Setting Their Hair on Fire  —  First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected.  It's not nearly as bold as the plan I'd want in an ideal world.  But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.

Feds: Zawahiri Launched Al Qaeda Terror Plot for 9/11 Anniversary  —  U.S. authorities are scrambling to sort through information that the CIA developed in the past 24 hours indicating that at least three individuals entered the U.S. in August by air with the intent to launch a vehicle-borne attack …

The irrelevancy of the Obama presidency  —  President Obama gave one of the most impassioned speeches of his presidency when he addressed a joint session of Congress Thursday night.  Too bad so many in the audience thought it was a big, fat joke.  —  “You should pass this jobs plan right away!”

We Are All Ponzi Schemers Now  —  I know I should ignore this.  Ignore, ignore, ignore.  You can do it, Kevin!  —  But no. I'm hopeless.  Here is Reason's Shikha Dalmia on why Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme, it's worse than a Ponzi scheme: … Forget the business about the surplus.

Jacqueline Kennedy on Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  —  Speaking in the months after her husband's assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy was so upset with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that she told a friend and interviewer that she could barely look at images of him.

The Latest Jobs Plan  —  More temporary and targeted tax cuts and spending increases.  —  If President Obama's economic policies have had a signature flaw, it is the conceit that by pulling this or that policy lever, by spending more on this program or cutting that tax for a year …

Obama's uncle quietly released from jail  —  Officials released President Obama's uncle from Plymouth County jail yesterday after holding him for more than two weeks on an immigration detainer for violating an order to return to his native Kenya in 1992.  —  US officials refused to disclose …

Some of Sarah Palin's Ideas Cross the Political Divide  —  CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Let us begin by confessing that, if Sarah Palin surfaced to say something intelligent and wise and fresh about the present American condition, many of us would fail to hear it.  —  That is not how we're primed to see Ms. Palin.

Waxman: Obama's smog retreat is a mistake ‘substantively and politically’  —  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said Thursday that President Obama's decision to scuttle upcoming ozone pollution standards was a mistake “substantively and politically.”  —  “It was very discouraging to their environmental base …

Live-Blogging Obama's Jobs Address  —  7.57 pm.  This was also a speech aimed directly at his own party - rallying the troops, creating a framework for the campaign ahead, betting that things are bad enough that the infrastructure spending and the tax cuts will not alienate debt-concerned independents.