Today marked another landmark on the path to economic recovery: Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Reserve issued its most hopeful assessment in more than a year, "noting signs of stabilization in household spending, financial markets and inventory building by corporations," The New York Times reports. “Economic activity is leveling out,” the Fed board said. The bank also announced that it would end its program to buy $300 billion worth of Treasury bonds by the end of October, indicating that policy makers were confident enough to lift one of their emergency props for the markets. At the same time, the bank announced that it would keep its short-term interest rate at virtually zero for now, and warned that recovery would slow and unemployment would likely remain high for the next year.

Are the inner workings of Dick Cheney's head finally being revealed? The former vice president is penning a memoir—which he's writing in longhand on legal pads—filled with private reflections that unveil the true, vast extent of his strained relationship with his White House partner of eight years. Cheney's disappointment with the former president came to light recently in one of the casual conversations he's holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts, and past colleagues, The Washington Post reports. "By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets," the paper notes. "In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him," a participant in the conversation revealed. "He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took." Cheney reportedly believes the “statute of limitations has expired” on the Bush administration’s secrets, including conflict between the president and vice president on waterboarding, secret prisons, and “regime change” in Iran and North Korea. The long-silent veep’s newfound loquaciousness will likely be the book’s selling point: The Post reports that Cheney’s contract negotiator “passed word to potential publishers that the memoir would be packed with news.”

Arlen Specter left the GOP less than four months ago, and there's no love lost between the Pennsylvania senator and RNC Chairman Michael Steele. On Fox News Thursday night, Steele was asked to respond to a clip of Specter saying that town-hall protesters were "not necessarily representative of America." The RNC chairman broke into laughter: "I'm sorry, I'm laughing, I'm sorry." Steele continued, "Not representative of America? Well, then who are they representative of? This is part of the craziness that we're hearing from the left on this issue. They're trying to obfuscate the fact that the American people are ticked off, as one of the participants said yesterday, they're very concerned." Politico reports that Steele also accused Obama of stacking his New Hampshire town hall with a friendly audience and denied some Democrats' claims that the GOP has been stacking its cards, too: "Anyone out there who says that the Republican Party or state parties or Republican activists are out there doing that are flat-out lying. They're wrong. We are not busing in folks like the Democrats are with SEIU members."

America's loneliest governor, South Carolina's Mark Sanford, gave an interview Wednesday, commenting on his family and emotional state for the first time since his wife Jenny moved out of the governor's mansion last week. Asked during a radio interview about being alone in the state house, Sanford said: "That part's hard." Sanford stuck to the humble-pie rhetoric he's favored since owning up to the "consequences" of his actions, noting that his family "deserve[s] to be out of the fishbowl they've been in" and taking the blame for his family's troubles. But Sanford's romantic edge isn't gone yet. Speaking of his Argentinean mistress, Sanford spoke of issues of the heart—"I fell in love with one woman I should not have fallen in love with"—before returning to political pragmatism. "I am dead politically," he said. "I am not running for another office. I just want to make the most of the 16 months that are remaining" in the term.

Is the media industry really so troubled? Gawker and Cityfile report that Rupert Murdoch's 183-foot yacht, Rosehearty, appears in a rental ad at CharterWorld.com. According to the ad, "She is a powerful sailing yacht with carbon furling booms and a striking all-white hull," an "aluminum masterpiece" with space for "up to 10 yacht-charter guests." Rosehearty boasts workout facilities, flat-screen televisions, wireless Internet, and "a stunning interior by famous French designer Christian Liagre." Rosehearty's listed price: $310,000 per week.

All who've been wrongly barred from flying thanks to a terrorist watch-list "mixup," take heart: On Saturday, U.S. airlines will start asking travelers to provide their birth date and gender under a new aviation-security requirement, in an effort to prevent no-fly-list confusion. The change comes as the Department of Homeland Security assumes responsibility for checking passenger names against government watch lists, The Washington Post reports. Airlines will forward the personal details to the Transportation Security Administration, to clear up situations in which travelers have similar names as those on terrorist lists. The information will allow 99 percent of travelers to avoid delays, officials said. The new requirements will be implemented between now and March 2010; once the program is fully up and running, passengers who don't provide the info could be denied boarding passes.

