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 …

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.

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?

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.

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 …

Host Loses Some Sponsors After an Obama Remark  —  ABOUT a dozen companies have withdrawn their commercials from “Glenn Beck,” the Fox News Channel program, after Glenn Beck, the person, said late last month that President Obama was a racist with a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

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.

‘Squeaky’ Fromme released from prison  —  (CNN) — Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was released from federal custody Friday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.  —  Fromme was convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.

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.

U.S. Needs a Force to Serve in Congo  —  A New Kind of Force Could Provide Security  —  When Hillary Clinton visited eastern Congo this week, she stepped into a land of fairy-tale beauty and incredible potential.  I remember vividly the day in 1982 when my incoming “class” of Peace Corps volunteers made the same trip.

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 …

Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash  —  Violent Signs, Gun, Standoff Latest in Emerging Anger Towards the President  —  Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama …

U.S. Builds Crime Cases on Clients of UBS  —  Federal prosecutors are building criminal cases against 150 wealthy American clients of the Swiss banking giant UBS as part of a continuing investigation into tax evasion, a person briefed on the matter said Thursday.

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.

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.

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.

Why I Interrupted Bill Clinton's Speech at Netroots Nation  —  I love Bill Clinton, but we all make mistakes.  Sometimes we even are forced to do things we don't want to.  That's why I was prepared to ask Bill Clinton a tough question last night as he delivered the opening keynote address at Netroots Nation 2009.

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 …

Obama visits Mountain West, knowing vulnerability  —  DENVER (AP) - Perhaps no region of the country better illustrates Barack Obama's political vulnerabilities than the mountain West, a region traditionally wary of the federal government.  —  He's hoping to ease some of those concerns …

Vermont Senator Rips Fox: ‘Nothing More Than An Arm of the Republican Party’; Demands Progressive TV Network  —  It's not enough that much of the mainstream media cheered on Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 or browbeat former President George W. Bush on Iraq and Afghanistan to force Republicans from control of Congress.

Income Inequality Is At An All-Time High: STUDY  —  Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez.

NEW ORLEANS HEALTH & FITNESS  —  The latest updates on heath and healthy Living in New Orleans  —  U.S. Rep. Ahn ‘Joseph’ Cao says he's ‘leaning’ toward House Democrats' health plan … In a public forum defined as much by passionate declarations on abortion as by statements …