8.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile  —  RIO DE JANEIRO — A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital of Santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings along much of the Pacific basin.  —  Enlarge This Image  —  A woman sat in front a quake-damaged house in Talca, Chile.

Transformation — By: Andy McCarthy  —  On Sean's panel last night, when the conversation turned to how nervous Democrats supposedly are over what for now is teeing up like a very bad November, I felt like I was channeling Mark Steyn, Mark Levin and Rush.  That is, I think our side is analyzing …

Liberalism, atheism linked to IQ  —  (CNN) — Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.  —  Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ …

Coburn warns against majority-vote tactic in weekly Republican address  —  Should Democrats use the budget reconciliation process to pass healthcare reform, it would fly in the face of public opinion, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said in the Republicans' weekly address.

Rep. Trent Franks: African-Americans were better off under slavery.  —  Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) — one of the most conservative member of Congress, according to a new National Journal ranking — decried the strained state of political discourse in an interview today with blogger-activist Mike Stark.

DoD Official Policy on New/Social Media  —  The Department of Defense released its official policy on new/social media today.  The policy (Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026), which is effective immediately, states that the default for the DoD non-classified network (the NIPRNET) is for open access so that all of DoD can use new media.

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, ‘at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro’  —  A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro.  —  Representatives of George Soros's investment business …

Rep. Tom Perriello Tells ‘Spineless’ Senate To Get ‘Its Head Out Of Its Rear End’ And Confront Climate Crisis  —  Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) is “sick” of the “insider baseball crap” dominating the Senate debate over global warming and energy reform.  In an interview with Grist …

TEA Party's power: ‘Really in charge’  —  One year into a still loosely defined and generally leaderless movement known as the TEA Party — for “Taxed Enough Already” — the relationship between the Republican Party and an angry and voluble faction which some view as little more than the base of the party still is a work in progress.

Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade  —  Three key senators are engaged in a radical behind-the-scenes overhaul of climate legislation, preparing to jettison the broad “cap-and-trade” approach that has defined the legislative debate for close to a decade.