But as president, he declared the slaves free, at least in some states, by executive order.

Now, a touch of good news for those already daydreaming about summer road trips: Gas prices could fall even more in the weeks ahead, and even if they do rise in July and August, they are likely to remain well below the $4 or $5 per gallon that some observers had feared.

Every political campaign exaggerates and dissembles. This practice may not be admirable — it’s surely one reason so many Americans are disenchanted with politics — but it’s something we’ve all come to expect. Candidates claim the right to make any boast or accusation as long as there’s a kernel of veracity in there somewhere.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used it last week in introducing the latest effort to get the Senate to pass the Law of the Sea Convention.

“I wanted to get back in government, but everybody said you needed a degree,” said Blackburn, a D.C. resident who once worked as a security consultant for the State Department. “I had the experience, but I needed the degree.”

That’s one reason why no rational strategy, other than deterrence, has ever been developed to justify them. Events in the past 10 days make my case.

Are you doing the job you dreamed of having when you were fresh out of school? Are you working in an environment where you feel supported by managers who can help you reach your goals? If you’re not in your dream job, then what’s the plan to get it?

Maybe “I want you to want Rockford.” Or “Surrender, surrender . . . to Rockford.” The Cheap Trick guitarist and songwriter could even economize and simply invoke the group’s 2006 album, “Rockford.”

It’s an English volume, “A New System of Modern Geography,” in its first American printing in 1794, bound in brown leather with marbled paper, and gold gilt along the top edge. On an inside right page is the neatly formal signature of its most famous owner — the first president of the United States.

He’ll head to the lake house in central North Carolina and join his wife, two kids, parents and siblings for lazy afternoons casting for bluegills and bass.

Vehicle purchases by consumers alone accounted for 30% of all the GDP growth in the last two quarters.

Cars are, ahem, driving the recovery. But will it continue? Auto analysts are expecting another record month of car sales in May: TrueCar.com announced today that it was predicting the highest monthly level of vehicle sales since 2007, up 32 percent since this time last year.

Coffee shops need genteel folk ballads. Sports arenas need foot-stompy jock jams. Yoga studios need mind-caressing ambient tunes. And strip clubs need anthems like “Make It Rain.”

That was the reaction from many men last week after a top-level task force bucked two decades of medical practice and recommended against routine use of a common blood test to check for prostate cancer.