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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

U.S. Foreclosures Rise Sharply in July  —  U.S. Foreclosures Rise Sharply in July With Nev., Ga. and Mich. Accounting for Highest Rates  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Foreclosure filings rose 9 percent from June to July and surged 93 percent over the same period last year, with Nevada …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

Make Up Your Own Mine  —  An impoverished town strikes gold.  George Soros and foreign environmentalists say, leave it in the ground.  —  The recent tragedy in Utah has brightened the spotlight on mining, already under assault by environmental and anti-globalization activists world-wide.

Efforts to crack down on lead paint thwarted by China, Bush Administration  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and China have both undermined efforts to tighten rules designed to ensure that lead paint isn't used in toys, bibs, jewelry and other children's products.

O'Hanlon: Soldiers Of The 82nd Airborne 'May Have Been Taking A Slight Poke' At Me  —  In his New York Times op-ed, co-authored with Ken Pollack, Michael O'Hanlon wrote in support of the escalation: … This weekend, seven soldiers of the 82nd Airborne responded in kind:

Tenet's C.I.A. Unprepared for Qaeda Threat, Report Says  —  The former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, recognized the danger posed by Al Qaeda well before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but failed to adequately prepare the C.I.A. to meet the threat …