U.S. Shelves Nuclear-Missile Shield  —  Czech Interim Prime Minister Gets Midnight Call  —  WASHINGTON — The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe.

ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in San Diego, CA  —  With 70 miles of stunning beaches and picture-perfect weather all year round, having fun during the summer in San Diego doesn't require a lot of money.  —  The city combines old-fashioned Mexican charm with a modern edge.

Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?  —  On Sept. 12, a large crowd gathered in Washington to protest ... what?  The goals of Congress and the Obama Administration, mainly — the cost, the scale, the perceived leftist intent.  The crowd's agenda was wide-ranging, so it's hard to be more specific.

Pelosi: I'm clueless about cash cut-off  —  WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she is clueless about an amendment to prohibit government funds for embattled ACORN, although it overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday and the White House is calling for the group to be held accountable.

Sotomayor Challenges Corporate Law  —  WASHINGTON — In her maiden Supreme Court appearance last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a provocative comment that probed the foundations of corporate law.  —  During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded …

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dies at 72  —  Mary Travers, whose ringing, earnest vocals with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary made songs like “Blowin' in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” enduring anthems of the 1960s protest movement, died on Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

Dodd Inching Back Up In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama Slide Continues  —  Connecticut voters disapprove 49 - 43 percent of the job Sen. Christopher Dodd is doing, his best score in six months and better than his 52 - 42 percent disapproval July 23, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Democrats join GOP czar wars  —  In the war on the czars, Glenn Beck and the GOP are picking up reinforcements from an unlikely source: the Democratic Party.  —  The Fox News host and leading Republican lawmakers have been hammering President Barack Obama for weeks over a proliferation of policy …

Analysis: Baucus Health-Care Bill Appears to Be Moving Forward  —  On the surface, it appears that no one is happy with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) — and that may be the best news President Obama has had in months.  —  Within minutes of the release of the Senate Finance Committee chairman's …

Obama Gets Highest Approval on Iraq, Lowest on Deficit  —  Little change in Obama approval on economy, healthcare  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Of the seven specific issue approval ratings measured in a Sept. 11-13 USA Today/Gallup poll, President Obama gets his highest rating (56%) on his handling of Iraq …

Tea Party Protesters Protest D.C. Metro Service  —  Brody Mullins reports on money and politics.  —  Protesters who attended Saturday's Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Essay: Chop and Crop  —  [David Hume Kennerly is a former contributing editor of Newsweek.  He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for his photographs of the Vietnam War.  A response from Newsweek follows immediately below.]  —  The Sept. 14th Newsweek cover line — “Is Your Baby Racist?”

Sword-wielding Hopkins student kills intruder  —  Intruder was repeat offender, released from prison Saturday  —  Hours earlier, someone had broken into John Pontolillo's house and taken two laptops and a video-game console.  Now it was past midnight, and he heard noises coming from the garage out back.

Teen birth rates highest in most religious states  —  Link may be due to communities frowning on contraception, researchers say  —  U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The Cat and the Tiger  —  Rory Stewart for the win: … And don't forget this Rory Stewart classic: … Anyways, you shouldn't just listen to the guy who has the best jokes, but I think these are good points.

DNC jumps into czar story  —  After trying to keep a damper on the Van Jones and ACORN stories — perhaps in both cases because they were indefensible — the DNC has, as a colleague puts it, gotten the White House nod to dive into the freak show on the largely imaginary notion of sinister and proliferating czars.