The Private Sector is Doing Fine.  The Political Press?  Eh...  - Obama Blames Europe, Asia, and Everyone Else for America's Economic Woes  — Stop Laughing About the LinkedIn Security Breach.  It's More Serious Than You Think.  - Prometheus Is Deep but Not Very Smart …

E-Mails Highlight Extent of Obama's Deal With Industry on Health Care  —  WASHINGTON — After weeks of talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous.  To cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure that President Obama would stop a proposal intended to bring down medicine prices.

Don Rickles Shocks Hollywood Crowd With Racial Obama Joke  —  The 86-year-old comic brought his shtick to the AFI's Shirley MacLaine tribute; likened the president to a janitor.  —  Don Rickles nearly hijacked the American Film Institute's tribute to Shirley MacLaine on Thursday night …

Romney heckler and a Biz owner in Council Bluffs: We were disrespected  —  Council Bluffs, Ia.  — A 62-year-old Vietnam veteran who continuously disrupted Mitt Romney's event here today by screaming “liar” over a megaphone says he was disrespected by security and guests who shouted insults …

Elizabeth Warren dodges questions at Netroots Nation - security guards block me  —  I returned to Netroots Nation today.  —  At lunch, I went to listen to Elizabeth Warren's speech and panel discussion.  I wanted to ask her a few questions after her panel, which was entitled “2012 and the War on (and for) Women.”

Absence Makes the Vote Grow Bigger for GOP  —  The Play: Getting out the absentee vote  —  The Strategy: As Mr. Walker, Wisconsin's Republican governor, tried to fend off an effort to recall him from office over his law limiting union power, Republicans rolled out a program to encourage less …

'Schindler's List' Producer Claims Graduation Speech Censorship  —  A controversy erupted in a small Montana town after a high school principal prevented Oscar winner Gerald Molen from delivering his planned speech because he's “a right-wing conservative.”  —  Gerald Molen won a best picture Oscar …

Kimberlin's Cronies Go After The Lid  —  As I mentioned earlier this week today has been declared a national day of blogger silence/action to protect blogger freedom of speech.  Since Ace suggested we use today to urge congress protect free speech the day has taken on more significance to me personally, yesterday

Koran-Hating Pastor Hangs Barack Obama In Effigy In Florida Church's Front Yard  —  The Florida pastor who ignited an international furor by threatening to burn a pile of Korans has applied his subtle touch to the 2012 presidential campaign by constructing a gallows from which a likeness of President Barack Obama now hangs in effigy.

Booker's big mouth ruins relationship with Obama, Cabinet hopes  —  It's bye-bye, Beltway for Cory Booker.  —  Newark's mayor, who was gunning for a spot in President Obama's Cabinet, lost the chance after he shot his mouth off during a blunderingly honest TV appearance last month, sources told The Post.

Would be ‘an honor’ to be Romney's VP  —  (CNN) - A day after endorsing Mitt Romney, Sen. Rand Paul said it would be an honor to run alongside the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.  —  “A year, year and a half ago, I was a physician in a small town,” Paul, the junior Republican senator from Kentucky, told CNN's Don Lemon.

Eric Holder unaware that court visitors must show ID  —  Due to a recent work assignment, I had the opportunity to enter a federal courthouse about 200 times in the past six weeks or so.  Each and every time, I was asked for a photo ID, which the court security officer looked at and then allowed me to put away in my wallet.

NPR: Criticism of President Coming from ‘GOP Dope’  —  National Public Radio has a blog post about President Obama's statement this morning on the private sector—and how conservatives reacted to the president's assertion that"the private sector is doing fine."  The title of the post?

Orlando man with Zimmerman's old phone number slammed by threatening calls  —  At age 49, Junior Alexander Guy got his first cell phone last month.  The calls started immediately.  —  Strangers called at all hours.  Some were insulting.  Others angry.  Sometimes, they threatened him.

Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought  —  As Sen. Sam Ervin completed his 20-year Senate career in 1974 and issued his final report as chairman of the Senate Watergate committee, he posed the question: “What was Watergate?”