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.

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.

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.

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.

This Is Where We Begin to Say No  —  On the Ground Zero mosque, Americans reject the opinion elites that empower the Islamists.  —  A tectonic shift is in motion: How fitting that its focal point is Ground Zero, the inevitable fault line between Islam and the West.

CNN/Time Poll: Heated battle for Florida Senate  —  Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek are part of a close three way race for Senate in Florida.  —  (CNN) - A new poll indicates that the three way-battle for Florida's open Senate seat, arguably the most fascinating Senate contest this year, is deadlocked at the top.

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 …

Get Over the Quran Burning  —  As a Florida pastor plans a Quran-burning bonfire on September 11, The Daily Beast's Asra Q. Nomani, herself a Muslim, says there are a few brutal passages in the Quran that need to go up in smoke.  —  On the plan to burn Qurans this weekend, I say to Muslims …

Tri-C students recruited to fill the seats for Obama's appearance  —  PARMA, Ohio - With less than an hour before President Obama's scheduled speech, 75 seats remained empty in the recreation center at Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus.  —  So organizers went around campus and recruited more students to fill the seats.

“Middle Class” Tax Cuts  —  I know I saw this on some of the other wonky progressive blogs last week (or maybe the week before) but it didn't really hit home until I saw it again.  The point is that when we talk about a distinction between the “Bush tax cuts for the rich” and the …

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.

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.

Climate lobby shop shutters  —  Climate advocates stung by defeat in the Senate are folding one of their big umbrella lobbying groups.  —  Clean Energy Works, a coalition of 80 environmental, religious, veteran and labor groups, will phase out its operations this fall as Democratic congressional …

On Clean Energy, China Skirts Rules  —  CHANGSHA, China — Until very recently, Hunan Province was known mainly for lip-searing spicy food, smoggy cities and destitute pig farmers.  Mao was born in a village on the outskirts of Changsha, the provincial capital here in south-central China.

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.