"The only poll that counts is to one cast on election day." That is the proverbial comment among political strategists because polls can be misleading. I am one of a number of people who are troubled by the accuracy, especially when it comes to push button polling. That's the poll where an automated voice asks you to participate and you respond to questions by pushing a button on your phone pad. Like many people, my husband finds these polls annoying and intrusive. If I am home, he hands the phone to me. Otherwise he hangs up. I go through the poll, mainly because I want to know who is doing the polling, what questions are they asking, how are they asking the questions, and what can I learn from their way of collecting this data. I am troubled because it seems like only the curious and the furious participate. You either are passionate about a particular candidate or issue, or like me, you want to know what is going on. So you know that many people deselect themselves because you hear the stories about hanging up on polling calls. The second question that troubles me relates to who is in the sample size. I don't know many people who get polls on their cell phones. With the decline in landlines, at least in this state, you have to wonder if your most active voters are ever contacted. Here is a case in point. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, I rode from Colorado Springs to Pueblo on a bus with then Vice-Presidential nominee Joe Biden, then Senator Ken Salazar, and former Governor Roy Romer. National polls had come out showing Senator McCain leading Barack Obama, even in my state. That made no sense to me so I politely argued about the validity of the polls. Biden called his pollster from the back of the bus who then engaged in a discussion with me. So here were some of my questions. Did the polls include cell phone owners (who less and less have landlines)? Did they include newly registered voters (like the 250,000 we had just registered)? Did they go to infrequent voters who might come out in this election? The answer was no, no and no. The results in Colorado on election day were a 9 point victory by Obama over McCain. Then how is the sample weighted. Coloradopols.com pointed out recently that the current Reuters/Ipsos poll, which showed Ken Buck in a lead over Michael Bennet, consisted of 48% Republicans, 40% Democrats, and 8% Unaffiliated voters. Are they assuming that few Unaffiliateds will vote this fall? They still represent over 30% of the registered voters. And there sure isn't that much difference between the number of Democrats and Republicans in the state. The recent Democratic primary certainly points to how the public polling was off. Even the private polling didn't show the spread. So while polling might help campaigns identify categories of people to target in your race, or places in the state where you need to concentrate Get-Out-The-Vote, they may be sending the wrong message to the political pundits. What you can count on is the poll cast on election day.

WASHINGTON — The CIA has multiple members of the Afghan government on its payroll in order to help it keep track of various factions within the Afghan government, according to former U.S. officials. These individuals confirmed to The Associated Press reports that the agency has used payments to cultivate intelligence sources across the Afghan government, a practice that has raised concerns at a time when the U.S. is fighting corruption there. The New York Times reported the agency is paying Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for Afghanistan's National Security Council, for information. The Washington Post also had the report. Salehi is accused of accepting a car in exchange for his help in exerting pressure on Afghan officials to ease off in another corruption case. The U.S. has previously said it views Salehi's arrest as a test case of Karzai's willingness to reform his government. But the revelation that he has also received payments from the U.S. spy agency demonstrates the complex relationship Washington has developed with the Afghan government. George Little, spokesman for the CIA, would neither confirm nor deny the report, saying that speculation about such matters was dangerous. "This agency – acting in strict accord with American law – plays an essential role in promoting our nation's goals in Afghanistan, including security and stability," he said. "Speculation about who may help us achieve that is both dangerous and counterproductive." The CIA has placed many Afghan officials on the payroll over the years, according to Ali A. Jalali, Afghan interior minister from 2003 to 2005 and now a professor in the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University. He said that the U.S. intelligence agency has had deep involvement in Afghanistan for decades and that it would be natural for the CIA to have long-standing "relationships" with many Afghan leaders. "You have to put things into perspective," he said. He said he doubted Karzai would be surprised if Salehi were on the CIA payroll, as alleged. "When Karzai was fighting against the Taliban, he was supported by the agency," too, he said. Four former senior intelligence officials said it was common practice for the intelligence community to develop sources of information within fragile or hostile foreign governments. The former officials spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to talk about classified matters to the media. One of the officials explained that from 2003 to 2004, the CIA had "a third of Iraq's original coalition government on the payroll." He added, "One of the first things we attempted to do when we went into Iraq is buy the loyalty of the former Ba'aathists, so they wouldn't fight us. You buy the leadership." Another former official pointed out that the U.S. made regular payments to the leaders of the Sunni group "Sons of Iraq," made up of many former insurgents, in order to secure their cooperation and get them to stop attacking the Americans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a classified intelligence practice. The Sons of Iraq were part of the Iraqi "Awakening," movement, which was credited with turning around the insurgency in Iraq and bringing Sunni splinter groups into the Iraqi government. The officials said this is the kind of results the CIA would be trying to produce in Afghanistan. ____ Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in Washington and Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.

Anti-Muslim speech has been curtailed in the U.S. since 9/11 so far as official channels go. Popular sentiment and right-wing radio are another matter. The Bush administration has been chastised for using terms like "war on terror" and "clash of civilizations" as code for an attack on Islam itself. The Obama administration has tried to erase those phrases. But words don't cause wars, not directly. They reflect the consciousness of the speaker, which is a much more potent cause of conflict. By his relative silence, Feisal Abdul Rauf is following his long-avowed policy of not getting his hands dirtied with nasty politics. Yet many moderate Muslims have tried this tactic, only to find that they are leaving a vacuum that is quickly filled by extremist voices. Like attracts like, and in the Muslim world the most powerful magnets are extreme. You are known by the company you keep -- so the adage goes -- but also by the words you share. When Sarah Palin tweets about stopping the "mosque at Ground Zero," she knows who will take the bait. Most obviously, it will be her base, but she is also rousing the opposition, people who know that there is no mosque being planned and that the location of Rauf's Islamic center isn't at Ground Zero. Palin knows this too, but demagogues don't bother with fact-checking. They want the war of words to continue. Their aberrations are deliberate and crude, mirroring the attitudes of xenophobia and intolerance that are part of their consciousness. What is difficult here comes down to two things. The first seems hard enough: how to get moderate Muslims to begin to pull their weight against the jihadis. Al Qaeda stands for nothing that would build a future in any Arab country, but circumstances favor the irrational right now. Burgeoning birth rates, a surplus of unemployed young males, and a history of oppressive governments who ignore educational reform -- these are familiar obstacles throughout the Arab world. As long as they exist, consciousness cannot rise. When the only book you know is the Koran and it is being interpreted by firebrands in the guise of holy clerics, your future is spelled out in ignorance and hatred of Islam's enemies. If the first obstacle seems daunting, the second is worse. Everyone is convinced by their own level of consciousness. How could it be different? You can't look beyond your own mind, and for all of us, the most powerful beliefs that guide us are hidden; we inherited a vast amount of conditioning from the past that remains unexamined. To overcome the unconscious requires self-awareness. That's the ultimate solution to the whole Mideast mess. Only if people become self-aware will they look at obvious facts in a new light. It's obvious that Israel and Palestine must come to an accord that suits both sides. It's obvious that oil-rich Arab countries could resolve the poverty on the West bank with a fraction of their yearly income. It's obvious that Iraq and Iran are going to form a Shia alliance one day, that the Iranian bomb is a foregone conclusion, that despotic regimes in the Mideast cannot last forever -- and on and on it goes. If the West wants to end the war of words, we should seriously enjoin every Arab country to reform its educational system and move toward democracy. I'm not saying anything new. But by continuing the endless cycle of provocation that has marked Mideast history in the postwar era, both sides act as if consciousness-raising isn't an issue. Actually, it's the only issue if you want to go to the heart of a problem that desperately cries out for a solution. Published in the Washington Post/On Faith deepakchopra.com

