[Wired]
U.S. lawmakers approved the creation of a cabinet-level position of copyright czar as part of sweeping intellectual property enforcement legislation.

[The Huffington Post]
Bush does a 9/11 replay in asking for unprecedented powers and unprecedented budget.

[Political Feeds]
No one with these values and policies can be elected president in this day and age. More's the pity. [video]

[Newsweek]
The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country. "They think they're better than you!" is the refrain that (highly competent and cynical) Republican strategists have set loose among the crowd, and the crowd has grown drunk on it once again. "Sarah Palin is an ordinary person!" Yes, all too ordinary.

[Boston.com]
In country after country, democratic reforms are in retreat. The surprising culprit: the middle class.

[daggatt blog]
It's inspiring to know that John McCain has a plan to end greed. I just hope it doesn't distract him from his mission to defeat evil.

[The New York Times]
The Federal Reserve has reversed course and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government control of the troubled insurance giant American International Group. The decision, only two weeks after the Treasury took over the federally chartered mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is the most radical intervention in private business in the central bank’s history.

[The New Yorker]
"Elites vs. Regulars."

[BBC News]
The most senior judge in Saudi Arabia has said it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV channels which broadcast immoral programmes.

[Telegraph.co.uk]
The Church of England is to apologise to Charles Darwin for its initial rejection of his theories, nearly 150 years after he published his most famous work.

[Washington Monthly]
Comparison of Obama's and McCain's legislation in Congress.

[ACLU]
I'm a Constitution voter!

[Yahoo! News]
Bush defies Constitution on treaty-making.

[Yahoo! News]
Venezuela follows Bolivia's lead, evicts U.S. ambassador.

[Times Online]
Wait, the Catholics want to play too: An Italian comedienne who said that Pope Benedict XVI would go to Hell and be tormented by homosexual demons is facing a prison term of up to five years.

[The Wall Street Journal]
There are strange happenings in the world of international jurisprudence that do not bode well for the future of free speech. In an unprecedented case, a Jordanian court is prosecuting 12 Europeans in an extraterritorial attempt to silence the debate on radical Islam.

[International Herald Tribune]
The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has ordered the American ambassador, Philip Goldberg, to leave the country, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern regions that have been rocked by intensifying protests this week.

[Salon.com]
John McCain announced that he was running for president to confront the "transcendent challenge" of the 21st century, "radical Islamic extremism," contrasting it with "stability, tolerance and democracy." But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will, and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts.

[International Herald Tribune]
The U.S. Treasury Department on Sunday seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant quasi-public mortgage finance companies, and announced a four-part rescue plan that includes an open-ended guarantee to provide as much capital as they need to stave off insolvency.

[BBC News]
Brazil has turned down an invitation to join the oil producers' cartel, Opec. For now.

[BBC News]
Polish intelligence sources have for the first time confirmed that the CIA ran a secret prison facility on Polish soil.

[Rushkoff.com]
Douglas Rushkoff: The Republican Convention made it clear they prefer war. They see the world as a dangerous and terrible place. Like the fascist leaders satirized in Starship Troopers, they say they believe it is better to be on the offensive, taking the war to the people who might wish us harm than playing defense. It is better to be an international aggressor...than led by the misguided notion that attacking people itself makes the world a more dangerous place.

[The New York Times]
Bush to give $1 billion to the nation of Georgia to help rebuild after its quickie war with Russia.

Who thinks New Orleans would like to see some of that?

[Democracy Now!]
Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers unlawfully arrested at the RNC. They, of course, are not the only ones.

[boston.com]
An interesting, and perhaps telling, comparison of word frequencies on the official Obama and McCain blogs.

[Reuters]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: America needs to acknowledge the reality of the post-American world and start adapting to it.