$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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.”

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 aid to the group said …

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.

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” …

In 2010, Obama's mantle less of an asset for Democrats  —  Two years can change just about everything in politics.  —  In the 2008 campaign, Democrats running for the Senate did anything - and everything - to associate themselves with then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

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.

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) …

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.

Senator Simpson's Quick Budget Quiz  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  President Obama is apparently content to have an abrasive and abusive senator's son sit as co-chairman of his deficit commission.  We can assume that these traits were a direct result of Sen. Alan Simpson's privileged upbringing …

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.

Piers Morgan Finally Admits To CNN Talks  —  LOS ANGELES- Piers Morgan broke his silence about his impending job at CNN on Sunday, saying in a red carpet interview at the Emmys that negotiations are almost finished.  —  Mr. Morgan has been in talks with CNN this summer about replacing Larry King …

Iran calls Carla Bruni a ‘prostitute’  —  Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the French First Lady, has been called a “prostitute” by Iran after she criticised the country's decision to stone a woman to death.  —  Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president …

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.

Germany's rebound is no cause for cheer  —  One of the weirder experiences for anyone who lives in the eurozone is a visit to a German supermarket.  I had the pleasure the other day, and found the general price level there to be a little over half of what it is in Belgium, Italy or Spain.

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 …