When Twitter was crippled by cyberattacks, Google was glad to offer its assistance. But you don't think the search giant's motivations were purely altruistic, do you? Silicon Alley Insider writes that Google has never hidden the fact that it's interested in buying the micro-blogging service, and that saving the day should help them get on Twitter's good side. The article also notes that Google's immense infrastructure would work wonders for Twitter. Still, all signs point to Twitter's owners being focused on remaining independent.

The right-wing backlash against Democrats took a decidedly ugly turn in Smyrna, Georgia, home to moderate Democratic Rep. David Scott: On Tuesday, a swastika was found painted across a sign with the Congressman's name at his office. The Associated Press reports that Scott, who is black, has been the recipient of racist hate mail in the last week, including multiple N-word references to him. But Scott's dilemmas don't end there: On Wednesday, Talking Points Memo reports that leaked emails from a Tea Party protest group that suggesting that "CNBC approached Tea Party activists, looking for angry protest events that would make good television." The leaked emails were written by Tea Party Patriots leaders and deal with "a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC." The Tea Baggers note that a protest against "the Congressman who got a swastika painted on his office" should be "a riot! literally..." Scott landed in the news one week ago when he shouted back at health care protesters during a town hall meant to discuss plans for an area highway. Scott, who is a moderate Democrat, represents an Atlanta-area district that is mostly white. The FBI, Capitol Police, and Smyrna Police Department are investigating the vandalism; Tea Party Patriots released a statement against violence and its leader has since decided to skip the Scott event; CNBC has yet to weigh in.

Still reeling from the recession? Why not relive the crisis day by day and see if you can sort it all out the second time around: A Twitter feed by SmartMoney magazine is posting the dire economic headlines from one year ago. A recent tweet: "Oil Skids; Bad News at Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan." Ah, the good old days.

Gay marriage advocates in California just need a little more time to rally the troops. Equality California, which spearheaded the fight against Proposition 8 in last November, has announced that it will wait until 2012 to mount a campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. The group attributed the delay to the economy, which has made it hard to fundraise. Many in the gay-rights movement had pushed for another vote in 2010. The Los Angeles Times states that the campaign over Proposition 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, was the "most expensive campaign in California history over a social issue."

A diverse group of 16 men and women from all walks of life were honored today in the White House, as President Obama presented them with the Medal of Freedom. The medal stands as the nation's highest honor available to civilians. "At a moment when cynicism and doubt too often prevail...these agents of change remind us that excellence is not beyond our abilities, that hope lies around the corner and that justice can still be won in the forgotten corners of this world," the president said. Those honored included pioneering actor Sidney Poitier, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Harvey Milk, Billie Jean King and Senator Ted Kennedy, among others. The award was created by President Truman, who wished to honor citizens' service during World War II, CNN reports.

The World Trade Organization handed a major defeat to China over imported media Wednesday, saying that the country could not force "intellectual property-rights owners to deal with only government-controlled companies." Video games, music, and movies all stand to benefit from the ruling, The Wall Street Journal reports. It also puts traffickers of pirated entertainment at a disadvantage, as the "legitimate American products" now have a better chance to make it into the lucrative Chinese market. Observers say countries are considering seeking similar rulings on auto parts and other exports to China in the wake of the decision. It remains to be seen to what degree China will cooperate.

Edward McNally is quite accomplished in his own right: Presidential speechwriter from 1989 to 1991, senior associate counsel to the president from 2001 to 2005, and now a high-profile lawyer in Washington D.C. But perhaps he is most notable for, in his words, "being unfairly accused of serving among the inspirations for Ferris Bueller." McNally grew up on the same Illinois street as John Hughes, the director of Ferris Bueller's Day Off who died last week. McNally says many of the classic scenes from the movie are straight out of their youth: He skipped an exorbitant amount of class, had an elaborate note-forging scheme, and maintained a penchant for using corny disguises. McNally even eloped in a fancy car and drove it in reverse to undo the extra mileage. Most amusing, though, is that one of his clients involved in the Monica Lewinsky scandal identified himself as "the Sausage King of Chicago"--a line straight out of Bueller--to the press and the New York Times reported it as real news.

