Obama and Perry, geese and ganders  —  The New York Times has an item this morning about tonight's Republican debate, and it featured this Getty Images photograph, taken before the start of last week's debate.  —  It wouldn't be especially interesting, except I also remember seeing this photograph several hundred times four years ago.

The Night They Killed Troy Davis  —  Rutgers historian William Jelani Cobb was outside of the prison, last night, where Troy Davis was held and executed.  He filed this report while bearing “witness to a great evil.”  Jelani has guest-posted here before.  We're always happy to have him back offering …

GOP Ups Ante Big Time In Government Shutdown Fight  —  We should know tonight whether Congress is in genuinely the throes of another government shutdown fight, or whether Democrats and Republicans will figure out a way to avoid their impulses.  —  Instead of cutting a deal with Democrats …

CERN claims faster-than-light particle measured … GENEVA (AP) — Scientists at the world's largest physics lab say they have clocked subatomic particles traveling faster than light, a feat that - if true - would break a fundamental pillar of science.  —  The readings have so astounded researchers …

Explosive Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax  —  The awful launch week for the over-hyped, expected bestseller The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, by controversial author Joe McGinniss, just got worse.  Much worse.

The Great $16 Muffin Myth  —  I've been reading all day about the $16 muffins the Department of Justice served at one of its conferences, and I finally got curious about this.  Is it really true?  So I went to the DOJ Inspector General's website, got the report, and searched for “muffin.”

Gunning for Rick Perry  —  Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt is putting GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry in his crosshairs ... he'll be offering up to $1 million for anyone who can prove Perry has had an illicit sexual liaison ... TMZ has learned.  —  The ad — which Flynt …

Oops, Obama touts his jobs plan today at an Ohio bridge that won't qualify  —  You know all those rusting bridges that President Obama wants to spend billions more dollars repairing to allegedly stimulate the economy?  —  He's headed out to one today which he's described as a …

Dem Poll: Obama Dragging Down His Own Party  —  One of the Democratic party's leading pollsters released a survey of 60 Republican-held battleground districts today painting an ominous picture for Congressional Democrats in 2012.  The poll shows Democratic House candidates faring worse …

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu killed the peace process  —  Who's to blame for the continued failure of the Middle East peace process?  Former President Bill Clinton said today that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whose government moved the goalposts upon taking power …

U.S., allies walk out on Iran leader  —  Western diplomats walked out on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he questioned what he called the “mysterious September 11 incident” during his fiercely anti-American diatribe.  —  “[Who used] the mysterious Sept. 11 incident as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq?”

Panic?  —  That's what we've been seeing on world markets since Thursday trading began in Asia; this morning it hit the US with the kind of sickening thud we remember too well from 2008.  Amid the general hurricane of bad economic news a few things stand out.

Clinton: ‘There Is Not A Single Solitary Example’ Of A Country That Has Succeeded With A Tea Party Philosophy  —  Credit: Cibele Vieira / Clinton Global Initiative  —  Former President Bill Clinton blasted the “non-fact-based political debate” surrounding the Republican primary race …

Fancy last supper requests off the menu on Texas death row  —  (Reuters) - The Texas prison system abolished on Thursday the time-honored tradition of offering an opulent last meal to condemned inmates before their executions, saying they will get standard prison fare instead.

Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him  —  The mystery isn't why Hewlett-Packard is likely to part ways with its chief executive, Léo Apotheker, after just a year in the job.  It's why he was hired in the first place.  —  The answer, say many involved in the process, lies squarely with the troubled Hewlett-Packard board.

Is Irish Austerity Paying Dividends?  —  Last year, the failure of Irish austerity was on the lips of every left-wing wonk in America.  Paul Krugman, the leader of this school of thought, has compared austerity to bloodletting and other such primitive medical quackery (a comparison he repeated a couple of days ago).

Michelle Obama dazzles in New York, wearing diamond bangles by H-Town's Katie Decker  —  That was no ordinary bling on the wrist of First Lady Michelle Obama at the DNC fundraiser in New York Tuesday night.  Those fancy diamond cuffs were the creation of 23-year-old Katie Decker …

Senate clears trade assistance bill  —  (CNN) - The Senate Thursday approved a bill to fund retraining for workers who lose their jobs because of free trade agreements the U.S. enters into with other countries.  —  The final vote was 70 to 27 on the bill.  —  Approval of the bill …

MAP: Which Countries Enlist Gay Soldiers?  —  The United States is now one of 26 countries worldwide that welcome gays and lesbians in the military, according to the Palm Center.  —  The United States is now one of 26 countries worldwide that welcome gays and lesbians in the military, according to the Palm Center.

The Five Million Dollar Man  —  How government unions rip off the taxpayer.  —  In his Labor Day speech in Detroit, Barack Obama issued a ringing endorsement of government employee unions: … From the president's hometown comes an example of what he is actually supporting.

In Reversal, Bachmann's Struggles Now Include Fund-Raising  —  In Michele Bachmann's latest campaign video, she stands for 1 minute, 25 seconds next to what looks like a plastic plant, her voice tinny and echoing because it was not recorded with a microphone on her lapel.

Judicial Diva Gone Wild?  Chief Judge Jones Tells Judge Dennis to ‘Shut Up’  —  Chief Judge Edith Jones: Underneath her robe beats a judicial diva's heart.  —  Can you enforce civility by being... uncivil?  That's the question being raised, over and over again, by federal judges from Texas these days.

Santorum: Honoring God Is Essential To National Security  —  Ahead of tonight's GOP debate, the presidential candidates are gathering at a rally sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Orlando, Florida.  In his bid to be the favorite of social conservatives, former Sen. Rick Santorum …

EU to speed recapitalisation of 16 banks  —  By Brooke Masters in London, Peggy Hollinger in Paris and Alex Barker in Brussels  —  European officials look set to speed up plans to recapitalise the 16 banks that came close to failing last summer's pan-EU stress tests as part of a co-ordinated effort …