It's time to embrace American royalty  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  We're obviously hungry to live with royal and aristocratic families so we should really just go ahead and formally declare it: … They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager …

HURTING DICK CHENEY'S FEELINGS.... Dick Cheney offered quite a bit of nonsense on Fox News yesterday, but perhaps the most entertaining thing was hearing him talk about how the Obama White House has hurt his feelings.  Apparently, the current president was supposed to seek out the former vice president …

Experts see double-digit Dem losses  —  After an August recess marked by raucoustown halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.

Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level  —  WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics …

Sarah Palin plans first trip to Asia  —  Former Alaska governor set for initial commercial speaking engagement  —  HONG KONG - Former U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, once questioned about her lack of foreign policy experience, will make her first trip to Asia in September.

As Big Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit  —  Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation's biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

Why I Am Anti-Republican  —  I got an e-mail from a prominent Republican asking why I am so anti-Republican these days.  Since many of my friends ask the same thing I thought I would share my reply:  —  I think the party got seriously on the wrong track during the George W. Bush years, as I explained in my Impostor book.

An Ivy League Huey Long  —  Washington is seriously unserious.  —  From the magazine issue dated Sep 7, 2009  —  In August our ubiquitous president became the nation's elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper.

Blue Chip, White Cotton: What Underwear Says About the Economy  —  For one answer to the nation's most pressing economic question — when will the recession end? — just take a peek inside the American man's underwear drawer.  —  There may be some new pairs there, judging by recent reports …

AFL-CIO, Dems push new Wall Street tax  —  The nation's largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.

A Chance to Avoid Defeat in Afghanistan  —  The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan in the next three months — any form of even limited victory will take years of further effort.  It can, however, easily lose the war.  I did not see any simple paths to victory while serving …

Fighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It  —  SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who predicted that President Obama's effort to overhaul the health care system would become his “Waterloo,” is doing his best to make that happen.

Missing Richard Nixon  —  Many of the retrospectives on Ted Kennedy's life mention his regret that he didn't accept Richard Nixon's offer of a bipartisan health care deal.  The moral some commentators take from that regret is that today's health care reformers should do what Mr. Kennedy balked …

Et Tu, Lefty?  Allies Critical Of President  —  Waffling on Health Care Riles His Loyal Pundits  —  It is as inevitable in Washington as sweltering summers and steamy sex scandals.  —  A president is going to be smacked around from the moment he takes office and the uplifting rhetoric …

Save the Light Bulb!  —  Compact fluorescents don't produce good quality light.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

A ‘Little Judge’ Who Rejects Foreclosures, Brooklyn Style  —  The judge waves you into his chambers in the State Supreme Court building in Brooklyn, past the caveat taped to his wall — “Be sure brain in gear before engaging mouth” — and into his inner office, where foreclosure motions …

Fiorina, eyeing Senate run, faces questions over HP sales in Iran  —  SACRAMENTO — Over the past dozen years, Hewlett-Packard has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of printers and other products to Iran through a Middle East distributor, sidestepping a U.S. ban on trade with the country.