MINNEAPOLIS — The Justice Department said Friday that it has no more antitrust concerns about the deal that would combine United and Continental into the world's largest airline. To win that approval, the airlines had to open the door to Southwest Airlines at Continental's hub in Newark, N.J., where it is the dominant carrier. The Justice Department said leasing takeoff and landing permission to Southwest in Newark cleared up its main competitive concern. Shareholders at Continental Airlines Inc. and United parent UAL Corp. are set to vote on the deal on Sept. 17, and the Transportation Department has to approve it. The airlines now expect the deal to close by Oct. 1. The combined airline would leapfrog Delta Air Lines Inc. to become the world's biggest airline. Delta itself grabbed the top spot by buying Northwest Airlines in 2008. The Justice Department said it thoroughly investigated the United-Continental deal and concluded that their two networks mostly complemented each other, with overlaps on a limited number of routes. But Newark stood out. Continental had 70.9 percent of Newark's passengers during the year that ended in June. United is only Newark's fifth-biggest airline, but most of its hubs also connect directly to Newark. Continental and United operate 442 daily roundtrip flights in and out of Newark. The deal with Southwest will give it enough of Continental's slots to operate 18 roundtrip flights there by June 2011. The move increases competition for Continental at its Newark hub, as well as for United. Currently, Southwest operates a few flights at New York's LaGuardia Airport but none at Newark or Kennedy. Southwest is getting slots at both peak and off-peak travel times, Continental Chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek told workers in a memo. Smisek will be CEO of the combined airline, which is to be called United and based in United's hometown of Chicago. Southwest's entrance to Newark won't change the estimates for revenue gains and cost savings from combining United and Continental, United Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton told employees in a message on Friday. "We vigorously compete with Southwest throughout our network," he said. Mike Boyd, an airline and airport consultant in Colorado, said giving up a few slots at Newark was an easy decision for the combining giants. "United and Continental want to get this merger done," Boyd said, and if federal regulators "stick their nose in there and say, 'Give something up,' they're going to give it up." Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines Co.'s executive vice president for strategy, said Newark would complement his airline's service at LaGuardia and increase competition in the New York market. Southwest, which is based in Dallas, said it was still deciding what cities it will serve from Newark. From LaGuardia, it flies only to Chicago and Baltimore. ___ Koenig reported from Dallas.

Ignorance and poverty, and the lack of material means generally, prevent people from exercising their rights and from taking advantage of [opportunities]. But rather than counting these and similar obstacles as restricting a person's liberty, we count them as affecting the worth of liberty, that is, the usefulness to persons of their liberties. ~ John Rawls As it is an election year amidst the Great Recession, talk of the American plutocracy is very much in vogue. But to label the situation as unique belies centuries of history. A politico-economic class structure has long been an operative distorting force in American government; and long has the value of civic expression and democratic agency for the many been seen as dwarfed by the clout and privilege of a wealthy few. Every American has the right to speak out, to express views, and to serve as an advocate for all manner of issues and prospective leaders. But having rights doesn't necessarily mean they're valuable, or even useful at all. At times, many ordinary Americans feel as though they're just shooting blanks -- electorally speaking of course -- and with each new doubter in the process a vicious cycle ensues; the discouraged classes grow more cynical and abandon the civic process altogether, while select special interests exploit and occupy the space left behind. Campaign finance can be dry stuff, but it is ignored at one's peril, as it is the current election funding regime -- and the perverse incentives it fosters -- that undergirds much of the integrity of our entire political structure and the policies it propounds. American democracy is in an era defined by political and economic strife, where the calls for reform are desperate and often shrill. This is of little surprise. The flaws in the system are obvious when one looks to the lukewarm reforms over the past year in health care and financial regulation, and the altogether abandoned cap and trade effort -- all of which began with lofty promises, but ultimately pleased few when codified. It is a heady experience to think what would have come to pass had reforms already been in place two years ago to dilute the codependency between lawmakers and their benefactors. Millions of individual small donors helped usher Barack Obama into the White House. What if the same could be said for the 535 esteemed members of the United States Congress? Of course, when the many are drowned out by a plutocratic few, the answer has always been to simply pile on more regulations, only to watch the courts inexorably shoot each down. Opponents of big government stand the line against opponents of big business, with each side exchanging the same stalemated arguments of corruption in government on the one hand and free speech on the other. The 2008 Obama campaign made unprecedented gains in activating small donor participation through new media techniques that circumvented traditional barriers. But Organizing for America remains an exception, rather than the rule. While a full third of Obama's general election contributions came from donors who gave $200 or less, for John McCain and Hillary Clinton it was but a fifth. And in 2004, for George W. Bush and John Kerry, it was only a fourth and a fifth, respectively. In the meantime, 2009 saw over 13,000 registered lobbyists swarming the nation's Capitol with a record overall expenditure of $3.5 billion. That same rate is on track to be repeated this year, with overall lobbying expenditures as of July 26 totaling $1.78 billion. In particular, lobbying expenditures by the health and financial industries have skyrocketed. Their tactics are well known. The IMF's Marcos Chamon and Stockholm University's Ethan Kaplan describe in their "Iceberg Theory of Campaign Contributions" how the bulk of special interest influence comes from undisclosed threats (made far more credible by the Citizens United ruling), rather than disclosed largess. We'll give a thousand bucks to your reelection campaign, but if we're not pleased with your vote, we'll give your challenger ten times that when reelection time rolls around. Elections are expensive, and they aren't getting any cheaper. The average cost of winning a U.S. House seat tripled between 1986 and 2008, from $359,577 to $1,362,239, respectively. And in the Senate it jumped almost 50 percent between 1986 and 2006, from $6,025,962 to $9,435,839, respectively (with a slight dip back down in 2008 to $7,500,052). At the time of this writing, the total cost of the 2010 campaign season is already placed at just under $3 billion. In 2008, which included a historic presidential campaign, it capped out around $5.28 billion total. But more important than the sheer numbers -- which are unprecedented in scale in American history -- is from whence the money hails. For all House candidates between 2007 and 2008, political action committees (PACs) and the wealthiest individual donors contributed, on average, about 70 percent of each campaign's total intake. And for all Congressional candidates between 2003 and 2006, individual small donors giving $200 or less amounted to an average of only 13 percent. With such little monetary input from average lower- and middle-class Americans, it is little wonder that Congress consistently passes such ham-handed regulations and munificent subsidies for special interest industries. Harvard University's Lawrence Lessig has cataloged clear-cut examples in issue areas ranging from intellectual property law to nutrition to climate change where extant public policy runs counter to both scientific consensus and public opinion alike. There are laws and standards on the books that literally just do not make sense without a butcher's thumb on the scale. Consider a classic case: the American sugar industry. According to Chamon and Kaplan, "the [U.S.] sugar program led to a net gain of over one billion dollars to the sugar industry in 1998. However, the sugar industry's total campaign contributions in that election cycle were a mere $2.8 million, less than 0.3% of that net gain." The actual benefit of the subsidizing the largest American sugar producers remains unknown, but all those small farmers who have been effectively crowded out of the market presumably have a long list of grievances. For many campaign finance reform activists, the prime (but so far unattainable) solution is to do away with electoral fundraising altogether, through a fully public funding regime at the federal level. With the burden of fund-raising gone, incumbents -- whose salary taxpayers pay anyway -- could spend their time actually governing and legislating for their constituents, rather than hosting $1,000 luncheons and groveling at the feet of the most pecunious lobbyist bundlers and donors. Campaigns would focus on actually speaking with voters about pertinent issues, rather than striking backroom deals. Of course, this solution is easier said than done. Other than for the presidency, fully publicly funded elections have never enjoyed even remotely enough political support on the federal level. What incumbent senator or congressman would willingly break those lucrative ties he or she has forged over the years? Most measures that seek to control the flow of money into politics and elections are restrictive, and can easily be used to paint a politician as an enemy of business or free expression, rather than a battler of corruption. And why spoil that cushy job on Wall Street or K Street waiting for you after you leave public office? Moreover, campaign finance regulations are not cut-and-dry protective measures that always benefit the little guy, such as consumer protection rules or FDA standards. They can often work against those they are meant to serve. The greater the complexity in campaign finance statutes, the harder it is for Average Joe to navigate the system. The unintended consequence is empowerment of the moneyed few that can still afford the big-time D.C. pettifogger who knows the ropes. The current, renewed stalemate -- especially in the aftermath of Citizens United where legislative efforts to brunt that decision's blow have fallen far short -- is quite familiar. The Roberts Court is making it abundantly clear that free speech trumps all else in its rulings. According to Richard Briffault, Columbia Law School's Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation and a noted authority on the Court's history of campaign finance rulings, the Court has, "abandoned [the] view that in campaign finance cases the Court should reconcile and balance free speech values with other concerns like political integrity, the promotion of democracy, and respect for Congress's efforts to balance these goals. Instead, Roberts's opinion framed the case entirely from a First Amendment perspective. It was not about the rules governing the corporate role in financing elections but simply 'about political speech.'" Thus, for the time being, there is a pragmatic argument for abandoning attempts to reinstate restrictive measures on political speech, regardless of whether one speaks from his mouth or from his wallet. In the absence of a Constitutional amendment, the effort to stymie the flow of certain monies into elections and politics is simply futile. But neither can the status quo stand. The Constitutional liberties of the many should not suffer a de facto depression in value because of political access granted to the wealthy few. One answer, growing in popularity, is to approach the problem from the opposite end. A semblance of balance can be realized by activating small donors; or, as the Campaign Finance Institute's Michael Malbin, a leading voice for small donor encouragement, says, "what is needed probably has less to do with squeezing down the top than building up the bottom." According to his organization, if a mere 10 percent of voters give $75 to a campaign, it would total to $1.65 billion, almost 40 percent of the total expense for all federal elections (using 2004 figures). There are a number of simple tricks to achieve this, some of which are already being experimented with by a few States -- such as Ohio, Arizona, and Minnesota -- but which deserve far more attention at the federal level and on state ballot initiatives. One is multiplicative matching that applies only to small donations. If you give $100, the state will throw in $500; but if you're giving in the thousands, towards the legal limits, you enjoy no such enhancement. The value of small donors' speech is amplified exponentially, and at little real cost. Another option is a tax voucher that rewards political participation for lower- and middle- income donors. If you meet certain tax bracket parameters, then you will qualify for tax rebates matching or exceeding political contributions. Again, this simple measure would amplify and encourage small donor participation, with very little public expense and without violating anyone else's purported First Amendment rights. Traditional barriers for campaigns should be weakened and broken so that seeding a political campaign does not require gobs of money. Through specifically purposed subsidies to television networks, campaigns could be exempt from the exorbitant cost of running primetime ads. Access to broadband should be viewed as a right for all, rather than a privilege. With broadband access, lower- and middle-class voters and donors can be reached for next to nothing, and grassroots movements centered on pertinent causes can emerge from thin air through Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social networking. Unfortunately, the U.S. has dropped from the first-ranking broadband country a decade ago to the 16th today, according to rankings from the International Telecommunications Union. And it's not just a lack of access (or 'penetration' to use the industry lingo) -- broadband in the States is also far more expensive on a per capita basis than in places like Canada, Denmark or Taiwan because there is not adequate competition. While trust-busting the telecom oligarchy would be exceedingly difficult, engineering ways to enhance information for consumers for more informed choices is not. The Federal Election Commission has a wealth of information that need only be distilled into a reader-friendly format on a public site for all to access. And in addition to this simple measure, voters should push members of both parties in Congress to support the Obama administration's National Broadband plan. Beyond the problem of special interest money in elections is civic engagement more generally. For a country that prides itself as the world's primus inter pares democracy, a 50 percent average voting rate is alarmingly low. Most don't think his or her vote will change anything. So why not create an economic incentive through a tax refund for voting? Unlike the controversial Poll Tax of the 19th Century, used to disenfranchise black voters, this would take the opposite approach by creating an incentive rather than a disincentive. The crucial difference between incentivizing civic engagement and restricting it is that the latter is unconstitutional while the former just makes sense. The salient solution to the overall problem is to address the messaging away from arguably unconstitutional, restrictive approaches to measures that encourage and incentivize everyone, regardless of socio-economic factors. Faith in government and the value of exercising one's liberties must be restored. People should enjoy dividends for caring enough to participate. But to do so legislators and the administration must do all they can to convince the people that one's vote actually matters and that one's liberties have practical worth, irrespective of the size of one's wallet. Saying you'll take down the fat cats always sounds better than saying you'll enhance access for the lower- and middle class, but the former never really works. It's rhetorical gold that translates into policy lead. A retreat from burdensome regulations coupled with efforts to enhance wider civic involvement should appeal to opponents of big government and opponents of big business alike. At this juncture, it is the ideal -- and indeed, the only feasible -- approach. If such efforts fail at the federal level then they should at least be implemented in the states through local pressure on state and municipal governments or through ballot initiatives. Redefining the standard locally, in enough places, could then trickle up to national acceptance, similar to the trend seen in same-sex marriage. In his new book, Soul of a Citizen, Paul Loeb tells the story of Alison Smith, an average citizen from Maine who fought for and won the passage of that state's Clean Elections system. People just like Alison are everywhere; they just need to see that there is a way forward. The ideas presented above are but a few. But if our current leaders can change the message towards encouragement instead of discouragement, then the possibilities for even more practical fixes are limitless. Or in the straightforward words of the late Doris 'Granny D' Haddock, another average citizen like Alison Smith who became a national icon when she marched across the country at the ripe age of 90 to challenge the role of money in elections: "If we are to retain our democracy, we must proceed in a new direction." Related Reading: Orrin Opens the Hatch DISCLOSE Act Falls Short

