Romney's Tax Confusion  —  The candidate's response on the ObamaCare mandate reveals larger campaign problems.  —  If Mitt Romney loses his run for the White House, a turning point will have been his decision Monday to absolve President Obama of raising taxes on the middle class.

Ann Romney: Obama's whole campaign strategy is “let's kill this guy”  —  (CBS News) On a mission to shatter the image of her husband as rigid and unrelatable, Ann Romney told CBS News she worries that President Obama's entire campaign strategy is “kill Romney.”

Fireworks Shot Off Early in Bay  —  Big Bay Boom fireworks display delayed after sudden burst  —  Thousands of people who camped out to watch the Big Bay Boom in San Diego's Glorietta Bay Wednesday night got more of a Big Bay Bust.  —  Port District authorities said a “technical difficulty” …

Obama Administration Challenges China's Unfair Imposition of Duties on American-Made Automobiles  —  Washington, D.C. - United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced today that the United States is challenging China's imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on more than $3 billion …

The Downside of Liberty  —  THIS spring I was on a panel at the Woodstock Writers Festival.  An audience member asked a question: Why had the revolution dreamed up in the late 1960s mostly been won on the social and cultural fronts — women's rights, gay rights, black president, ecology …

TV pilot an outlet for Rep. McCotter  —  Lowbrow project was a way to deal with his failed presidential bid  —  As U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter's short-lived presidential run fizzled last year, the Livonia Republican turned to another aspiration: writing a TV show.

Corzine is having no fun in the shun  —  How the mighty have fallen.  —  It seems like only yesterday that Jon Corzine was the life of the party, holding court on the Hamptons political circuit, raising money for Barack Obama.  —  Now, Corzine — just months removed from a humiliating financial scandal …

Marine Corps band plays Romney song on White House lawn  —  A subset of the Marine Corps band struck up one of Mitt Romney's walkout songs while President Obama was greeting visitors at the White House Independence Day celebration.  —  A White House pool report said the band struck up Rodney Atkins's …

Alabama Pastor Holds ‘Whites Only’ Conference  —  All loving Christians are invited to celebrate the word of God at Rev. William Collier's annual conference — that is, as long and they are white.  —  Collier's Alabama town is outraged over the flyer for his pastors' conference, which specifies “All White Christians Invited.”

Why Health-Spending Trend Matters  —  Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared President Barack Obama's health-care initiative constitutional, the next health policy move awaits the outcome of the November elections.  —  But the U.S. health-care system isn't waiting.

Hopeful signs emerge for struggling jobs market  —  (Reuters) - U.S. private employers stepped up hiring in June and the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits last week fell by the most in two months, hopeful signs for the struggling labor market.

Verizon: net neutrality violates our free speech rights  —  Company argues FCC regulations run afoul of Fifth Amendment property rights too.  —  “Can you hear me now?”  —  Aurich Lawson  —  Verizon pressed its argument against the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules …

Partisans Agree: Presidential Election Will Be Exhausting  —  Republicans Find General Election Less Interesting than Primaries  —  OVERVIEW  —  Republicans and Democrats find little to agree on these days, but they have some similar reactions to the 2012 presidential campaign.

Judge: George Zimmerman's new bond $1 million  —  A Sanford judge today ordered George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, released on $1 million bail.  —  It was not immediately clear how long it would take the 28-year-old Zimmerman to arrange his release.