$100,000 For Glenn Beck's Sex Tape  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers are happy to throw money at the rising tide of right wing lunacy.  Breitbart offered $100,000 for JournoList, the email listserve that brought down WaPo blogger Dave Weigel this June.

BREAKING!!  Alaska Libertarian Party votes to deny Lisa Murkowski ballot line  —  From Eric Dondero:  —  The Executive Committee of the Alaska Libertarian Party held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the contested primary results in the Republican Senate primary.

Coburn rips the left and right alike  —  He pulls no punches during a town hall meeting in Wagoner.  —  WAGONER - U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn called out Democrats, Republicans, Newt Gingrich, the military-industrial complex, teachers unions and Medicare - to name a few - at a town hall meeting Friday.

Israel group targets Holt, J Street  —  The Emergency Committee for Israel's latest ad targets Rep. Rush Holt, but its real target, again, seems to be the left-leaning Jewish group J Street.  —  The ad, which started airing Saturday in a modest but real buy, an aide to the group said …

Thinner Time magazine still manages to stand out  —  Rick Stengel may have his shoulder in a sling, but when it comes to the newsmagazine wars, he's the last man standing.  —  The reason, says Time's managing editor, is that “we saw what was coming.  We wanted to fix the roof when the sun was shining.”

Obama urges Senate GOP to end ‘blockade’  —  President Obama today criticized Senate Republicans for blocking a measure aimed at boosting small businesses, saying it was “directly detrimental to the economy.”  —  In his first event at the White House since his week-long vacation …

It's Witch-Hunt Season  —  The last time a Democrat sat in the White House, he faced a nonstop witch hunt by his political opponents.  Prominent figures on the right accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of everything from drug smuggling to murder.  And once Republicans took control of Congress …

Crist walks back same-sex marriage remarks  —  (CNN) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist appeared to backtrack from statements he made regarding same-sex marriage during a CNN interview Sunday, saying in a statement that he does not support a Constitutional ban on the practice.

The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment  —  My calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if jobless benefits hadn't been extended to 99 weeks.  —  Congressman John Boehner recently suggested that President Obama replace his top economic advisers.

Judge quashes Cuccinelli subpoena of U-Va. records  —  An Albemarle County Circuit Court judge has set aside a subpoena issued by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to the University of Virginia seeking documents related to the work of climate scientist and former university professor Michael Mann.

This I Believe  —  It's quickly mushroomed into the summer's hottest data point: A boatload of Americans believe Barack Obama's a Muslim.  —  Except that, maybe, they don't.  Consider this instead: They're just willing to say it.  —  This not-so-subtle difference is useful in understanding public opinion and its measurement.

John Bolton, Criticizer-in-Chief  —  Since assuming office, President Obama has garnered his fair share of high-profile critics.  But few have been as omnipresent and implacable as John Bolton.  From his near constant appearances on Fox News and HBO's “Real Time with Bill Maher” …

‘Call Me’ Campaign Ad  —  The book also deals directly with the 2006 Senate campaign, where Ford nearly became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Tennessee.  —  Some of Ford's characterizations of his opponent, now U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, are less than flattering.

Environmental groups face their future in climate-change debate  —  On Thursday, some of the country's most respected environmental groups - in the midst of their biggest political fight in two decades - sent a group of activists to Milwaukee with a message.  —  We're losing.

A Note to the President  —  When you speak to the troops tomorrow at Fort Bliss, and to the nation tomorrow night from the Oval Office, you speak, of course, as the president.  As our president.  —  You won't be speaking—not in these settings—as a once (and perhaps future) candidate for president.

Report: Warnings about e-mails went unheeded in Bush White House  —  Top aides to President George W. Bush seemed unconcerned amid multiple warnings as early as 2002 that the White House risked losing millions of e-mails that federal law required them to preserve, according to an extensive review of records set for release Monday.

Remainders: Beckfest  —  Time to catch up on some issues I would have blogged about last week had I not been on vacation.  First up—the Glenn Beck Extravaganza.  I've watched a fair amount of Beck over the past two years, and it's clear that the man is a charlatan.

Being broke costs state $550 million  —  SPRINGFIELD — The state's miserable bond rating has driven up borrowing costs for state government by more than $500 million since last year, a government watchdog group says.  —  The nonpartisan, Chicago-based Civic Federation analyzed …

Random Density Facts  —  A couple of facts about population density that I came across while my girlfriend was behind the wheel on some long drives up and down the east coast.  First if Texas (268,820 square miles) were as densely populated as New Jersey (1,134 per square mile) …

Bigot starts ground zero church: Where's the outrage?  —  A pastor who hates Muslims, Mormons and gays will start preaching Sunday.  Will mosque opponents speak out?  —  A bigoted pastor who has assailed gays and Muslims is launching the “9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero” …

Charlie Crist: A puzzle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery  —  In a bid to pick up Democratic votes without losing every last Republican vote, Charlie Crist is refusing to say who he'll caucus with if he's elected to the Senate in November.  The fact that that's smart politics suggests …

The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution  —  The plan to erect a mosque of major proportions in what would have been the shadow of the World Trade Center involves not just the indisputable constitutional rights that sanction it, but, providentially, others that may frustrate it.

The Taliban vs. the Mosque  —  Taliban officials know it's sacrilegious to hope a mosque will not be built, but that's exactly what they're wishing for: the success of the fiery campaign to block the proposed Islamic cultural center and prayer room near the site of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.