Yeah, sure, it's not over yet. They'll be counting absentee ballots for weeks. But if Miller wins and Murkowski doesn't go third-party rogue, we Alaskans will get handed six years of junior status in an institution juiced almost entirely by rank. After all, longevity is what put the "Uncle" in front of "Ted" and helped build our state. The Democratic candidate, Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams, would at least be in the controlling party if he wins. But how much can a newly minted Republican senator accomplish with Democrats in the majority? Can you say "Write press releases"? That's not the worst of it. Let's leave aside how Miller distorted Murkowski's record and statements during the campaign. Never mind his nimno right-wing boilerplate dismissing of the overwhelming evidence for human-triggered climate change and factual misstatements like "the trend in more recent years has been towards cooler temperatures." (It's not.) Miller has publicaly embraced the same sort of loony constitutional fundamentalism that leads people to stockpile ammo and build bunkers in the black spruce. His campaign hammers on the need to scale back the federal government to "the constitutional powers anticipated by our Founders" without explaining how that might work. So let's unpack this idea. What if we rolled back 223 years of pesky amendments and activist court opinions and simply rebooted the country with U.S. OS I? First, Miller would need to quit wasting money on ads and start taking legislators to dinner. Our wig-topped Founders were spooked by the sweaty chaos and rude disorder of popular elections. In those days, U.S. senators were appointed by state legislatures in much the same spirit that countries now appoint ambassadors to the United Nations. Direct election of senators didn't begin until after states ratified the 17th Amendment in 1913. Second, Miller's return to constitutional bedrock would devastate the home state economy. Under Article 1, Section 2 of the original document, Alaska's take of the non-defense federal pie would be cut by more than 99 percent -- from about $5.7 billion to about $4.8 million. It seems the unaltered constitution stipulated that all federal "direct Taxes" had to be distributed by Congress to states in proportion to their official census population. How does this Founding Father funding formula pencil out? Alaska's official census population is just shy of 700,000 -- which is about 0.23 percent of the U.S. total of 307 million. To get Alaska's proportionate share of the federal pie, just multiply 0.0023 times the $2.1 trillion that the federal government collected in taxes recently. That's like trading 125,000 jobs -- about one-third of our state workforce -- for one freeway interchange decorated with aluminum yard art. What other changes might we see from Miller's back-to-basics approach? Slavery wouldn't be prohibited, with any new slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of congressional apportionment. Most Native Americans wouldn't be citizens or be allowed to vote. Women wouldn't be voting either. These changes all meant tweaking the constitution in ways not intended by the framers. Aside from the little constitutional snafus, Miller might need to clarify a few of his other positions too. In particular, he takes the common conservative "pro-life" stance against the right of women to choose to end a pregnancy. Not a surprise. But this stand doesn't jibe well with his particular notion of limiting the federal government only to powers "anticipated by our Founders." Because abortion was not illegal in 18th century America. Nor was it limited in any way by the Constitution. Under the English common law observed in the fledgling United States, women had the right to end a pregnancy before fetal movement, or the "quickening." Sometimes even later. You could argue the Founding Fathers did not "anticipate" that any government, state or federal, would eventually try to intervene between a woman and her body. (Just don't let them vote.) "At the time of the adoption of our Constitution, and throughout the major portion of the 19th century, abortion was viewed with less disfavor than under most American statutes currently in effect," wrote Associate Justice Harry Blackmun in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. "Phrasing it another way, a woman enjoyed a substantially broader right to terminate a pregnancy than she does in most States today. At least with respect to the early stage of pregnancy, and very possibly without such a limitation, the opportunity ... to make this choice was present in this country well into the 19th century." Perhaps the most peculiar shift we'd see under the Miller constitutional reboot is in the presidential race. Following Miller's course means we'd no longer enjoy party tickets with candidate and running mate side-by-side. Back in the starchy 1790s, the presidential electors each cast two votes for president, and the vice president was the guy who came in second. This is how Federalist John Adams became president and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson became vice president in 1797. It sounds weird, sure, and probably un-American. But that's what the Founding Fathers wanted. Come to think of it, this change might have torpedoed Sarah Palin's career as a political entertainer before it launched. Without party tickets, Sen. John McCain would have run alone and almost certainly be the vice president now, or maybe, without Palin as ballast, the 44th president. With no Palisteria and Tea Party attack ads driving campaigns where candidates blurt out whatever nonsense hooks voters regardless of its truth or sense, Lisa would have steamrolled to her party's slot. Alaskans might be facing a civil and rational Senate race this fall instead of a circus. Maybe Miller's on to something after all... Doug O'Harra is a writer who lives in Anchorage. Read more of AlaskaDispatch.com

