Matthew Vadum - ACORN Sprouts New Branches

It looks like the congenitally corrupt, still-operating Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) won't be getting any more U.S. tax dollars - for the time being. That's because in a startlingly unusual victory for common sense, a federal appeals court slapped down a bizarre ruling by Brooklyn-based federal Judge Nina Gershon. The life-tenured judge had determined that the U.S. government's spending power belongs to federal judges now, regardless of what that quaint little document called the U.S. Constitution says. Judge Gershon ruled that Congress had violated ACORN's "rights" and passed an unconstitutional "bill of attainder" punishing ACORN without trial when it decided to stop funding the group. Read more here:

Matthew Vadum - ACORN Sprouts New Branches

GOP Dark Horses Set To Finish Strong

A stable of dark-horse Republican candidates - to the surprise of political handicappers - are seriously threatening veteran Democrats in heavily Democratic states, increasing GOP hopes to reclaim control of the Senate in November. From Washington to Wisconsin and Connecticut, Republican challengers are forcing analysts to revise upward their midterm forecasts of potential Democratic losses, putting the GOP in sight of a long-shot 10-seat gain and a majority in the upper chamber. In the parlance of analysts, two three-term Democratic senators, Washington's Patty Murray and Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, have moved into "tossup" territory - unexpected terrain, especially for Mrs. Murray, who wasn't on anyone's radar screen as vulnerable earlier this summer. Read more here:

GOP Dark Horses Set To Finish Strong

Blago Jury - One Vote Shy of Multiple Convictions

Rod Blagojevich

Federal prosecutors aren't alone in wanting a retrial after the jury deadlocked on all but one count at former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption trial. Some jurors also want to see the impeached Democratic governor back in court and have expressed frustration that the panel of six women and six men could not agree on additional counts, including allegations that he tried to sell President Barack Obama's old senate seat. "I'm glad there is going to be (a retrial)," juror Cynthia Parker, 60, said outside her home in the Chicago suburb of Gurnee. "I don't feel it's finished." Parker said she joined most other jurors in voting to convict Blagojevich of the alleged Senate seat scheme. Several jurors have said they were just one vote shy of a conviction. Read more here:

Blago Jury - One Vote Shy of Multiple Convictions

DirecTV and KVIA in Squabble

EL PASO -- DirecTV commented Wednesday on the impasse that may cost El Paso DirecTV viewers access to KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6). If an agreement is not reached, the programming will be dropped Monday, KVIA officials have said. Robert Mercer, the director of public relations for DirecTV, said KVIA's parent company "is demanding a well over 130 percent increase in fees for its ABC programming." Read more here:

DirecTV and KVIA in Squabble

Carlson - Obama Supremely Confident in His Intellect

Margaret Carlson

How can President Barack Obama be so right about the mosque and yet get it so wrong? Here’s how: He is so supremely confident in his intellect that he forgets, on his way to the correct decision, to slow down and pick up not-so-gifted stragglers. The controversy over locating a mosque close to Ground Zero in New York City created the perfect storm, putting Obama’s strengths and weaknesses into play. Read more here:

Carlson - Obama Supremely Confident in His Intellect

McDonald's Sells Yuan Bonds in Hong Kong

McDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant chain, became the first foreign non-financial company to sell yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. McDonald’s, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, sold 200 million yuan ($29 million) of 3 percent notes due in September 2013, offer manager Standard Chartered Plc said in an e-mailed statement today. Read more here:

McDonald's Sells Yuan Bonds in Hong Kong

Ken Blackwell - Religous Freedom for Whom?

Ken Blackwell

By embracing the mosque at Ground Zero, President Obama made it his own. And as his own, it will be an albatross around his neck. At a glittering White House dinner marking the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, Mr. Obama made a strong appeal for religious liberty and tolerance. Religious liberty for whom? Is there one region in the world—even one—with a Muslim majority where religious liberty is enjoyed by anyone? Right after 9/11, Michigan political science professor Muktedar Khan confronted his fellow Muslims. He said they all knew that the U.S. was the best country in the world in which to practice Islam. If they doubted that, he challenged his fellow believers to accept his offer of a one-way air fare to the Muslim-majority country of their choice. He got no takers. Read more here:

Ken Blackwell - Religous Freedom for Whom?

Thomas Sowell - The Dismantling of America Part III

Thomas Sowell

One of the few campaign promises that Barack Obama has kept was this: "We are going to change the United States of America!" As in many other cases, those who were thrilled by the thought of "change" seldom seemed to consider whether it would be a change for the better or for the worse. True believers in the Obama cult assumed that it had to be a change for the better. Read more here:

Thomas Sowell - The Dismantling of America Part III

C.B.O. - Borrowing and Blowing to Continue

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 will be $1.066 trillion, revised up from an estimate of $996 billion in March. The nonpartisan agency’s semi-annual budget report is likely to add fuel to the November midterm election debate over reducing the deficit at a time when the nation’s economic recovery may call for more stimulus. Today’s report estimated that the deficit will be 7 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2011. CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said the agency’s projections haven’t changed significantly since its March forecast, reflecting an economy that continues to struggle to recover from recession and the prolonged impact of bailouts and other spending designed to spur growth. Read more here:

C.B.O. - Borrowing and Blowing to Continue

Unemployment Claims on the Rise

Claims for U.S. jobless benefits jumped to the highest level since November and Philadelphia-area manufacturing shrank for the first time in a year, indicating the economy may be slowing faster than forecast. The number of unemployment claims unexpectedly shot up by 12,000 to 500,000 in the week ended Aug. 14, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index turned negative in August, signaling contraction. Read more here:

Unemployment Claims on the Rise