Rush Limbaugh, Pastor Terry Jones Were High School Classmates  —  Terry Jones, the Florida pastor threatening to burn a Koran tomorrow on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, was a high school classmate of Rush Limbaugh.  —  The Cape Central High School (Missouri) website …

Americans OK Allowing Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire  —  One in three favor keeping tax cuts for all taxpayers  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans favor letting the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration expire for the wealthy.  While 37% support keeping the tax cuts for all Americans …

Nine years after 9/11, let's stop fulfilling bin Laden's goals  —  The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, succeeded far beyond anything Osama bin Laden could possibly have envisioned.  This is not just because they resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, nor only because they struck at the heart of American financial and military power.

Christianist Watch: The Fire Next Time  —  And a deeply serious one: … I think the demagoguing of Park51 is a direct result of the GOP's turn toward Christianism.  It's a tipping point where mainstream American Muslims become indistinguishable from the mass murderers of 9/11 in the psyches …

Angle draws Ralston's ire after debate cancelation  —  Sharron Angle has drawn the ire of Nevada journalist Jon Ralston.  —  Washington (CNN) - Nevada's top political journalist lit into Republican Senate hopeful Sharron Angle on Thursday, saying that the Tea Party favorite had backed out of a planned debate.

'IT'S JUST US'.... President Obama hosted an unusually-long White House press conference this morning, which I thought went extremely well for him.  And for the most part, the press corps stuck to substantive issues and avoided some of the more sensationalistic issues of the day.  —  But there were exceptions.

Suddenly, their house is taken over  —  A Long Beach couple struggling with mortgage payments find out their home's been auctioned off by Wells Fargo when the new owner's representative shows up on their doorstep.  —  Mike and Ellen Kahara knew times were tough.

Obama awards living soldier the Medal of Honor  —  Under a bright Afghan moon, eight U.S. paratroopers trudged along a ridge in the Korengal Valley, unaware they were walking right into a trap.  Less than 20 feet away, a band of Taliban fighters executed the ambush plan perfectly …

Live-Blogging Obama's News Conference  —  President Obama is holding his first full-scale White House news conference in three months and the first of the fall campaign season.  He is using the occasion to announce his promotion of the White House economist, Austan D. Goolsbee …

Afghan Protests Against Koran Burning Turn Violent  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Numerous protests broke out in Afghanistan on Friday and two of them turned violent in response to plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran, even after the pastor announced he had suspended those plans.

One block between Ground Zero mosque and human remains  —  Tweet  —  Here's the chilling proof that Ground Zero stretches well beyond the boundaries of the World Trade Center site, and reaches close to the proposed mosque and community center.  —  A map compiled by firefighters …

41 Obama White House aides owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes — and they're not alone  —  Over the years a lot of suspicion has built up across the country about Washington and its population of opportunistic transients coming to see themselves as a special kind of person …

Infrastructure, you say?  Ask the city of San Bruno why we need it  —  Last night a neighborhood exploded.  One minute people were cooking dinner or sitting down to watch the football game or the news, and the next, their neighborhood was rocked by what felt like a terrible earthquake and then it just...exploded.

The Genteel Nation  —  Most people who lived in the year 1800 were scarcely richer than people who lived in the year 100,000 B.C. Their diets were no better.  They were no taller, and they did not live longer.  —  Then, sometime around 1800, economic growth took off — in Britain first, then elsewhere.

We Will Pay Donald Trump to Shut Up … 03:08 PM  —  3,780  —  17  —  By Jenna Sauers … A Drinker's Guide To Fashion's Night Out  —  Anna Wintour will tell you, Fashion's Night Out tonight isn't about sales.  Or about trying to catch a glimpse of an Olsen, or even mini-manicures or astrological readings.

Muslim Prayer Room Was Part of Life at Twin Towers  —  Sometime in 1999, a construction electrician received a new work assignment from his union.  The man, Sinclair Hejazi Abdus-Salaam, was told to report to 2 World Trade Center, the southern of the twin towers.

The Obama Heyday Is Over  —  With so many Democrats running against the president's agenda in the midterm, change will come in the next Congress, regardless of which party is in control.  —  Barack Obama hit the campaign trail this week to resurrect some of that hopey-changey stuff …

Bring solar power back to the White House  —  A few of us have spent the past week carefully transporting a relic of American history down the East Coast, trying to return it to the White House, where it belongs.  —  It's not a painting spirited from the Lincoln Bedroom or an antique sideboard stolen …

Exiting The Imperial Presidency.  —  After Wednesday's ruling, it should be clear that we're past the point of “when the president does it, it's not illegal.”  The law of the land now is that when anyone in our professional intelligence services crosses the line in the name of national security …