Two Associated Press journalists were wounded by a roadside bomb while traveling with American forces in Afghanistan Wednesday. Emilio Morenatti, a photographer, and Andi Jatmiko, a videographer, were rushed to a hospital with wounds to their legs. Morenatti's injuries resulted in the loss of his foot. Morenatti is an acclaimed war photographer who won Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 2009. His photo of a Pakistani boy sleeping under a mosquito net received much critical acclaim. One of Morenatti's peers told The New York Times his work is "pure art." Morenatti had another close call in 2006 when he was kidnapped in Gaza and held hostage for 16 hours. Jatmiko, who is from Indonesia, has worked for the AP for 10 years.

Do you yearn for the good old days when Facebook did not have all those annoying applications? Well yearn no longer. Facebook has just tested a "Lite" version of its site that strips down all the complicated features and leaves only the basics: the wall, photos, status updates, and friends. The site was designed so that it could be accessed from parts of the world with limited broadband speed, but may well have appeal to the average user. It is as yet unclear, however, whether the site will be available in the United States. News of the streamlined site was leaked late last night when Facebook mistakenly sent invites to a wide range of users. Commentators are already suggesting that this is a move by Facebook to better compete with Twitter, which it failed to purchase last year.

Speaking for the first time since being sworn into the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor expressed wonder at the long journey that brought her to a warm reception at the White House. "It is this nation's faith in a more perfect union that allows a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx to stand here now," she said. The New York Times reports that the audience greeted Sotomayor with "hoots, whistles and a standing ovation." President Obama introduced Sotomayor, and said that her confirmation was "proof that in America the doors of opportunity must be open to all." After his remarks, Obama was overheard saying to her, "You're going to be great. Best of luck."

If you happen to find yourself far from light pollution this week, look to the heavens for the Perseid meteor shower, which will be putting on quite a show--as many as one meteor a minute. The shower occurs once a year as the earth crosses pathes with the dust trail of the Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet has "meteoroids" trailing behind it that are made up of "ice, rock and dust" that detach as they approach the sun. The meteoroids are roughly the size of a sesame seed.

When Jermaine Jackson's book proposal was making the rounds in 2003, as his brother was being charged with child molestation, he could not find any takers. It's surprising considering the revelations in the pitch—but perhaps some book publishers are interested now. In the proposal, Jermaine admits that his father "did some disgusting things to LaToya and Rebbie especially," but the most stunning details reveal the deep divide between the King of Pop and his family. Jermaine writes, "He drinks, he does drugs, he lies, he cheats, he changed his skin color and mostly, he's human. He attracts gay men and wards off women like the plague." Later he touches on Jacko's children with Debbie Rowe, "He paid this woman, who nobody would ever look twice at, several million dollars. My brother purchased children. It is like a sanctioned black market." Lastly, the proposal mentions that Michael came up with the concept for DreamWorks, but that he never got credit. "That's one reason why Michael hates Jewish people so much. But he plays the game with them."

Now you see it, now you don't. A Maltese cargo ship with a Russian crew reported it was attacked near Sweden and then passed through the English Channel without incident. Now, no one knows where the ship is. Could pirates have struck in European waters? "If this is a criminal act, it appears to be following a new business model," one maritime expert told the Associated Press. The details of the possible hijacking are hazy: 10 masked men supposedly boarded the ship, claiming to be police. The crew then said the men made a getaway on a "high speed inflatable boat." But the ship—and its $1.84 million booty of lumber—has vanished. Piracy is only one possible scenario. "I strongly suspect that this is probably a commercial dispute with its owner and a third party and they've decided to take matters into their own hands," another expert said.

Have the Democrats blown another opportunity for health-care reform? Camille Paglia, writing for Salon, thinks so, and says politicians need to be held accountable. Nancy Pelosi, with her comments about "un-American town-hall meetings" is doing "grievous damage to the party and should immediately step down," Paglia writes. But President Obama, who Paglia voted for, does not escape her criticism either. Obama has done very little to allay his constituents' justified concerns over "vague and slippery promises" tied to his "aggressive endorsement of a health-care plan that does not even exist yet." Paglia echoes conservative criticism of the health-care plan, saying that "virtually all nationalized health systems, neither nourished nor updated by profit-driven private investment, eventually lead to rationing." Perhaps most damningly, she says that the push for health care by Democrats is the most blatant boondoggle since the march to Iraq.

