North Korea staged a “successful” underground nuclear test, the communist state’s official media said.

The North “successfully conducted another underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of its measures aimed at strengthening its self-defence nuclear deterrent in every way,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

The test will “contribute to safeguarding our sovereignty and socialism and guaranteeing peace and safety on the Korean peninsula and the surrounding region,” it said. The four-paragraph story gave no details of the location. South Korea’s presidential office earlier said that North Korea had appeared to have conducted a nuclear weapons test. The government received a report on the possibility of a nuclear test having been conducted, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan told a briefing.

The decision, which would make it hard for Americans in London to open bank accounts and trade shares, is being discussed by executives at Britain's banks and brokers who say it could become too expensive to service American clients. The proposals, which were unveiled as part of the president's first budget, are designed to clamp-down on American tax evaders abroad. However bank bosses say they

are being asked to take on the task of collecting American taxes at a cost and legal liability that are inexpedient.

A comprehensive list compiled by Karl rove

Gen. Colin Powell was on Face the Nation today, trashing the Republican Party again, as if he has some particular moral authority. I beg to differ. Colin Powell has almost as little moral authority as did the bystanders in the Kitty Genovese rape case. While his own administration, and especially a very good man named Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was being raped by Patrick Fitzgerald's out-of-control investigation into the Valerie Plame leak, Powell and his top aide Richard Armitage stoo by silently even though both knew that Armitage had been (without malice aforethought) the actual source of the leak. To let Libby (and Karl Rove and others) twist in the wind for so long when Powell and Armitage knew what had really happened was the stance of either two cowards or, more likely, two vindictive political infighters who cared more about seeing their adversaries (in internal administration disputes) be kneecapped tthan they cared about seeing justice done and the truth be made public.

Democrats often complained about President George W. Bush’s frequent use of a rhetorical device as old as rhetoric itself: creating the illusion of refuting an opponent’s argument by mischaracterizing it and then knocking down that mischaracterization.

CALIFORNIA FINDS itself in more than a bit of a bind: Facing at least a $21 billion budget deficit, the state could run out of money in a matter of weeks. Borrowing to help fill the hole will be challenging and expensive, given that California has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states. Last week's warning by Standard and Poor's to Britain about a possible debt downgrade will make risky government borrowing even more difficult. The state would like to see Uncle Sam pick up part of the tab; but as steeped in the bailout business as the feds have become, there are strong reasons for them to refuse to add California to the list of recipients.

It's increasingly obvious that Congress and the president (regardless of which party is in power) will deal with the political stink bomb of an aging society only if forced. And the most plausible means of compulsion would be for Social Security and Medicare to go bankrupt: trust funds run dry; promised benefits exceed dedicated payroll taxes. The sooner this happens, the better.

That the programs will ultimately go bankrupt is clear from the trustees' reports. On pages 201 and 202 of the Medicare report, you will find the conclusive arithmetic: over the next 75 years, Social Security and Medicare will cost an estimated $103.2 trillion, while dedicated taxes and premiums will total only $57.4 trillion. The gap is $45.8 trillion. (All figures are expressed in "present value," a fancy term for "today's dollars.")

The Politico article is mostly about the inner-workings of Andie Coller's mind and the need to generate news on a holiday weekend, not about any true outrage.

The reaction from the blogosphere to the Politico post is mostly hypocrisy from the left. The left-wing blogs which savaged Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean with the worst sexual innuendos and mockery, are aghast with feigned indignation at the RNC's dig at Pelosi.