Major Health-Care Reform Challenge Is Affordability  —  Burden on Middle Class Is a Top Concern  —  Lawmakers in both parties raised concerns Thursday that the health-care reform bill offered by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus a day earlier would impose too high a cost on middle-class Americans …

Pelosi Chokes Up Warning Against Political “Violence”  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw ... I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco,” Pelosi said, choking up and with tears forming in her eyes.

AP NewsBreak: Nuke agency says Iran can make bomb  —  VIENNA (AP) - Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.

How Time magazine enables Glenn Beck's lies  —  Four years ago, Time magazine devoted its cover story to a puff-piece profile of Ann Coulter, the right-wing ideologue best known for serial lies and wishing death upon those she disagrees with (journalists included).

HOUSE VOTES TO DEFUND ACORN-FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL  —  FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 718 (Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)  —  H R 3221 RECORDED VOTE 17-Sep-2009 2:06 PM  —  QUESTION: On Motion to Recommit with Instructions

75 Percent of Oklahoma High School Students Can't Name the First President of the U.S.  —  OKLAHOMA CITY — Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.  —  The survey was commissioned …

Polish PM wouldn't take U.S. calls  —  Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed today that he declined last night to take a call from the U.S. informing him of the decision to scrap planned missile-defense bases in his country.  —  Two U.S.-based sources close to the Polish government …

Mass. House approves bill that would fill Kennedy seat  —  House lawmakers tonight approved legislation that gives Governor Deval Patrick the power to appoint a temporary successor to the late Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate, putting Massachusetts on track to have a new senator in place by next week.

Analysis: ‘Racist’ claims defuse word's power  —  With the word being used so often, it's harder to define its meaning  —  Everybody's racist, it seems.  —  Republican Rep. Joe Wilson?  Racist, because he shouted “You lie!” at the first black president.  Health care protesters, affirmative action supporters?

ACORN=SEIU  —  Same Physical Address 1024 Elysian Fields, New Orleans  —  SEIU President on ACORN Advisory Board (Andrew Stern)  —  anys12799  —  Maybe we'll see some of the SEIU-ACORN ties in response to the Louisiana Subpoena that requests ACORN and ALL affiliates turn over books and records, and ties to the Rathke guys.

Beck vs. Limbaugh  —  GOP media strategist Mark McKinnon thinks there are two people in the world who fear Glenn Beck — even if “neither will admit it.”  —  The first is Barack Obama.  —  The second is Rush Limbaugh.  —  Beck is on a huge roll.  Over the last month …

Expand the House?  —  WASHINGTON — In America, democracy follows the simple principle of one person, one vote, right?  —  Unless, that is, you live in Montana, where your vote carries a little more than half as much weight in the House of Representatives as that of someone living in Rhode Island.

FOX News Poll: Americans Prefer Current System to Obama's Health Care Plan  —  Most Americans see no upside for their family in the health care reforms being considered in Washington and don't believe President Obama when he says his plan won't add “one dime” to the federal deficit.

Obama as witch doctor: Racism or satire?  —  (CNN) — Posters portraying President Obama as a witch doctor may be racist, organizers of Tea Party protests say, but they reflect anger about where he is leading the country.  —  The posters, showing Obama wearing a feather headdress …

Ohio Plans to Try Again as Execution Goes Wrong  —  CINCINNATI — The State of Ohio plans to try again next week to execute a convicted rapist-murderer, after a team of technicians spent two hours on Tuesday in an unsuccessful effort to inject him with lethal drugs.

FBI quizzes Coloradan again in terror probe  —  DENVER, Colorado (CNN) — A Colorado resident at the center of a federal terrorism probe met with FBI agents for a second day Thursday as his lawyer disputed a report that bomb-making plans were found on the man's computer.

Indiana Court Strikes Down Voter ID Law  —  An Indiana appellate court on Thursday struck down a state law requiring voters to show identification — a law that the United States Supreme Court declared constitutional just last year.  —  The court said the law violated the Indiana constitution by not treating all voters impartially.