Michael Cohen argues that our system is broken because Republicans will no longer compromise.

Fascinating exchange from the late 1970s.

The Air Force has suspended a course that teaches nuclear officers that Christian ethics permit them to do their job.

An amusing claim–but probably not true.

Vice President Biden has called Congressional Republicans and their Tea Party backers “terrorists.”

Condi Rice’s speechwriter thinks Huntsman can appeal to the Tea Party.

Now that America’s political leadership have probably averted a self-inflicted global economic calamity, it’s time to assess the winners and losers.

President Obama and Congressional Republicans have the outline of a deal to raise the debt limit past the 2012 elections.

The failure of House Republicans to pass a bill that would have been dead on arrival in the Senate, anyway, raises questions about whether a deal is possible and whether John Boehner can lead his own coalition.

A European anti-Muslim blogger observes, ‘It is clear that Anders Behring Breivik is one of us.'”

Steven Metz muses, “Scholars argue that too much political mobilization can make democracies dysfunction. Is that where the US is today?”

Contrary to myth, China holds only 8 percent of US federal debt.

News that Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik was a fan of anti-Islamist sites, including Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch and Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs has opened a big can of schadenfreude.

The Defense Business Board wants to do away with the pension at 20 years.

European leaders have put another Band Aid on the Greek sovereign debt crisis while America’s leaders are trying to stave off a self-inflicted financial default.

If a crisis over the national debt is averted, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn may be the unlikely hero.

Cornel West is a bright and accomplished man. He has his PhD from Princeton and has inspired bidding wars between prestigious universities for his services. But, man, he’s out there.

A legendary American soldier, General John Shalikashvili, has died.

On reflection, Al Franken was right.

The death toll in Norway’s deadliest day of terrorism is up to 91. The man behind it, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, is a frequent poster of anti-Muslim screeds on Christian fundamentalist websites.

A bomb blast in Oslo’s government center has killed at least two people and a presumably related shooting spree at a nearby children’s camp are being investigated as terrorist related.

Are the new crop of GOP governors too conservative?

The ban on gays openly serving in the military will end in September, nine months after President Obama signed the repeal into law.

Workers picketing a Chicago Hyatt hotel yesterday got an unpleasant surprise: Heat lamps.

Daniel Indiviglio makes “The Case for Making Wages Public: Better Pay, Better Workers.”

President Obama is polling at 46.8 percent, below the level needed to win re-election.

Senator Al Franken called Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery a liar in yesterday’s hearing on DOMA. Franken was the one being dishonest.

One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an a**hole.

The Army is fielding tiny blast sensors to gauge the effects of explosions on individual soldiers.

Freshman GOP Representative Allen West is a loose cannon and unfit for office.

Is NATO prepared for what happens when they win?

Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a man with shaving cream 2 hours into Parliamentary testimony.

A video of the New York Times website from September 2010 to July 2011.

Where is the line on using the White House to further the president’s re-election effort?

David Brooks is mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore.

If you don’t eat your peas you’ll grow up to be a Congressman!

WSJ has a blistering editorial seeking to put the NewsCorp hacking scandal in perspective.

As the Republican leadership reaches a deal with President Obama, the biggest stumbling block may be the newest members of their own coalition.

The choice is not between British-style socialized medicine and a free market in health care.

The Obama campaign is stressing that 98 percent of its donations were from little guys contributing $250 or less. But 40 percent of the money came from a handful of major donors.

A majority of Americans want to ban smoking in public; a fifth want to ban it even in private.

A Mitch McConnell-Harry Reid brokered deal on the debt ceiling looks promising.

I’ve been hearing whispers that Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, is gay for a while. It’s now exploding into a full-on meme.

Stephen Bainbridge has a new e-book out about a 25-year-old Delaware Supreme Court case.

Mark Dayton is willing to give in to key Republican demands to end a two-week shutdown. Will it be enough?

A mistrial has been ruled in the Roger Clemens perjury trial and the judge may rule that a retrial would constitute double jeopardy.