Perry Jumps To The Top Of GOP Pack, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Perry, Romney Each Run Neck And Neck With Obama  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry has zoomed to the front of the line of GOP presidential candidates with a 24 - 18 percent lead over former Massachusetts …

Sarah Palin Cancels Appearance at Tea Party Rally in Iowa  —  Sarah Palin canceled her Saturday appearance at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa, a person close the former Alaska governor told The Wall Street Journal. … The person cited “continual lying” from event organizers at Tea Party of America …

Huntsman to unveil sweeping tax reform  —  Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) will propose sweeping tax reforms Wednesday in a speech outlining his jobs plan.  —  Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) will propose sweeping tax reforms Wednesday in a speech outlining his plans on job creation.

Nevada AG Catherine Cortez Masto Destroys BofA in New Lawsuit  —  Masto lights a stick.  (photo: Jeff Hester)  —  Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto's amended complaint in a lawsuit against Bank of America has so many interesting nuances, I think I need a new Internet to catalog them all.

Where Pay for Chief Executives Tops the Company Tax Burden  —  At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday.  —  The companies — which include household names like eBay …

The New Resentment of the Poor  —  In a decade of frenzied tax-cutting for the rich, the Republican Party just happened to lower tax rates for the poor, as well.  Now several of the party's most prominent presidential candidates and lawmakers want to correct that oversight and raise taxes …

Obama targets GOP for fall offensive  —  “Kill the body, and the head will die.”  — Joe Frazier  —  President Obama is preparing to fight a political war this fall on two fronts — the first against Republicans who want his job and the second against Republicans who want to make his job more difficult.

U.S. Files Antitrust Complaint to Block AT&T, T-Mobile Merger  —  The U.S. government sued to block AT&T Inc.'s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc., saying the deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the wireless market.  —  The Justice Department complaint was filed today in federal court in Washington.

Andre Carson: Tea party wants blacks ‘hanging on a tree’  —  A top lawmaker in the Congressional Black Caucus says tea partiers on Capitol Hill would like to see African Americans hanging from trees and accuses the movement of wishing for a return to the Jim Crow era.

Kosovo Islamist admits Frankfurt attack on US airmen  —  A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it.  —  Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online.

Muslims, police scuffle at Rye Playland over amusement park's head scarf ban; 15 arrests made  —  Rye Playland was shut down Tuesday after cops scuffled with Muslims upset that women wearing head scarves were barred from the rides, witnesses said.  —  Fifteen people, including three women …

Judge blocks parts of Texas abortion law on sonograms  —  (Reuters) - A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their fetus.

Obama's uncle is called a fugitive  —  Said to ignore '92 deportation order  —  Onyango Obama is now being held on an immigration detainer in the Plymouth County House of Correction.  —  FRAMINGHAM - The uncle of President Obama arrested here last week on drunken driving and other charges …

State Rep. Deborah Mell has legal gay marriage in Iowa  —  Christin Baker and State Rep. Deborah Mell reveal they got married recently in Iowa.  Tuesday, August 30, 2011 |  Brian Jackson~Sun-Times  —  State Rep. Deborah Mell (D-Chicago) quietly made Illinois history last week.  —  She got married.

Babysitting bill in Calif. Legislature  —  Office of Sen. Doug LaMalfa  —  How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers' compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for...babysitters?  Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated.

Cantor finds himself in a tricky spot on hurricane disaster aid  —  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's insistence that federal disaster aid be offset elsewhere in the budget runs directly counter to his position in the past when the money went to help his Virginia district.

Choi Takes the Stand, Delivering Tense Testimony and Impassioned Speeches  —  Former Army Lt. Dan Choi took the witness stand today during the second day of his federal trial for failing to obey a lawful order by a police officer, where he delivered several impassioned speeches protesting …

Never-Wrong Pundit Picks Obama to Win in 2012  —  Allan Lichtman, the American University professor whose election formula has correctly called every president since Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election, has a belated birthday present for Barack Obama: Rest easy, your re-election is in the bag.

Getting Away With Torture  —  Dick Cheney's memoir shows the importance of the law, not of torture.  —  This week Dick Cheney invites us all to join him again in a game he likes to play against the rest of us called Tedious Torture Standoff.  He continues to assert—this time in his memoir …

How The Economy Quietly Entered A Recession On Friday, And Why The GDP Predicts A Sub-Zero Nonfarm Payroll Number  —  While the key market moving event from last Friday may have been Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech which merely left the door open to future QE episodes, the most important event …