Obama Rolls Out a Jobs Plan That Doesn't Need Congress  —  The president has asked federal agencies to find solutions on their own.  His message to lawmakers: We can do this without you.  —  President Obama is either fed up with Congress or he's testing his own administration's mettle.  Or both.

Obama Moves Jobs Speech After Skirmish With Boehner  —  WASHINGTON — Any hopes that a kinder, gentler bipartisan Washington would surface once Congress returns after Labor Day were summarily dashed on Wednesday when President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner clashed over, of all things …

Perry 44% Obama 41%; President Leads Other GOP Hopefuls  —  For the first time this year, Texas Governor Rick Perry leads President Obama in a national Election 2012 survey.  Other Republican candidates trail the president by single digits.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone …

Is Obama Playing Rope-a-Dope?  —  Here was the headline on Yahoo from Wednesday night: Obama bows to Boehner on jobs speech.  —  I can tell you what any progressive who has been paying attention thought, “Oh boy, here we go again.”  —  President Obama has now changed the day of his address to Congress to accommodate the Republicans.

FEMA'S use of term ‘federal family’ for government expands under Obama  —  Posted: 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, Augt.  31, 2011  —  Don't think of it as the federal government but as your “federal family.”  —  In a Category 4 torrent of official communications during the approach and aftermath …

Exclusive: Condoleezza Rice fires back at Cheney memoir  —  (Reuters) - Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she resented what she viewed as an attack on her integrity by former Vice President Dick Cheney in his just-published memoir.  —  Speaking in an interview with Reuters …

Pima County Repubs Raffle Glock As Fundraiser; Same Gun Type Used in Tucson Shooting … Talk about a killer gimmick.  —  An Arizona Republican fundraiser is offering as a prize the same type of gun used in the attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Perry Proposed A Bi-National Health Insurance Plan With Mexico In 2001  —  Gov. Perry with then-Mexican President Vincente Fox.  —  The ghosts of Gov. Rick Perry's (R-TX) more moderate past have come back to haunt him in recent days, particularly when it comes to health care.

Gibson Guitars CEO: U.S. Government Urged Him to Use Foreign Labor  —  Press release from KMJ-AM in Fresno, California:  —  Tonight, in an interview on KMJ's “The Chris Daniel Show,” Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz confirmed that the US government wanted Gibson guitars to use foreign labor over American labor:

WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says  —  This cell phone photo was shot by a resident of Ishaqi on March 15, 2006, of bodies Iraqi police said were of children executed by U.S. troops after a night raid there.  A State Department cable obtained by WikiLeaks quotes …

Iceland Exits  —  Iceland is no longer under an IMF program; here's the IMF report (pdf) pronouncing the adjustment program successful.  Indeed.  Iceland still has high unemployment and is a long way from a full recovery; but it's no longer in crisis, it has regained access to international capital markets …

Deputy mayor quit after being busted for domestic violence  —  The blizzard didn't bury him — roughing up his wife did.  —  Former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith — who drew sharp criticism for bungling the Christmas storm that shut down the city — actually resigned in disgrace after his wife …

Another Republican Rebukes Cantor: Chris Christie Demands Hurricane Aid Without Offsetting Cuts  —  Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) shockingly said that Congress should not approve emergency aid to states battered by Hurricane Irene unless it makes offsetting budget cuts elsewhere first.

LIBERALS' VIEW OF DARWIN UNABLE TO EVOLVE  —  Amid the hoots at Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry for saying there were “gaps” in the theory of evolution, the strongest evidence for Darwinism presented by these soi-disant rationalists was a 9-year-old boy quoted in The New York Times.

Solar Firm Aided by Federal Loans Shuts Doors  —  WASHINGTON — A Silicon Valley maker of solar power arrays that was started with high hopes and $527 million in loans from the federal government said on Wednesday that it would cease operations.  The failure of the company …

How US firms profited from rendition flights  —  Court documents illustrate how US contracted out secret rendition transportation to a network of private companies  —  The scale of the CIA's rendition programme has been laid bare in court documents that illustrate in minute detail …

Howard Dean: Right On Foreign Medical Students  —  Justin Elliott has a kind of exposé piece in Salon about Howard Dean's post-DNC work as a de facto lobbyist and PR man for McKenna Long & Aldridge.  Elliott's interest in the topic stems, I believe, from Dean's advocacy on behalf …

Perry has plenty of ideas on Supreme Court, including term limits  —  One solution the governor embraces is to end lifetime tenure — a cornerstone of the Constitution, whose drafters worried far less about activist or senile judges than about meddling tyrants and political pressure.

Rep. Carson defends controversial tea party slam  —  LOS ANGELES (CNN) - As members of the Congressional Black Caucus converged in Los Angeles for its final national job fair series, one of its ranking members responded to his own previous inflammatory comments in Miami about the tea party …

Michele Bachmann AWOL from N.H.  —  Bachmann's New Hampshire effort is led by state chairman Jeff Chidester, a radio host based in Rochester.  In an interview, he told POLITICO he's received assurances from the campaign's national leadership that the candidate will be back in September …

Chu signals support for proposed oil pipeline  —  Energy Secretary Steven Chu signaled this week that he supports a controversial proposed oil sands pipeline project being considered by the Obama administration.  —  The administration is reaching the tail end of its multi-year review …