After his name surfaced in one of the most uninformed editorials ever—Investor’s Business Daily claimed that British citizen and Cambridge professor Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K.” as a way of suggesting that President Obama’s health-care reform would kill “this brilliant man”—the world’s smartest man has weighed in. He endorsed the health-care system that, according to IBD, should have by now killed him. “I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the NHS,” Hawking tells Talking Points Memo. “I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived.”

Paula Abdul and American Idol's split has left both sides bitter, according to The New York Times. Evidently, Abdul wanted a salary increase to $10 million from Idol producers because Simon Cowell makes upwards of $30 million per year, and is believed to be seeking a substantial raise, and because host Ryan Seacrest's salary recently doubled to $10 million per year. The men's salary hikes led Abdul to believe that "as a woman she was being treated differently from the men," as the Times put it. Abdul also sought the hike, according to an unnamed source close to her, to make up for a fashion endorsement that fell through in 2006, due, Abdul believes, to comments by Idol judges that fed rumors that she was drinking and using drugs before work. On the other hand, Abdul's histrionics had some costs, according to an Idol team member, and her new manager's tactic of attempting to publicly negotiate rubbed Fox executives the wrong way.

Leave it to Hollywood execs to stick with an idea that works. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business blog reports that, fueled by the success of the G.I. Joe and Transformers movies, more toy movies are in the works. Warner Bros. is working on a Lego film, a live action-CG hybrid that, according to the blog, will center "on the subject of child-like imaginations and examine the themes of creativity and teamwork" in the world of Lego while appealing to adults and kids. DreamWorks is also at work on a movie based on the lesser known toy, the View-Master.

Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator who infamously likened homosexuality to bestiality, is heading to Iowa this fall, signaling an interest in a 2012 presidential bid, Politico reports. Santorum said that the series of speaking engagements will help him make his voice be heard on "the state of affairs in this country and how Republicans are dealing with [issues]." Santorum—whose last name is used by some as extremely vulgar slang—will be following in the footsteps of numerous other potential presidential hopefuls in the GOP who have traveled to the campaign staging ground. Politico reports that "Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, House Minority Conference Chair Mike Pence (R-Ind.), former New York Gov. George Pataki and, before admitting his adulterous affair, Nevada Sen. John Ensign," have all visited Iowa. Ready for another campaign epic?

This is a bit hard to wrap your head around: David Mamet and Disney are teaming up to produce a new film version of T he Diary of Anne Frank. Disney has acquired the rights, and Mamet is set to write and produce, according to Variety. “Mamet will use the famed diary, and the original play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, to tell the story of the young Jewish girl who hid with her family from the Nazis in the an attic in Amsterdam,” Variety reports. “Mamet brings his own original take on the material that could re-frame the story as a young girl’s rite of passage.”

Ben Bernanke will continue fighting unemployment lines instead of joining them, if economists have their way: A Wall Street Journal survey of 47 economists showed near unanimity in support for the appointment of Bernanke to a second term at the Federal Reserve. 27 economists said that the recession had ended, which could actually lessen the chances of Obama reappointing Bernanke. "Once it is perceived that the economy is on its way to recovery, it gives Obama the opportunity to put in his own person," said John Silvia of Wells Fargo. "It could be like Great Britain at the end of World War II. 'Thank you for all the hard work, Mr. Churchill, but we're going to bring someone else in to handle the next phase.’”

Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino gets failing marks for off-the-court conduct: “[Pitino] told police he had sex in a restaurant six years ago with a woman now accused of trying to extort millions of dollars from him,” according to the Associated Press. “And when she told him two weeks later she was pregnant, he gave her $3,000 for an abortion.” The woman, Karen Sypher, filed rape charges against Pitino last month, but a prosecutor said the charges would not be pursued since they lacked evidence, and Sypher has since pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. and trying to extort $10 million from Pitino. Pitino previously coached the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.

