CNN Host Calls for Crackdown on ‘Bloggers’ in Wake of Sherrod Incident: 'Something's Going to Have to be Done Legally'  —  Should there be a “gatekeeper” regulating internet bloggers?  In the aftermath of the Shirley Sherrod incident, that's what CNN promoted on July 23.

Ringing the bell at the top: Paging Chris Christie  —  Consider Bell.  A diverse, poor offshoot of Los Angeles, Bell's population in 2000 stood at 37,000 and its median per year household income clocked in at $29,000.  But according to a blitz of media reports, city manager Robert Rizzo's yearly salary clocks in close to $800,000.

EXCLUSIVE: House Democrat calls on Rep. Charles Rangel to resign  —  In a major development, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) on Friday night called on beleaguered Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign.  —  Sutton's statement comes one day after the House ethics committee charged the 80-year-old Democrat with multiple violations.

Gulf oil spill: Alarms, detectors disabled so top rig officials could sleep [updated]  —  Critical fire and gas leak alarm systems had been disabled for at least a year aboard the Deepwater Horizon because the rig's leaders didn't want to wake up to false alarms, a rig chief engineer tech told federal investigators.

Journalism Legend Daniel Schorr Dies At 93  —  This graphic requires version 9 or higher of the Adobe Flash Player.Get the latest Flash Player.  —  Gallery: Daniel Schorr  —  Daniel Schorr, a longtime senior news analyst for NPR and a veteran Washington journalist who broke major stories …

Lt. Col. Allen West: I don't see myself as African American, Black American.  I see myself as an American  —  West gets a standing ovation for that line.  And he means every word of it.  And that's why America loves Lt. Col. Allen West!  —  Also, this is a MUST SEE …

THERE'S THAT ‘I’ WORD AGAIN.... The far-right Washington Times published two op-eds, on the same page, on the same day, demanding the impeachment of President Obama.  One was from the perpetually deranged Jeffrey Kuhner, who insisted, “Obama has betrayed the American people.  Impeachment is the only answer.

Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege  —  America still owes a debt to its black citizens, but government programs to help all ‘people of color’ are unfair.  They should end.  —  The NAACP believes the tea party is racist.  The tea party believes the NAACP is racist.

VIDEO: 9/11 Truther Van Jones Gets Standing Ovation at Netroots Nation  —  LAS VEGAS — Van Jones, the former Obama “green jobs czar” who was forced to resign after it was revealed that he signed a petition calling for an investigation into whether the Bush administration deliberately allowed …

Conflicting details in Kirk's 1976 lake rescue  —  (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune / July 15, 2010)  —  Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk for a decade has told the story of how he nearly drowned when he was 16 while sailboating on Lake Michigan and how his rescue by the Coast Guard inspired …

Forecast: Federal budget gap will exceed $1.4 trillion in 2010, 2011  —  A new White House forecast predicts that the federal budget deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion last year, will exceed that figure this year and again in 2011.  —  The $1.47 trillion budget gap predicted for 2010 …

The WATB musings of a “Progressive” media star  —  I am glad that there are some reliable progressive and liberal voices on the teevee, but I am disappointed that most of them are also WATB.  There are exceptions like the excellent Rachel Maddow, but sadly most of the rest of them are far …

Guilt By Association  —  It seems to me simply wrong to ascribe the bile of flocks of angry commenters that appear on any site that tackles contentious topics to the blogger himself.  You can criticize him or her for not deleting them and providing a platform to hate (Ann Althouse's readers routinely mock …

Price to attend Obama's birthday bash: $30,000  —  $$$$$: Happy Birthday, buddy!  —  Sneed hears real estate mogul Neil Bluhm is tossing a private birthday party here for President Obama, who turns 49 on Aug. 4.  —  • The shocker: The dinner invite to the Barack bash at Bluhm's home requires …

Health Care Law Has Wamp Hoping Against Secession  —  Rep. Zach Wamp (R-03) suggested TN and other states may have to consider seceding from the union if the federal government does not change its ways regarding mandates.  —  “I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 …

Journolisters offended by Keith Olbermann's ‘misogynistic,’ ‘predictable,’ and ‘pompous’ show  —  Salon's Rebecca Traister agreed Olbermann regularly displayed his contempt for women.  “Olbermann has a terrible record of going out of his way to talk about young, attractive women he believes …

Hidden Danger: How The GOP Could Kill Health Reform Without Repealing It  —  For all the GOP chest puffing about reversing the new health care law, a full repeal, to put it generously, is a long-term project.  Even if they retake the House in November, they almost certainly won't retake the Senate.

CBO Scores Stark Public Option Proposal  —  Rep Pete Stark got the Congressional Budget Office to score a new version of the old public option idea, and the results underscore the point that such an option would be a good idea: … They write that “[t]he bulk of those budgetary effects would occur in the second half of the decade.”

Catholic sex scandal as undercover reporter ‘films priests at gay clubs and having casual flings’  —  A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out.

Debbie Matthews has bottomless respect for her strip club staff  —  BAR: SHOTGUN WILLIE'S  —  Shotgun Willie's, 490 S. Colorado Blvd., is Denver's iconic topless bar.  It's been taking it off since 1982, and it takes its name from Willie Nelson's album “Shotgun Willie.”

75% Say Free Markets Better Than Government Management of Economy, Political Class Disagrees  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Likely Voters prefer free markets over a government managed economy.  Just 14% think a government managed economy is better while 11% are not sure.

“Grassroots” Rove-linked group funded almost entirely by billionaires  —  [UPDATED]Virtually all of the $4.7 million raised by Karl Rove's new conservative outfit was contributed by just four billionaires, three of whom are based in Dallas, Texas, and two of whom made their fortune in the oil and gas industry.