False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots  —  WASHINGTON — The stubborn yet false rumor that President Obama's health care proposals would create government-sponsored “death panels” to decide which patients were worthy of living seemed to arise from nowhere in recent weeks.

Republican Death Trip  —  “I am in this race because I don't want to see us spend the next year re-fighting the Washington battles of the 1990s.  I don't want to pit Blue America against Red America; I want to lead a United States of America.”  So declared Barack Obama in November 2007 …

GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010  —  It's a possibility many Republicans speak of only in whispers and Democrats are just now beginning to face.  After passionate and contentious fights over health care, the environment, and taxes, could Democrats lose big — really big — in next year's elections?

Host Loses Some Sponsors After an Obama Remark  —  ABOUT a dozen companies have withdrawn their commercials from “Glenn Beck,” the Fox News Channel program, after Glenn Beck, the person, said late last month that President Obama was a racist with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

Boswell: Obama willing to be one-term president  —  Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-Des Moines, Iowa) held a town hall meeting in Sigourney this afternoon.  Despite one group's ad which “thanks Boswell for his support” of health care reform, Boswell told the crowd he may vote against it.

Climate Change Measure Should Be Set Aside, U.S. Senators Say  —  Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Senate should abandon efforts to pass legislation curbing greenhouse-gas emissions this year and concentrate on a narrower bill to require use of renewable energy, four Democratic lawmakers say.

Stamford Marriott claims woman was negligent in her own rape  —  STAMFORD — A downtown hotel being sued by a woman raped at gunpoint in its parking garage is claiming she was careless, negligent and “failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use …

E-mails from public overload House Web site  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid a boisterous debate on health care reform, people flooded members of Congress on Thursday with so many e-mails that they overloaded the House's primary Web site.  —  Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the House's chief administrative officer …

Newt's advice for Palin comeback  —  If Sarah Palin wants to make a 2012 political comeback, she'll need three types of speeches, some serious television face time, a credible organization and a bucket load of sheer determination.  —  Oh, and she might want to get a place outside of Alaska, somewhere in the lower 48.

Sources: Edwards to admit paternity of ex-mistress' child  —  RALEIGH, N.C. — Sources have told WRAL News that they expect former U.S. Sen. John Edwards to admit that he is the father of his former mistress' 18-month-old daughter.  —  Edwards, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate …

From ‘Yes, We Can,’ to 'No!  Don't!'  —  Obama turns out to be brilliant at becoming, not being, president.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Don't strain the system.  Don't add to the national stress level.  Don't pierce when you can envelop.  Don't show even understandable indignation when you can show legitimate regard.

Bill Clinton: The Time Is Now  —  Bill Clinton speaking Thursday night to the Netroots convention  —  PITTSBURGH — At times fiery with his familiar finger-pointing repeatedly jabbing the air, former President Bill Clinton implored an audience of bloggers and activists tonight not to lose …

Toxic Loans Topping 5% May Push 150 Banks to Point of No Return  —  Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — More than 150 publicly traded U.S. lenders own nonperforming loans that equal 5 percent or more of their holdings, a level that former regulators say can wipe out a bank's equity and threaten its survival.

Debating the President's Portsmouth pitch  —  I have converted this post into a memo for easy printing and reading.  —  The President hosted a health care reform town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Tuesday August 11, 2009.  His remarks were extensive and he took questions.

Iran inmates ‘tortured to death’  —  One of Iran's defeated opposition presidential candidates has said some protesters held after July's disputed poll were tortured to death in prison.  —  The claim by Mehdi Karroubi comes days after he said a number of prisoners, both male and female, had been raped.

‘Town Halls’ a Chance for the President, Not the Public, to Vent  —  A look at President Obama's health care “town hall” Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H., shows the president out-spoke his audience by a margin of nearly 9-to-1 — hardly the kind of even-handed exchange of ideas that marked the town meetings of colonial America.

Obama's Senior Moment  —  Why the elderly are right to worry when the government rations medical care.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Elderly Americans are turning out in droves to fight ObamaCare, and President Obama is arguing back that they have nothing to worry about.  Allow us to referee.

Ørsted gets Google Doodled  —  Thanks to Google, hundreds of millions of people are today celebrating Hans Christian Ørsted's birthday without having much of a clue who he is ... so who exactly was he?  —  Probably not even the physics geeks remember much about Hans Christian Ørsted …

Hardball: Lawrence O'Donnell Exposes Clueless Town Hall Protester  —  Lawrence O'Donnell filled in for Chris Matthews on Hardball Wednesday, and somehow managed to avoid savaging clueless town hall protester, Katy Abram.  Abram went on a moronic tirade at Senator Arlen Specter's town hall meeting on Tuesday …

Six Lobbyists Per Lawmaker Work to Shape Health-Care Overhaul  —  Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — If there is any doubt that President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue.

The GOP's Misplaced Rage  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.  —  Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge?

Growing Concerns about Extremism, Continuing Discontent with U.S.  —  Overview  —  Pakistanis see their country in crisis.  They give their national government lower ratings than at any time in this decade, and almost no one is satisfied with national conditions.