Swine flu is not only without borders—it's without political distinction. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias announced on Tuesday, via his brother and chief of staff Rodrigo Arias, that he had contracted H1N1, the dreaded swine flu. Agence France-Presse reports that the Nobel Peace Prize winner "had flu-like symptoms for some days, prompting medical tests." Arias, who is in his late sixties, suffers from chronic asthma. He plans to work from home, where he is now quarantined. His recent work includes diplomatic work on Honduras to resolve the conflict related to the military's ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya.

Sure, sure, the economy's improving, but only by economists' standards. The Washington Post reports on why the new numbers show a "recovery only a statistician can love," as a Wells Fargo senior economist put it. For example, Tuesday's Labor Department report showed business productivity jumped to 6.3 percent in the second quarter, compared with the annual average of 2.6 percent from 2000-2008. Unfortunately, the spike in productivity came from businesses slashing hours, which reduced labor costs per unit, and consequently the buying power of workers, which will constrain already weak consumer spending. Slashed hours means that employers will have latitude to increase hours of their current staff, which may delay new hires. And while the unemployment rate edged from 9.5 to 9.4 percent in July as layoffs slowed, the numbers largely reflect the fact that 400,000 people dropped out of the labor force and weren't counted.

Frank DiPascali, Bernie Madoff's finance chief, pleaded guilty Tuesday to numerous charges related to helping facilitate one of the largest financial swindles in history. Speaking before the judge, DiPascali said he "was loyal to a terrible, terrible fault." DiPascali worked on the infamous 17th floor where Madoff's Ponzi scheme was orchestrated, and admitted to "using a stock program to look up the historical prices of stocks to create false statements" CNN reports. "I don't know how I went from an 18-year-old kid who happened to have a job to standing in front of you today," DiPascali said. He faces up to 125 years in prison.

Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the two psychologists who penned the military’s harsh interrogation tactics, receive profile treatment in Wednesday’s New York Times. Best part? In March 2002, Mitchell arrived in person at a jail in Thailand to oversee the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. Though Zubaydah had already given his most valuable information to F.B.I. agents who had used traditional rapport-building techniques, “Dr. Mitchell ordered Mr. Zubaydah stripped, exposed to cold and blasted with rock music to prevent sleep. Not only the F.B.I agents but also C.I.A. officers at the scene were uneasy about the harsh treatment. Among those questioning the use of physical pressure, according to one official present, were the Thailand station chief, the officer overseeing the jail, a top interrogator and a top agency psychologist.” When Jessen arrived in July, Zubaydah “was confined in a box, slammed into the wall and waterboarded 83 times." The Times adds that the two men—not the C.I.A.—recommended when to stop interrogations.

It was like a scene out of Ocean's 11. Two men in smart gray suits arrived at Graff's jewelers—which caters to celebrities like the Beckhams—on London's Bond Street on August 6 in a taxi, The Times of London reports. They entered the store, produced handguns and forced the staff to the floor, except for one woman who was told to open a display cabinet. Minutes later, they'd grabbed 43 pieces of jewelry, worth $65 million, and briefly took the female worker hostage in order to ensure they weren't locked between security doors on the way out, police believe. Once outside, they fired a warning shot into the ground, and escaped in a blue BMW, which hit a taxi. They fired a second warning shot to deter onlookers, and got into a silver Mercedes, and from there they switched again to a black Ford Galaxy or VW Sharan. Police are looking for at least five men, including a motorbike rider who received a package from the two suits while they were in the BMW. The robbery is thought to be the U.K.'s largest jewelry heist.

Indonesia has had a plague of bombings—the 2002 Bali bombings, 2003's Jakarta Marriott attack, the Australian embassy in 2004, a series of restaurant bombings in Bali in 2005, and this year's hotel bombings in Jakarta. Police believe Noordin Mohamed Top, who formed a violent al Qaeda-linked militant network named Jemaah Islamiah, was responsible, and that they shot him dead in a weekend raid. But now, the BBC reports, DNA tests have revealed that the dead man was Ibrohim, a planner who police say was "always present" during meetings with Noordin Top. Ibrohim worked as a florist at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that were bombed on July 17. Security tapes from the July bombing show Ibrohim escorting the alleged Marriott bomber into the hotel. Evidently, the police are downplaying their disappointment, although it's a major blow that Noordin is still alive, as they've been hunting him for seven years.