AP - President Barack Obama biked and golfed under a brilliant New England sun Friday, yet he couldn't escape the cascade of dour news on the economy as his vacation neared its end.

A campaign staff member for Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Miller was told to exercise more caution Friday after sending a tweet that appeared to liken a possible party switch by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Miller's GOP rival, to prostitution.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

At a small gathering in San Francisco Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) honored the 90th anniversary of national women's suffrage, saying she would like to see more women in positions of power. "We celebrate today a great cause of equality," Pelosi said. "We honor the suffragettes who altered the course of history and ushered in a new era of progress for all Americans, not just women. Their story is essentially an American story. It is a crucial part of our history. "Others told them to wait," said Pelosi of the suffragettes. "They had the courage to fight. Imagine the courage it took for those women to leave their homes unaccompanied by a male, which was unthinkable, and to go out and preach about equality for women." Pelosi drew on her own experiences as a woman in politics, telling a story about when she was first elected House Minority Leader in 2003 and went to the White House for her first meeting. She said she had been to the White House "a million times" so she "didn't have the least apprehension about going." But when she got there and saw the President, Vice President, and Democratic leaders gathered there she said she realized that this was unlike any meeting she had ever been to before at the White House. In fact it was unlike any meeting any woman had ever been to before in the White House. "I was going there as an elected leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives," Pelosi explained, "not as an appointee of the President with my voice derived from the President's voice ..." Pelosi said that as she sat down with President George W. Bush, who she described as "very friendly" and a "gracious gentleman" she said the chair felt very crowded, like she was jammed in. And that was when she felt Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth and Alice Paul on the chair, too. "All the women who had worked to get the right to vote, and get women in politics were on that chair," Pelosi said. "So we were squeezed in and I heard them say, 'at last we have a seat at the table.' That's the only time that's ever happened to me. And then they were gone. My first thought was: 'We want more!'" A reporter noted that there are two women -- Republicans Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman -- running for the highest offices in California, and asked Pelosi to comment on their candidacies. "One of the reasons we want more women [in politics]," Pelosi said, "is because we want to remove barriers to participation and discrimination ... It doesn't mean that we support women who support Proposition 8. We're not indiscriminate as to who we support." Those candidates weren't all she said she couldn't support. When the Huffington Post asked her if she favored extending the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent, Pelosi said doing so would be a mistake. "The tax cuts for those people making over $250,000 per year that President Bush initiated only did one thing: increase the deficit," Pelosi said. "It did not create jobs. It increased the deficit. So for those who want to extend tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America -- make sure you understand that in our pay as you go world, we would practically be taking food out of our nutrition programs in order to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America if we're not going to increase the deficit. Or we could give them a tax cut and increase the deficit. I'm not up for that." The debate will play out this fall, but Pelosi made it clear where she stands on the issue. "The debate will happen," she told the Huffington Post. "We'll see where it goes, but that's how we enter that debate."

AP - Glenn Beck, the man behind Saturday's rally at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, has built an empire around his own voice that grew exponentially with his move to Fox News Channel and President Barack Obama's election to the White House.

AP - The first of 532 National Guard troops are set to begin their mission in the southern Arizona desert on Monday under President Barack Obama's plan to beef up U.S.-Mexico border security, although they won't have any law enforcement authority.

On the 5th Anniversary of Katrina "LAND OF OPPORTUNITY," a new film asks - Is your city the next New Orleans? The recent tragedies in Pakistan and Haiti and the unprecedented catastrophe of the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast reveal that the lessons of New Orleans have only become more relevant in the past few years. Luisa Dantas, my co-producer on "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices" left for New Orleans soon after Hurricane Katina hit to document the impact of the storm on the people of this devastated city. Five years later, this time as a first-time director, Luisa presents Land of Opportunity, a verité character-driven documentary and multi-platform video project, interweaving the stories of a diverse group of people as they struggle to rebuild their lives in post-Katrina New Orleans. The film is so hot out of the editing room, I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Here's a "special sneak peek" that marks Katrina's 5th Anniversary. Luisa and her team designed Land of Opportunity as more than a film, it is a multi-platform project that will leverage over one thousand hours of footage into web-based short content for educational and organizing purposes. Land of Opportunity re-frames the 5th anniversary of Katrina into the beginning of a discussion, rather than a conclusion. What happens in New Orleans doesn't stay there. In fact, Katrinas are happening to every city in the nation. The tagline, Happening to a city near you opens dialogue about the future of urban America and provides an opportunity to redefine disaster recovery. From New York to Detroit to New Orleans, cities are experiencing disasters every day, whether they're defined as economic, natural or man-made. Luisa put 5 years of thoughtful work, sweat and love into this project. I am a cheerleader for her and Land of Opportunity. Brave New Foundation is proud to introduce "Land of Opportunity" and encourages you to "share this film" with friends and family to explore the meaning of home and community in an age of displacement and migration. Land of Opportunity and Cuéntame will mark the 5th Anniversary of Katrina with a short video on this Sunday August 29th. Make sure to check out Cuéntame and leave your comments on Sunday when the video is posted! As communities around the nation combat dramatic challenges, we face an unprecedented need to create effective new systems to support more efficient and sustainable community and economic development efforts. The stories told in Land of Opportunity offer much needed perspectives on the most pressing issues facing our urban areas. Most of us sat helplessly while our government watched New Orleans and its inhabitants drown. Not Luisa Dantas, she looked for the Land of Opportunity. Check out HAPPENINGS IN NYC & OAKLAND at www.landofopportunitymovie.com...BRING A HAPPENING TO YOUR CITY!

