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.

President Obama to Pastor Jones: ‘Stunt’ Endangers Troops - Full Transcript of Exclusive Interview  —  I covered a lot of ground with the president in Cleveland yesterday: His decision to make John Boehner the midterm punching bag.  Will he veto a sanction of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy?

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

9/11 widow: The media duped us  —  As I watch other victims argue over Park51, I feel like reporters turned us into the experts we never were  —  The first time I heard about the Park51 Islamic community center was on May 6, 2010, when I received the following e-mail from a New York TV reporter:

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.

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 …

Whatever Happened to Obama's Army?  —  What happened to Barack Obama's once vaunted political machine?  The outfit that put upwards of 8 million volunteers on the street in 2008 — known as Organizing for America — is a ghost of its former self.  Its staff has shrunk from 6,000 to 300 …

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.

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.