Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled Arson  —  Construction Equipment at Site of Planned Islamic Center Torched; Vocal Protests Against Mosque Have Been Ongoing  —  Federal officials are investigating a fire that started overnight at the site of a new Islamic center in a Nashville suburb.

A Palin of Our Own  —  TWO years ago today, Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, introduced the world to his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.  Chosen by Mr. McCain's campaign strategists as a cynical rejoinder to the ill-starred presidential bid of Hillary Clinton …

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson violated rules, steered scholarships to relatives  —  tgillman@dallasnews.com  —  choppe@dallasnews.com  —  Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children since 2005 …

More accusations made in close Senate race  —  SENATE RACE: Miller's camp says GOP group is preparing for legal battle.  —  scockerham@adn.com  —  There were more allegations by the Joe Miller campaign of ballot-counting monkey business on Saturday as the absentees continue to pour into the Alaska Division of Elections.

Stephen Williamson Makes His Play for the Second Stupidest Man AliveTM/ Crown  —  Narayana Kocherlakota of the Pain Caucus, President of the Minneapolis Fed, wrote that the Federal Reserve must raise interest rates before too long a time has passed or else its low interest rate policy will generate deflation:

Obama in Big Easy to mark Katrina  —  President Obama traveled Sunday to New Orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Big Easy.  —  At the end of the First Family's weeklong vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Obama was met at the airport by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal …

Miller: U.S. Going Bankrupt, States Need Control  —  Tea Party-Backed Alaskan Challenger Wants Less Federal Money; Must Look at Option to Privatize Social Security  —  (CBS) Tea-Party-backed Joe Miller, who could become the Republican nominee for the Senate if he brings down incumbent Lisa Murkowski …

For Obama, Steep Learning Curve as Chief in War  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama rushed to the Oval Office when word arrived one night that militants with Al Qaeda in Yemen had been located and that the military wanted to support an attack by Yemeni forces.

Mosque big owes 224G tax  —  Tweet  —  The mosque developers are tax deadbeats.  —  Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site, city records show.  —  El-Gamal's company …

The role of information in American “Islamophobia”  —  One theme in the recent MSM hand-wringing about America's alleged “Islamophobia” is the notion that Americans are giving Muslims a more difficult time now than they did in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Hamas, the I.R.A. and Us  —  GEORGE J. MITCHELL, the United States Middle East envoy, tried to counter low expectations for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by harking back to his experience as a mediator in Northern Ireland.  —  At an Aug. 20 news conference with Secretary …

THERE IS NO SECRET ‘BIG ECONOMIC INITIATIVE,’ BUT THERE COULD BE.... The lead New York Times editorial today begins, “If President Obama has a big economic initiative up his sleeve, as he hinted recently, now would be a good time to let the rest of us in on it.”

A Senator and His ‘Disciples’  —  The Senate's stalwart opponent of big government is intent on electing some allies this year.  His new PAC and growing anti-Obama sentiment mean he just might succeed.  —  'I'd rather lose with Pat Toomey than win with Arlen Specter any day.