Rick Perry Exclusive: The GOP's Fiery Front-Runner on His Rise, Record and Rhetoric  —  The hard-charging governor commands a Texas-sized lead in the polls.  In an interview with TIME's Richard Stengel and Mark Halperin, Perry defends his controversial résumé and explains …

What should the White House do?  Panic!  —  Editor's note: James Carville is a Democratic strategist who serves as a political contributor for CNN, appearing frequently on CNN's “The Situation Room” as well as other programs on all CNN networks.  Carville remains active in Democratic politics and is a party fundraiser.

Books of The Times: Joe McGinniss's ‘The Rogue,’ on Sarah Palin - Review  —  On May 22, 2010, Joe McGinniss moved into a strategically well-situated house in Wasilla, Alaska.  It was next door to the home of former Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, but that understates the highly exploitable proximity of the two places.

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Resigns Over Global Warming  —  The global warming theory left him out in the cold.  —  Dr. Ivar Giaever, a former professor with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the 1973 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, abruptly announced his resignation Tuesday …

Professors offer more than $10,000 for proof that Bachmann's story about HPV is true  —  Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's story about a woman who claimed that her daughter suffered “mental retardation” after receiving a vaccine against HPV could fetch the woman's family thousands of dollars.

But Black People Govern Like This ...  Via Angry Black Lady, I know Michael Moore and Bill Maher think this is a great line: … But it really isn't.  In fact, it's racist, and Michael Moore would do well to stop repeating it.  It really is no better than the Kenyan anti-colonial bit, and in fact is good deal worse.

White House Pressure for a Donor?  —  The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS.  Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony.

UPDATED: Right-Wing Lip Readers Take Michelle Obama Derangement Syndrome To A Whole New Level  —  UPDATE: Kristina Schake, communications director for First Lady Michelle Obama, made the following statement about these attacks: … Before today, when the right-wing media made up quotations …

Does the Euro Have a Future?  —  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, Berlin, September 1, 2011  —  The euro crisis is a direct consequence of the crash of 2008.  When Lehman Brothers failed, the entire financial system started to collapse and had to be put on artificial life support.

Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony?  —  Congress contemplates draconian punishment for Internet lies.  —  Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet.  So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site.

Barry Manilow on Ron Paul: ‘I agree with just about everything he says’  —  Grammy award-winning musician Barry Manilow told The Daily Caller that he agrees with “just about everything” 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul says, calling him a “solid” contender for the highest office in the land.

Bam's terrible risk  —  Do President Obama's advisers realize they've got him frittering away the last political asset he has left?  —  As unpopular as the president's policies — and especially his results — have proved, a majority of Americans still like and, somehow, even trust him personally.

LA Porn Studio Begins Construction On ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ Underground Bunker … San Fernando Valley-based porn studio Pink Visual said the bunker is envisioned as “far more than a mere bomb shelter or subterranean survivalist enclave”, complete with a digital studio, gun racks and a rotating hydraulic stage.

A Blue-State Bailout in Disguise  —  Our new study shows that under the Obama jobs bill, debt-ridden states will get another big handout.  —  Last Thursday, the president urged Congress to pony up roughly $200 billion in taxpayer money to “provide more jobs for teachers [and] …

Obama sticker led cops to shooting suspect  —  A paroled killer's “Obama” bumper sticker was the break that helped cops nab the man accused of the cold-blooded murder of a Tedeschi's convenience store clerk, jurors in Edward Corliss' murder trial learned yesterday.

VIDEO: Liberty University Students Call It ‘Un-Christian’ To Allow People To Die Because They Lack Health Insurance  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  —  The most distasteful moment in Monday's Republican presidential debate …

Pass the bill, Obama says 90 times  —  Think the message is getting through to Congress?  In five speeches over a week, President Obama has said “pass this bill” or some variant of it 90 times.  —  That's 18 times in his speech to Congress, 18 times at the University of Richmond …

Why Speeches Don't Work  —  As of a month ago, people calling on the president to propose a bold new jobs plan and advocate for it loudly were “Obama critics” and those of us saying this wouldn't work were “Obama apologists.”  Well, last week he gave the big speech, the White House comms shop keeps pushing …

Liberal Sorcery  —  I want to double (or triple) down on these three posts by Yglesias.  They're all somewhat themed around the president's job plan.  As Matt rightly notes, this obsession with the president's want of liberalism really needs to confront the hard facts of Senators and congressmen who say things like this:

Fight of the Living Dead  —  Like zombie banks that made bad loans, supporters of the Iraq War have dug in their heels on past mistakes.  —  Japan's “lost decade” of the 1990s gave the world “zombie banks.”  A zombie bank is, in effect, bankrupt.  It's made loans to companies …

How I was the subject of anti-Semitic abuse in Cairo  —  Protests against Egypt's slow pace of reform continue to take place in Tahrir Square  —  Relations between Israel and Egypt have become increasingly strained in recent weeks, and in the Egyptian capital there is a mounting sense of tension, including incidents of anti-Semitism.

Skeptical Dems get W.H. jobs pitch  —  Top White House advisers took their sales pitch of President Barack Obama's jobs plan to a skeptical audience Thursday afternoon: Senate Democrats, many of whom have already been openly critical of the $447 billion plan.

Dakota Meyer, Marine Medal of Honor Recipient, Says He's No Hero  —  At a White House ceremony later today, Dakota Meyer will become the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor for heroism in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Meyer becomes the tenth recipient of the nation's highest award …

Nancy Pelosi: Dems can still win back House  —  Despite two Democratic special-election losses this week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is still upbeat about the chances of taking back the House.  —  The California congresswoman on Thursday acknowledged the loss of New York's 9th …