AP - The director of national intelligence is telling his people to zip it, after a string of recent leaks to the media.

Can you believe that, at one point, women couldn't vote in America? That Japanese American citizens were put in detention camps because of the actions of the Imperial Japanese Navy? That Jackie Robinson was spat upon on the baseball diamond because of the color of his skin? That there were quotas on Jews at Ivy League Universities? That mosques were opposed across the country and a shocking number of people suggested that a Muslim should be disqualified from the Supreme Court or the Presidency because of his religion? Oh yeah, that last one is still happening. But one day, I promise you, we will be as ashamed of the way American Muslims are viewed and treated in 2010 as we are of Japanese internment and Jim Crow. America's promise is meant for everyone or we are not America. But the tide is turning. Several articles over this past week are shining a spotlight on the forces of division that manufactured the "ground zero mosque" controversy. The pieces reveal a small cabal of professional Muslim-haters who gleefully found an issue that resonated with a larger public. The visionaries behind Park51, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, have a long track record of interfaith cooperation and peace-building. (Nick Kristof and Rev. Jim Wallis are the most recent in a long line of distinguished people vouching for them; Kristof calls them "the real thing" in his Sunday column, and Wallis writes that American Muslims are not responsible for 9/11.) Meanwhile, the forces of division have a long track record of spreading vitriol and conspiracy theories about Muslims. It's shocking to think that so many in the media have treated Imam Feisal and Daisy as if they're criminals and given the forces of intolerance a free ride. My sense is that that free ride is coming to an end. With these recent articles, journalists worth their title are going to start asking questions like, "This isn't really about a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan, is it? You've been writing negative things -- ridiculous and hateful things, in fact -- about Muslims for years. Isn't this more about your long efforts to prevent American Muslims from living lives of full dignity and freedom in this country?" It may even be that some of the more self-aware members of the hate-machine are getting a little nervous. The overwhelming success of their "Ground Zero mosque" campaign has generated astonishing, if ephemeral, vitriol against Muslims in America. And now that the prejudice is apparent for everyone to see, the better angels of America will start to go into action. Universities will make interfaith cooperation a higher priority on campus. Educators will include appreciative knowledge of Islam in the curriculum. Foundations will increase investments in religious pluralism. Corporations will add Muslims into diversity training seminars. Pastors and rabbis will begin preaching sermons on common ground Christians, Jews and Muslims share. Publishers will seek new manuscripts humanizing Muslims and illuminating Islam. American history is an arc toward freedom, dignity and inclusiveness for all. That will include Muslims, sooner or later. Everyone knows that you can't stop that arc. And everyone knows that those who try to throw the arc off course are recorded and held up in history books years later as an example to kids of whom not to be like. They are the demons of American history. Remember this picture of the hateful white girl screaming at a dignified black student as she tries to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957? "Hate assailing grace" is how the Arkansas Democrat Gazette referred to Hazel Bryan Massery's treatment of Elizabeth Eckford. Guess which part the anti-Muslim cabal is trying out for? At the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Integration at Central High, Hazel asked forgiveness of Elizabeth. And Elizabeth, ever dignified, forgave. Such a story of transformation and reconciliation is also deeply American. We are entering into the second ten days of Ramadan, the days devoted to forgiveness. Will America be America to its Muslim inhabitants? I have no doubt. Will any of the members of the hate machine against Muslims one day have a change of heart and seek our forgiveness? I believe in God, so I believe in miracles. Will Muslims forgive? I begin my spiritual preparation for that possibility now. This piece originally appeared on the Washington Post's On Faith as "The Faith Divide."

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" is one of history's greatest orations, as well as one of its most beautiful arias. To truly honor him and the heartfelt genius he brought us, we must do the one thing that most hurtfully blocked his Dream: we must end the imperial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, at long last, bring our troops home from all over the world. Because I use it in my US history classes, I have heard Dr. King's speech scores of times. I play it on a scratchy video whenever possible and never tire of it. It is more sung than delivered, and his sonorous voice and perfect cadence are the equal of any operatic oratorio ever written. Close your eyes and you are in the greatest of all concert halls. But its message cuts to the core of our entire history. It contains beautiful descriptions of much our national landscape. It references Stone Mountain, Georgia, where we suffered the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, the origin of the infamous Scottsboro Boys legal persecution. It sings with perfect pitch of our most spiritual president, Abraham Lincoln, and the promise made to African-Americans still being given a bad check for 250 years of unrequited labor. Over the years the speech has gained incredible strength. It was never fully written out, improvised as only a true master can as he went along. With astounding good fortune I did hear it as he gave it, at the age of 17, sitting on the left side of the reflecting pool as you face out from the monument. In 1966 I met Dr. King as he delivered a hypnotizing sermon in a tiny church in Granada, Mississippi, surrounded by the Klan and the FBI as we marched toward Jackson following the shooting of James Meredith, who had been walking alone to demand the right of black people to vote in the South. Much has happened since then to frustrate Dr. King's dream of true social equality. But nothing of more significance than Lyndon Johnson's horrific decision to escalate the war in Vietnam. King and Johnson had met over the signing of civil rights legislation that should have revolutionized race relations here and, indeed, throughout the world. There's no doubt the laws won in the early 1960s through the incredible sacrifices of so many in the civil rights movement have changed this nation for the better. We now, indeed, have realized the "dream" of an African-American in the White House, something that seemed a far-distant fantasy back then. "In the next century," we'd say, "there may even be a black man in the White House." For the first time, it seemed actually possible. But in the midst of an era of so much promise, the country was ripped asunder from another direction -- imperial ambition. The senseless, worthless and ultimately futile tragedy in Vietnam shattered our dreams. It polluted our soul and bankrupted our treasury for no apparent reason beyond what was forever branded "the arrogance of power" by a wise Senator from Arkansas. This nation has never recovered from that war. Nearly a half-century later, the imperial disease still torments us. From Southeast to Southwest Asia, from the Orient to Africa to Latin America, our troops are still strewn throughout the globe. They are dying in Afghanistan. Why? The reasons are myriad, and unacceptable. And it was Dr. King who warned of the ultimate outcome most forcefully of all, by linking the denial of civil rights and social justice directly to the folly of empire. Leading directly from his "Dream" speech, this is the most powerful thing he did. There are those who believe it got him killed. But it is also what has most thoroughly enshrined him. Having stood by the side of a President of the United States, Martin Luther King had the ultimate temerity to call Lyndon Johnson on his most tragic and costly error. Had LBJ listened, our nation -- and his own life -- would have been blessed with much much happier outcomes. King's defiance of Johnson over his war policy horrified many of the leaders of the civil rights movement. But he was more than right to do it. In linking the movements for racial equality, social justice and an end to war, King clarified forever the barriers we must overcome if we are to survive on this planet. This weekend, on the anniversary of that great aria, there are those who would attempt to hijack the symbolism of that fertile time for opposing purposes. They are of little historic consequence, symptoms rather than cures of the imperial sickness that is dragging us down as surely as it did Athens, Rome, Babylon and so many other societies that could not overcome their suicidal arrogance. They all have one thing in common: they ignored -- and even killed -- those prophets who sing history's most compelling Truth. The arc of history bends inexorably toward justice, which can come only with peace. Thank you so much, Dr. King. We love you.

