Anthony Weiner hires attorney in Twitter incident  —  'This was a prank, and a silly one.  I'm focused on my work,' said Weiner of the Twitter mishap.  AP Photo  —  New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has retained an attorney to advise him “what civil or criminal actions should be taken” …

Bernstein: Obama Economic Team Had “No Appetite” for Direct, Public Job Creation  —  Paul Krugman had a good column today on how America needed to end its “learned helplessness” on the jobs crisis.  He cited multiple options of things the government could do right now to create jobs …

Confusion on Day 2 of Palin bus tour  —  Day 2 of Sarah Palin's bus tour, and the former vice presidential nominee has prompted little more than confusion over exactly what she is up to.  —  Palin started Memorial Day at the National Archives in Washington, but the only reporters …

Al-Jazeera footage captures ‘western troops on the ground’ in Libya  —  Five of Gaddafi's generals are among latest defectors to rebels as South African president seeks to broker ceasefire  —  Armed westerners have been filmed on the front line with rebels near Misrata in the first apparent confirmation …

Rolling Stone slimes Fox  —  I know this is like noting that the pope was seen praying, but Rolling Stone magazine just trashed Fox News and its chairman, Roger Ailes.  Still, the piece, “The Fox News fear factory,” which was written by Tom Dickinson, is worth examining, if only for what it reveals about its author.

Iran cleric: Killing Israeli children OK  —  Iranian Ayatollah endorses evil: Radical religious cleric known as President Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor says attacks on Israeli civilians permissible, suicide bombings a Muslim duty  —  Evil words in Islamic Republic: A senior Iranian cleric …

As Physicians' Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics  —  AUGUSTA, Me.  — With Republicans in complete control of Maine's state government for the first time since 1962, State Senator Lois A. Snowe-Mello offered a bill in February to limit doctors' liability that she was sure the powerful doctors' lobby would cheer.

Muslim girl, 19, ‘stoned to death after taking part in beauty contest’  —  A teenage Muslim girl was stoned to death under ‘Sharia law’ after taking part in a beauty contest in Ukraine.  —  Katya Koren, 19, was found dead in a village in the Crimea region near her home.

Housing Index Is Expected to Show a New Low in Prices  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The desire to own your own home, long a bedrock of the American Dream, is fast becoming a casualty of the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression.  —  Even as the economy began to fitfully recover in the last year …

No, Seriously, What's the Democratic Plan?  —  Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D., Fla.) “explains” the Democratic “plan” to save Medicare from impending bankruptcy: Step 1) Demagogue the Ryan plan (it “throws seniors to the wolves,” etc.), Step 2) ...

The Fix: Republican presidential contenders' first real test begins on Memorial Day  —  The next 98 days will be a time of testing for the men and women running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.  —  With the field largely settled, the three months between Memorial Day and Labor …