Bill Clinton and Journalists in Emotional Return to U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit to North Korea, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel …

CNN Poll: Americans split on Obama's health care proposals  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Americans appear split over President Barack Obama's health care reform proposals, according to a new national poll.  —  Fifty percent of those questioned in CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning …

Obama: ‘Left-wing groups’ should back off.  —  OBAMA WAVES OFF LIBERALS: On the same day that MoveOn.org announced a new wave of ads to pressure centrist ...  ... Democrats on health care reform, President Obama told Senate Democrats he wished “left-wing groups” would back off.

Liasson: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program ‘is like a mini-Katrina.’  —  Last night, Fox News aired a clip of a woman at a Philadelphia town hall meeting over the weekend berating Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) about health care reform.  “What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, senator. ...

Tea Party-bashers gone wild  —  Creators Syndicate  —  The activist Left can't stand competition.  Last week in Long Island, NY, opponents of the Democrats' government health care takeover legislation outnumbered Obama supporters ten to one.  The Tea Party activists toted American flags …

Obama's Domestic Policies Are Having Immediate Effects on Race for Va. Governor  —  Some Voters Who Backed President Disillusioned Over Economic Pledges  —  The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake.

Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies …

Buffett's Betrayal  —  When I was 14, Warren Buffett wrote me a letter.  —  It was a response to one I'd sent him, pitching an investment idea.  For a kid interested in learning stocks, Buffett was a great role model.  His investing style — diligent security analysis, finding competent management …

Boxer: Protesters too well dressed to be sincere  —  Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) appeared on Hardball last night in support of the Left's attempt to discredit the people showing up to townhalls in protest of ObamaCare.  Boxer says she can tell that they're fakes, because they're too well dressed.

Russ Carnahan rattled at Cash for Clunkers presser  —  Carnahan held a press conference at McMahon Ford in south St. Louis city.  Constituents who showed up to politely and peacefully voice their concerns were both barred from entering the lobby where Carnahan was fielding press inquiries …

Mass. bashers take note: Health reform is working  —  PUNDITS and politicians who oppose universal healthcare for the nation have a new straw man to kick around - the Massachusetts reform plan that covers more than 97 percent of the state's residents.  In the myth that these critics have manufactured …

Palin calls divorce report ‘made up’  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tells POLITICO that widespread blogosphere reports about a possible divorce from her husband, Todd, are “made up.”  —  In a brief telephone interview on Tuesday night, Palin quipped that she loves finding out “what's goin' on in my life from the news.”

Shepard Fairey-designed Obama portrait on cover of upcoming Rolling Stone  —  Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President.  —  Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone …

Sen. George Voinovich and the GOP as a Party of the South  —  Southern writer Walker Percy liked to poke fun at Ohioans in his novels, just to even things out a bit.  —  “Usually Mississippians and Georgians are getting it from everybody, and Alabamians,” he once explained to an interviewer.

Bush staffers' run for election likely to test W's legacy  —  At least eight former staffers who worked for George W. Bush's administration are running for office.  —  Even though President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney left the White House with poor approval ratings …

Copyright Forever?  —  Nate Anderson has an excellent review of Mark Halperin's recent book-length brief for unlimited and very strong copyright, Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto.  I just wanted to amplify one point: … The related issue is that while re-writing Doctor Zhivago …

California's Prison Disaster  —  A couple of weeks ago I described California as “a penal colony with a nice coastline.”  The coastline is still nice, but a three-judge panel has finally ordered the state to get off its ass and do something about our wretched and overflowing prison system:

Preemptive dodging  —  Apparently Glenn Beck was either forced, or decided, to tell the maniacs that form a large portion of his audience NOT TO KILL OTHER PEOPLE.  So he's preemptively washed his hands.  —  But let's face the great lie of American history and the on-going threat to the nation's first black President.

Andrew Sullivan: Opposition to Cash-for-Clunkers Shows GOP Not Serious About Limited Government  —  Ideological shape-shifter and presidential benefit-of-the-doubt-giver Andrew Sullivan types the following words consecutively: … I'm nobody's conservative, but I'm pretty sure …

Common Scenes & Common Thoughts  —  Common Days & Nights  —  05 August 2009  —  The helicopter pilot wearing night vision goggles roared in so fast it looked as though he were crashing.  The four green Cylums (Americans call them Chemlights) mark the HLS.