Tea Party-backed contender Joe Miller, who currently holds a super-slim lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's GOP Senate primary, apologized on Friday for a message sent from his twitter account comparing his Republican rival to a prostitute. Miller blamed the offense tweet on a staffer. This is the message originally posted on Miller's twitter account: "What's the difference between selling out your party's values and the oldest profession? http://bit.ly/93kXBr #teaparty #tcot #alaska #ak." Clicking on the hyperlink included in the tweet takes followers to a story from the Daily Caller on the prospect of Murkowski exploring a third-party bid as a Libertarian candidate should she ultimately be defeated in Alaska's competitive and bitter GOP Senate primary race. In an interview with the Daily Caller, Scott Kohlhaas, who chairs the Alaska state Libertarian Party, didn't rule out the possibility that Murkowski could pull a party-switch to keep her re-election campaign alive. The Swing State Project captured a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet comparing Murkowski to a prostitute: Hours after the tweet appeared, Miller sent a follow-up message on the social media site apologizing for the criticism. "Please accept my apologies. Staffer trying to encourage Libertarians not to sell out," he wrote. But, Justin Elliott at Salon points to evidence that seems to suggest the Senate hopeful has, at least in the past, been responsible for penning his own tweets:

GROVE CITY, Ohio — Critics of the country's largest Lutheran denomination and its more open stance toward gay clergy formed a new Lutheran church Friday at a meeting of a conservative activist group. The overwhelming voice vote by members of the Lutheran Coalition of Renewal created the North American Lutheran Church, a tiny denomination of churches formerly affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, headquartered in Chicago. As of early August, 199 congregations had cleared the hurdles to leave the ELCA for good, while 136 awaited the second vote needed to make it official. In all, there are 10,239 ELCA churches with about 4.5 million members, making it by far the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. The vote followed the ELCA's decision to move gay pastors into its fold, becoming the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. to allow noncelibate gays into its ranks. The move came during Lutheran CORE's annual meeting, held this year in a Church of the Nazarene megachurch in Grove City, just south of Columbus. The gay pastor issue was the tipping point for many Lutherans, but it followed serious concerns about the ELCA's movement away from holy scriptures as the final authority for church beliefs, said Paull Spring, of State College, Pa., the new denomination's first bishop. He gave as an example the ELCA's use of inclusive language that strips male references to God – such as "Father" and "Son" – replacing them with words like "Creator" and "Savior." "The issue that really presented itself was the issue of sexuality, but back of that was the broader issue: Which is the authoritative voice of the church today?" Spring said. "Is it holy scripture, which Lutherans have always confessed, scripture alone, or is supposed to be some combination, that as well as some mood of the times?" he said. The ELCA has lost more than half a million members over the past 20 years, a decline faced by many mainline congregations struggling to keep congregants. But that decline is balanced by individual congregations that flourish, many of which hold the same views as the North American Lutheran Church, said Mark Chavez of Landisville, Pa., director of Lutheran CORE. "The average person out there who's interested in a Christian church wants the real thing," Chavez said. "They want Jesus. They want the gospel. They don't want something else." The ELCA regrets the decision of some congregations to leave for the new denomination, said ELCA spokesman John Brooks. "One of the hallmarks of the ELCA is that we reach out to other Christians in the spirit of understanding, reconciliation and unity," he said. "We pray for the unity of the whole church and its members, and we pray for those who will be leaving to join the North American Lutheran Church." St. John Lutheran in Bridgewater, Mich., has taken the first vote toward joining the new denomination, and pastor Kathleen Meyers supports the decision. But Meyers, attending the meeting in suburban Columbus, also acknowledges it's a tough choice. "I have friends who are gay – for me, it's a very personal issue," she said Friday. "But I can't set aside the authority of scripture just because I have friends that I love." Bruce Winkler of suburban Tampa, Fla., attends Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation that he says will not be joining the new denomination. But Winkler, 72, a retired chemistry professor, said he supports the new group out of a concern over the loss of scriptural authority. For too many Lutherans today, "it's the gospel of acceptance, rather than the gospel of redemption – love conquers all kind of thing," he said. "You don't have to worry about obedience, or sanctification, or any of those issues – you just love everybody and that'll be fine," Winkler said. (This version CORRECTS that ELCA decline is more than half a million, not half a million. )

BOSTON — An American held captive for seven months in North Korea stepped off a plane in his hometown Friday, looking thin but joyful as he hugged the former president who had helped win his release and family and friends surrounded him in a group embrace. Aijalon Gomes was accompanied by former President Jimmy Carter, who had flown to Pyongyang to negotiate his freedom. Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, was imprisoned and sentenced to eight years' hard labor for crossing into the North from China on Jan. 25 for unknown reasons. North Korea's state-run news agency reported last month that Gomes had attempted suicide, leading his family to ask for his release on humanitarian grounds. North Korea said this week it would release Gomes to Carter if the former president went to get him. Gomes hugged Carter and then his mother before his loved ones encircled him, praying and waving their hands skyward. One man gripped a small American flag, and others held a banner behind them that read: "Welcome home! Disciple of the Lord Aijalon Mahli Gomes. Salvation is ours." The banner also pictured a Christian cross and contained biblical references to Acts, Psalms, and Job, an Old Testament book about a man who survived great tribulation. Gomes' mother and family members hugged Carter and shook his hand before the group headed inside the terminal, as Gomes smiled and waved at loved ones along the way. A few minutes later, Carter reboarded the plane and left Boston. In a statement released earlier Friday, the family thanked Carter and said it felt blessed to welcome Gomes home after what it called "a long, dark and difficult period." "I'm just joyful and grateful that my son is home and thank President Jimmy Carter for making sure that he was home safely," Gomes' mother, Jacqueline McCarthy, said as she left her home for the airport. "I thank God, I thank God, for everything everyone has done for us." The family also thanked the North Korean government "for caring for Aijalon during his darkest days, then agreeing to release him on humanitarian grounds." The statement requested privacy so Gomes could recover from the ordeal, saying that although he was returning home, "the journey towards healing really just begins today." The family passed by media microphones at the airport without commenting. But later outside McCarthy's home, several of Gomes' relatives spoke to the media and said Gomes appeared to be fine physically. "He looks well, he looks very well," his uncle Michael Farrow said. His 19-year-old brother, Milton McCarthy Jr., described feeling "an overwhelming amount of joy and happiness" when he hugged Gomes. "It was just like they said, a prayer being answered," he said. "It was truly a blessing." Family members said they'd had a limited chance to speak with Gomes and added he wasn't expected back at his mother's home Friday, though they didn't say where he was staying. "He's just grateful to be home, and he's just thanking God for his safe return," his cousin Ron Odom said. In Washington, the Department of State welcomed the news of Gomes' release, saying officials are "relieved that he will soon be safely reunited with his family," spokesman P.J. Crowley said. It was unclear what led Gomes to enter the repressive nation. He may have been emulating fellow Christian Robert Park, who was detained after he crossed into North Korea in December to highlight its human rights record, said Jo Sung-rae, a South Korean human rights advocate who met with Gomes. Park was expelled some 40 days later after issuing an apology carried by North Korean state media. Gomes attended rallies in Seoul in January calling for Park's release and was arrested in North Korea just two weeks later. Gomes, whose full name is pronounced EYE'-jah-lahn GOHMZ', grew up the inner-city Boston neighborhood of Mattapan, then headed to college at Bowdoin in Maine before going to South Korea to teach several years after graduating. He was the fourth American in a year arrested for trespassing in North Korea, which fought the U.S. during the 1950-53 Korean War and does not have diplomatic relations with Washington. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested last March and released only after former President Bill Clinton made a similar trip to Pyongyang to plead for their freedom. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Gomes' release and commended Carter. He took the occasion to appeal to donors for emergency humanitarian aid to North Korea, which has been affected by recent flooding, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said at U.N. headquarters in New York. ___ Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay in Boston, Matthew Lee in Washington, Carol Druga in Atlanta and Edith Lederer in New York. (This version CORRECTS typo in 6th paragraph, smiled instead of smiling.)

Politico - The NRA said Friday it won't endorse Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) a surprising setback for the majority leader.

AP - The college student accused of slashing a New York cab driver showed no signs he might have trouble coping with the experience of traveling with combat troops in Afghanistan, the military said Friday.

