Opposition to Obama's Health-Reform Plan Is High, but Easing  —  President Obama continues to face significant public resistance to his drive to initiate far-reaching changes to the country's health-care system, with widespread skepticism about central tenets of his plan, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

CLEAN Conservatives vs FILTHY Liberals— A Photographic Essay  —  After the 2 million strong conservative freedom rally on 9-12:  —  And, here is the filth left for someone else to clean up after the Inauguration of Barack Obama:  —  Via Prisca  —  The democrats were obviously waiting for Big Government to clean up for them.

New Message Reported From bin Laden  —  Two days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Osama bin Laden apparently released a new audiotape, entitled “An Address to the American People,” news agencies reported Monday.

ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in New York, NY … So, we headed up to New York...  [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed.  Visit the blog entry to see the video.]  —  [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed.  Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Joyce Purnick: Mayor Bloomberg spent big exploring a run for president — Obama: Wall Street must take responsibility — Sen. Kennedy: what Sen. Byrd said during a private gays-in-the-military meeting  —  BIRTHDAYS: Will Nichols, who turns 2 today, celebrated in style last night with dinner at Sushiko …

Unamplified, Beck's Voice Still Carries  —  Establishment Outlets Missed Van Jones Story  —  It has become a familiar chain reaction: Talk-show hosts whip up a noisy controversy, which hits higher decibels as it spreads to the establishment media, which costs some unfortunate soul his job.

Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme  —  The Republican establishment hopes cooler heads will prevail over strongly anti-Obama parts of the conservative base.  —  Reporting from Washington - Amid a rebirth of conservative activism that could help Republicans win elections next year …

Kanye West Storms the VMAs Stage During Taylor Swift's Speech  —  Leave it to Kanye West to produce one of the most infamous moments in VMAs history before the 2009 show was even an hour old.  It happened after Taylor Swift's victory in the Best Female Video category for “You Belong With Me …

Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman  —  Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Ex-Mayor of Memphis Starts Bid for Congress, Invoking Race in Campaign  —  MEMPHIS — A Congressional race in Tennessee has become freighted with racial overtones almost a year before the election, with a prominent black politician saying the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.

Election trouble brewing for House Dems in 2010  —  NEW YORK (AP) - Despite sweeping Democratic successes in the past two national elections, continuing job losses and President Barack Obama's slipping support could lead to double-digit losses for the party in next year's congressional races and may even threaten their House control.

Only Decisive Force Can Prevail in Afghanistan  —  A middle path of muddling through is the real recipe for quagmire and loss of public support.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Growing numbers of Americans are starting to doubt whether we should have troops in Afghanistan and whether the war there is even winnable.

Federal health care will mimic IRS  —  I find it hard to accept that so many intelligent people are adamant in their support for a federally owned health insurance company.  It seems they completely put out of their minds how the government can mess up any type of organization serving the public that it runs.

Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low  —  Public Evaluations of the News Media: 1985-2009  —  The public's assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans' views of media bias and independence now match previous lows.

The Ghosts of 1994  —  There are obvious parallels between Barack Obama's push for health care reform and Bill Clinton's ill-fated attempt 16 years ago.  In both cases, an apparent legislative juggernaut hit a wall of public skepticism.  Both presidents saw their poll numbers wilt in the summertime heat.

Democrats Need to Stop the Umbrage Game on Rep. Joe Wilson  —  Rep. Joe Wilson, the Republican from South Carolina who shouted “You lie” during President Obama's health-care address to Congress, has already apologized at least twice: once in a statement issued by his office and once in a phone call to the White House.

Key Senate Dem: There will be a public option  —  INDIANOLA, Iowa (CNN) — Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat who recently filled the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Sunday that a Senate health-care reform bill would include a …

Iran Agrees to Talks with Major Powers in October  —  Iranian state media say Iran has agreed to start talks with six world powers on global economic and security problems in early October.  —  Iranian media say Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili agreed to launch the talks next month …

Dissent Of The Day  —  A reader writes: … Well, count me in, then.  Unlike many of these tea-partiers and their supporters, I actually took on the Bush administration's big government tendencies, fiscal recklessness and massive expansion of executive power at the time …