Learn How to Get Real-Time Quotes on Your Mobile Device  —  Bad Debt Plan May Cost Up to Half a Trillion Dollars  —  Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson briefed Congressional leaders on plans to address the “illiquid assets” on U.S. financial institutions' balance sheets, possibly including …

SEC Is Set to Issue Temporary Ban Against Short Selling  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission prepared an aggressive assault against short-sellers, saying it would temporarily prevent investors from making bets on stock declines in an attempt to stem some of the worst stock-market slides in years …

What's on the desk  —  In a picture supplied by Sarah Palin's family to the Associated Press, Palin appears with some rather odd reading matter: The magazine of the ultraconservative John Birch Society.  —  The picture, dating to 1995, when Palin was a member of the Wasilla City Council …

Where Next for the Dollar?  18 Sep 2008  —  Is the U.S. government's proposal to take on bad bank assets a good move?  Sharada Selvanathan, currency strategist at BNP Paribas gives her take on how this will affect the dollar, with CNBC's Maura Fogarty & Stephen Sedgwick.

FATHER OF HACKER Is Tennessee Dem State Rep!!!!! ...  Update: Name- David Kernell ...Update: He's Been Contacted by Feds!  —  FOLKS— MEET DAVID KERNELL—  WOAH!!!!!!  —  Do you remember this from Michelle Malkin's post last night: … Now there's this...  Wired.com has the latest on the Palin scandal:

Palin disinvited from Iran rally  —  The organizers of an anti-Iran rally Monday rescinded their invitation to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin after Democrats protested that her presence would turn the event into a political rally, McCain campaign and Jewish community sources said.

Field Poll finds gay marriage ban trails by 17 points  —  Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3  —  A constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in California has lost support during the past two months and now trails by a 17-point margin.

Energy Expertise  —  Today, the person who “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America” let slip some pearls of wisdom: … I'm not sure I fully grasp that, though I am relieved to know that they, whoever they are, don't have to sit around flagging individual molecules all day long.

‘Gang of 20’ won't offer energy bill  —  A bipartisan group of senators who sought a compromise in the rancorous energy debate won't introduce their bill before lawmakers adjourn for the elections, several Senate aides said Thursday.  —  Instead, the so-called Gang of 20 will offer a statement …

Bill Clinton: McCain ‘A Great Man’; Praises Wife's, Not Obama's Economic Plan  —  ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: Former President Bill Clinton has largely kept himself out of the public eye since his wife lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama.  —  However in a rare television interview tonight …

Shocker: Palin Cancels Big California Swing  —  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was to star at two major California fundraisers and an Orange County rally for 15,000 next week, has canceled her two-day swing through the Golden State, campaign sources said.  —  The change is a shocker …

Palin's transparency proposal already exists in D.C.  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) - Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska.  On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.

Obama Is Stoking Racial Antagonism  —  I understand the rough and tumble of politics.  But Barack Obama — the supposedly postpartisan, postracial candidate of hope and change — has gone where few modern candidates have gone before.  —  Mr. Obama's campaign is now trafficking in prejudice of its own making.

Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks  —  As a vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin has railed against federal earmarks, or congressional funding for pork-barrel projects.  “In our state, we reformed the abuses of earmarks,” Palin recently boasted to a rally in Lancaster, Pa. …

Palin asked daughters on veep vote after they were already in OH for announcement  —  Appearing on Fox last night, Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity a heartwarming story of how she asked her teenage daughters for their opinion before accepting the vp offer.  —  “So ask the girls what they thought …

KEITH OLBERMANN: I happend to catch the very beginning of “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann.  His lead story was on John McCain's statement that if he were President he would “fire” Chris Cox as Chairman of the SEC, explaining that the Chairman of the FTC is appointed by and serves at the will of the President.

GOP Sees Rebound in Battle for Congress  —  Party Hopes Momentum Will Help Limit Losses  —  Like many of her Republican colleagues concerned about their reelection prospects, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina skipped the party's national convention to focus on campaigning back home.