The Wall Street Journal reports that House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has offered a "concession on tax cuts." Republicans would be, happy, he said, with merely a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, rather than a permanent extension.

Last week, the New York Times reported a disturbing new trend: in order to curry favor with politicians without breaking campaign finance laws, corporate donors are pouring philanthropic dollars into lawmakers’ personal foundations and pet causes.

President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.

Depending on who you ask, Google Books -- the pioneering tech company's ambitious plan to "digitally scan every book in the world" and make them searchable over the Web and in libraries -- is either a marvelous, utopian scheme or an unprecedented copyright power-grab. The people who can claim to fully understand the Google Books Search Settlement -- the resolution of a class-action suit filed against the company by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers -- may be as few as those who comprehend the theory of special relativity.

I don't think the Obama presidency hinges on whether chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stays or goes. I'm much more interested in the calculation behind the president's recent decision to get tough on Republicans. I loved his Labor Day speech, I was thrilled he committed yesterday to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the richest 2 percent of Americans, and I'm surprised but pleased he's taking on not only the GOP, but wannabe GOP House Speaker John Boehner in his speech today.

Whatever you do, do it with all your might. ~ PT Barnum (1880), The Art of Money Getting

Among the enlightened, dialing the psychic hotline is considered superstitious, although watching TV pundits call elections two months before the vote is taken seriously. True, political forecasters have opinion polls to guide them, but then it's also a safe bet that anybody phoning a psychic has a troubled love life.

I sipped vodka and orange juice for courage as I drove along the 405 freeway toward a beach city near Los Angeles. I felt like vomiting. I felt like turning around and going home. Drinking and driving is something I would normally never, ever do, especially early on a Saturday morning. But none of this was anything I would normally do.

Makes one serving

Hi, Cary,