AP Standards Center issues staff advisory on covering New York City mosque  —  Associated Press Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production Tom Kent sent the following note to the staff about covering the New York City mosque story:  —  Colleagues,

Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim  —  Religion, Politics and the President  —  OVERVIEW  —  A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined.  More than a year and a half into his presidency …

Weekly Jobless Claims Post Surprise Jump, Hit 500,000  —  New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.  —  Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 …

Hip-Hop Mogul: If You Blame Muslims For 9-11, Blame Christians For 1st WTC Bombing!  —  I did not know Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj were Christian names?  Must have been converts prior to 1993.

‘Ground Zero’ Imam: ‘I Am a Jew, I Have Always Been One’  —  The right-wing campaign against the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” includes vicious personal attacks on the Muslim cleric who leads the Cordoba Initiative, the organization behind the plan.  I know Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf …

GOP Senate candidate yanks video showing smoldering 9/11 site  —  This one is ugly.  —  GOP Senate candidate Roy Blunt's campaign has pulled down a Web video displaying the smoldering remains of the 9/11 attacks alongside audio of his Democratic opponent saying the location of the Islamic center should be up to New Yorkers to decide.

Shot fired at Al Franken's condo  —  Minneapolis and Capitol Hill police are investigating a shot that was fired at the condo of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.).  —  Nobody was home at the time of the incident, which was not reported until after the senator and his wife returned home to Minneapolis …

How To Lose A Guy In 75 Days  —  Two years after his coattails helped sweep two dozen Democrats into office, President Obama is proving more a boon to Republicans than to Democrats during the midterm elections.  His poll numbers are so morose that Democrats are planning ways to avoid his shadow …

Clemens to Be Indicted for Perjury in Doping Testimony  —  Federal authorities have decided to indict Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to two people briefed on the matter.  —  An announcement is expected later today.

Sink Inching Up In Close Florida Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Crist Leads Three-Way Senate Race  —  Apparently bolstered by the civil war for the Republican nomination for Governor in Florida, State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat, is on the plus side …

The Most Sexist Ad, Well, Ever  —  In an act of shockingly retro, sexist stupidity, a local unit of the Republican Party of Minnesota has broadcast a new reason you should vote Republican: GOP women are hot, and Democratic women are not.  —  The group has made a web video contrasting photos of attractive …

2012 Watch: Santorum being “pulled along” to 2012 race  —  Rick Santorum moved one tiny step closer to declaring himself a 2012 candidate on Wednesday.  —  Washington (CNN) - Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, moved one tiny step closer to declaring himself a 2012 candidate on Wednesday …

Obama on the Trail  —  Illinois voters say they would be negatively influenced if a candidate was endorsed by Barack Obama.  And if his support isn't an asset in his home state it's hard to imagine where it is.  —  40% of voters in the state say they'd be less likely to support …

You'll Get Served  —  The West Wing is on notice.  —  If Republicans win the House this fall, Rep. Darrell Issa will wield the majority's sharpest investigative tool: the subpoena pen.  —  “Cabinet officers, assistant secretaries, directors — I will be able to take on everybody …

NOAA official: Roughly three-quarters of spilled oil still in Gulf  —  Roughly three-quarters of the oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's ruptured well is still in the environment, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official told a House panel Thursday.

Skip the lecture on Israel's ‘risks for peace’  —  In the intifada that began in 2000, Palestinian terrorism killed more than 1,000 Israelis.  As a portion of U.S. population, that would be 42,000, approaching the toll of America's eight years in Vietnam.  During the onslaught …

The Decline of Private Health Insurance  —  I'm not very interested in the underlying dispute between Scott Winship and Mike Konczal, but I did think this Winship chart about health insurance was interesting:  —  I emailed Winship to ask him what this data looks like if we examine the under-65 crowd.

New Dem message: ‘Improve’ health care, don't talk cost  —  Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.”

The Deal  —  Bob Somerby is following the latest Social Security chatter and hopes that Paul Krugman can explain how the trust fund works in an understandable way: … Well, hell, I'll take a crack at it.  Here's the simple version.  —  In 1983, when we last reformed Social Security …

Why I back a mosque compromise  —  The builders want to build it as a healing gesture, but healing is impossible without dialogue  —  First of all, I am not going to back off.  The reaction did surprise me because most of the negative reaction had to do with defending the constitutional rights of the builders of the center.

Joe Sestak, the 60th Democrat  —  Joe Sestak stepped out of a Chevy Suburban on the morning of July 3 and met up with a group of 15 campaign volunteers gathered in the parking lot of a drugstore in Canonsburg, Pa., just southwest of Pittsburgh.  The town is the birthplace of Perry Como.