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Israeli officials have deployed a Patriot surface-to-air anti-missile battery to northern Israel Monday, in an apparent response to the appearance of a mysterious drone in Israeli airspace over the weekend. On Saturday, an Israel Air Force jet shot down an unmanned aerial drone over the Negev desert in southern Israel. Israeli officials said they believed the craft had originated in Lebanon and was controlled by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. According to the Israel Defense Force, the drone entered Israel from Mediterranean, flying over the Gaza Strip and then over the Negev. It was shot down south of the West...

Iowa voters are used to questioning presidential candidates up close during their caucus process and on Paul Ryan's bus trip in eastern Iowa on Tuesday it was no different. At a town hall in Clinton, Ryan was asked for more specifics from a voter. Friday, that voter wrote an op-ed in the Quad City Times objecting to how she feels her question was portrayed by the Obama campaign and the media. "I am the woman in the Green Bay Packer jacket at Rep. Paul Ryan's rally in Clinton who asked him the question about specific plans to fix our...

Answer here.

Jim Lehrer moderating.

(CNN) - President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney spoke separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone on Friday, the day after the Israeli leader publicly urged the international community to draw a "clear red line" with Iran over its suspected nuclear development program. The White House released a statement on the president's phone call shortly after 1 p.m. ET. Obama's call with Netanyahu was more than 20 minutes, according to a senior administration official.

A large majority of likely voters believes all Americans should pay some federal income tax -- even if it is as little as one percent of what they make.     Seventy-nine percent say everyone should pay something, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.  That includes 85 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents and 71 percent of Democrats. According to the IRS, last year approximately 41 percent of tax filers did not pay federal income tax.  The Tax Policy Center estimates that will increase to 46 percent this year.   Most voters (73 percent) are at least somewhat...

Dozens of senior-level U.S. government officials turned a blind eye to public safety as they pursued an ill-conceived and poorly managed investigation into gun trafficking in Mexico, according to a long-awaited inspector general's report on Operation Fast and Furious. Portions of the Justice Department IG report, which has not been made public, were obtained exclusively by Fox News Channel. The report and accompanying accounts cite a failure in leadership and a lack of accountability and oversight up and down the chain of command at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Justice Department itself and other offices....

Video The official Democratic Party platform "strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay."Reason TV talked with Democratic delegates and supporters at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte and found that most were on board with the party's strong pro-choice stance. But when pressed to talk about whether or not they were pro-choice in areas of human activity beyond abortion, delegates and supporters seemed less certain and, at times, outright hostile to the notion of increased choice. Approximately 4 minutes.Produced by Paul...

Longtime State Capitol Employee Cites Harassment By Protestor "Segway Boy" Jeremy Ryan; Police Seek Criminal Charges

Bloomberg - link only More spending...

Turns out there are leaks everywhere, even among Navy SEALs.Fox News obtained and released the identity of the author of the controversial new book "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden,"  due to come out on the anniversary of 9/11."Mark Owen," the pseudonym under which the book was written, is actually 35 year-old Matt Bissonnette of Wrangell, Alaska. Bissonnette held the rank of chief in the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 prior to retiring. He was one of the first men in the room where bin Laden died, witnessing the occurrence first-hand. We...

House Republicans on Monday asked the federal courts to intervene and force the Obama administration to turn over documents from the botched Fast and Furious gun-walking operation, escalating what had been a simmering constitutional crisis.House Speaker John A. Boehner said President Obama and his team were ignoring a congressional subpoena — something the courts have long recognized as valid — and said lawmakers were left with no choice but to ask the third branch to referee.“By stonewalling Congress and ignoring a contempt order, the Justice Department has left the House no choice but to take legal action so we can...

Nearly 500,000 eligible voters in 10 states with restrictive voter ID laws live in households without vehicles and reside at least 10 miles from an ID-issuing office open more than two days a week, a new Brennan Center for Justice study found. Because many of these voters may not have driver’s licenses — and nearly all live in rural areas with dwindling public transportation options — it could be significantly harder for them to get an ID and cast a ballot. The report undercuts the claim by many politicians that eligible voters can easily obtain a free ID to vote....

The eyesight of thousands of elderly people has been put in jeopardy as NHS trusts place harsh restrictions on cataract surgery. Last year the number of operations being carried out on the Health Service fell by more than a quarter in some areas. And more than half of the NHS trusts in England have imposed their own criteria for the surgery which are tougher than national guidelines, according to research by the Royal National Institute of Blind People. MPs will hear today that, for many trusts, the number being treated for  cataracts fell dramatically despite an ageing population. Labour health...

The GOP Senate race has tightened since last month with former governor Tommy Thompson and wealthy businessman Eric Hovde the top contenders in a four-man field, according to a poll released Wednesday by Marquette Law School. Thompson led Hovde 35% to 23% among likely Republican primary voters in the survey, followed by former congressman Mark Neumann at 10% and state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald at 6%.A separate survey released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling found the Republican race even closer, with Hovde on top at 31%, Thompson at 29%, Neumann at 15% and Fitzgerald at 9%.Both surveys found Hovde on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the first-ever U.S. proposed rules governing heat-trapping greenhouse gases, clearing a path for sweeping regulations affecting vehicles, coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities. Handing a setback to industry and a victory to the Obama administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that carbon dioxide is a public danger and the decision to set limits for emissions from cars and light trucks were "neither arbitrary nor capricious." The ruling, which addresses four separate lawsuits, upholds the underpinnings of the...

Madison - The state Judicial Commission was unanimous in its decision to file an ethics complaint against Justice David Prosser in January, but split 3-3 a month later on whether to reconsider the decision, newly released records show. The commission went on in March to file the complaint alleging Prosser violated the ethics code for judges by putting his hands on the neck of Justice Ann Walsh Bradley during an argument in June 2011 Prosser contends he didn't violate ethics rules and that his hands touched Bradley's neck in a defensive reflex when she confronted him face to face.The Judicial...

Sheboygan-based Piggly Wiggly Midwest notified the state on Tuesday it intends to close its south-side Sheboygan store by Sept. 1, the same store that had been the subject of a recent complaint by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.The closing would result in the loss of 108 jobs at the store at 3124 South Business Drive, the notice to the state Department of Workforce Development said. Workers would not be offered bumping rights to other locations. The letter was signed by Piggly Wiggly President Paul Butera, who addressed a copy to Sheboygan Mayor Terry Van Akkeren. In May, a...

MANAMA, Bahrain, June 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy is doubling the size of its Persian Gulf naval base at Manama, which officials say will greatly enhance the capabilities of the U.S. 5th Fleet, which has headquarters in the island state. Officials are reluctant to link the $580 million expansion to the confrontation with Iran across the gulf.They say the project has been in the works since 2003 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But it coincides with a sharp increase in Iranian naval activity in the gulf in recent weeks.Work on the upgrade began late in...

It's Hemmer Time - A "thank you" letter to the left