To prove that talking to it can be fruitful, not to abolish its nuclear program:

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama offered assurances that he did not intend for talks with Iran to become “an excuse for inaction,” a major concern of Israeli officials worried that Tehran will string out talks while making progress toward acquiring a nuclear weapon.| MORE ›

How things change when you’re in power:

He now opposes closing it anytime soon but naturally is A-OK with closing it at some murky, distant time in the future. Which, as far as I can tell, means he holds the same position on it as George W. Bush or Dick Cheney. Moe Lane thinks this is poll-driven but I’m more inclined to believe that someone with a national security background like Webb’s knew all along that it was a bad idea to close it and was simply giving The One political cover until there was a fig leaf available to let him flip-flop.| MORE ›

Another self-proclaimed moderate Republican attacked talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin recently.

John Weaver, who advised Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain, told Byron York that “[i]f it’s 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we’re headed for a blowout. That’s just the truth.”

He also said that Huntsman truly considered running for president in 2012.| MORE ›

A recent opinion poll shows that 31% of Israelis believe President Obama is pro-Israel. Considering the 44th president’s actions, associations and current approach towards the Middle East conflict, I can only conclude that these Israelis are either in denial or simply lack knowledge about what goes on in the States.

All irony aside, 31% is an exceptionally low number. Israelis tend to consider American presidents true friends and allies normally. With Obama, not so.| MORE ›

Politico reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be vulnerable to a revolt from within her own caucus. Drawing on the history of Speakers who have fallen prey before, Politico analyst John Feehery contends that the conditions are ripe for a “coup” by which moderate and conservative Democrats lead the charge to remove Pelosi as Speaker.| MORE ›

The L.A. Times reports that a sixth American has died from the swine or Mexican flu (also called H1N1):

A school assistant principal who was sick for several days with swine flu became the nation’s sixth death linked to the H1N1 virus on Sunday, and the city’s first.

Earlier Sunday, New York City officials decided to close five more schools today for up to five days because of concern about swine flu, bringing the total number of shuttered schools to 11.| MORE ›

During his commencement speech at the Catholic Notre Dame school, President Barack Obama called for understanding, tolerance and open-minded dialogue about abortion. Both sides of the debate, he said, have to be tolerant towards differing points of view.

That is easy to say for a man who does not understand those who truly believe that abortion is murder. Or, like Governor Mike Huckabee put it, as reprehensible as slavery.| MORE ›

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Parliamentary authorities, overseen by Michael Martin, the Speaker, gave secret permission for some MPs to over-claim for thousands of pounds in home loan interest in deals that led to the systematic abuse of the taxpayer-funded expenses system.

Ben Chapman, a Labour MP, admitted last night that he was allowed to continue claiming for interest payments on his entire mortgage after repaying £295,000 of the loan in 2002.| MORE ›

Andrew Breitbart recently took his wife out to the beach (and a hotel) for some quality time. The busy mother and the new media professional wanted to spend some time away from everybody else, and especially from politics. 

So they went to a beautiful hotel, where they would simply enjoy life and each other’s company.

Until the beautiful sunny day was ruined by anti-war protesters. “Stop forcing our children to die for your wars!” they chanted. 

Breitbart tried to control himself, but failed to do so.| MORE ›

‘Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program,’ the liberal paper of record the New York Times reports.

Adm.| MORE ›