse’  —  Are you prepared for the impending zombie invasion?  —  That's the question posed by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention in a Monday blog posting gruesomely titled, “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.”

President Obama Nominates Justice Morgan Christen for the United States Court of Appeals  —  WASHINGTON- Today, President Obama nominated Justice Morgan Christen for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  —  “I am proud to nominate this outstanding candidate to serve …

Michigan Man Still Receiving Food Assistance Despite Winning $2 Million Jackpot  —  (WJBK) - A Michigan man has continued to accept food aid from the state even though he won big in a state lottery game and said he told officials about it.  —  Leroy Fick won the $2 million jackpot in the “Make Me Rich!” contest in June.

Beyond the Headlines  —  Compared to other political news, the special election in New York is among the least interesting recent developments.  —  This last week has seen a potpourri of interesting political developments on the presidential, senatorial, and congressional election front.

Republican and Democratic Professors Grade Differently  —  When it comes to grading, Republican and Democratic professors at one unnamed elite university put their ideologies into practice, a new study finds: Republicans welcomed inequality, handing out more very high and very low grades …

Dorothy Parvaz: Inside Syria's secret prisons  —  ‘We could clearly hear the interrogator pummelling his fists into his subject,’ writes our correspondent.  —  I was standing in two fist-sized pools of smeared, sticky blood, trying to sort out why there were seven angry Syrians yelling at me.

New documents suggest Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan involved with crafting legal defense of Obamacare  —  Newly released documents reveal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was more involved with President Obama's health-care law than she disclosed previously.

White House: No Alternative To Raising Debt Ceiling … WASHINGTON — The White House said on Wednesday that there is no “Plan B” if Congress does not vote to increase the debt limit by August.  —  The debt limit, which is currently set at $14.29 trillion, was reached on Monday …