Top Items:


The Cruz Campaign Against ObamaCare — The freshman Texas Senator volunteers House Republicans for duty on his implausible defunding gambit. — So House Republicans have passed and sent to the Senate a budget that includes no funding for the Affordable Care Act, setting up a political showdown …
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A Cruz Missile Launch, Like a Light, Shows the Cockroaches Scurrying — A curious moment happened on Fox News Sunday. Chris Wallace told Karl Rove that a number of Republicans in Congress had sent him opposition research on Ted Cruz once Fox announced Cruz would be on. — Rove responded.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Washington Wire

Republicans' dangerous rationality — It has become fashionable to give a psychiatric diagnosis to those Republicans teeing up a government shutdown. — “They're on a different planet,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said last week. “Off the deep end.”
Discussion:
Wonkblog, Washington Monthly, BillMoyers.com, susiemadrak.com, The Week, Balkinization, msnbc.com and Instapundit

Ted Cruz's Flinty Path — The fall television season kicks into gear this week, with tons of new stuff, but before you check out any of it, you owe yourself a bigger treat. Go back and watch Chris Wallace's interview with Ted Cruz on “Fox News Sunday.” — That's entertainment.
Discussion:
Democracy in America, Power Line, GQ Magazine Online, The Daily Caller, NPR, Prairie Weather, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

GOP flinches at Obamacare plan devised by Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee
Discussion:
americanthinker.com and Instapundit

Conservative Republicans see no threat in showdown over shutdown
Discussion:
Daily Kos, NationalJournal.com and NPR



Obamacare: One blow after another — The Obamacare that consumers will finally be able to sign up for next week is a long way from the health plan President Barack Obama first pitched to the nation. — Millions of low-income Americans won't receive coverage.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Pirate's Cove, WJLA-TV, Washington Post and Firedoglake
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Nauseating Health Care Idiocy from Forbes — A non-blogging friend points me to this new article at Forbes by Chris Conover purporting to show that the “typical family of 4” will see its health care spending rise by $7450. He quotes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) …
Discussion:
Brad DeLong, National Review, ThinkProgress, Liberal Values, Forbes and Shakesville


Bennett and Beach: The Hypocrisy Of Congress's Gold-Plated Health Care — Special subsidies for Hill workers trample on the Founders' code of equal application of the law. — As close observers of history and human nature, James Madison and the other Founders of the U.S. Constitution knew …
Discussion:
Power Line and Weekly Standard


‘Family glitch’ in health law could be painful
Discussion:
National Review, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy and Hot Air

The $200K lesson I learned from getting shot
Discussion:
The Incidental Economist and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Americans Oppose House GOP's Obamacare Strategy
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Hot Air, Yahoo! News and USA Today


Boys suspended for airsoft guns in yard — Has zero tolerance gone too far? — (1/7)Andy Fox reports on zero tolerance incident at VB middle school — (2/7)Andy Fox reports on VB 7th grader facing expulsion — (3/7)Andy Fox reports on zero gun tolerance at VB schools
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SUSPENDED STUDENT MAY BE EXPELLED FOR REST OF THE YEAR FOR PLAYING WITH TOY GUN...IN HIS OWN YARD — A suspended seventh-grade student in Virginia Beach, Va., could be expelled for the rest of the school year for shooting an airsoft gun with a friend in his yard as they waited for the bus to come.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Hit & Run


Trader Lost Millions Apparently Trying To Manipulate Intrade Data To Favor Mitt Romney — A new study reveals that a single trader may have been responsible for making the race seem closer than it really was in the final stretch to Election Day. — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pauses …
Discussion:
Gawker and Business Insider
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One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, naked capitalism and Balloon Juice

Catholic College Rescinds Invitation to Speaker Defending Same-Sex Marriage — Providence College, a Roman Catholic school in Rhode Island, has canceled a lecture in support of same-sex marriage on Thursday by a gay philosophy professor, citing a church document that says that …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay and NOM Blog


The Long Game — Hillary Clinton is perhaps the first presidential candidate of the modern age who needs a Rip Van Winkle strategy. — Hillary Clinton, in her first interview after leaving the State Department, offered a wise metaphor about the current state of presidential election madness.
Discussion:
Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Free Beacon and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Hillary Clinton ‘In No Hurry’
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, CNN, Taylor Marsh and First Read


Obama: I Haven't Had A Cigarette In Six Years Because I'm Scared Of My Wife — The president gives a different quit date than the one the first lady has given. — View Video › — President Obama got caught on a hot mic today saying he hasn't smoked in six years because he's afraid of his wife Michelle.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette, Althouse and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Obama quit smoking because he was ‘scared of my wife’
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and National Review


Brazilian president Rousseff attacks US over NSA surveillance — Dilma Rousseff's scathing speech to UN general assembly the most serious diplomatic fallout over revelations of US spying — Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, has launched a blistering attack on US espionage at the UN general assembly …


SAS hero of the mall massacre: Off duty soldier with a handgun saved 100 lives as terrorists ran amok — An off-duty member of the SAS emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday, after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives. — The soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall …
Discussion:
The Hugh Hewitt Show

Yo, Wall Street! — Even though, as Ezra Klein points out today, the differences in opinion between the two parties make a government shutdown or debt default more, not less, likely than they were in the apocalyptic collision of 2011, there's a strange underlying belief that it will all work …
Discussion:
The New Republic

Nancy Pelosi Confuses Constitution With Declaration of Independence — Speaking last Wednesday at the Center for American Progress (CAP), Democratic Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi became a little confused at one point, stumbling over her words and flipping through her notes while referencing …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Independent Journal Review and The Gateway Pundit

McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli in Virginia governor's race — Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II in a Virginia governor's race that has left many voters sour on both candidates, according to a new Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Townhall.com, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's …, WJLA-TV and American Spectator
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Poll: McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli ahead of debate
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and Politico