Legislator resigns after ‘dead Palin’ comment  —  New Hampshire State Rep. Timothy Horrigan resigned Thursday after making comments about Sarah Palin on Facebook.  —  (CNN) - A New Hampshire state legislator resigned his office Thursday after becoming the second Democrat in as many days …

Judge keeps California gay marriage ruling on hold  —  The federal judge who last week overturned the state's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, agreed to a continued hold on his ruling while foes appeal.  —  Reporting from San Francisco — A federal judge Thursday refused to permanently stay …

FULL AUDIO: Dr. Laura Schlessinger's N-word rant  —  On August 10, Dr. Laura Schlessinger launched into a racially charged rant, during which Schlessinger — in her own words — “articulated the ‘n’ word all the way out — more than one time.”  Among other things, Schlessinger also told …

CBS 5 Poll: Fiorina Widens Lead Over Boxer  —  Dead Heats In Governor, Lt. Governor Races; Marijuana Prop.  16 Passing  —  SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has increased her lead over Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer …

Are We At War With All Of Islam?  Right Wingers Think So  —  Nearly every oath of service in this nation includes the phrase “Defend and protect the Constitution of the United States of America” in some form or the other.  Not having a King we needed an object of loyalty, something bigger than the individual to focus our loyalty on.

OUR DAUGHTER ISN'T A SELFISH BRAT; YOUR SON JUST HASN'T READ  —  ATLAS SHRUGGED.  —  I'd like to start by saying that I don't get into belligerent shouting matches at the playground very often.  The Tot Lot, by its very nature, can be an extremely volatile place—a veritable powder keg …

Op-Ed Columnist: Paralysis at the Federal Reserve  —  Ten years ago, one of America's leading economists delivered a stinging critique of the Bank of Japan, Japan's equivalent of the Federal Reserve, titled “Japanese Monetary Policy: A Case of Self-Induced Paralysis?”

GOP candidate calls for internment camps for ‘people that snuck into the country.’  —  Speaking at a rally sponsored by Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project, GOP state house candidate in Florida, Marg Baker, endorsed building concentration camps for undocumented immigrants: … Watch it:

The Anti-Obama Democrats  —  Democrats in deep-red states who voted against health reform and higher spending may yet survive the midterm.  —  It's 81 days to the election.  Expect many of them to be filled with the explanations Democrats are now serving up as to why Nov. 2 is likely to be a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

Elizabeth Warren, likely to head new consumer agency, provokes strong feelings  —  Somewhere along the line, Elizabeth Warren became a symbol.  —  She's either the plain-spoken, supremely smart crusader for middle-class families that her supporters adore, or she's the power-hungry headline seeker …

Defense chief Gates orders review of Marines' role  —  Acknowledging concerns among current and former Marines that the Corps has evolved into another ground combat force, the Defense secretary aims to define the service's future path.  —  Reporting from San Francisco …

Justice Alito refers Orly Taitz's request to reverse sanctions to U.S. Supreme Court  —  A request to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito by “birther” attorney Orly Taitz asking that $20,000 in sanctions against her be reversed was referred on Tuesday to the entire court.

Brief Post on Immigration  —  The Pew Research Center has a new report on the children of unauthorized immigrants: … I've noticed that defenders of the birthright citizenship status quo are emphasizing that unauthorized immigrants can't immediately obtain citizenship by virtue of giving birth …

The “Neutral Story Line” and How The Media Uses It To Justify Its Perpetual Game of “Guess That Party!”  —  Several months ago I wrote one of my better-received pieces.  If you've read that you can skim and get to the new stuff; if not, I think (IMHO) it's worth reading.  Excerpts below:

Gallup: Spending slumps lower than 2009 levels in Recovery Summer  —  The advance retail numbers for July will come out tomorrow from the Commerce Department, but Gallup's survey of consumer spending gives a pretty good indication that the report won't boost the notion of Recovery Summer.

Department of Strategery  —  The latest poll numbers show the same thing that poll numbers have shown since January of 2009.  Barack Obama is more popular than congressional Democrats who are more popular than congressional Republicans:  —  The vast majority of congressional Democrats have …

Sacrilege at Ground Zero  —  A place is made sacred by a widespread belief that it was visited by the miraculous or the transcendent (Lourdes, the Temple Mount), by the presence there once of great nobility and sacrifice (Gettysburg), or by the blood of martyrs and the indescribable suffering of the innocent (Auschwitz).

The difficulty of opposing gay marriage  —  When we talk about gay marriage, we should first be clear about what we're discussing: State-sanctioned marriage is a central element in American life.  It includes both legal and substantial, important cultural benefits.

With Off-the-Record Lunch, Obama Extends a Hand  —  It may seem odd, but the journalists assigned to cover President Obama on a daily basis often have less access to him than the columnists, television personalities and feature writers who cover the president less frequently.

Kristol group's game plan: Make it politically toxic for Dems to criticize Israel  —  Bill Kristol's hawkish, pro-Israel group, which has been running ads blasting Dems as anti-Israel, is now making it explicit: It is targeting Dems with paid media for the express purpose of making it politically toxic for them to criticize Israel.

Inside the World's MOST EXCLUSIVE (and Most Accessible) CLUB with SPECIAL GUESTS including  —  The other day, I got an email from a new friend.  The subject line read “Are you a TED talk person?”  —  It linked to an 18-minute video of MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely talking about the bugs in our moral codes.

The Bush tax plan vs. the Obama tax plan in one chart  —  Source.  —  United States - Tax - Democratic Party - Accounting - President

Updated Senate and Governor rankings!  —  With the 2010 primary season (nearly) over, the Fix and Post senior political reporter — and co-author of “The Battle for America” — Dan Balz sat down to revisit our rankings of the most competitive Senate and governor's races in the country.