Longshot US Senate candidate from SC indicted  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — Longshot U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene was indicted Friday on two charges, including a felony charge of showing pornography to a South Carolina college student.  —  A Richland County grand jury indicted Green for disseminating …

1993 flip-flop: Sen. Reid introduced bill ‘clarifying’ birthright citizenship  —  For all the brouhaha over Republicans wanting to review the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, the citizenship/birthright clause, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, once supported revising …

Conservative Bloggers Select The 25 Worst Figures In American History  —  Out of all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks in all of American history — have you ever wondered who the worst of the worst was?

Judge Doubts Gay Marriage Ban's Backers Can Appeal  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban has more bad news for the measure's sponsors: he not only is unwilling to keep gay couples from marrying beyond next Wednesday …

Sacrilege at Ground Zero  —  A place is made sacred by a widespread belief that it was visited by the miraculous or the transcendent (Lourdes, the Temple Mount), by the presence there once of great nobility and sacrifice (Gettysburg), or by the blood of martyrs and the indescribable suffering of the innocent (Auschwitz).

CNN Poll: Who's on top in hunt for 2012 GOP nomination?  —  Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul (left to right) top a list of potential 2012 GOP contenders, according to a new CNN poll.  (PHOTO CREDITS: Getty Images)  —  Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) …

Tea Party groups out against net neutrality  —  Tea Party groups are staking out an anti-regulatory position in the fight over net neutrality rules for phone and cable companies.  —  A coalition that included 35 Tea Party groups sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) …

CONTENTS NOT VERIFIED  —  It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there's no similar labelling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content.  —  I figured it was time to fix that, so I made some stickers.

Facing Ethics Charges, Rep. Waters Points Finger at Bush Administration  —  Embattled Rep. Maxine Waters on Friday blamed the Bush administration for her ethics problems — saying she had to intervene with the Treasury Department on behalf of minority-owned banks seeking federal bailout funds …

Disappointed, down, despondent  —  And not about to rush to the polls in November, either  —  WHY, asks a Democrat leading a training session for fellow activists, doesn't “Yes we can” work as a slogan any more?  “Because we haven't,” a jaded participant responds.

Obama closes curtain on transparency  —  President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians.

U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearing erupts into shouting  —  Washington (CNN) - Members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission shouted at each other Friday over the Justice Department's decision to drop most of the charges in a 2008 incident in which black militants confronted voters at a Philadelphia …

Presidential Reading  —  Karl Rove once claimed that President George W. Bush read 95 books in a year as part of a bet.  —  Apparently, President Obama is not as well read.  —  Reporter Michael Powell to the Columbia Journalism Review: “I got talking to him about what he reads and was telling me about these different policy tomes.

Greene threatens suit against St. Pete Times  —  Billionaire self-funding Senate hopeful Jeff Greene, who's been on the receiving end of extensive media scrutiny in his Florida race to be the Democrat challenging independent Charlie Crist and Republican Marco Rubio, is vowing to sue …

Unemployed Man Reacts To Gingrich's Accusation That ‘Welfare’ Is Making Him Lazy: I Paid Into It For 35 Years  —  Time and time again, conservatives have claimed that extending unemployment benefits for the unemployed is breeding laziness and lack of productivity.  Newt Gingrich was the latest to adopt this meme.

M-D Poll: Crist approval drops to 44%  —  Gov. Charlie Crist's job approval ratings have dropped to an all-time low for him — 44 percent — and represent the lowest posted by a Florida governor in 16 years, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll.  This is the first time Crist's job performance has dropped below 50 percent.

For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity  —  After a widely admired start in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama's popularity is falling and, if the current downward trend in her approval ratings continues, could touch lows not seen since the scandal-tainted days of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Defying Others, Germany Finds Economic Success  —  BERLIN — Germany has sparred with its European partners over how to respond to the financial crisis, argued with the United States over the benefits of stimulus versus austerity, and defiantly pursued its own vision of how to keep its economy strong.

‘Rapid recovery’  —  Destatis also revised up the German growth figure for the first three months of the year, to 0.5% from 0.2%.  —  As well as the “strong contribution” from exports, the office said household and government spending also helped to boost growth in the second quarter.

Opinion: Where Did All Those ‘Green Shoots’ Go?  —  In an Aug. 2 op-ed headlined “Welcome to the Recovery,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that “we are on a path back to growth.”  Eight days later, the Federal Reserve issued a report saying the “pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months.”

Does the past record of journalists matter?  —  The Atlantic's James Fallows, whose analysis I often find worthwhile, yesterday defended Jeffrey Goldberg and his Iran article from unidentified critics (emphasis added): … First of all, it's inaccurate to claim that critiques of Goldberg's article are based on what he did in the past.