Obama Opts for Faster Afghan Pullout  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 “surge,” by the end of next summer …

Palin Bus Tour Takes Extended Pit Stop  —  Less than a month after she appeared poised to shake up the Republican presidential campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has once again receded from the 2012 limelight.  —  When Palin launched her “One Nation” bus tour on Memorial Day amid …

My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant  —  One August morning nearly two decades ago, my mother woke me and put me in a cab.  She handed me a jacket.  “Baka malamig doon” were among the few words she said.  ("It might be cold there.")  When I arrived at the Philippines' Ninoy Aquino International Airport …

Climate of Denial  —  Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison?  —  AL GORE  —  The first time I remember hearing the question “is it real?” was when I went as a young boy to see a traveling show put on by “professional wrestlers” one summer evening in the gym …

Michele Bachmann's Holy War  —  The Tea Party contender may seem like a goofball, but be warned: Her presidential campaign is no laughing matter  —  Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and, as you consider the career and future presidential prospects of an incredible American phenomenon named Michele Bachmann, do one more thing.

CBO: We'll only have giant deficits if Congress wants giant deficits  —  The Congressional Budget Office just released the latest edition of its long-term budget outlook (pdf), and it shows the same thing as always: If Congress lets the Bush tax cuts expire or offsets their extension …

Democrats Explicitly Call Out GOP For Sabotaging The Economic Recovery  —  They've made it explicit.  Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to sabotage the recovery — or at least stall it — by blocking all short-term measures to boost the economy, even ones they previously supported.

Silver sees session end today, ready for SSM tweaks  —  After spending 90 minutes meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, legislative leaders emerged to say they have not fully ironed out details of the “big ugly” framework containing a property tax cap, rent regulation renewal and relief of some local government mandates.

CAIR Loses IRS Status  —  Donations to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) no longer are tax deductible after the organization was among 275,000 tax-exempt organizations purged earlier this month by the Internal Revenue Service.  —  The groups failed to file required annual reports …

WRAPUP 4-Democrats call for new spending in US debt deal  —  * Biden group pushes ahead in deficit-reduction talks  —  * CBO says benefits will swamp economy in long term (Adds quotes from Bernanke)  —  Democratic leaders called on Wednesday for additional spending to boost the sluggish U.S. economy …

Andrew Sullivan Has No Idea What He's Talking about, but I Agree with His Conclusion  —  Even though he's become rather partisan in recent years, I still enjoy an occasional visit to Andrew Sullivan's blog.  But I was rather amused last night when I read one of his posts …

Lawmakers Re-Introduce The Equal Rights Amendment In Response To Wal-Mart Ruling  —  This week, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to 1.5 million women by throwing out their charges of comprehensive gender discrimination by retail behemoth Walmart in a 5-4 decision.

Staff quit because “I'm different,” Gingrich says  —  (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday attributed the mass resignations among his campaign staff to the fact that he is “very different” from mainstream politicians.  —  “Philosophically …

Has O.J. Simpson confessed murder to Oprah?  Huge TV interview planned in which convict ‘will admit he killed Nicole in self-defence as she pulled a knife on him’  —  O.J Simpson has confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he murdered his former wife, it has been reported.

Self publishing writer becomes million seller  —  An entrepreneur has turned the writing world upside down by becoming the first author to sell more than a million electronic books without a publishing deal.  —  In the last year John has had four of the top 10 books on Amazon/Kindle at the same time, including number one and two

The Surprising Roots of Liberal Nostalgia  —  World War II created confidence in large institutions and big government.  But few would want the cultural conformity of the mid-20th century back.  —  There's a longing on the left for the golden years of the 1940s, '50s and early '60s.

Et Tu, Gephardt?  —  The former Democratic leader of the House writes an op-ed calling — gently, gently — for the repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. … He sounds awfully concerned, but why?  We look for clues in the client list provided by Gephardt Government Affairs.

Tobey Maguire Sued Over Multi-Million Dollar Illegal Poker Game; DiCaprio, Affleck & Damon Involved  —  Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire is among more than a dozen high-profile Hollywood celebrities being sued in connection with a mega-millions illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes underground poker games …

Huntsman's family gave nearly $25,000 to Reid last cycle  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said this week he prefers Jon Huntsman to Mitt Romney in the GOP Mormon presidential primary, has taken a lot of money from the Huntsman family, and the former Utah governor appointed Reid's son, Josh, to Utah's Board of Regents.

Economic Trouble Puzzles Fed Chief, Too  —  The economy's continuing struggles aren't just confounding ordinary Americans.  They've also stumped the head of the Federal Reserve.  —  Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters Wednesday that the central bank had been caught off guard by recent signs of deterioration in the economy.