Top Obama advisers walk away from public option  —  There was a reason the White House sent out Obama's top three advisers to the talk shows today.  As I said below, “they're selling something as we approach the final push for health insurance reform.”  Unfortunately, what they're selling, most of us aren't buying.

Sheriff: Balloon hoax ‘aha!’ moment on CNN  —  (CNN) — Three days after the world watched a giant balloon fly through the air as a tearful family expressed fears that their 6-year-old boy could be inside, authorities announced what millions already suspected: The whole thing was staged.

White House admits: We ‘control’ news media  —  Communications chief offers shocking confession to foreign government  —  TEL AVIV - President Obama's presidential campaign focused on “making” the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was …

Giuliani Stokes Fears of a Thompson Victory  —  Raising the specter of a return to higher crime and greater anxiety, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani warned on Sunday that New York could become a more dangerous city if Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is not re-elected in November.

Global Warming in SuperFreakonomics: The Anatomy of a Smear  —  1. Let the wild rumpus start.  —  Yes, it's an ancient cliché: a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.  But it's still accurate.  —  The final chapter in our forthcoming book …

Energy Firms Deeply Split on Bill to Battle Climate Change  —  WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation's energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades.

Cash for Clubbers  —  Congress's fabulous golf cart stimulus.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic.  Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part …

How Moody's sold its ratings — and sold out investors  —  WASHINGTON — As the housing market collapsed in late 2007, Moody's Investors Service, whose investment ratings were widely trusted, responded by purging analysts and executives who warned of trouble and promoting those who helped Wall Street plunge …

Iran Guard Commanders Are Killed in Bombings  —  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — At least five commanders of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of other people were left dead and wounded on Sunday in two bombings in the restive southeast along Iran's frontier with Pakistan …

Specter rips GOP: ‘A Party of obstructionism.’  —  Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who until late April of this year was a lifelong Republican, castigated his former party this morning on Fox News.  Specter ripped the GOP for refusing to be a good-faith negotiator in the health care debate:

Mr. Deeds for Governor  —  A LEGACY of sound policies, coupled with the proximity of the federal government, has partially protected Virginia from the harsh retrenchments that the recession has forced on many states.  Yet the commonwealth faces a daunting crisis in the form of a drastic shortfall …