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.)

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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”?

KEY OBAMA ALLY WORKS WITH SOCIALISTS FOR GLOBAL TAX  —  “It is possible for us to get a financial tax around the world.”  —  FREELANCER  —  The New Mafia.... I'm sure that none of these people will take a cut of what they take from the evil capitalists.  We had better stop these thugs …

The Purge at Cato  —  The summer's biggest inside-Washington story was the abrupt and simultaneous departure of co-authors Brink Lindsey and Will Wilkinson from the Cato Institute.  —  Lindsey was Cato's vice president for research; Wilkinson a Cato scholar.

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 …

FTC Suspects Chuck E. Cheese of Marketing to Children  —  The eagle-eyed regulators at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have a sneaking suspicion that a company offering disgusting pizza, animatronic human-sized mice, and a ball pit may be trying to appeal to children.

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.

Quantifying the Enthusiasm Gap  —  We hear about the enthusiasm gap all the time, usually in pretty abstract terms.  Here it is in black and white: in 10 key races for Senate and Governor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, and Missouri it's costing Democratic candidates …

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 …

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 …

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 …

V-Shaped Dreams Evaporate  —  The U.S. must brace itself for a long period of below-potential growth.  —  The curtain has opened on Act II of our “Year of Two Halves”—RGE's theme since the end of 2009—with the slowdown forecast for H2 2010 getting here a bit earlier than expected.

U.S. sues controversial Arizona sheriff in civil-rights investigation  —  Justice Department officials say Maricopa County's Joe Arpaio failed to turn over documents in a probe of his agency's immigration enforcement operations.  Among his tactics are ‘sweeps’ of immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.