Roman Polanski: backlash as Whoopi Goldberg says director didn't commit ‘raperape’  —  Whoopi Goldberg is facing a fierce backlash after saying that film director Roman Polanski didn't commit “rape-rape” when he had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.  —  Goldberg, star of The Color Purple …

Republicans decide not to introduce Grayson resolution  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - House Republicans changed course on Wednesday and decided not to move forward with a resolution condemning Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, for saying that the GOP health care plan calls for sick people to “die quickly.”

Senators turn back ID requirement for immigrant healthcare  —  Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs.  —  Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley …

Reality Check: Trying to Turn a Point of Pride into a Moment of Shame  —  Last night Fox News continued its disregard for the facts in an attempt to smear the Administration's efforts to win the Olympics for the United States.  In the past, hosting the Olympics has been a source of pride …

National Review's John Derbyshire: Women Should Not Have The Right To Vote  —  John Derbyshire, a British-American conservative author and columnist for the National Review, has written a new book titled We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.  The book contains a section called “The Case Against Female Suffrage.”

'Blithering Idiot's' Book Already No. 1 at Barnes and Noble and No. 2 at Amazon (Update: Now No. 1 at Amazon)  —  The left may have a collective aneurysm by the time Going Rogue is released, and that's still not until November 17.  —  I figure by the end of the day it'll be No. 1 at Amazon.

Where Did ‘We’ Go?  —  I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing.  —  I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995.  We had a beer in his office.  He needed one.

Gore Vidal: 'We'll have a dictatorship soon in the US'  —  The grand old man of letters Gore Vidal claims America is ‘rotting away’ — and don't expect Barack Obama to save it  —  A conversation with Gore Vidal unfolds at his pace.  He answers questions imperiously, occasionally playfully, with a piercing, lethal dryness.

Sex, scorn and videotape  —  When John Edwards returned to North Carolina in the course of his long quest for the presidency, Andrew Young always met him at the airport in Edwards's big black Chevy Tahoe.  Young drove, and Edwards rode shotgun, silently raising his left hand whenever he wanted a Diet Coke …

Court to rule on gun rights, terrorism law  —  Taking on a major new constitutional dispute over gun rights, the Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to decide whether to apply the Second Amendment to state, county, and city government laws.  In another major case among ten new grants …

Special Health Care for Congress: Lawmakers' Health Care Perks  —  Little Known Office on Capitol Hill Provides Quality Medical Care for Low Price  —  This fall while members of Congress toil in the U.S. Capitol, working to decide how or even whether to reform the country's health care system …

Newsmax removes column that called for military coup to resolve the ‘Obama problem.’  —  In a column published on the right-wing site Newsmax yesterday, John L. Perry writes that a military coup against President Obama is possible.  Newsmax appears to have taken down the column from its website this morning.

Farmer's daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47  —  An Indian farmer's daughter disarmed a terrorist leader who broke into her home, attacked him with an axe and shot him dead with his own gun.  —  Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir …

More Independents Lean GOP; Party Gap Smallest Since '05  —  Democratic advantage on leaned party ID is 48% to 42%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — In the third quarter of this year, 48% of Americans identified politically as Democrats or said they were independent but leaned to the Democratic Party.

Exhibit featuring nude photo of 10-year-old Brooke Shields sparks outrage  —  An exhibition at the Tate Modern will feature a photograph of a nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields alongside sexually explicit pop art - a decision akin to rolling out a welcome mat for perverts, outraged critics charge.

Mysterious Private Security Firm Gets Control Of Empty Jail In Small Montana Town  —  A shadowy private security company that has no known clients but claims to have helped foreign governments combat terrorism and will protect anything from cruise ships to Pakistani convoys has taken over a jail …