The Post.

On the press actually being critical of Obama.

Heritage:

Why would Wal-Mart – the nation’s largest employer – endorse such an idea?

Simple: It would cripple many of their competitors. (more…)

WSJ:

The Supreme Court’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano is very good news. The court said clearly and decisively that employment law only rarely permits quotas to remedy racial imbalance. (more…)

Times:

It may not be “Mission accomplished,” but we are getting closer. Yesterday, the United States completed the process of withdrawing from Iraq’s cities. American forces closed or turned over to Iraqi authorities 150 bases and facilities. The Iraqis are happy to see us go, and we are glad to be leaving.

The pullout is more proof of the effectiveness of the surge strategy adopted in early 2007 over vociferous Democratic objections, particularly from then-Sen. Barack Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who now ironically direct our foreign policy.

Jpost.com.

Post:

THE Obama administration is reacting to the antici pated launch of another North Korean long-range ballistic missile, expected to fly over the Pacific toward Hawaii sometime soon, by putting missile defense on alert.

That’s a big change from last time.

CNET:

There’s a reason the first thing in Windows 7 that Microsoft chose to show publicly was its support for touch input. (more…)

CNET:

Bing took a baby step up the search engine ladder in its first month on the Internet. (more…)

CNET:

Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty says Apple is outperforming the PC market in sales growth, and this was before Apple released its new MacBook Pros in June, according to a report on Fortune’s Apple 2.0 Wednesday. Of course, releasing a new notebook would only spur sales for the months after its release. (more…)

CNET:

Yahoo has released a test version of a Delicious social bookmarking extension for Chrome, one of the strongest indications so far that the technology foundation is coming to fruition in Google’s browser. (more…)

CNET:

Microsoft is trying to get a leg up in the real-time search wars by adding Twitter messages to search results. (more…)

CNET:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–The computer security industry historically borrows military defense concepts to combatdigital threats, literally creating war rooms where experts follow attacks in progress on huge screens with phones ringing off the hook. (more…)

WSJ:

Declines in U.S. manufacturing activity slowed last month, raising the likelihood that the sector — and perhaps the broader economy — could see growth in the second half of the year. But separate reports showed the labor market remains weak, an obstacle to recovery.

Rising production and a shallower drop in employment helped push the Institute for Supply Management’s index of manufacturing activity to 44.8 in June from 42.8 in May. It was the sixth straight monthly increase, though activity still remains below the 50 level that signals overall growth in the sector.

CNET:

In the long list of copyright cases brought by the Recording Industry Association of America, this one stands out for all the drama it provided, and depending on which side you talk to, the amount of precedent-setting decisions involved. Usenet.com lawyers argue the presiding judge diluted the power of the landmark 1984 Betamax case. RIAA attorneys sigh, and say their opponents are just trying to inflame the public.

In what became a provocative sideshow during the proceedings, the RIAA alleged that Usenet.com destroyed evidence and prevented employees from being questioned by RIAA lawyers, going so far as shipping some of them off on extended trips to Europe. Presiding U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, of the Southern District of New York, was unamused and sanctioned Usenet.com.

AP:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage applications plunged to a seven-month low last week as demand for home refinancing loans tumbled 30 percent, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday. (more…)

Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Millionaire investors lost their springtime cheer and turned pessimistic in June as worries over the economy and political climate soured the mood, according to an index released on Wednesday.

High rollers became slightly bearish last month, according to the index that measures investment sentiment of the wealthy.

The plunge of 18 points to -20 on the Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index in June was a record drop for the index, which was created in 2004.

AP:

ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) – President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. (more…)

Post:

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 2 — Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military’s new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

The operation will involve about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which was dispatched to Afghanistan this year by President Obama to combat a growing Taliban insurgency in Helmand and other southern provinces. The Marines, along with an Army brigade that is scheduled to arrive later this summer, plan to push into pockets of the country where NATO forces have not had a presence. In many of those areas, the Taliban has evicted local police and government officials and taken power. (more…)

Chronicle:

In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?

The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun.

“I’ll do the talking on this one,” agent Tim Sloan, of South Carolina, told partner Brian Tumiel, of New York.