Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Down  —  Book burning is antithetical to American ideals.  People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation - much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

Imam: Handling of Islamic center plan a matter of national security  —  (CNN) — The religious leader behind plans to erect an Islamic center and mosque a few blocks from New York's ground zero said Wednesday night that America's national security depends on how it handles the controversy.

Barbara Boxer aide charged with possession of pot  —  A senior aide for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was arrested Tuesday for attempting to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building, according to U.S. Capitol Police reports.  —  Marcus Stanley, who served as a senior economic adviser …

Obama vs. the Republicans (With Full Speech Text)  —  I think it's safe to say that President Obama has given up on bipartisanship, at least for the foreseeable future.  —  The White House just released prepared text of his economic speech to the City Club of Cleveland.

Court Dismisses a Case Asserting Torture by C.I.A.  —  WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that former prisoners of the C.I.A. could not sue over their alleged torture in overseas prisons because such a lawsuit might expose secret government information.

Florida College Shuts Down Conservative Event After Seeing Anti-Obama Literature (Video)  —  It begins... School officials at Palm Beach State College kicked members of the Young America's for Freedom off campus after they saw anti-Obama literature at their table.  —  It was offensive.

Report: Castro says Cuban model doesn't work  —  HAVANA - Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

Wall Street fills coffers of top GOP candidates  —  Wall Street and financial interests are putting their money behind a handful of top-tier Senate Republican candidates as the GOP looks to win back power in the midterm elections.  —  The industry's contributions, which favored Democrats …

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs fined £17.5m by FSA  —  Goldman Sachs settled fraud charges in the US by paying $550m  —  Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has been fined £17.5m ($27m) by the UK's City regulator, the Financial Services Authority.

Jerry Brown: 'I Have a Plan, I'll Tell You After the Election'  —  While speaking to business leaders in Silicon Valley, California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown announces that he has a plan for the State's fiscal crisis, but he won't reveal it until after the election.

Health Outlays Still Seen Rising  —  The health-care overhaul enacted last spring won't significantly change national health spending over the next decade compared with projections before the law was passed, according to government figures set to be released Thursday.

Biden: Bush deserves ‘a lot of credit’  —  Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday night said that former President George W. Bush deserves ‘a lot of credit’ for his handling of the initial Iraq war drawdown.  —  Speaking to Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who conducted a rare …

Republican Governors Association moves $500,000 to New Mexico  —  1. The Republican Governors Association in recent days has donated $500,000 to Dona Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez's gubernatorial campaign in New Mexico, the latest sign that national GOP strategists believe …

Michael Joseph Gross Responds to Criticism of His Article on Sarah Palin  —  It has been only a few days since the appearance of my Vanity Fair article “Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury,” and the response, to put it mildly, has been considerable.  I won't address simple differences …

Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov't Data  —  (CNSNews.com) - In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total …

Obama In Ohio: Hello Illinois!  —  Ooops.  —  Obama is giving a speech about the economy and attacking John Boehner but mostly attacking Boehner.  —  I asked on Twitter what Boehner's name recognition was, since as we all know punching down is a bad idea.  Just as I asked that Philip Klein put this out on Twitter.

EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblower Claims Many U.S. Interpreters Can't Speak Afghan Languages  —  Says Translators Failed Language Tests, Were Still Embedded With US Troops In Afghanistan  —  More than one quarter of the translators working alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan failed language proficiency exams …

Why did Barack Obama do health care first?  —  Joe Romm says that “future generations are likely to view Obama's choice of health care over energy and climate legislation as a blunder of historic proportions,” which is certainly possible.  But like Matthew Yglesias, I don't think it was a choice at all.