It's time to embrace American royalty  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  We're obviously hungry to live with royal and aristocratic families so we should really just go ahead and formally declare it: … They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager …

Cheney Says He Was Proponent for Military Action Against Iran  —  Former Vice President Also Criticizes CIA Probe as Political Move  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney hinted that, in the waning days of the Bush administration, he had pushed for a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear-weapons program.

Tea Party Express cruises through Nevada  —  ELY, Nevada (CNN) — Hundreds of people turned out for a series of weekend events as the Tea Party Express cruised across northern Nevada.  —  The caravan of tour buses, RVs, cargo trucks and SUVs kicked off a cross-country tour Friday in Sacramento …

“We Hate the United States”: Secessionists rally at Capitol while Perry stays home  —  Perhaps the most notable thing about the “Sovereignty or Secession” rally at the state Capitol today was the absence of any remotely mainstream speakers.  That little problem in presentation did not escape …

Boston Globe: Now That Ted's Out of the Way, Hurry Up With That Cape Cod Wind Farm  —  On the very day Ted Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery near his two brothers, a Boston Globe editorial argued to undo part of his legacy.  —  The pertinent portion of Mr. Kennedy's legacy …

Video: Shea-Porter has constituent arrested at town-hall forum  —  This is a curious re-election strategy, especially for a Representative who made her name by bird-dogging her former Congressman at his town-hall forums.  Consistency isn't Carol Shea-Porter's strong suit, apparently …

Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level  —  WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics …

Keep your self-righteous fingers off my processed food  —  By demanding we all pay more to fund their agendas in these harsh economic times, foodie snobs and lefty social critics may as well tell us to eat artisanal cake.  —  Just in time for the worst economic downturn since the Depression …

Remnants of Iraq Air Force Are Found  —  BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials have discovered that they may have a real air force, after all.  —  The Defense Ministry revealed Sunday that it had recently learned that Iraq owns 19 MIG-21 and MIG-23 jet fighters, which are in storage in Serbia.

Charlie Crist Lite  —  A case of Senate cronyism in Florida.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Democrats have embarrassed themselves by naming political buddies to replace Joe Biden and Barack Obama in the Senate, and now a Republican is showing he can do the same.

Fighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It  —  SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who predicted that President Obama's effort to overhaul the health care system would become his “Waterloo,” is doing his best to make that happen.

Raft of Deals for Failed Banks Puts U.S. on Hook for Billions  —  WASHINGTON — The biggest spur to deal-making among banks isn't private-equity cash or foreign investors.  It is the federal government.  —  To encourage banks to pick through the wreckage of their collapsed competitors …

Owner of Orange County Register May File for Bankruptcy  —  By ZACHERY KOUWE and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED  —  Freedom Communications, owner of The Orange County Register and 30 other daily newspapers, is expected to file for bankruptcy this week under a plan that will hand its publications to its lenders …

CQ Transcripts: Remembering Kennedy on CBS's ‘Face the Nation’  —  CQ Transcriptwire  —  SPEAKERS: BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. SEN. ORRIN G. HATCH, R-UTAH SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF. REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS.  —  [*] SCHIEFFER: Today on FACE THE NATION, the legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy.

A Chance to Avoid Defeat in Afghanistan  —  The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan in the next three months — any form of even limited victory will take years of further effort.  It can, however, easily lose the war.  I did not see any simple paths to victory while serving …

Tax Reform's Lesson for Health Care Reform  —  THE chance of bipartisan agreement on health care seems to be waning as August draws to a close and ideologues mount increasingly vitriolic attacks on President Obama's health care initiative.  The debate is beginning to sound …