REID'S MUDDLED SUPPORT FOR A PUBLIC OPTION.... On a conference call yesterday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) emphasized his support for a public option as part of health care reform.  That support started sounding a little shaky, though, when the Democrats' Senate leader explained what he means by “public option.”

How wall-to-wall Chappaquiddick would have changed history — for the worse  —  Of course every network would have had special logos featuring bridges, water, wrecked cars or portraits of the main players.  And each would have had a snappy title for their non-stop coverage:

UAE Seizes North Korean Weapons Shipment to Iran  —  Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.

Huckabee: Kennedy Would Have Been Urged To Die Earlier Under ObamaCare  —  Conservative media figures are blasting Democrats for trying to draw political gain from the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.  But on Thursday, it was one of their own — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — who went there.

Tilting at Statists  —  On his Twitter feed, talk radio host Mark Levin has asked for feedback on “A Conservative Manifesto,” the epilogue to his bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny.  Some time ago I borrowed the book from my grandfather, so I thought I'd skip ahead, read its final pages and offer my thoughts.

Enzi blasts Dems over healthcare goals  —  A key member of the Senate Republican Conference on Saturday blasted Democrats for offering a healthcare solution distinctly at odds with his party's goals.  —  Democratic healthcare reform will drive up the deficit, discriminate against the elderly …

Interrogating the CIA  —  A clever, streetwise classmate of mine at the Central Intelligence Agency's junior officer training program—a former Delta Force officer—quickly and rudely discovered that counterterrorism in the much-vaunted Reagan years wasn't a serious endeavor at Langley.

Holmes on Caldwell  —  If you look across the Atlantic to Europe, there's no question that some real problems exist with the social exclusion of immigrant communities that's leading, in the particular case of Muslim immigrant communities, to the rise of some extremist ideologies.

Rangel's Lies Proliferate  —  Rep. Charles Rangel has had to go for some time now, but his lies keep proliferating.  He's lied to the IRS over his tax obligations.  He's lied to state and local officials about his tax obligations.  —  He's lied to his mortgage lender.

Halting Recovery Divides America in Two  —  The U.S. recovery is a tale of two economies.  —  At one extreme of Corporate America is a cadre of companies and banks, mostly big, united by an enviable access to credit.  At the other end are firms, chiefly small, with slumping sales that can't borrow or are facing stiff terms to do so.

Britain accused of breaking promise to US over Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi  —  Britain was accused last night of reneging on a promise to the United States that the Lockerbie bomber would serve his sentence in Scotland.  —  According to confidential correspondence obtained by The Times …

BUSSED IN UNION GOON BOOED OUT of Rep. Tim Bishop's Town Hall Meeting (Video)  —  A local union leader was booed out of Rep. Tim Bishop's town hall meeting last night in New York.  —  The town hall protesters did not like what Bishop was dishing out.  (Newsday)

Romanoff has eye on Senate  —  Democrat to run against Bennet, sources say  —  Former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is poised to mount a Democratic primary campaign against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.  —  Urged to challenge Gov. Bill Ritter as he seeks re-election in 2010 …

Speaker Pelosi's Disgrace, Cont.  — By: Peter Kirsanow  —  Since the mainstream press seem unable to figure out what questions to pose to Speaker Pelosi concerning her claim — discredited by the recently released IG's report — that the CIA never told her about waterboarding in fall 2002 …

Where's the Outrage?  — By: NRO Staff  —  Given the apparent political motivations behind so many of the recent decisions at the Department of Justice (DOJ) — from the dismissal of the voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party to the re-investigation of CIA interrogators …

Ezra Klein's Confusion Over “Rationing”  —  Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein is taking exception to Post columnist Charles Krauthammer's depressing op/ed on how health care “reform” will likely play out.  Krauthammer's op/ed argues that the public option is dead, as is end of life counseling …