Snowe falls away, leaving Senate Dems without GOP support on healthcare  —  Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee's bill.

ACORN says workers conduct ‘indefensible’  —  Suspends, plans audit, in wake of videos  —  UPDATED:  —  ACORN, calling the actions of some of its employees “indefensible,” has suspended advising new clients as part of its service programs and is setting up an independent review to see what happened.

Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year  —  Posted by Declan McCullagh The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.

Extremism in New Jersey  —  We've been uncovering a remarkable level of anger toward Barack Obama in a lot of our recent polling so for New Jersey we decided to go a step further in determining how extreme some people's feelings are about the President and asked respondents if they think he is the Anti-Christ.

12% Say Most Opponents of Obama Health Care Plan Are Racist  —  Twelve percent (12%) of voters nationwide believe that most opponents of President Obama's health care reform plan are racist.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of voters disagree, and 21% are not sure.

Blowback in the ACORN Wars  —  Recent videos posted online and aired repeatedly on Fox News Channel that seem to show ACORN workers allegedly advising two 20-somethings dressed up as a pimp and prostitute on how to skirt the law, the community group has taken some major hits as of late.

Meet the man who changed Glenn Beck's life  —  On Saturday, I spent the afternoon with America's new breed of angry conservative.  Up to 75,000 protesters had gathered in Washington on Sept. 12, the day after the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, sporting …

Limbaugh Goes Full-On Racist During Rant About School Bus Beating  —  Rush Limbaugh has never hidden his bigoted beliefs, and on Tuesday he went on a racist rant about a highly disturbing incident on a school bus where a black student attacked a white student while other children cheered on.

As Right Jabs Continue, White House Debates a Counterpunching Strategy  —  Facing a near-daily barrage of attacks from conservative opponents, White House officials are engaged in an internal debate over how hard to hit back, even as they have grown increasingly aggressive in countering allegations they deem to be absurd.

EXCLUSIVE: W.H. collects Web users' data without notice  —  Social-media messages go into archives  —  The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users …

‘Jackass!’  —  And here's that video, which shows, above all else, the president as a normal person — and moreover, a normal pol, utterly immersed in the cable-news frivolity he affects to disdain.  —  UPDATE: Not so much: Wiser heads than mine at POLITICO made the call to take down the video of the “jackass” moment.

Votes are lined up to appoint a senator  —  Top Democrats press for Mass. bill  —  Senate President Therese M. Murray has not pushed the bill.  —  Legislative leaders on Beacon Hill believe they have narrow majorities in both chambers to give Governor Deval Patrick the power to appoint …

The Man Who Defused the ‘Population Bomb’  —  One of America's greatest heroes remains little known in his home country.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Norman Borlaug arguably the greatest American of the 20th century died late Saturday after 95 richly accomplished years.

Ethics Panel Investigates Waters, Graves and Jackson  —  The House ethics committee revealed Wednesday it is investigating allegations involving three lawmakers in unrelated incidents.  —  The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly known as the ethics panel …

Waters: Probe ‘birthers and the teabaggers’ at rallies for racist views  —  The media should investigate the racial views of conservative activists like the ones who descended on Washington last weekend, one liberal congresswoman said Wednesday.  —  Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) …

Ignoring a Law on Foreign Relations  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has declared that President Obama can disregard a law forbidding State Department officials from attending United Nations meetings led by representatives of nations considered to be sponsors of terrorism.

If Jay Leno Wants Better Reviews He Can Start By Removing the Lapel Flag  —  Critics love David Letterman.  They love him because he's mean and liberal and does everything they demand: further the leftist agenda through the brutal use of humiliation to target any public figure (or their child) who might derail Leftist causes.

45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul  —  Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.

The Baucus Bill: The Neutered Co-Ops  —  The co-ops have never been a satisfying alternative to the public option.  But the version in Baucus's bill isn't even a satisfying alternative to the co-op option.  It's a neutered version of the co-op idea, which was in turn a neutered version of the public option.