After Washington rally, Glenn Beck assails Obama's religion  —  Conservative commentator Glenn Beck voiced sharper criticism of President Obama's religious beliefs on Sunday than he and other speakers offered from the podium of the rally Beck organized at the Lincoln Memorial a day earlier.

59 percent think Palin lacks ability to be effective as president  —  Almost three out of five Americans believe former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) would not be an effective president, a new poll found Monday.  —  59 percent of U.S. adults said they don't think Palin, the 2008 Republican …

It's Witch-Hunt Season  —  The last time a Democrat sat in the White House, he faced a nonstop witch hunt by his political opponents.  Prominent figures on the right accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of everything from drug smuggling to murder.  And once Republicans took control of Congress …

The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution  —  The plan to erect a mosque of major proportions in what would have been the shadow of the World Trade Center involves not just the indisputable constitutional rights that sanction it, but, providentially, others that may frustrate it.

New York imam: Politics behind mosque opposition … DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The imam spearheading a proposed Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York believes the fierce opposition is closely linked to the U.S. elections in November, according to comments published Monday.

Alaska's Joe Miller on Face the Nation  —  “Everybody in this instance is going to have to so some belt tightening.”  —  Alaska's next Senator?  —  Tuesday's results and today's polls seem to say so.  —  Alaska US Senate candidate Joe Miller (R) appeared on CBS's Face The Nation this weekend.

Germany's rebound is no cause for cheer  —  One of the weirder experiences for anyone who lives in the eurozone is a visit to a German supermarket.  I had the pleasure the other day, and found the general price level there to be a little over half of what it is in Belgium, Italy or Spain.

The saving mentality is hurting the economy's recovery  —  The logic of the economic recovery isn't working — or, at any rate, not well.  By that logic, over-borrowed Americans would repay loans and replenish depleted savings, creating a temporary drop in consumer spending and economic activity.

Texas Dem under fire for nepotism  —  Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has steered thousands in scholarship dollars to relatives and the children of top aides, a Texas newspaper reported today.  —  The Dallas Democrat, a nine-term member of the House, awarded 15 Congressional Black Caucus scholarships …

Record number in government anti-poverty programs  —  WASHINGTON — Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.  —  More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid …

Orange County Is No Longer Nixon Country  —  SANTA ANA, Calif. — Orange County has been a national symbol of conservatism for more than 50 years: birthplace of President Richard M. Nixon and home to John Wayne, a bastion for the John Birch Society, a land of orange groves and affluence …

What Can Obama Really Do?  —  A zombie argument is going around about why Obama hasn't accomplished liberal and progressive ends to the extent many would have liked him to: … This argument is misleading in one sense and incorrect in another.  It is misleading in that it misrepresents how things get done in Congress.

What they're saying about the 8/28 rally  —  “Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King's message.”  — Associated Press

Steele to Guam  —  Alex Burns and I wrote after Michael Steele's election to lead the Republican National Committee that he'd won in part through an insight about the committee math: Island territories, from Guam to the Northern Marianas, may not have a voice in federal politics …

FLOOD TIDES  —  Last spring, according to a Pew Research Center poll, eighty-four per cent of Pakistanis were dissatisfied with the way things were going in their country.  Inflation, terrorist bombings, and American drone strikes were among the causes of their discontent.

Stabbed cabbie out of work, worries about feeding family  —  (CNN) — New York cab driver Ahmed Sharif cannot bring himself to talk about the young man who allegedly cut his throat and nearly killed him last week, a taxi union representative said Sunday.  —  “Ahmed is a strong man …