Congress Approval Rating Matches Historical Low  —  Just 18% approve of job Congress is doing  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds Congress' approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974.

Michelle gets stronger all the time  —  'I don't want my girls to live in a country based on fear'  —  Barack Obama often says that his wife, Michelle, is smarter than he is, stronger than he is, and gives better speeches than he does.  —  On a trip to Iowa last week, Michelle was a firebrand …

Can the GOP Make a Comeback?  —  The recipe for Republicans is to stop acting like, well, Republicans—that is, Republicans of recent vintage.  —  It's not particularly visible at the moment, but there is a road to political recovery for Republicans.  Chances are they won't get far enough …

Senator Calls for Maliki's Ouster  —  Declaring the government of Iraq "non-functional," the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that Iraq's parliament should oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his cabinet if they are unable to forge a political compromise …

9/11 TRUTHERS GUT PUNCHED BY HISTORY CHANNEL  —  In what will surely be seen as a defining moment for the 9/11 truther movement, the History Channel has delivered a blow for sanity and rationalism by airing a superior documentary entitled 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction.

Report: CIA Director Unprepared for al-Qaeda Threat  —  Former CIA Director George Tenet failed to lead a strategic effort against al-Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks, the agency's inspector general concluded in a long-classified report released today.  —  The report, which Congress ordered …

Louisiana Governor: Backlash Anyone?  —  In one of the hardest hitting - Republicans will undoubtedly say "dirtiest" - television ads aired in history, the Louisiana Democratic Party is accusing Rep. Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant.  —  The bizarre charge is delivered by an unidentified woman …

DOD 'Talon' Database Declawed  —  The Quakers can sleep easier.  This morning, the Pentagon announced that it's canceling a database created to monitor threats to Defense Department installations in the U.S. that ended up compiling lists of citizens engaged in peaceful, constitutionally-protected protest speech.

Hurricane Dean: 1 Of 10 Most Intense Atlantic Hurricanes Ever Measured  —  Early this morning Hurricane Dean, after mercilessly intensifying over deep warm waters in the western Caribbean, slammed the Yucatan Peninsula around Chetumal as a Category 5 hurricane with winds upwards of 165 miles per hour …

Are Democrats really so lame?  —  Republicans are on the ropes, but yet another mainstream media star says it's Democrats who are in trouble, thanks to Bush-hating bloggers and billionaires.  Here we go again.  —  The Republican Party is the least respected institution in the U.S today …

Guest Post - Who's Killing The Clerics Of Najaf?  —  Eric Martin is one of the smartest Foreign Policy writers in blogtopia, so when a report on a string of murders in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf came up on our radar, we asked him to analyze the implications.  Below is his answer.

For Wall Street's Math Brains, Miscalculations  —  Complex Formulas Used by 'Quant' Funds Didn't Add Up in Market Downturn  —  They are the powerful, cerebral and offstage actors of Wall Street, but the recent turmoil in the financial markets has yanked them into the light.

Time right for Garofalo on "24"  —  LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The political left and the political right will join forces on Fox's "24" this coming season.  Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive …

Bloomberg says won't run for president  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he cannot win the U.S. presidency and won't run, the strongest statement to date about his intentions for the 2008 presidential race.  —  Bloomberg previously had said he had no plans to run …

How to Spy in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD - American soldiers arrived in Iraq in 2003 with not much of a plan and little idea what to expect.  The Iraqi government, military, and police were overthrown and disbanded under de-Baathification.  Most Iraqis who knew how to run the country were either sent home or imprisoned.

The Caped Crusader From Vermont  —  "Sen. Patrick Leahy has a part in the next Batman movie."  — Associated Press, Aug. 19.  —  "Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) holds a media availability on the deadline for subpoenas for documents relating to the ... Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program."

The group blog of The American Prospect  —  THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY'S COLLEGE RANKINGS ARE RIGGED.  As part of TAPPED's continued commitment to counter-counterintuitivism I should point out that the "research" component of the Washington Monthly's much ballyhooed alternative college rankings …