TRENDING: ‘Idiot’ jab lobbed at Perry  —  (CNN) - Former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett labeled newly-minted Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry “an idiot” Friday.  —  Bartlett, who served at Treasury under former President George H.W. Bush and as a domestic policy adviser …

Perry, parties, and pragmatism  —  This fascinating clip made the rounds yesterday, and with good reason.  To get a sense of how Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) evaluates evidence, it's an illustrative three minutes.  —  I can't find a full transcript, but to offer a flavor …

Feingold says he won't run in 2012  —  He'll continue teaching law, working on book  —  By Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel  —  Democrat Russ Feingold has decided he will not be a candidate for political office next year, taking himself out of the running in 2012 for either U.S. senator …

Teen girl gang assaults woman in brazen daylight attack outside Philadelphia City Hall  —  An astonishing video has emerged of a vicious gang of teenage girls assaulting a female pedestrian as she walks outside a city hall in broad daylight.  —  The woman, who has not been named …

Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises  —  Flanked by a cadre of local political leaders, Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose used a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a solar power company last week to talk up the promise of the green economy.  —  Mr. Reed called the opening of the new headquarters …

Bad luck?  Bad faith?  —  “We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, got the economy moving again. .   . .  But over the last six months, we've had a run of bad luck.”  —  Decorah, Iowa, Aug. 15  —  A troubled nation wonders: How did we get mired in 9.1 percent unemployment …

DeFazio says Obama lacks will to fight, may lose Oregon  —  EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon Congressman Peter Defazio is traveling around his district and leveling verbal body blows at President Obama.  —  In his Eugene office Wednesday, Defazio accused the President of lacking the will to fight for the promises he made to get elected.

Bad news from NASA: If we don't reduce carbon emissions, the aliens might come and kill us  —  This is really just the story of Sodom and Gomorrah repackaged with a scientific patina for the green agenda, no?  An omnipotent super-being looks down upon mankind, is angry at what it sees, and resolves to smite the sinners.

Watching Armageddon From an Armchair  —  Watching the world slide slowly back into recession without a fight, even though we know perfectly well how to prevent it, is just depressing beyond words.  Our descendents will view the grasping politicians and cowardly bankers responsible …

The President's Island Retreat  —  Is his visit to Martha's Vineyard a sign that he's giving up?  —  The phrase of the day is “new lows.”  It blares from every screen.  The number of Americans satisfied with the ways things are going hits new lows—11%.  President Obama's popularity: new lows.

Mortgage Rates Hit 50-Year Low  —  Back in June, in a post about adjustable-rate home loans, Bucks mused about how nice it would be to have a mortgage interest rate that began with a “3.”  The way things are going, that time may not be far off for fixed-rates loans, as well.

Court rules against Catholic Charities in foster-care case  —  A circuit court judge ruled Aug. 18 against four Catholic charities in a lawsuit against the state over the right to continue with foster care services.  —  Judge John Schmidt ruled that the state did not violate the rights …

Ugh: Greta and Sarah Palin rally behind Tea Party poser Orrin Hatch  —  I just read a very bizarre blog post about entrenched incumbent Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch by Fox News anchor Greta van Susteren and then watched an equally distressing interview van Susteren conducted last night with Sarah Palin regarding Hatch.

The Wrong Idea  —  Stocks on Wall Street dropped sharply on Thursday, with investors spooked, again, about the euro-zone debt crisis and the sputtering United States economy.  —  Yet, even at this hour, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic seem determined to handcuff fiscal policies …

Our prison walls are too high to look over, moan terror suspects  —  Suspected terrorists are complaining about a fence around the exercise yard in their high-security prison which restricts their view of the horizon.  —  The alleged extremists are locked up while the Government tries to remove them from the country.

FRC Blasts Obama Administration Support For “It Gets Better,” Calls It “Immoral,” “Disgusting,” “Perversion”  —  Today in the mail I received a letter from the Family Research Council seeking to use the “It Gets Better” project to outrage right-wing activists into opening their wallets and donating money to FRC.

Executive Order—Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce  —  ESTABLISHING A COORDINATED GOVERNMENT-WIDE INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE  —  By the authority vested in me as President …

Fewer Youths to Be Deported in New Policy  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Thursday that it would suspend deportation proceedings against many illegal immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety.  —  The new policy is expected to help thousands …

Deal for West Memphis 3 may allow innocence claim  —  Three men imprisoned since 1994 for the brutal murders of three 8-year-old boys in eastern Arkansas could be released from custody as early as Friday if a deal with prosecutors goes as planned, victims' relatives and a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press.