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.

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 …

Idiot Box: And the Winner of the Fox News Primary Is...  It was a self-inflicted, eye-glazing marathon—50 hours in late August spent watching a full sampling of the Fox News lineup.  Looking back, it seems like a nine-day hallucination of strident voices, blonde hair, and more pitchmen hawking gold coins …

White House initially denies rep.'s request to attend Medal of Honor event  —  The White House initially denied a request by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony for a fellow Marine Corps and Afghanistan war veteran, a congressional source said.

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.

Pete Sessions: Pa. Electoral College Change Would Put House Races at Risk  —  Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Republicans campaign arm, said Thursday he is no fan of a proposal to overhaul the way Pennsylvania awards its votes in the Electoral College.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

Supreme Court asked to halt Texas execution  —  HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court just hours before the man's scheduled execution.  —  Forty-eight-year-old Duane Buck is scheduled for lethal injection Thursday evening …

Why Solyndra's loan guarantees were in the stimulus bill  —  MEGAN MCARDLE writes that the Department of Energy's Solyndra loan guarantee fiasco probably isn't evidence of corruption due to the involvement of Democratic fundraisers.  Rather, it's evidence that the way the government evaluated projects …

Parole board swamped with Troy Davis petitions  —  The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Thursday was given petitions with more than 663,000 names of people asking that Troy Anthony Davis be spared from being executed next Wednesday, saying there is too much doubt he killed a Savannah police officer in 1989.

Senate Resoundingly Defeats Rand Paul Plan, Passes Disaster Relief Package  —  In a surprising show of bipartisanship, 78 Senators voted against Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) plan to offset disaster aid relief and FEMA funding with cuts to foreign aid.  Only 20 senators voted for it.