‘Un-American’ attacks can't derail health care debate  —  Americans have been waiting for nearly a century for quality, affordable health care.  —  Health coverage for all was on the national agenda as early as 1912, thanks to Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose presidential run.

Don't talk to me about death panels, Sarah Palin.  —  You, who so carelessly bolstered a lie about healthcare reform to score a cheap political point; you, the most craven of political opportunists, who fearmongers about some dystopian socialist/fascist fantasyland; you …

Taliban Now Winning  —  U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties  —  By YOCHI J. DREAZEN in Kabul and PETER SPIEGEL in Washington  —  The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy …

Our Fuzzy President Is About To Come Into Focus  —  We're finally going to get to know the real President Obama.  —  Once the final outlines of health-care legislation become clear, we'll know what really matters to him.  Where he draws the line.  How he wields the levers of power.

Obama's Health Care Plan Just Expands Status Quo  —  “The status quo is unsustainable for families, businesses and government.”  — President Obama, June 13  —  One of the bewildering ironies of the health-care debate is that President Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it.

Perriello's Health Care Town Hall: Fear and Respect in VA-5  —  Last week I attended a couple of town halls: one in Maryland for Donna Edwards, and one in Danville, VA for Tom Perriello.  Going into them, I kinda figured that Edwards' event would be pretty tame, but Tom Perriello's would be raucous, if not violent.

The Unfunny Truth  —  It's been a melancholy summer for social conservatives.  Their movement is fighting a rearguard battle in Barack Obama's Washington.  A cluster of family-values politicians — some of whom bunked down in the same Christian-sponsored D.C. townhouse …

George Soros Pledges $5 Million To Bankroll Health Care Reform Push, Group Says  —  In another sign of the urgency gripping the pro-health care reform camp, billionaire George Soros has pledged to sink $5 million into the fight, the group getting the money confirmed.

Tsongas: I won't take ObamaCare because I have better options  —  Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) manages to answer the question that Keith Ellison (D-MN) and the rest of her Obama-care supporting colleagues in both the House and Senate have avoided.  The crowd, however, didn't like the response very much, and lets Tsongas know it.

It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to figure this one out  —  The conservative opinion magazine Human Events was reputedly Ronald Reagan's favorite read, and to this day fancies itself the house organ for the hard-right intelligentsia.  Among those published regularly in its pages are such luminaries as Newt Gingrich and Ann Coulter.

If Only We Had Some Means of Taking Rich People's Money and Devoting it to Public Purposes  —  Internal Revenue Service headquarters, Washington DC (cc photo by cliff1066)  —  I don't think it should come as a shock that the Obama administration's efforts to reign-in or reform compensation policies …

CNN Poll: Dems becoming less popular but no gains for GOP  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll indicates that the Democratic party's becoming less popular with voters.  But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, suggests that the Republican party has not been able to capitalize on the Democrats' downturn.

Judge sentences man to 6 months in jail for yawning  —  6-month term given by judge who has doled out the most charges of contempt in Will  —  Clifton Williams arrived at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet and sat in the fourth-floor courtroom where his cousin was pleading guilty to a felony drug charge.

Averting the Worst  —  So it seems that we aren't going to have a second Great Depression after all.  What saved us?  The answer, basically, is Big Government.  —  Just to be clear: the economic situation remains terrible, indeed worse than almost anyone thought possible not long ago.

The McLaughlin Group: Pat Buchanan and Monica Crowley Claim the Government Wants to Promote Suicide to Save Money  —  John McLaughlin uses Pat Buchanan's fear mongering framing for his question on end of life counseling to begin this segment.  Buchanan claims that to save money …

Expelled From the New York Times  —  My sister nailed it many years ago when she said, “Your basic human is not such a hot item.”  —  Keep that filed in your head as I tell my little tale.  —  About five or six years ago, roughly, I was solicited to write a column every two weeks for the Sunday New York Times Business Section.

Sect'y Clinton sharply dismisses question about what her “husband thinks”  —  He may have been in the headlines last week for his rescue mission to North Korea, but Bill Clinton is not the secretary of State.  —  As the lady who is reminded a Congolese student and the world today:

Our Unconstitutional Census  —  California could get nine House seats it doesn't deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Next year's census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state.

Governors oppose DoD emergency powers  —  A bipartisan pair of governors is opposing a new Defense Department proposal to handle natural and terrorism-related disasters, contending that a murky chain of command could lead to more problems than solutions.  —  Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) …

Obama Says Immigration Changes Must Wait Till 2010  —  GUADALAJARA, Mexico — President Obama said Monday that efforts to change the immigration system would be a major focus for his administration only next year, after other major priorities were accomplished, including passage of a new health care system.

Obama Job Approval: Highest in D.C., Hawaii, Vermont  —  PRINCETON, NJ — From the time Barack Obama took office as president until the end of June, 63% of Americans, on average, approved of the job he was doing.  The breakdown of his half-year approval ratings at the state level shows …

Why Neoconservative Pundits Love Jon Stewart  —  Back in April, when the debate over torture was roaring, Jon Stewart invited Cliff May, a national-security hawk and former spokesman for the Republican Party, to come on The Daily Show and defend waterboarding.  May was hesitant.