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,

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.”

U.S. Persuades Israel That Iran's Nuclear Threat Is Not Imminent  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Iran's nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year — and perhaps longer — for Iran to complete …

Obama's energy meltdown  —  The decision by congressional Democrats to not try to pass a major energy bill in this Congress, while receiving a modest amount of media attention, actually constitutes one of the sharpest rebukes to a sitting president in recent memory.

Appeasing the Bond Gods  —  As I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there's an analogy that keeps passing through my mind.  I know it's over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite — central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders …

DSCC Planning Ads For Carnahan, Conway  —  The DSCC has reserved air time in October for KY and MO SEN, sources tell Hotline On Call.  The committee is planning to spend $4M in MO for a statewide broadcast ad and $1.3M in KY for a statewide ad campaign.  —  The ads buys will bolster …

Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem  —  In 1985, Barack Obama had just arrived in Chicago for his new job as a community organizer when he headed to Smitty's Barbershop, a tiny storefront on the South Side.  As Smitty cut his hair, Obama listened to the men in the shop talk politics and racial grievance.

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 …

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.

And now: The stealth Obama ocean grab  —  For the past few months, I've been spotlighting the Obama administration's War on the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's War on Jobs,  —  and the White House land lock-up (Part 1, Part 2).  Today's column exposes the next Obama environmental power grab — into the sea.

The right stuff  —  Indiana's governor is a likeable wonk.  Can he save the Republicans from themselves and provide a pragmatic alternative to Barack Obama?  —  CLAY COUNTY  —  THE governor does not like to keep people waiting.  On a recent morning this small man leapt out of a trooper's Toyota …

BP Settlements Likely to Shield Top Defendants  —  WASHINGTON — People and businesses seeking a lump-sum settlement from BP's $20 billion oil spill compensation fund will most likely have to waive their right to sue not only BP, but also all the other major defendants involved with the spill …

Media: Maybe Obama Should Go To Church More Publicly So People Know He's Christian  —  Today, Pew put out a poll showing that 18 percent of the American public believes President Obama is a Muslim.  That number includes 31 percent of Republicans.  Only 34 percent of the adult public says Obama …

Dems hit at Bush in new cable ad  —  Democrats again used former President George W. Bush as a foe in their latest TV ad campaign, driving home the point Republicans would restore policies that helped create the economic downturn.  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) …

An Airline Magazine That Makes Travelers Want to Pull the Rip Cord  —  Safi Shows the Real Afghanistan, From Dog Fighting to Dry Swimming Pools  —  KABUL—Safi Airways, a start-up Afghan airline, ventures where few air carriers dare to go: Its in-flight magazine tells the ugly truth about the place where you're about to land.

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 …

The Most Lethal Weapon the United States Returns in ‘Early Warning’  —  Thanks to all of you, my new novel, Early Warning, is in stores today, as well as on Kindle.  It's the sequel to last year's thriller, Hostile Intent, which went to No. 1 on Kindle upon its debut, sat high …

Arizona prison escapee, fiancée-cousin caught  —  Pair on lam since July 30, accused of killing elderly Oklahoma couple  —  Escaped inmate John McCluskey and his fiancée-cousin Casslyn Welch were captured in the northeast Arizona's Apache County, the U.S. Marshals Office said late Thursday.

The new battle: What it means to be American  —  It's a classic case of be careful what you wish for.  President Barack Obama wanted to end the baby boomer-era culture wars — and he's done it.  —  But along the way, Obama has sparked an even more visceral values debate about whether he's moving …

Thomson prison appraisal, fed's offer differ  —  THOMSON — The three appraisals of the Thomson Correctional Center have been completed, and the average value assigned to the vacant prison is far higher than what the Obama administration budgeted to buy the facility.