The U.S. and Switzerland have agreed to terms that will end their legal showdown over the infamous "Swiss bank accounts" that are notorious for being shrouded in mystery. Barack Obama had recently signaled that he would aggressively pursue "financial havens" where people deposit money to avoid taxes or the attention of authorities. Switzerland's secretive banking system has made it one of the richest in the world, and the country fought hard against U.S. efforts to look at their books. The Washington Post reports that it is likely that a "substantial amount" of tax evaders store their money in Swiss accounts. The terms of the agreement between the U.S. and Switzerland are not yet clear.

Obama should really check on those endorsements. The Associated Press reports that at a Portsmouth, N.H. health-care town hall, Obama said, "We have the AARP onboard" and "AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare." Although AARP officials have promoted health-care reform at White House events, and recently hosted a tele-town hall on the topic featuring Obama, the organization's chief operating officer said, "Indications that we have endorsed any of the major health-care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate."

The hatchet is preparing to fall at Condé Nast. Three weeks ago McKinsey & Company was called in to help the publishing giant slim down, and although there are eight more weeks to go before McKinsey hands out pink slips, a sea change has come over the formerly perk-heavy company, The New York Observer reports. Gone are the days of manis and pedis for clients, gifts baskets, fresh flowers, and sushi lunches. The Fiji water and Orangina in the company fridges have turned to warm Poland Spring from the closet, and—horror of horrors—will soon be replaced with tap water. Editors will have to justify paying $10 per word for certain writers. For the first time ever, Vanity Fair editor and restauranteur Graydon Carter has been spotted in the company cafeteria, "milling around uncomfortably with the commoners," according to a witness, and eyeing reasonably priced stir fry, a fact which the Observer called "worrisome on a psychological level." Only The New Yorker is exempt—editor David Remnick will be spared meeting with McKinsey, as will anyone from the editorial side of the magazine.

A Taiwanese rescue operation has recovered over 1,000 people alive in three villages devastated by mudslides in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, which dumped over 80 inches of rain on the island over the weekend. "We are anxious to do our best to get the trapped people out... [but] hopes are getting slimmer as the days go by," said a spokesperson for the relief operations. Most of the survivors were found in the villages of Min Tzu, Chin He, and Shiao Lin. The future looks bleak for anyone who still remains in the villages. Video taken by TV station ETTV showed the village of Shiao Lin buried by mudslides, with only two of its structures left standing. The only sign of life, the ETTV video showed, was a cat hiding in the rubble. The typhoon death toll stands at 93 people; it also forced the evacuation of 1.5 million in the Philippines, Taiwan and China and destroyed approximately 10,000 homes.

As if the armed man strutting outside of Obama's town-hall meeting Tuesday wasn't enough cause for concern, a new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center finds that militias are rapidly growing across the U.S. The trend is tied to the economic recession, the first black president, and a spike in conspiracy theories, the Associated Press reports. One special agent with the ATF said the increase in militias was "the most growth he had seen in a decade," and that "All it's lacking is a spark." The report found that 50 new groups had sprouted in only the last few months and that the likelihood of "mass-casualty attacks" are higher than in the 1990s due to the fact that the armed groups are more prone to violence than ever. In addition to the concern over militias, so-called lone wolves, like the man charged with the D.C. Holocaust Museum attack are also worrying the Feds.

Paging Dr. Freud: Harrison Bachmann, the son of Rep. Michelle Bachmann, is joining AmeriCorps, the organization that his mother called “re-education camps for young people, where young people get trained in the philosophy the government puts forward and then they have to go work in these politically correct forums.” Harrison will work for Teach for America, which falls under AmeriCorps’ umbrella.

Now that she’s no longer the state’s leader, it seems that gloves are off when it comes to Sarah Palin. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski went after Palin for her now-infamous “death panel” comment. “It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels," Murokowski said. “Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't [in the bill]. There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill.”