Dept. of stage fright  —  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's opening statement in last night's debate reflects either an amazing lack of preparation, or sheer panic.  —  (The video caption isn't mine.)

One Day Before Its Gulf Oil Rig Exploded, Mariner Energy Said Obama ‘Is Trying To Break Us’ With Moratorium  —  The U.S. Coast Guard said this morning that a natural gas and oil drilling platform exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana.  A Coast Guard spokesperson said the platform …

Hillary Clinton for president ad hits airwaves  —  A new ad advocating for Hillary Clinton for president in 2012 began running in New Orleans Wednesday.  —  (CNN) - We've still got two months left until the 2010 midterm elections, but we now have our first television commercial of the 2012 presidential campaign.

White House considering major tax breaks for businesses, sources say  —  With the recovery faltering less than two months before the November congressional elections, President Obama's economic team is considering another big dose of stimulus in the form of tax breaks for businesses …

Stay Classy, Christine O'Donnell  —  She didn't make the charge; a firm employed by her did.  She's not commenting. … She cannot win in Delaware, which is usually among the ten most Democratic states in the union.  Allow me to be a little elistist — what in this odd biography says “serious candidate for Senator”?

It's Important To Be Right  —  I previously expressed hope that Markos Moulitsas' American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right would be better than the publicity material suggested.  Jamelle Bouie read it for The American Prospect and reports back that it isn't.

Saying anything about Palin, cont'd  —  I generally avoid playing press critic, knowing that I live in a particularly fragile glass house and that good reporters make mistakes.  —  But the Vanity Fair piece on Sarah Palin is so emblematic of much that's wrong about the way she's covered …

Sarah Palin has tough words for the MSM  —  In the first half this interview with Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin says that Republicans must ensure that the public understands that cutting taxes and getting the government out of the way is the best way to fix our economy and that they must communicate …

FTC Subpoenas 48 Food Companies Regarding Marketing to Kids  —  Follow-up to 2008 Report Unlikely to Lead to More Regulation  —  NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The Federal Trade Commission is once again handing out subpoenas to companies that market food to children and teens.

What I Learned Behind the Lines of the Anti-Obama Backlash  —  What's Your Reaction: … Last March, the week that the health care reform was signed into law, I plopped down on a sofa and watched Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck for an hour with two of his biggest fans.

The GOP's new fake racial history  —  Almost 50 years ago, the Republican Party made a decision to embrace the backlash generated by civil rights among white Southerners.  —  Traditionally, they had been staunch Democrats, but they were also culturally conservative, and as Lyndon Johnson …

Stephen Hawking: God didn't create universe  —  LONDON, England (CNN) — God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics.  —  Hawking says in his book “The Grand Design” that, given the existence of gravity …

8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize New York City A Horrible Place To Live  —  'We're Getting The Hell Out Of This Sewer,' Entire Populace Reports  —  NEW YORK—At 4:32 p.m. Tuesday, every single resident of New York City decided to evacuate the famed metropolis, having realizing …

Dodge Charger owner upset vehicle crushed by suicidal fall  —  Tweet  —  Her car was crushed — and so is she.  —  A New Jersey woman is devastated that her precious sports car — just repaired and fully gassed up — was wrecked by a suicidal man's 40-story attempted death leap on the Upper West Side.

Sixty Days to Go  —  The Crystal Ball's Labor Day Predictions  —  Larry J. Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics  —  For decades I've advised students to let the facts speak for themselves, while avoiding the indulgence of shouting at the facts.  In other words, we should take in …

Obama Unpopular Ahead of Midterms: Will the GOP Benefit?  —  President Obama, during a town-hall meeting with young African leaders in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 3, 2010  —  The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube.

Economist Christina Romer serves up dismal news at her farewell luncheon  —  Lunch at the National Press Club on Wednesday caused some serious indigestion.  —  It wasn't the food; it was the entertainment.  Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers …

Warren fuels speculation by dropping class  —  When fall classes began Wednesday at Harvard Law School, Elizabeth Warren was scheduled to be teaching contract law to first-year students.  But something happened on the way to the chalkboard.  —  “I'm writing to let you know that Professor Jerry Frug …

Frank: GOP thinks Obama inauguration ranks with 9/11 as national tragedy  —  Democrat mocks Republicans at California event, saying party has suffered from “massive amnesia” since Obama was sworn in.  —  Republicans act as if President Obama's inauguration ranks with Pearl Harbor and 9/11 …

No Safe Harbor on Gulf Coast; Human Blood Tests Show Dangerous Levels of Toxic Exposure  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Even as BP and US government officials continue to declare the oil spill over at Mississippi Canyon 252 and the cleanup operation an unqualified success …

EXCLUSIVE: Newsweek's Big Name Economics Editor, Dan Gross, Is Headed To Yahoo Finance  —  Dan Gross, Newsweek's economics editor, is leaving the magazine, The Wire has learned.  He's headed to Yahoo Finance.  —  Yahoo has been on something of an editorial hiring spree this year, ramping up its original content efforts.

Discovery Gunman James Lee's Sordid Past as a Human Smuggler  —  Court Documents Detail His Descent into Isolation and Despair  —  James Lee, the bomb-laden gunman who was killed by police in the lobby of the Discovery Channel, was once convicted and imprisoned for smuggling illegal immigrants into the country from Mexico.

Democrats unlikely to repeal tax cuts for the rich  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are poised to play a leading role this month in thwarting their party's effort to raise income tax rates on the wealthy.  —  Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 expire at the end of this year.