Margaret Thatcher to Sarah Palin: don't bother dropping by  —  Allies of former prime minister regard darling of Tea Party movement as a frivolous figure unworthy of an audience  —  Sarah Palin wants to show to the Republican right that she is the true keeper of the Ronald Reagan flame …

Weiner Told Porn Star to Lie, Offered PR Help  —  Congressman Anthony Weiner instructed one of his Internet women how to lie about their relationship ... and even offered PR help from his team, which could create major legal issues for him ... TMZ has learned.

Flim-Flammed  —  I've been getting requests that I respond to my colleague David Brooks's column today.  Actually, I'll just outsource it.  Read Ezra Klein, Jonathan Chait, and Jonathan Cohn.  The bottom line is, sorry, the evidence is indeed dispositive: decentralized, “consumer-based” …

President Obama's phony accounting on the auto industry bailout  —  “Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency.”  —  With some of the economic indicators looking a bit dicey, President Obama traveled to Ohio last week …

Rep. Weiner's Cyber Sex Chat With Las Vegas Mistress — Word For Word  —  It's the full monty.  —  RadarOnline.com is publishing for the first time the entire transcript of disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner's nine-month cyber sex relationship with a 40-year-old Las Vegas blackjack dealer.  —  Word for word.

Marriage headed for a crotch-photo finish  —  She is so out of here.  —  On the day Anthony Weiner needed his wife the most, she vanished — poof! — like his harem of feisty Twitter chippies during a power outage.  —  The gorgeous and furious Internet cuckold Huma Abedin refused yesterday to stand by her man.

EXCLUSIVE: Herman Cain Pledges Not To Sign Any Bill Longer Than Three Pages  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from the Family Leader Presidential Lecture Series in Pella, Iowa.  —  GOP presidential contender and former pizza executive Herman Cain roused conservative audience members yesterday at his appearance in Pella, Iowa.

The $2.5 Trillion Tragedy: What America Has Given Up For 10 Years Of Bush Tax Cuts  —  We could've guaranteed health care for every child for the cost of the Bush tax cuts.  —  Today marks the 10th anniversary of former President George W. Bush signing into law his 2001 tax cuts (he passed a second round in 2003).

Revisiting Unemployment Predictions  —  Back in January 2009, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein produced a report estimating future unemployment rates with and without a stimulus plan.  Their estimates, which were widely circulated, projected that unemployment would approach 9% without a stimulus …

BTB Original Investigation: The True Story of George Rekers And “Kraig”  —  In the summer of 1970, just before Kirk's fifth birthday, his parents learned about a new federally funded research program at UCLA for young boys who were showing early signs of being effeminate.

Conservative group: Fake eviction notices were ‘meant to startle people’  —  / MIKE BROOKBANK / Detroit Free Press 6/7/2011  —  The state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity offered no apologies today for papering homes in Detroit's Delray district Monday with fake eviction notices.

Tim Pawlenty's fantasy economic plan  —  Economic plans are often disappointing and underpowered.  They're occasionally radical and even inspiring.  They're frequently dull.  They're rarely hilarious.  But Tim Pawlenty's proposal is the exception.  I'm going to quote from it extensively …

On College Campuses, Obama's Not Cool Anymore  —  President Obama poll numbers are nearing the levels he enjoyed in 2008, with one glaring exception: young people.  Especially young white people.  His approval rating is at 56 percent approval rating among people ages 18 to 29.

RedState sells ‘endorsement’ [UPDATED]  —  The endorsement of Erick Erickson, the founder of the conservative blog RedState and a CNN contributor is for sale as part of an advertising package, according to an email circulated by an account executive for The Human Events Group -Eagle Publishing, which recently purchased the site.

The U.S. Economic Outlook  —  I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to participate once again in the International Monetary Conference.  I will begin with a brief update on the outlook for the U.S. economy, then discuss recent developments in global commodity markets …

Obama loses bin Laden bounce; Romney on the move among GOP contenders  —  The public opinion boost President Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden has dissipated, and Americans' disapproval of how he is handling the nation's economy and the deficit has reached new highs, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

GOP attacks Dems from the left, accuses them of shredding ‘social safety net’  —  So it's come to this: Now Republicans are accusing Democrats of wanting to “shred the social safety net.”  —  As I've noted here before, Republicans have again taken to attacking Dems from the left on Medicare …

The 10-Word Question That Could Cost Obama the Election  —  The year 1980 was one in which economic forecasting models were in agreement that the economy had slumped too significantly to allow President Jimmy Carter to win re-election.  Unemployment was at 7.5 percent and inflation was at 9.7 percent.

Settlers of Catan: How a German Board Game Went Mainstream  —  Two decades after it was invented, this game is about to become a household name.  How did it happen?  —  gadl/flickr  —  Last Christmas, I tore the wrapping paper off a rectangular box, expecting at best I'd see an iPad, at worst a Kindle.

U.S. funding for future promises lags by trillions  —  The federal government's financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows.  —  The government added $5.3 trillion …

What Your Taxes Do (and Don't) Buy for You  —  Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served  —  on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul.  —  Last week I showed that total taxes at the federal level …

Adventures in 18th Century Health Care  —  From Robert Middlekauf's The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789: … I think discussions of health care economics pay far too little attention to the question of pre-modern health care.  People have been earning a living as medical professionals for a long time.