U.S. Adults Estimate That 25% of Americans Are Gay or Lesbian  —  Those with lower incomes, the less educated, women, and young people give the highest estimates  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian.

Gil Scott-Heron, Poet And Musician, Has Died  —  Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported.  He was 62.  The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

Comedy Gold: Meghan McCain Blames Her Lousy Dating Life on Sarah Palin  —  America's Most Famous Dumb Blonde:  —  Jay Leno: Are you dating anyone?  —  Meghan McCain: No. I'm in, like, dating Babylon.  Like, I go on dates with men and, literally, like Sarah Palin will come up in like the first 20 minutes …

Don't Scorn Paul Ryan  —  I hadn't realized until I met him on Tuesday that Paul Ryan had been a protégé of Jack Kemp.  But the minute I heard him talking about his late mentor, everything suddenly made sense.  —  Kemp — the former pro football quarterback …

Iran reportedly aiding Syrian crackdown  —  U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force — into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region.

By blocking its leader, GOP constrains consumer bureau  —  Republicans might have found a way to constrain the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: make it an agency without a leader.  —  The increasingly bitter fight over whether Elizabeth Warren should head the new agency might …

Is “Now Hiring” the new “We do our part” sign of the Depression?  —  Why are there “Now Hiring” signs in front of so many businesses these days when so many people are complaining about not finding a job?  Everywhere I go in Knoxville, there are generic “Now Hiring” signs from the hotels …

John Edwards: A jerk, not a felon  —  As far as I'm concerned, John Edwards is pond scum.  Last I checked, that's not a crime.  —  We can stipulate, I think, to the pond scum part.  The man cheated on his wife — and defended himself by noting that her cancer was in remission at the time.

Forget the debt ceiling and focus on debt  —  On May 15, the US hit its “debt ceiling” of $14,300bn, covering publicly owned debt held by the Federal Reserve and government trust funds, and Washington is in a furore.  While budget debates are often more talk than action, this one needs more talk - but of a different kind.

Wikileaks: Speculators Helped Cause Oil Bubble  —  When oil prices surged to a ridiculous $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008, conventional wisdom held that normal supply and demand issues were the cause.  Both the Bush administration (in the form of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) …

Judge Voids Ban on Campaign Donations by Business  —  A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a century-old law banning political contributions from corporations, a ruling that, if upheld, could have major implications for the rules governing campaign fund-raising and spending.

Are Dems drawing hard line on Medicare after all?  —  Is it possible that Democrats participating in the Biden-led deficit reduction talks are drawing a hard line against any cuts to Medicare benefits?  —  Many liberals fear that Dems will cave on this point.

This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today  —  Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado  —  There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.

The R-Word  —  Rep. Jim Clyburn and the new racial taboo.  —  Yesterday we noted a McClatchy Newspapers report that Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the assistant House Democratic leader and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, “blamed most of President Barack Obama's political problems on racism.”

Spotlight takes toll on first lady's staff  —  Less than three years into the job, first lady Michelle Obama is on her third chief of staff and third social secretary.  She is on her second communications director, the White House chief usher recently departed, and her press secretary's last day is Friday.

Romney Hearts Ethanol Subsidies  —  DES MOINES — It was an odd setting for a policy pronouncement, but on the sidewalk outside the Historical Building here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney embraced ethanol subsidies.  It came just days after and blocks from where his rival …