Busted.  Van Jones Linked to 9-11 Truther Movement Back in **January 2002**  —  Yesterday, news broke out that Barack Obama's communist Green Czar was a 9-11 Truther.  The administration much later in the day released a statement saying Van Jones was “not now or ever” involved in the 9-11 Truther movement.

It Gets Worse  —  I was at a Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, yesterday—and the number of people who believe that the President has larded the government with communists (!) was astonishing.  One woman said there were four known communists in the government and that she'd researched it on the internet.

Quote of the Day: Where Is America's Partisan Political Ugliness Heading?  —  Our political Quote of the Day comes from Time's Joe Klein, who attended a health care reform town hall in Arkansas and asks the question I've asked here at TMV many times: just where is America's accelerating trend towards political ugliness headed?

IT'S COME TO THIS.... In 1988, then-President Reagan spoke to students nationwide via C-SPAN telecast.  Among other things, he talked about his positions on political issues of the day.  Three years later, then-President Bush addressed school kids in a speech broadcast live to school classrooms nationwide.

Unemployment Hits 9.7%, but Job Loss Slows in August  —  Employers eliminated 216,000 jobs in August even as the larger American economy showed signs of turning around, suggesting that while the pace of job losses continues to slow, workers will still be among the last to benefit from a recovery.