Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim  —  Religion, Politics and the President  —  OVERVIEW  —  A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined.  More than a year and a half into his presidency …

Operation Iraqi Freedom ends as last combat soldiers leave Baghdad  —  Lt. Col. Mark Bieger huddled his infantrymen in a darkened parking lot minutes before they were to depart Baghdad for the last time.  —  “This is a historic mission!” he bellowed, struggling to be heard over the zoom …

Howard Dean: “Mosque” should move  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  Certain things are disappointing and surprising even for the most hardened cynics.  Hearing Howard Dean — the former liberal standard-bearer — join Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin by saying the following is definitely one of them:

Breaking: Blago Holdout Retired State Employee Who Once Handed Out Campaign Literature For Relative Seeking Office; NPR and Liberal Talk Radio Listener  —  Here's what Fox local news in Chicago reports: … Note that that is not yet confirmed.  It is now confirmed by CBS local news Chicago.

In flap over mosque near Ground Zero, conservative writers gaining influence  —  Long before President Obama waded into the vociferous debate over a proposal to build a mosque near Ground Zero, a group of conservative writers and bloggers critical of Islam had seized on the issue and helped transform …

The shame of New York  —  The real story of the Ground Zero mosque is that the project only became feasible because of the appalling and astonishing fecklessness of the officials who were charged with the reconstruction of the site and the neighborhood all the way back in 2001.

NRSC: ‘The Next Time Democrats Call You Extreme, Show Them This Video.’  —  You see it here first, folks: the new web video from the NRSC about just whose views are “extreme” around here.  —  Their closing sequence, showcasing that the so-called extreme candidates are either leading or in dead heats …

Weekly Jobless Claims Post Surprise Jump, Hit 500,000  —  New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.  —  Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 …

Sink Inching Up In Close Florida Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Crist Leads Three-Way Senate Race  —  Apparently bolstered by the civil war for the Republican nomination for Governor in Florida, State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat, is on the plus side …

Mosque a long shot to be built  —  When President Barack Obama turned the battle over a planned New York Islamic center into a national debate over religious freedom, he unwittingly allied himself and his party with an ill-planned, long-shot development project described by one of its most prominent allies as “amateur hour.”

More Disapprove Than Approve of Obama Mosque Remarks  —  PRINCETON, NJ — More Americans disapprove than approve of President Barack Obama's recent comments concerning the planned construction of a mosque near where the Sept. 11 terror attacks occurred in New York City, but 4 in 10 do not have an opinion on the matter.

Blagojevich 23, Fitzgerald 1  —  Chicago's jester politician humiliates the Justice Department.  —  Rod Blagojevich was charged with everything from shaking down a Chicago children's hospital to attempting to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Obama …

Conservative Elites, Cont'd: Being in on the Joke  —  Apropos my earlier post about conservative elites and the Park 51 controversy, I want to address the general relationship between certain influential figures in the conservative movement — Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Andrew Breitbart …

The Coup of 2011  —  It occurred to me today that there's at least some chance that in January of 2011 the US Senate will have 49 Democrats, Joe Lieberman, Charlie Crist, and 49 Republicans.  Which is to say that Lieberman & Crist could form a two-man caucus, hold the balance of power, and drive organization of the Senate.

The U.S. Department of Education's spokesperson hung up on The Daily Caller Wednesday when seeking clarification regarding the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's planned speech at an Aug. 28 protest march that the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network (NAN) are holding …

Sheryl Crow Bashes Sarah Palin: 'Someone Unplug Her Microphone!  "  —  Pop-singer Sheryl Crow has always been outspoken about her own political views, but now she's telling former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to zip it.  —  “I saw you ranting on TV today, I heard you tell me to reload.

The most powerful Republican in politics  —  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is the most powerful Republican in American politics — at least for the next three months.  —  Barbour, who runs the Republican Governors Association, has more money to spend on the 2010 elections - $40 million - than any other GOP leader around.

The Great American Bond Bubble  —  If 10-year interest rates, which are now 2.8%, rise to 4% as they did last spring, bondholders will suffer a capital loss more than three times the current yield.  —  Ten years ago we experienced the biggest bubble in U.S. stock market history …

Young will have to change names to escape ‘cyber past’ warns Google's Eric Schmidt  —  The private lives of young people are now so well documented on the internet that many will have to change their names on reaching adulthood, Google's CEO has claimed.  —  Eric Schmidt suggested …

Muslim employee accuses Disney of discrimination  —  A Disneyland Resort hotel employee accused Disney of discrimination for refusing to let her wear a Muslim head scarf at work in public.  —  Imane Boudlal, a restaurant hostess at the Storytellers' Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel in Downtown Disney …