FACT CHECK: Obama's jobs plan paid for?  Seems not  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's promise Thursday that everything in his jobs plan will be paid for rests on highly iffy propositions.  —  It will only be paid for if a committee he can't control does his bidding …

Rick Santelli to Tom Friedman: 'You're idiotic'  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, stuck to his claim that Social Security in its current form is a so-called Ponzi scheme during last night's presidential debate.  The media are getting a lot of mileage out of sound bite.

Ron Paul Debate: Rick Perry Physically Grabs Him, Points at His Face  —  During the Sept. 7 Republican debate, Ron Paul clashed with fellow Texan Rick Perry once again.  —  This time, things got physical.  —  During a commercial break, Perry walked up to Paul's podium, physically grabbed Paul's wrist …

Why They Cheered  —  Capital punishment brings out the worst in the liberal elite.  —  (Note: We're working on an assignment, so today's column is abbreviated.  We return tomorrow at the usual length.)  —  Perhaps the most striking statement at last night's Republican presidential debate came …

Court rejects health law challenges  —  A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out two challenges to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul on procedural grounds.  —  Delivering a two-pronged win to the Obama administration, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said Virginia has no right …

Longshoremen storm Wash. state port, damage RR  —  LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Obama brings guests to jobs speech  —  This is turning into a State of the Union-like event.  —  The White House has announced that nearly two-dozen guests will sit with first lady Michelle Obama to watch President Obama deliver his jobs speech to a joint session of Congress.

A big, bold jobs plan  —  With President Barack Obama preparing to address a joint session of Congress about our unemployment crisis Thursday night, our message to him - as his reliable supporters and political allies — is simple: Think big and act boldly.  —  Americans expect and deserve nothing less.

My meeting with CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver  —  I met with Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cleaver, yesterday, Wednesday, September 7th, fellow colleague Rep. Wm.  Lacy Clay, CBC Executive Director Angela Rye,and my own Chief of Staff was also present.

FBI serves search warrants at Solyndra  —  (09-08) 09:35 PDT FREMONT — FBI agents served search warrants this morning at Solyndra, the Fremont solar company that abruptly closed last week, two years after receiving more than $500 million in federal stimulus money, an agency official said.

Reid turns tables on Obama speech-skippers by setting Thursday-night debt vote  —  (Evan Vucci/ASSOCIATED PRESS) The handful of Republican members who had planned on skipping President Obama's jobs address to a joint session Thursday night might have to think again.

The U.S. Economic Outlook  —  Good afternoon.  I am delighted to be in the Twin Cities and would like to thank the Economic Club of Minnesota for inviting me to kick off its 2011-2012 speaker series.  Today I will provide a brief overview of the U.S. economic outlook and conclude …

‘Reason To Believe’: Joe Scarborough Releases Powerful Antiwar Song … For all the similarities between America's war in Vietnam and those in Iraq and Afghanistan, this past decade's wars have not yielded the singular pop-cultural response that the earlier quagmire did.

Jacqueline Kennedy Reveals That JFK Feared an LBJ Presidency  —  President John F. Kennedy was so “worried for the country” about the prospect that Vice President Lyndon Johnson might succeed him as president that he'd begun having private conversations about who should become …