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.

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.]

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.

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.

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 …

Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession  —  The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore.  Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination …

Government's Trial and Error Helped Stem Financial Panic  —  It was only a year ago that the world economy was enveloped in a financial panic of such dimensions that, if one believes Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, it threatened to produce a calamity as bad as the Great Depression.

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.

I'm setting the protectionist threat level to safety orange  —  When the Obama administraton announced the decision to slap a 35% tariff on Chinese tire imports, I was pretty sure that free traders would be incensed.  And I haven't been disappointed — even the financial markets are freaking out over this one.

Media barred from Palin speech  —  Hong Kong - The first keynote speech outside North America by former US vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will be closed to the media, organisers of the Hong Kong event said on Monday.  —  Palin, mocked during last year's presidential campaign for her lack …

Warning Signs for GOP in Health Care Poll  —  Greg Sargent makes the point that the press seems weirdly averse to noting polling data about health reform that indicates the existence of political risks for the GOP in opposing Obama.  For example, “Dems hold an overwhelming 20-point lead …

Obama May Do Back-to-Back TV Interviews Sunday  —  If there's one thing this White House doesn't seem worried about, it is that Americans will get tired of seeing President Obama.  —  After a week of speeches and rallies, the appearance on “60 Minutes,” the speech on Wall Street today …

A Simple Request  —  The Atlantic has done me the honor of putting my open letter to George W. Bush on torture on the cover.  Commercially, this is not exactly an easy call (although the magazine did alternate a few newsstand editions with a more sellable cover of Jon Stewart).

Boortz compares President Obama to a child molester.  —  Today, on the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, President Obama will speak on Wall Street to “try to breathe new life into efforts to overhaul the financial regulatory system.”  Hate radio host Neal Boortz used …

Aceh passes adultery stoning law  —  Indonesia's province of Aceh has passed a new law making adultery punishable by stoning to death, a member of the province's parliament has said.  —  The law was passed unanimously by Aceh's regional legislature, said assembly member Bahrom Rasjid.

Who are the undeserving “others” benefiting from expanded government actions?  —  The New York Times' Ross Douthat argues, uncontroversially, that the tea-party protests, townhall outbursts and related appendages aren't about specific health care proposals but, instead, are motivated …

Poll: Speech doesn't boost Obama  —  President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress last week didn't provide much of a boost to his job approval rating, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows.  The nationwide survey pegs his approval at 54%, precisely where it was in two USA TODAY polls in August.

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 …

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.

Murtha to Obama: No more troops  —  House defense spending cardinal John Murtha, an early bellwether of congressional opposition to the Iraq war, has made his strongest comments yet opposing more U.S. troops for the war in Afghanistan.  —  The Pennsylvania lawmaker and Vietnam veteran …

Glenn Beck's ‘9-12’ logo based on communist and socialist designs  —  Ever since Glenn Beck took to the Fox television airwaves recently to offer a bizarre reading of the art commissioned 70 years ago for New York's Rockefeller Center, I've been puzzled by the graphic design element of his 9-12 Project.