Bank Bailout Is Potent Issue for Both Parties in Fall Races  —  WASHINGTON — The vote in 2008 to bail out Wall Street was framed as the only way to avert an economic meltdown and relieve financial institutions of their most poisonous holdings.  For many members of Congress, it turns out that the vote itself was toxic.

First rig sails away over drilling ban  —  Lawmakers and experts fear loss is only the start of offshore exodus  —  WASHINGTON — Diamond Offshore announced Friday that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters immediately …

Dead for a Century, Twain Says What He Meant  —  Wry and cranky, droll and cantankerous — that's the Mark Twain we think we know, thanks to reading “Huck Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” in high school.  But in his unexpurgated autobiography, whose first volume is about to be published a century after his death …

Wall St. Hiring in Anticipation of an Economic Recovery  —  While much of the country remains fixated on the bleak employment picture, hiring is beginning to pick up in the place that led the economy into recession — Wall Street.  —  The shift underscores the remarkable recovery …

Obama Finalizes Plans For 3rd Vacation Since Gulf Oil Spill Crisis Began  —  “I'm not going to rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people in the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods.”

Ivy Cred  —  OK, so the FBI has said they were Russian spies, the Russian government has said they were Russian spies, and the Russian spies have said they were Russian spies, and Vladimir Putin has cracked jokes about it.  —  That leaves ... Harvard.  The nation's premier Ivy League U.S …

Box left at woman's door explodes  —  HOUSTON (KTRK) — Local and federal investigators were at a northwest Houston home Friday night where an explosion sent a woman to the hospital.  —  The woman was opening a package left at her doorstep in the 2100 block of Seamist Court Friday evening.

‘The Crisis at Which We Are Arrived’  —  Don't fear the Tea Parties. … We are not now quite at a founding moment, or even a re-founding moment.  But we have arrived at a genuine crisis, or a set of crises, and we may well be at a decisive moment for the country.  —  This sense of crisis is what animates the Tea Parties.

Brewer To Boston: MYOB  —  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, in town for the National Governors Association bash, blasts the Boston City Council etal for being big buttinskis and adds, never mind what the local libs and the Obama admin think, America has her back.  Boston Herald:

Obama can't shake gay-rights fights  —  When President Barack Obama agreed to back legislation in May that could eventually repeal the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the resolution seemed to offer twin benefits for the White House:  —  Quell the anger of gay activists who accused Obama …

Blasting right wing lies right out of the oil soaked water  —  Blamo!  —  Here's something you don't see every day: a news anchor actually challenging a lying winger on the air and then going back the next day with a thorough fact check:  —  See, it's really not that hard.  —  h/t to bb

Whew: America's Candidate funded by ... US and South Carolina taxpayers  —  When Alvin Greene came out of nowhere to win the Democratic nomination to run against Jim DeMint for the Senate, people wondered how this unknown got 60% of the Democratic vote in the primary.