Sarah Palin's Unlikely Supporter  —  ABC News' Sheila Marikar (@SheilaYM) reports from Pella, Iowa:  —  There's the stereotype of the Sarah Palin supporter, and then there's Sonnie Johnson.  —  The 30-year-old African-American mother and wife is featured in “The Undefeated” …

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Mainstream media covers up horrifying Obama mistake  —  No one in mainstream media seems inclined to mention Barack Obama's horrifying mistake last Thursday when, speaking at Fort Drum, he said that SFC Jared Monti was “the first person who I was able to award …

Reversing SSM in New York: The Campaign Begins  —  What can you do to restore marriage in New York?  —  The secretive, “emergency” process by which same-sex marriage was brought to New York last Friday night has left many outraged—even some supporters of same-sex marriage.

Bombers attack luxury hotel in Kabul  —  Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — A group of people using bombs and small arms attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul Tuesday, and fighting was ongoing with Afghan security forces, Chief of Criminal Investigation Mohammed Zahir told CNN.

Kucinich has language problem in Syria  —  Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) gave a press conference in Syria this week and appeared to heap praise upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is being widely criticized for the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in that country.

Ethics watchdog calls for FBI to investigate Rep. Richardson  —  Allegations of ethics violations within the office of Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) are worthy of a criminal investigation, a leading ethics watchdog group charged Tuesday.  —  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics …

Tearful Glenn Beck Describes How He And His Family Were Attacked In New York Park  —  “These people were some of the most hateful people I have ever seen,” said a distraught Glenn Beck this morning as he described an altercation he and his family had last night while watching a screening …

It's So Obvious  —  Believe it or not, Jason is the smartest of the trio.  —  My career in developing large scale systems that allow people to express themselves and communicate started in 1999 with Xanga.  I left after a couple years and got more academic about the democratization of information on the web.

Christine Lagarde named IMF chief  —  Christine Lagarde will start her five-year term at the IMF on 5 July  —  France's Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, 55, has been named the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  —  Ms Lagarde fought off Mexico's Agustin Carstens for the job …

BofA Nears Huge Settlement  —  $8.5 Billion Payment to Investors in Mortgage Securities Would Be Biggest Yet  —  Bank of America Corp. is close to an agreement to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims by a group of high-profile investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities purchased …

Bachmann plays Petty tune again  —  MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.—Maybe Tom Petty's cease-and-desist letter hasn't arrived yet.  —  The singer was reportedly nonplussed that Michele Bachmann played his “American Girl” classic when she officially kicked off her presidential campaign in Iowa Monday.

Two thousand years in one chart  —  An alternative timeline for the past two millennia  —  SOME people recite history from above, recording the grand deeds of great men.  Others tell history from below, arguing that one person's life is just as much a part of mankind's story as another's.

Tea Party Finds Power Leads to Policy Splits  —  HARRISBURG, Pa. — When Tea Party groups celebrated their victories here in November — they had helped take the governor's office and the legislature — it seemed that one of their priorities, school choice legislation, would have an easy time passing.

More Details Emerge in Wisconsin's ‘Chokegate’  —  With the Wisconsin Supreme Court devolving into a storyline only Vince McMahon could love, rumors are still swirling about what actually happened when two justices engaged in a physical confrontation behind closed doors on June 13.

White House dumps ‘secret shopper’ survey of doctors  —  The Obama administration will not move forward on a controversial proposal to have “secret shoppers” pose as patients to investigate how difficult it is for Americans to obtain primary care.  —  “On April 28th, the U.S. Department …

The joke of ‘secure Britain’: Vile banned militant extremist strolls through Heathrow immigration as 200 Somalian criminals are allowed to stay due to human rights  — European Court ruling stems from appeals by two asylum seekers convicted of offences including burglary, making threats to kill and drug dealing

How the demise of a trusted adviser could bring down Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  —  Iran's President has survived mass uprisings, but a corruption row engulfing his inner circle may soon be his undoing.  Robert Fisk reports from Tehran  —  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's irascible …

Obama Troop Cuts Went Beyond Largest Withdrawal Offered By Top General  —  Marine Lt. Gen. John Allen, nominated to replace Gen. David Petraeus as head of coalition forces in Afghanistan, acknowledged Tuesday that President Obama's decision to draw down 10,000 troops by the end of this year …

More on the Medicare-for-Revenues Swap Floated in Debt Limit Deal  —  Last week I noted that Max Baucus gave away the endgame in the debt limit talks - aside from the $1.5 trillion or so in spending cuts already agreed to, further cuts to Medicare would have to be teamed with co-equal increases in revenue.

Economics  —  Join our invited guests to debate economics  —  A response to:  —  Don't base monetary policy decisions on estimates of “slack”  —  THE Bank for International Settlements argues that due to high levels of structural unemployment there is less slack in the global economy than is commonly believed.

Austerity engulfs the high street  —  Thorntons joins growing list of casualties in a week of retail misery that could cost 10,000 jobs  —  More than 10,000 retail jobs face the axe as the British high street faces one of its most painful bouts of contraction since the second world war amid …

Kenner Councilman Joe Stagni apologizes for underwear picture, ‘inappropriate relation’  —  Kenner City Councilman Joe Stagni admitted today that he sent a picture of himself in his underwear to a city employee 18 months ago and that the image ended up on a city computer server.