Even as they mourn the loss of Stephen Strasburg, DNC officials have a lot more to worry about than unsound elbows. A revised estimate of our economy's output indicates GDP grew at an abysmal 1.6 percent last quarter, a new analysis anticipates the GOP picking up 50 House seats this November and, in case that wound wasn't salty enough for ya', Barack Obama is wearing mom jeans again. Thankfully, the opposition party is on the case: Sarah Palin is providing a much needed boost to the private jet and bendable straw industries, Rand Paul is NOT going to be a legislative Leviathan and Michele Bachmann is single-handedly increasing the demand for assault rifle ammunition. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, August 27th, 2010: GDP GROWTH ESTIMATE REVISED DOWNWARD: OUR LONG NATIONAL :'-( PERSISTS - If America's economic malaise were a Bruce Springsteen song, this news would suggest we're transitioning from the "I'm going to tinker with my '74 Mustang until stagflation is solved" stanza to the "grab me tight, girl, and don't let go" one. "The nation's gross domestic product - the broadest measure of the economy's output - grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the April-to-June period, the Commerce Department said Friday. That's down from an initial estimate of 2.4 percent last month and much slower than the first quarter's 3.7 percent pace. Shortly after the revision was announced, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will consider making another large-scale purchase of securities if the slowing economy deteriorates significantly. But the Fed chief stopped short of committing to any specific action." His comment goosed the stock market anyway. http://huff.to/cMD299 If your recession lasts for more than four quarters, consult your physician: "The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record: lowest in a century." http://apne.ws/aSJcvc Oh look, this exists: http://www.StuffAlanSimpsonSays.com/ MILLER AND MURKOWSKI BRACING FOR COURT FIGHT, POSSIBLE THIRD PARTY BID - Daily Beast: "As a tight vote count continues in the Last Frontier's Senate race, The Daily Beast's Shushannah Walshe reveals that Republicans are quietly testing a third-party path for Lisa Murkowski. The count in the Alaskan Senate Republican primary continues for the second day with Joe Miller still in the lead, but the drama is heating up. The Daily Beast has learned exclusively that an individual independent of Lisa Murkowski's campaign has commissioned a poll to see how she would fare if she ran as a third-party candidate under the Libertarian Party. The poll is being commissioned by Andrew Halcro, a former Republican state legislator, Murkowski supporter, and Sarah Palin critic. He ran against Palin in the 2006 governor's race as an independent in both the primary and general election." http://bit.ly/9wGVrP Miller: "It concerns us any time somebody lawyers up and tries to pull an Al Franken, if you will." Yeah! Don't you hate it when other people win??? http://bit.ly/9Hpsd9 Miller also kinda, sorta called Murkowski a prostitute when he tweeted -- then quickly deleted -- the following: @JoeWMiller What's the difference between selling out your party's values and the oldest profession? http://bit.ly/93kXBr Miller apologizes: ""Please accept my apologies. Staffer trying to encourage Libertarians not to sell out." BAD STAFFER. http://bit.ly/bxAYGq FLORIDA GOP PRIMARY LOSER WON'T ENDORSE RIVAL - Funny, we didn't realize there were pumas on the East Coast: "Defeated Florida Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill McCollum is declining to support former rival and newly-minted GOP nominee Rick Scott as he heads into his general election campaign. The St. Petersburg Times reports that McCollum, currently the Attorney General of Florida, signaled on Thursday that he offered his congratulations to Scott over the phone following Tuesday's election, but remains very skeptical of the self-funding contender's integrity." Elyse Siegel: http://huff.to/bYQmCh ESTIMATE HAS GOP TAKING 50 SEATS IN THE HOUSE - Our polling expert Mark Blumenthal says the method used in this analysis is sound -- so...ruh roh. "By our reckoning, the most likely scenario is a Republican majority in the neighborhood of 229 seats versus 206 for the Democrats for a 50-seat loss for the Democrats. Taking into account the uncertainty in our model, the Republicans have a 79% chance of winning the House...The key will be to follow the generic polls from now to November. If the polls stay close, the Democrats have a decent chance to hold the House. But if the polls follow the past pattern of moving toward the 'out' party and move further toward the Republicans -- even by a little -- the Republicans should be heavily favored." Joseph Bafumi, Robert S. Erikson and Christopher Wlezien in HuffPost: http://huff.to/b4xyzi DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - From Arthur Delaney: "Just 1,200 people have been approved so far for a new program to provide insurance coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. The program, known as the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, launched in July as one of the immediate benefits of the new health care reform law, offering coverage to the uninsurable until 2014 when people should be able to choose from affordable policies available on an "exchange." There are roughly four million people uninsured because of pre-existing conditions, and Democrats touted the new program as one of the best immediate provisions of health care reform. But the PCIP's administrators have said they expect it to reach only 350,000 over the next three years." http://huff.to/b5LGw0 Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill BLUMENAUER: NO, I DON'T THINK SOCIAL SECURITY IS PAID WITH MAKE- BELIEVE MONEY - NYT reporter Matt Bai, in a profile of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) published yesterday, paraphrased the congressman thus: "Mr. Blumenauer argues that [Social Security] can't exist on make-believe money." Au contraire, Rep. Blumenauer writes today in HuffPost: "While I appreciate Matt Bai's article in The New York Times... I would like to point out one area where I take modest exception to how my comments have been interpreted in this story. I do not believe, nor have I ever said, that the Social Security trust fund is either like a 'lottery' or 'make believe money.' ... [T]he Social Security trust fund is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government which has never and will never default on its commitments." http://huff.to/beUeeq RAND PAUL MAYBE CAN'T SOLVE $2 TRILLION BUDGET DEFICIT IN ONE YEAR - Turns out a freshman senator representing a movement threatening to some members of his party's leadership can't by himself commandeer the entire federal budget, strip it of a giant fraction of its expenditures, steer it through committee and corral 60 votes for passage...in one year. AP: "Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul backtracked Thursday on his pledge to erase the federal budget deficit in a year, instead offering several options that he said could get it done within five. Paul, a tea party favorite for his limited government views, said in an interview on WHAS-AM that he'll introduce five budget-balancing options if he defeats his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Jack Conway." http://bit.ly/9HJZiD Sharron Angle's own supporters are tiring of their candidate's approach to policy and politics. Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Some 68 percent of those surveyed said they would have preferred if a candidate other than Angle had won the GOP primary. Among them were 71 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of nonpartisans and 64 percent Democrats. Among Angle voters, 66 percent said they would have preferred another GOP nominee, as would have 68 percent of Reid voters and 79 percent of those in neither camp." http://bit.ly/9WOC5h PELOSI: DON'T EXTEND BUSH TAX CUTS FOR WEALTHY - Nancy Pelosi, at a San hometown briefing with reporters, including HuffPost Hill's acting San Francisco bureau chief, Lucia Graves, said that extending tax cuts for the top two percent would be a mistake. She said, however, that much would depend on the Senate. President Obama is winning back Real America, one high waistband at a time. From WSJ's Elizabeth Williamson's pool report: "Sasha came first in white top and brown shorts followed closely by flotus in grey sleeveless top and white cropped pants. After a short break came potus in white shirt and his grey jeans looked to your pooler rather mom-like." Who knew President Obama shopped at a circa-1993 Marshalls? http://bit.ly/bEDWEg It's Ed Shelleby's last day as comm director for Rep. Jim McDermott. He'll be spring boarding to Al Franken's press shop. Mazel tov, Ed. GOOD OL' MODEST SARAH PALIN ASKS FOR BENDABLE STRAWS AT HER EVENTS...AND PRIVATE LEAR JETS - America's favorite hockey racquetball mom has some awfully expensive tastes, according to her speaking contract released as part of a California investigation into accounting practices by its universities. Among her list of demands to appear at an event are a "'deluxe' hotel suite, a first class ticket or a private jet ('Lear 60 or larger'), pre-selected audience questions, and 'bendable' straws - not to mention the $75,000 in cash." Palin had mocked the disclosure when college students first found part of her contract in the trash. Looks like they were telling the truth. CNN: http://bit.ly/cHrrbU ...Whereas Michele Bachmann just wants to make it rain. "Congresswoman Bachmann today toured Federal Ammunition ATK, and met with dozens of employees that have worked at the factory for many years," Bachmann spokesman Sergio Gor said. "Federal Ammunition ATK is a significant employer in the district and Congresswoman Bachmann considers these jobs very important for the district. Congresswoman Bachmann is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment and was able to fire several rounds of bullets produced in this factory. The Congresswoman has a great shot and did well!" Nick Wing: http://huff.to/aMZHP8 BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are two corgis on a treadmill: http://bit.ly/7Akgn5 JIM BUNNING: A MAJOR LEAGUE D-BAG - With the completely deflating news that Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg will require talent-diluting Tommy John surgery, Hall of Fame pitcher-turned-Senator Jim Bunning is starting to look a tad bit insensitive for comments he made about the rookie. A few weeks ago, when Strasburg sat out a start due to shoulder soreness, Bunning -- while dramatically grabbing his arm -- exclaimed to Politico, "Five-hundred twenty starts, I never refused the ball," Bunning said. "What a joke!" Eschaton: http://bit.ly/cbj3OY Hey, Bunning! 1964, buddy. 1964. http://bit.ly/1zBKo8 HILLARY CLINTON GETS NEW 'DO...NO WORD YET FROM PYONGYANG - "Look at this comely stateswoman!" declares WaPo, which explores the extra three inches of filamentous biomaterial shattering our patriarchal society's expectations of older women. "Clinton, at age 62, has grown out her hair. And it looks quite nice. Conventional wisdom advises that after a certain age -- 50ish -- women should cut their hair...Clinton's hair, now creeping toward below-the-shoulders territory, is practically radical for Washington's seasoned female power elite. Good for her." Big ups to @eniedowski for this one: http://bit.ly/9MTXS0 Best article sidebar...ever?: http://bit.ly/c3aa4A Today in "Are you there God? It's me, America:" "Authorities say a car driven by the U.S. ambassador to Malta crashed into a drainage ditch in Southern California, killing a nun and injuring a 94-year-old pastor. The nun and pastor were passengers in the car driver by Ambassador Douglas Kmiec, 58, the California Highway Patrol said. Kmiec also suffered moderate injuries in Wednesday's one-vehicle crash." http://huff.to/d6aKOB JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT - So a few days ago, I cued ominous music. You all have nothing to worry about. Tonight: The beautiful weekend begins tonight. High-60s, which means not-too-hot, not-too-cold. In the words of Arthur Delaney, "It feels like there's no weather at all!" Tomorrow: The sun will be shining down, with temperatures in the upper-80s. Bring some shade or head wear... like a tri-corner hat (for no reason whatsoever). Sunday With two, count 'em, two high pressure systems in the area, the clear skies and sun will continue. It truly is a perfect weekend. Thanks, JB! Chuck Todd and I had a bit of a Twitter back-and-forth this morning, in case you missed it. While interviewing a guest during The Daily Rundown, he asked whether Hurricane Earl (still a really stupid name) could harm New Orleans. I tweeted to him that it could not. Simply put, being an Atlantic Hurricane, it's too far out in the ocean (or at least, too far north). That's the back, JB, but where's the forth? COMFORT FOOD - That lady who dumped a cat in the trash should be on guard. http://bit.ly/a8VpqP - Some magic, infused with the hippity and the hoppity which the kids love. http://bit.ly/b35WsW - Hands down the best Pez dispenser of all time. http://bit.ly/bmQdij - From CollegeHumor, the best viral videos of the year so far. http://bit.ly/cXjH6k - A very angry take on a Carrie Underwood song. http://bit.ly/cikXLU - Because, hey, why not: a dancing parrot. http://bit.ly/9t88mF - A collection of rocket-powered bikes. http://bit.ly/cbXEll - Ranting about PowerPoint might get you fired from the Army. http://bit.ly/bpJtj6 TWITTERAMA @danielradosh: And then Snuffleupagus says, "The Aristocrats!" RT @sesamestreet: Elmo: Elmo loves jokes! What's your silliest joke? @pourmecoffee: If it does rain at @glennbeck rally, you will be able to invest in 24-carat Goldline umbrellas at a slight markup. @kombiz Getty images puts Political campaigns, government agencies, into the same category as funeral related services. THE TUBE SUNDAY SHOWS Meet the Press: Mary Landrieu, Mitch Landrieu, Brad Pitt, Wendell Pierce, Garland Robinette, Douglas Brinkley. This Week: Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten, Michelle Rhee, Jaime Oliver, Donna Brazile, Susie Gharib, Richard Haass, George Will. Face the Nation: Joe Miller, Kendrick Meek, Haley Barbour, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. State of the Union: Shaun Donovan, Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek. ON TAP TONIGHT 5:00 pm: In anticipation of Michael Jackson's birthday U Street Music Hall will be hosting a King of Pop-themed Motown happy hour. Shamon, kids [U Street Music Hall, 1115 U Street NW]. 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm: If you're curious what a light jazz violinist sounds like, Miles Stiebel will be demonstrating the nuances of the form on the Mall. He's performing at this week's Jazz in the Garden [Smithsonian National Sculpture Garden, 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW]. 8:00 pm: The penultimate installment of the Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival screens "The Birdcage" [Gateway Park, 1300 Lee Highway]. TOMORROW 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm: The Carter Barron Amphitheatre screens "Invictus" [Carter Barron Ampitheatre, 4850 Colorado Avenue NW]. 9:00 pm: Chuck Brown, who's probably more D.C. than eating a half smoke while trudging up a broken escalator, celebrates his birthday alongside Be'la Dona, an all female Go-Go band [9:30 Club, 815 V Street NW]. 9:30 pm: In case you can't make the Chuck Brown show but are still looking for a health dollop of soul, Black Cat will be hosting a James Brown Vs. Stevie Wonder Soul-Off [Black Cat, 1811 14th St NW]. SUNDAY 4:00 pm: The never-ending outdoor movie opportunities are piling up: Spiderman is screened at National Harbor [Waterfront Street, National Harbor, MD]. MONDAY 9:00 pm: Get Nordic at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse with their screening of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." Don't even pretend like you don't know [Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington]. Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Nico Pitney (nico@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e

