Former Democratic New York City mayor Ed Koch tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that he supports the legal right to build mosque near Ground Zero but believes the mosque is "insensitive" to 9/11 survivors and their families.

Recently Michael Barone pointed out that President Obama has a concentration problem:

Will Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska be the only Democrat to vote against the confirmation of Elena Kagan? It looks increasingly likely as two other red state Democratic senators announced their support for Kagan yesterday. Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas told Politico that she'll vote for Kagan, and Arkansas's other Democratic senator Mark Pryor said he'll do the same. 

ABC was first to report at the end of July that at least some of the oil spewed by the Deep Horizon well seemed to be breaking up, evaporating, and dispersing on its own— so much so that cleaning crews were having trouble finding the slick.

Recently the FT's Ed Luce spent some time with families in Minnesota and Virginia and concluded that we're pretty much done for. The American Dream, Luce says, has become "America's Fitful Reverie." His article is worth reading in full; in fact, it's the best summary of the decline argument that I've read.

Of course, whether or not Luce is right is another question entirely.

The story has been buried by the Western press, but Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy brings it out in an important policy paper.

It's hard to get more than 70 percent of Americans to agree on anything, but 71 percent of Missourians voted yesterday for a referendum opposing the centerpiece of President Obama's signature legislative initiative.

Barack Obama, July 29: "The one thing that does frustrate me sometimes is the sense that we shouldn't be campaigning all the time. There is a time to campaign and then there is a time to govern. What we've tried to do over the last 20 months is to govern."

On the road to passing Obamacare, Democrats made it their business to dismiss the concerns of the majority of Americans who opposed the bill.

"U.S. Finds Most Oil From Spill Poses Little Additional Risk," reports the New York Times.

Israeli military intelligence is often thought to be the best in the world. Given the neighborhood Israel lives in, it needs to be.

Obamacare mandate loses in Missouri referendum, 71.1-28.9. No worries It's not like it's a bellwether. Oh.

Jan Brewer wants you to create a birthday cake for the president.

"One tough nerd" campaign lifts Rick Snyder to victory in Republican gubernatorial primary. Sounds like a campaign slogan for Mitch Daniels, doesn't it?

Senate Republicans have blocked a vote on President Obama’s nominee to fill the Director of National Intelligence spot, James Clapper. Why? They want more transparency from the most transparent administration in history.

On Tuesday, Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman called for a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year. "I’m hesitant to see taxes go up in the middle of a recession," Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told reporters at the Capitol. "I think we ought to wait til maybe six months, maybe at least til the end of the next fiscal year" to raise taxes.

Marc Thiessen on Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and national security. 

AFL-CIO plan $53 million spending blitz for 2010 midterm elections.

"Pentagon has plan for attacking" Iran.