Short Takes

**President Obama asked for a Joint Session of Congress on September 7th to present his "bi-partisan" jobs proposal. Rumors have him going big on this one instead of fiddling at the edges.

**The House is holding up UN dues until the results of the General Assembly's vote on the Palestinian State. As I wrote when Bibi enjoyed his speech before a Joint Session of Congress, President Obama's effort to get Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the table was an effort to stall this diplomatic initiative by the Palestinians. Even during Obama's trip to Ireland,the UK and France, European leaders made it clear that Obama was trying to save Israel's bacon. The Israeli ambassador to the UN cabled Bibi that there was no way to prevent the vote from passing. So far over 130 nations have promised to vote yes and literally only a handful "no" including Germany and Italy. It will come down to the United States having to veto a Palestinian state in the middle of the Arab Spring.

**Willard "Mitt" Romney says the reason we're in the mess we are is because of professional politicians. He says he's running as a conservative businessman--even though he has been running for office since the early 1990s. So I guess a perpetual candidate is better than a politician. Before the VFW, Mitt evoked deep pessimism about the American economy and said that the Obama foreign policy was a muddle.

**Rick Perry in poll after poll has widened his lead over Willard. So much so that Willard caved and now is going to Jim DeMint's South Carolina teaparty jamboree. Willard had consciously turned down the invitation to demonstrate his independence from the teabaggers. Freedomworks, Dick Army's outfit, now has withdrawn their sponsorship of the event because his group is committed to defeat Romney.

**Morning Joe talked about Rick Perry's embrace of Hillarycare in the 1990s. One guest promised that something hinky is going to come out about Perry's personal life. We've suggested a few of those possibilities on this blog.

**Mama and Papa Bush are trying to persuade Jeb to run as is W. There is real concern in the GOP establishment that Perry is crazy and Willard is Caspar Milquetoast.

**What did Michelle Bachmann propose that has been rejected by Jeb Bush, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney? The answer--drilling for oil in the Everglades.

**Sister Sarah will be taking her bus back to New Hampshire for Labor Day.

**Jon Huntsman will be presenting his "bold" jobs plan in New Hampshire at the same time. Observers say this is Huntsman's last chance to actually register in the polls.

** The new New Yorker has a new piece on the recent activities of the Koch Brothers' attempt to buy the nation.

**The House actually did de-fund the Organization of American States (OAS) in their last session. The OAS is the only international organization actually based on democratic principles. Why they voted this way I have no idea.

**The Feds are now going to court to block the AT&T-T-Mobile merger.

**Hurricane Irene is looking to become one of the most expensive natural disasters in American history. Little Ricky Cantor is still saying he won't approve more FEMA funding without cuts. But even the Christianist governor of Virginia has come out and criticized that idea.

**New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie lauded the Obama's Administration's efforts. Jersey has experienced an awesome amount of flooding that still continues.

**Vermont Senators are urging people to donate to that state's Red Cross because the Green Mountain State has experienced the worst disaster in almost 100 years.

**The only good news out of the storm is that the on-going fire in the Dysmal Swamp here in Virginia, a vital wetlands, has been dampened for now.

**Think Progress has released a report on the conservative foundations funding Islamophobia in the United States and the groups that encourage discrimination against Muslims. But what the report doesn't mention is that these groups actually are paid by local police forces and the Homeland Security to make presentations to local law enforcement groups around the country as a matter of policy.

**If Dick Cheney surfaces, you know that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson will soon follow. Colin Powell's Chief of Staff has been appearing almost everywhere countering Cheney's attacks on Powell and suggesting that he would testify in court against Cheney. Wilkerson should be made the president of the Dick Cheney Fan Club. Wilkerson is distinguished because he is the only living Eisenhower Republican left in Washington,D.C.