BREAKING: New Cost Estimate on Senate Bill  —  The Office of the Actuary for Medicare has issued its long-awaited cost estimate for the Senate's health care reform bill.  I've only had a few hours to digest it and talk with outside experts.  * But these seem to be the main points:

Judge: ACORN funding restored  —  A judge in New York ordered that ACORN's federal funding be restored, rolling back a slew of Congressional actions that sought to stop taxpayer money from flowing to the community group on the heels of a fall full of embarrassments for it.

Tiger Woods taking hiatus from golf  —  I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children.  I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness.

Ungovernable America  —  The smarter elements in Washington DC are starting to pick up on the fact that it's not tactical errors on the part of the president that make it hard to get things done, it's the fact that the country has become ungovernable.  For example, here's Steven Pearlstein on minority leader Mitch McConnell:

UN Security Stops Journalist's Questions About ClimateGate  —  A Stanford Professor has used United Nation security officers to silence a journalist asking him “inconvenient questions” during a press briefing at the climate change conference in Copenhagen.  —  Professor Stephen Schneider's …

Pharma Deal Shuts Down Senate Health Care Debate  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The White House, aided by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is working hard to crush an amendment being pushed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to allow for the reimportation of pharmaceutical drugs from Canada, Senate sources tell the Huffington Post.

House votes 223 to 202 to approve sweeping bill to overhaul financial regulatory system  —  Republicans unite in opposition Crisis-inspired overhaul faces an uncertain future in Senate  —  More than a year after the near-collapse of Wall Street plunged the economy into crisis …

Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border  —  My friend, the wonderful sf writer Peter Watts was beaten without provocation and arrested by US border guards on Tuesday.  I heard about it early Wednesday morning in London and called Cindy Cohn …

Election 2010: Nevada Senate Race  —  2010 Nevada Senate: Reid Trails Amidst Strong Opposition to Health Plan  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues to lag behind all potential Republican challengers in next year's U.S. Senate race in Nevada, according to new Rasmussen Reports telephone polling in the state.

The Ugly Beast Returns — By: Jonah Goldberg  —  One of the simultaneously heartening and dismaying aspects of the Obama era is how it demonstrates that bad ideas never, ever, ever, die.  They can go into remission, to be sure, but the the bacillus lives on.  Via Drudge, I just read this hideous call for a planetary one-child policy.

Sources: Drone Killed Top Qaeda Operative  —  Saleh al-Somali Was in Charge of External Operations for Group; Considered One of a half Dozen top Qaeda Operatives  —  (CBS) Sources tell CBS News the Al Qaeda operative believed killed in a drone strike in Pakistan this week is Saleh al-Somali …

Exclusive** Leaked Justice Department Memo: Terrorists To Be Moved to Camp Gitmo Illinois  —  The Land of Lincoln may still be licking its wounds-and certain real estate transactions-over Chicago's losing the Olympics to Rio, but the Obama Administration has delivered up a small consolation prize …

The Errors of Matt Taibbi.  —  Matt Taibbi has done it again — written a nightmare of a story for Rolling Stone on Obama's economic sell-out of his campaign.  The piece is a factual mess, a conspiracy theorist's dream, doesn't even indict Obama for his real failures (which I'll discuss …

A gun case or Pandora's box?  —  Ruling could trigger the unhinging of American culture  —  Many have heard about the historic gun rights case going to the Supreme Court.  Fewer have heard that this is also a major case for businesses and family values.  It could lead to anything from court-ordered Obamacare to same-sex marriage.

Sign a Letter to Susan B. Komen Foundation: Donations Shouldn't Go To Hadassah Lieberman  —  The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation Headquarters  —  The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are driving forces in funding breast cancer research.

Asked How He Knows The Earth Is Cooling, Michael Steele Says 'I Don't!'  —  Earlier this year, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele ridiculed the notion that the Earth is warming, arguing instead that the world is actually “cooling,” citing the supposed examples of Iceland and Greenland:

Pro-Israel Lobby Group's Iran Petition Features Lots of Questionable Names  —  Earlier today, the Israel Project — a pro-Israel organization that endorses tough measures against Iran's nuclear program — sent out a release announcing substantial support for placing sanctions on Iran.