One way to understand the divisions in the Republican Party is as a clash of regional philosophies. Northeastern conservatism is moderate, accepts the modern welfare state, and dislikes mixing religion with politics. Western conservatism is hawkish, hates government, and embraces individual freedom. Southern conservatism is populist, draws on evangelical Christianity, and plays upon racial resentments. The big drama of the GOP over the past several decades has been the Northeastern view giving way to the Southern one. To see this transformation in a single family, witness the shift from George H.W. Bush to George W. Bush.

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Late Friday night as the Memorial Day weekend began, Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, in effect, suspended the state’s Democratic attorney general from defending the new law in upcoming legal challenges. The measure, known as S.B. 1070, is due to take effect this summer and, among other things, allows local police under federal guidelines to check the immigration status of people they stop. (For a full list of background stories, see Related Items below.)

HOUSTON – BP engineers struggled Friday to plug a gushing oil well a mile under the sea, but as of late in the day they had made little headway in stemming the flow.

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VENICE, La./HOUSTON, May 29 (Reuters) - BP Plc (BP.L) said on Saturday the complex “top kill” maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.

The germ, known as Clostridium difficile, has long plagued the medical profession and is blamed for an increasing amount of illness in patients.

(Reuters) – Gay and lesbian activists eluded Russian security services in a five-hour game of cat and mouse on Saturday to hold the first gay protest in Moscow not to be broken up by riot police.

MADRID (AP) -- Fitch Ratings cut Spain’s credit rating Friday, saying its government’s efforts to reduce debt would weigh down economic growth.

(Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N) confirmed on Friday that Warren Buffett will testify under subpoena before a U.S. panel examining the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

Charles Krauthammer: “If the capping operation succeeds…since it would come right after he stood up there and said, “I’m in charge,” I think he’ll be politically OK. If it doesn’t, and we have to wait until August…then he’s going to be savaged. It’s going to be his Katrina politically.”

O’Reilly and Beck debate presidential bashing and its effect on America.

“We’re the only country that I know that allows people to come in illegally, have a baby, and then that baby becomes a citizen. And I think that should stop also.”

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va. -- This is the place that receives the most attention on Memorial Day, though it is but one of 141 national cemeteries in the United States and 24 others located on foreign soil. Many of our countrymen will observe this “last Monday in May” holiday with travel, shopping and picnics. But those who take the time to visit one of these hallowed grounds will have an unforgettable experience.

These are the final resting places for more than 3 million Americans who served in our armed forces — as soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines — including the nearly 5,500 who have perished in Afghanistan and Iraq.

At the urging of the Obama White House, former President Bill Clinton asked Rep. Joe Sestak whether he would abandon his plans to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in a Pennsylvania Democratic primary if given an unpaid, advisory position, according to a White House counsel report issued Friday morning.

Senate Democrats managed Thursday to block deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, but the proposal still garnered a majority of senators, showing widespread support for a border-security-first strategy and underscoring why President Obama is having difficulty trying to win an immigration-legalization bill.

The new estimate – 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day – is two to five times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day figure given by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on April 28, and establishes the oil spill as the largest in American history.

State capitalism, Bremmer writes, “is a system in which the state dominates markets primarily for political gain.” From state-owned corporations operating in strategic industries like natural resources or defense, to enormous sovereign wealth funds in the hands of autocrats with opaque operating principles, state capitalism has enabled the world’s autocratic states to reap the benefits of capitalist enterprise while maintaining a vice-grip on political freedom.

“It just looks like he’s not involved in this,” Carville said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Visibly agitated, Carville said: “Man, you got to get down here and take control of this, put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving. We’re about to die down here.”

Carville — nicknamed the Ragin’ Cajun as far back as his days as an adviser to President Bill Clinton — has grown more outraged with each passing day, culminating with his taking a boat tour of the damaged waterways on CNN earlier in the week.

New York City officials have voted to allow construction of a $100 million mosque near the site of the World Trade Center. I mean no disrespect to Muslims, but this is an unspeakably bad idea. The 9/11 hijackers brought down those towers, and killed thousands, in the name of Islam. Of course it is wrong to blame all Muslims for 9/11. But why on earth rub salt in the wounds of the 9/11 dead by allowing a mosque to go in just two blocks from where jihadists incinerated or crushed over 2,700 innocent victims, in service of their faith? Proponents of the project call it a “seed of peace”, but tell me, would they call a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor a seed of peace? Would they call a German cultural center two blocks from the gates of Auschwitz a seed of peace?