Obama embraces the new “exception not the rule” strategy on town halls  —  The double-down on the town hall drama — highlighting the outbursts and deeming protesters as “mobs” — was probably untenable for the White House and Dems.  —  For one thing, it's tough for members of Congress …

Conrad says he won't support government-run health care program  —  CARRINGTON, N.D. — Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. presented his cooperative health care proposal here Thursday and told an audience of 100 that he would not vote for a government-run health care program.

Advertisers deserting Fox News' Glenn Beck  —  Cable host calls Obama ‘racist’ and sponsors move to distance themselves  —  STORY QUOTES COMMENTS SCREENER (1815) … NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — In what is shaping up to be one of the more effective boycott campaigns in years …

Senators use Twitter to argue about ‘death panels’  —  Sens. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) took to Twitter Friday to clash over comments the latter made regarding end-of-life provisions included in healthcare reform legislation.  —  Specter initiated the tussle, tweeting about a call he made to Grassley's office.

THIS ROBERT REICH COLUMN ON THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE is supposed to make you feel bad about the “right wing hate machine,” but instead it's a stunning admission of incompetence: … Hmm.  So it's like this: … Remember how Bush was supposed to be the idiot who went into Iraq without a plan …

Armey leaves firm amid health care flap  —  Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress.

Woodstock, Celebrating 40 Years Of ...  ... flaming hypocrisy from the back-to-nature crowd, which trashed a meadow, disturbed the bucolic peace with electronic noise, disrupted dairy operations, narrowly avoided a public health disaster, contributed to the destruction of untold thousands upon thousands …

Clermont police interview suspect in Obama ‘Joker’ posters  —  (TOM BENITEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / August 12, 2009)  —  CLERMONT - Clermont police have interviewed one suspect who is admitting to putting up the dozens of posters pasted around the city depicting President Obama as the Joker character …

Azerbaijani Authorities Interrogate Music Fan Over Eurovision Vote For Armenia  —  The offending song: Inga and Anush perform “Jan-Jan.”  —  BAKU — It's a simple song competition.  Or is it?  —  The Eurovision Song Contest has long promoted itself as an event where national audiences …

Obama's big problem in Big Sky country  —  LIVINGSTON, Montana (CNN) — Spend a day in this tiny town about 23 miles or so from where President Obama held a town hall meeting on Friday, and it's easy to see why his health-care push is facing big problems in Big Sky country — even from the people he's trying to help.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN TOWN HALL ON HEALTH CARE  —  THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Montana!  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  It's great to be here.  Please, everybody have a seat, have a seat.  Thank you so much.  Thank you.  I am excited to be back in Montana.  (Applause.)  I want to —

Kirk Watson's Statement on Running for Re-Election  —  As we reported earlier, Kirk Watson has decided to run for re-election in Senate District 14.  The Senator released the following statement on his intentions to remain in the Texas Senate (emphasis added)

Deadly gun battle in Gaza mosque  —  At least 13 people have been killed and at least 85 injured in a fierce gun battle in Gaza, emergency services say.  —  Eyewitnesses say hundreds of Hamas fighters and policemen surrounded a mosque where followers of a radical Islamist cleric were holed up.

When the kooks take the stage  —  IT'S HARD TO SAY what's more amusing, the wild-eyed rants at town hall meetings or the conservative attempts to portray those snarling sentiments as genuine mainstream anger about the president's health care plans.  —  Some Republicans are gleeful in the hope …

Bush as Hitler, Swastika-Mania: A Retrospective  —  At recent rallies, town hall meetings and “tea parties,” a few protesters have shown up with signs comparing Obama to Hitler (i.e. depicting him with a Hitler mustache), or displaying swastikas in the context of implying that Obama and/or his administration are Nazi-like.

Down with the health insurers  —  Dear conservatives: Health insurance companies are not your friends.  Keep opposing a new government-run insurer, a single-payer plan, and new regulations on the HMOs.  But grant that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is correct on this: Insurance companies are villains.

Nazis for Me, but Not for Thee  —  It's this week's fashion on the left, and among such fashionably contemplative moderates as Mort Kondracke, to blast Rush Limbaugh for comparing Democrats to the Nazis.  It's no surprise that the Obama hardcores are misrepresenting the sequence and substance of events …

US senator visits Burma  —  Democrat expects to meet leader Than Shwe but request to see Aung San Suu Kyi unlikely to be granted  —  The first visit to Burma by a senior US official for more than a decade has triggered speculation that the Obama administration will attempt to steer the regime towards a new era of engagement.

Mark Sanford's Wife Urged to Write Tell-All Book  —  Ever notice how the guys of political affairs write books about their cheating, make big dollars, and then sometimes go on to greater fame?  What about the victims in those cases: the wives?  Well, we hear that the New York publishing world …

Potok/ABC: White Hate Groups Thrive  —  Another press release from Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Huffington Post, via ABC News.  —  (Note: the headline at the top of the page when you access this story online reads: Obama's Safety: Hate Groups Thrive Amidst Town Hall Health Care Debates - ABC News):

Mutation Tied to Need for Less Sleep Is Discovered  —  Researchers have found a genetic mutation in two people who need far less sleep than average, a discovery that might open the door to understanding human sleep patterns and lead to treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders.