The Divisions in the White House Over Health-Care Reform  —  This is health-care reform's endgame, or close to it.  Next Wednesday, Barack Obama will give a prime-time address before both houses of Congress.  But that's not all he's giving Congress.  The administration is going to put a plan down on paper.

Sentenced to death on the NHS  —  Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors warn today.  —  In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.

“I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama”  —  As if I needed any more evidence to bolster today's column about the Obama junior lobbyist campaign in America's schools, here's another item fresh from the headlines in Utah:

9/11 Ad for WWF Causes Tsunami of a Crisis for DDB Brasil  —  Apology Doesn't Stave Off Global Compensation; Video Version Surfaces  —  An obscure ad that ran once in a small Sao Paulo newspaper months ago has come back to haunt DDB Brasil and its conservation client, the WWF in Brazil …

Kennedy Memoir Talks of Chappaquiddick, J.F.K. and Other Presidents  —  In a memoir being published posthumously, Senator Edward M. Kennedy talks remorsefully about the car accident that claimed the life of Mary Jo Kopechne - a turn of events many consider a chief reason that he was never able …

Buchanan's Apologia for Hitler  —  As if some neocon were setting out to parody dovish thinking on contemporary issues, paleocon Pat Buchanan has gone and written a “blame Britian first” account of the origins of World War II.  Apparently, according to Buchanan, Hitler was just seeking …

Greer Condemns Obama's Attempt to Indoctrinate Students  —  Tallahassee- Â Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement condemning President Obama's use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda.

Potential Senate candidacy  —  While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority, I do have some interest in the possibility.  That being said, to get to there from where I am today, many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen.

Obama and the Perfect Political Storm  —  It's hard to sell change voters don't think they need.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  August was the worst month of Barack Obama's presidency.  And he seems to know it—he is now planning to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress 232 days …

Department of Education Deletes Line About How Schoolkids Can Help Obama — By: Jim Geraghty  —  It appears there are two versions of the preparatory materials for the president's address to schoolchildren floating around, one with language urging teachers to have students write letters …

Accountability, but at What Cost?  —  My friend and fellow columnist Eugene Robinson has written a characteristically passionate and well-reasoned piece commending Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to name a special counsel to examine possible law-breaking by interrogators of terrorist subjects during the last administration.

I have been abducted by aliens, says Japan's first lady  —  Move over Michelle, watch your backs, Carla and Sarah.  There's a new kid on the first lady block, and she looks like upstaging the lot of you.  —  Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japan's Prime Minister-elect, Yukio Hatoyama …

The Obama Administration: MIA on Afghanistan?  —  So I was on the Newshour last night debating Afghanistan with a favorite of this blog and its readers, Andrew Bacevich.  As readers of this blog know, I am uncomfortable when placed in the position of being expected to lustily defend the war.

GREEN JOBS CZAR SAYS ‘WHITE POLLUTERS’ STEERED POISON INTO MINORITY COMMUNITIES  —  “Because they don't have a racial justice frame.”  —  Editor's note: This clip is taken from a YouTube post from January of 2008.  Van Jones was then the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

CNN poll: 9 in 10 think U.S. still in recession  —  CNN Deputy Political Director  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say the country's still in a recession, according to a new national poll.  —  Eighty-seven percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation …

DNA to free another inmate  —  Winston-Salem man has served 14 years after being convicted of raping 2 girls  —  A 49-year-old man who has served more than 14 years of a life sentence for raping two teenage sisters will be released today after DNA tests determined that he wasn't the attacker.

Spanish paper: Irving ‘expert’ on WWII  —  Article's topics: Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Shoah, David Irving, Syria, Aftonbladet  —  First the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet cited freedom of the press as its justification for accusing IDF soldiers of harvesting Palestinian organs.

On Senator Kennedy's Funeral  —  Saturday was the 39th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, at St. Augustine's Church in Pittsburgh by Bishop John B. McDowell, who is still going strong today.  In the Church's calendar, the feast day for August 29 is the Beheading of John the Baptist.

Rankings  —  Below are the Washington Monthly's 2009 national university college rankings.  We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs) …