Pols eye once-in-a-generation opening  —  The death of Democratic titan Sen. Ted Kennedy, which creates the first Senate opening in Massachusetts in 25 years, is likely to release the pent-up ambitions of a long line of Democrats who will find the upcoming special election hard to pass up.

Richardson Probe ‘Was Killed in Washington’  —  New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in a federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations.  —  SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members …

PREDICTING POLITICIZATION.... It looks like word went out yesterday about what leading conservative voices should say about Ted Kennedy's death: complain about the memorial service that hasn't happened yet. … All of this came the same day Kennedy's death was announced.

Kennedy's legacy shapes Obama's path  —  Through two years of wearying campaigning, defeats and victories, the cool, disciplined Sen. Barack Obama rarely was overcome by emotion.  Once was on the eve of the election, when his grandmother died.  —  The other time, a close aide recalled, was when Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsed him.

Obtained: The RNC's Health Care Survey  —  I just chatted with Raymond Denny, the 64-year-old La Center, Wash., man who received the RNC's “2009 Future of American Health Survey,” which alleged that President Obama's health reform plans might discriminate against Republicans.  Here's the survey question:

Steele Confused, Overwhelmed By NPR Interview: 'Now Wait A Minute.  Hold up. ...  You're Trying To Be Cute.'  —  In an interview with Michael Steele, NPR's Steve Inskeep repeatedly asked the RNC chairman to explain why Republicans keep defending Medicare at the same time they claim …

Key Democrat suggests party moderates ‘brain dead’  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - A key House liberal suggested Thursday that party moderates who've pushed for changes in health care legislation are “brain dead” and out for insurance company campaign donations.  —  Moderate Blue Dog Democrats …

Palin won't show at fundraiser, denies accepting invitation  —  TONIGHT: Spokeswoman says ex-governor was never asked.  —  Organizers of an Anchorage event that has been billing Sarah Palin for weeks as a star speaker were left scrambling Wednesday after learning that the former governor …

Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data  —  Posted by Declan McCullagh One of the problems with any proposed law that's over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details.  Take the Democrats' proposal to rewrite health care policy …

Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters … WASHINGTON — Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters' coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”

The Real CIA News  —  Interrogations were carefully limited, briefed on Capitol Hill, and yielded information that saved innocent lives.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Whoever advised people to be skeptical of what they read in the papers must have had in mind this week's coverage of the documents about CIA interrogations.

‘Clunkers’ Generates 690,000 Sales  —  The federal government's month-long “Cash for Clunkers” program ended after having spent almost the entire $3 billion allotted and putting 690,114 new, more fuel-efficient cars on the road, the Transportation Department said Wednesday.

Inhofe slams health reform  —  At a town hall meeting Wednesday Sen. Jim Inhofe told Chickasha residents he does not need to read the 1,000 page health care reform bill, he will simply vote against it.  —  “I don't have to read it, or know what's in it.  I'm going to oppose it anyways,” he said.

Is ‘Friending’ in Your Future?  Better Pay Your Taxes First  —  Tax deadbeats are finding someone actually reads their MySpace and Facebook postings: the taxman.  —  State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites …

‘Cruel and neglectful’ care of one million NHS patients exposed  —  One million NHS patients have been the victims of appalling care in hospitals across Britain, according to a major report released today.  —  In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands …

Ted Kennedy death gets expected coverage from cable news networks  —  To the casual viewer, cable news coverage of Sen. Edward Kennedy's death Wednesday lined up as neatly as the punch line in a joke about the alleged political agendas of those channels.  —  Starting from the safe premise …

The Stimulus Is Definitely Working?!  —  Proponents ignore both fact and reasoning.  —  The bloviators of the blogosphere have been in full roar the past few weeks over the claimed success of the economic stimulus program.  Much of this was ignited by Christina Romer …

Even The New Republic now calls for a party purge of corporate-owned “centrists”  —  The New Republic, 2004, endorsing Joe Lieberman for President: … TNR's Jonathan Chait, in The Los Angeles Times, 2006, viciously condemning those who mounted a primary challenge against Lieberman (an “anti-Lieberman jihad"):

The Power of the Gun  —  A lot of commenters seem sure that having a legal gun around substantially increases the likelihood that someone will, in a moment of rage, shoot someone—so sure that they are clearly convinced I am a lunatic for even suggesting otherwise.  I understand the intuition, and maybe it's right.

U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds  —  NEW YORK — The United Nations is recommending that children as young as five receive mandatory sexual education that would teach even pre-kindergarteners about masturbation and topics like gender violence.

Support for Health Care Legislation Has Stopped Falling, But Most Still Opposed  —  As August winds down, the good news for President Obama and congressional Democrats is that support for their proposed health care legislation has stopped falling.  The bad news is that most voters oppose the plan.