House Dems push new tax to fund war  —  Three senior House Democrats are proposing a new tax to pay for the Iraq war, as well as vowing to oppose any funding bill for Iraq that does not include a policy for ending the conflict.  —  House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) …

Take Rush Limbaugh Off Armed Forces Radio  —  Click here to email Congress to take Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio.  —  Last week, Rush Limbaugh labeled any American soldier who supports an end to the war in Iraq as "phony."  We challenged Limbaugh through an email campaign …

GOP Is Losing Grip On Core Business Vote  —  Deficit Hawks Defect  —  As Social Issues Prevail;  —  'The Party Left Me'  —  \*country-region\*country-regionWASHING TON\*\* — The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.

A lot of people are talking about the big speech Barack Obama gave today calling for multilateral nuclear disarmament.  But I wanted to focus in on what I think is a significant aspect of the speech that has little to do with the actual policy questions addressed here.

We're No Senior Political Strategist, But We're Calling Bullsh*t On This  —  Jon Martin has gotten his hands on color-coded maps that Team Giuliani is using to show "what they believe to be Giuliani's anticipated general election strength versus Hillary Clinton compared to how other GOP candidates might fare against her".

Clarence Thomas Takes the Low Road, and Should Recuse Himself from Key Cases  —  The new term has begun for a bitterly divided court in a dangerously divided nation, and the most visible event was a Supreme Court justice using the court's return as a book promotion to remind the world of his enemies, demons, biases and vendettas.

ISSA: WATCH OUT, WAXMAN  —  Rep. Darrell Issa went on CSPAN's Washington Journal this morning and had this to say about the House oversight committee's investigation of Blackwater (via Atrios): … Here's the video:

Newsflash: Press Biased  —  Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq.  The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don't recall seeing before).

Blackwater contractor wrote government report on incident  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The State Department's initial report of last month's incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of killing Iraqi civilians was written by a Blackwater contractor working in the embassy security detail …

The unspeakable American culture  —  Journalism's elite don't dare speak of the patriotism that holds this country together.  —  In a recent speech at the National Press Club, Katie Couric expressed somber disapproval of the jingoistic excesses after 9/11.

Saudi Mufti Issues Fatwa Prohibiting Saudi Youth From Engaging In Jihad Abroad  —  Yesterday, on October 1, 2007, Saudi Mufti Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh issued a fatwa prohibiting Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad.  In his fatwa, he stated that setting forth …

Countdown: Worst Person In The World  —  Download (1266) |  Play (1792) Download (498) |  Play (896) (h/t Heather)  —  Yesterday's Worst Person in the World honors should have come as no surprise to anyone reading the site yesterday.  The gold went to movie review-cum-slavery apologist Michael Medved …

Mobile phones seized in restive southern Thailand depict gruesome videos  —  PATTANI, Thailand: Police in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand said Tuesday that mobile phones seized from an attack site contain video clips showing suspected insurgents beheading their victims and in one case, cutting off a soldier's sex organ.