AP - The State Department on Friday urged Americans to respect its warning against traveling to North Korea, saying in a cheeky Twitter message that there are not too many former U.S. presidents left available for rescue missions.

Originally on " target="_hplink">CBSNews.com/ONTHESCENE On August 3rd, Jarod McIntosh posted this video on YouTube titled, "My DADT story", which has now gotten almost 60,000 views on the site. He was referring to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", a policy issued in 1993 by President Clinton that prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because "it would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability." While President Obama has said that he would "work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," it has yet to be repealed. Since it was passed, around 13,000 troops have been discharged on DADT. Jarod, 21, is a part of that statistic. He was serving in the U.S. Navy until a month ago, when he brought his cell phone on a restricted submarine. His cell, which happened to have suggestive photos of him and his boyfriend on it, was taken from him and searched. When returned, he was told that he was being discharged not just because of breaking the rules with bringing his cell in a restricted area, but because he was gay. "My hopes for the video is to make people aware that people are still being discharged because of DADT," he told me over Skype video from his apartment in Saint Marys, Georgia. "Many people are under the impression that it has been repealed. I also want to bring attention to my case so that I might obtain an honorable discharge (they gave me a general), which means I lose my GI bill and many other benefits I would receive if I had gotten an honorable... I was already out in terms of what the Navy was concerned, I was already out because of this issue. So I took it a step further to let everyone know, because they can't kick me out twice because of the same issue." In the past, stories like Jarod's might be ignored or thrown in the closet, but because of social networks and sites like YouTube, it's easier than ever before for someone to tell their story, be heard by a friend, follower or thousands and ignite conversation and possibly action.