Harkin says he has the votes to pass public option bill in the Senate  —  The Senate has the votes to pass a healthcare reform bill including a public option, a key Senate chairman said Tuesday.  —  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) …

HuffPo Goes All In to Defend Polanski, Readers Revolt  —  The Huffington Post has made it crystal clear where it stands on the news that director Roman Polanski may have to answer for his 31-year-old crime of child rape: “Move on, everyone.  Nothing to see here.  Keep on directing, Roman.  Love ya!”

Newsmax columnist: Military coup “to resolve the ‘Obama problem’ ” is not “unrealistic”  —  From John L. Perry's September 29 Newsmax column:

Bill  —  I can think of nothing more disturbing than the use of fallen soldiers as political fodder.  Shame on you, you political hacks.  May God forgive you.  —  So the Pres doesn't have time to discuss the General's troop request, but has time to continue pushing Heathcare reform 60% …

Election 2010: Arkansas Senate Race  —  Another Democratic senator may be at-risk in 2010.  Arkansas' Blanche Lambert Lincoln trails all four of her leading Republican challengers in the first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey in the state.  —  Lincoln fails to get 50% of the vote …

Obama to Afghanistan?  —  A prediction: President Obama will add a “surprise” visit to Afghanistan to his Olympics-lobbying trip to Copenhagen.  —  The president and his advisers must realize, in Mark McKinnon's words, that “people elected Obama to be president—not the head of the Illinois Chamber …

The Politico Gets Played By ACORN  —  One thing that journalists don't seem to get about ACORN is that it is a strange, complex creature with tentacles that reach into the highest levels of the United States government, the Democratic Party, corporate America, the labor movement …

Right-Wing Panel Agrees Obama Is The ‘First Muslim American President’  —  At the How to Take Back America conference last weekend, attended by several Republican lawmakers, former Reagan official and prominent neoconservative Frank Gaffney, right-wing historian Bill Federer …

GOP Rep. Trent Franks Calls Obama “An Enemy Of Humanity”  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  A Republican member of the House of Representatives accused President Barack Obama of being “an enemy of humanity” during a conservative values forum this past weekend.  —  In a speech Saturday …

S.D. ghostwriter mum on Sarah Palin memoir  —  One San Diegan knows all the details of Sarah Palin's soon-to-be released memoir, but don't ask her about it.  She can't tell.  —  Lynn Vincent, Palin's ghostwriter, has signed a non-disclosure agreement.  She has been hard at work on the book …

Berkeley may sign onto U.N. treaties  —  Berkeley would become the first city in the United States to independently try to comply with U.N. treaties on torture, civil rights and racial discrimination, if the City Council passes a measure on the issue tonight.

Creepy O-cult video of the day: “Deliver us, Obama!”  Updated  —  I didn't think you could top those schoolchildren substituting Obama for Jesus in their public school praise hymn.  —  Now, thanks to Naked Emperor News and Breitbart TV, we have video of community organizers led by the …

Generals: Cheneys scaremongering  —  About a dozen retired generals and admirals, trying to add momentum to President Barack Obama's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, are accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz of scaremongering about the dangers of closing it.

Grayson: GOP wants ‘you to die’  —  Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., warned Americans that “Republicans want you to die quickly” during an after-hours House floor speech Tuesday night.  —  His remarks, which drew angry and immediate calls for an apology from Republicans, were highlighted by a sign reading …

Democratic Donor Gets 24-Year Term  —  NEW YORK — A federal judge Tuesday sentenced Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu to more than 24 years in prison for illegally funneling money to U.S. political candidates and for defrauding investors in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.