AUDIO REMARKS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CUTS TO MEDICARE  —  This November, America will make a choice about the direction we want to go as a country - and nowhere is that choice clearer than on the issue of Medicare.  —  President Obama's healthcare law raided $716 billion from the Medicare trust fund.

Mitt Romney's tax returns: the ‘voter fraud’ theory |  MS Bellows Jr  —  There has been much speculation about why Romney refuses to disclose earlier tax returns.  Could it be as simple as an address?  —  Friday's exchange of letters between the election campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney …

How Management Killed “The Village Voice”  —  Mike Lacey figured out sex ads on the Internet, but little else.  The paper edges toward collapse.  —  Alt-weeklies are always dying.  But the news Friday that four editorial staffers were laid off or had their hours cut to part-time at The Village Voice …

US election: Mitt Romney may have breached ethics laws through company linked to Paul Ryan's brother  —  Mitt Romney may have breached state ethics laws as Governor of Massachusetts by holding a stake in a company that did lucrative work for his administration and was linked to the family of Paul Ryan …

August Unemployment Not Looking Good  —  New Gallup unemployment data suggest an increase in the government's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August when it is reported on Friday, Sept. 7.  During recent months, Gallup's measurements have been more optimistic than those of the BLS.

With a Full Quiver, Senator Schumer Is Quick to Release Cupid's Arrows  —  Even by the standards of Capitol Hill, where ambitious and awkward young people are thrust together in cramped workplaces and crowded bars, the nuptial output of Senator Charles E. Schumer's office stands out.

A Measure of Change: Obama Lags on Filling Seats in the Judiciary  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is set to end his term with dozens fewer lower-court appointments than both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush achieved in their first four years, and probably with less …

GOP convention's focus: Romney the professional  —  BOSTON — Mitt Romney's advisers are orchestrating a four-day Republican National Convention that is not so much designed to make Americans fall in love with the nominee, but rather to fall in like with the idea of him as the nation's leader …

Washington Post Strikes Out in Attack on Joe Biden's Courage on Social Security  —  The Washington Post once again confounded its critics who insisted that it couldn't get any worse.  Yesterday the paper ran an editorial that criticized Vice President Joe Biden for his lack of courage …

Why doom has not materialized  —  Sometimes the news is that something was not newsworthy.  The United Nations' Rio+20 conference — 50,000 participants from 188 nations — occurred in June without consequences.  A generation has passed since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which begat other conferences and protocols (e.g., Kyoto).

Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol.  XXX  —  Mitt Romney gave a speech Beallsville, Ohio, this week, and presented an unfortunate attack against President Obama.  “How can you go out there and tell people things that just aren't true?” he asked rhetorically.  He added, “This is a time for truths.”

Rep. Hartzler: Dems politicizing drought-relief measures  —  Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) slammed Senate Democrats Saturday, saying their failure to pass drought-relief or stop tax hikes set to take effect next year had harmed small businesses and farmers.  —  In the GOP weekly address …