Hey, Dick Cheney probably knows a thing or two about politicizing investigations: “It’s clearly a political move,” the former vice president told Fox News Sunday when he was asked about the Obama administration’s investigation of CIA interrogations. “[It] offends the hell out of me. … I just think it's an outrageous political act that will do great damage, long term, to our capacity to be able to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions, without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say." When asked what he thought of President Barack Obama, Cheney said, “I was not a fan of his when he got elected, and my views have not changed any.”

Oy vey: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted on corruption charges Sunday—the first time a current or past Israeli prime minister has been indicted. Olmert stepped down earlier this year and is accused of illegally accepting funds from an American backer, double-billing trips abroad, and concealing funds from a government watchdog. Olmert allegedly committed these crimes while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and as a cabinet minister, before he was elected prime minister in 2006.

The wildfires tearing through California have tripled in size—and now, they’re threatening 12,000 homes as well as television transmission towers atop Mount Wilson. The towers service every major radio and television station in the area, though satellite service shouldn't be affected. An historic observatory is also on Mount Wilson. Thousands fled as fires continued to spread on Sunday, reaching north of Los Angeles and toward the city of Acton. They have already burned more than 55 square miles.  Air crews fought the fires near canyon homes, but according to the Forest Service, it’s difficult to drop water along the ridgelines.  Last night, three civilians were burned and airlifted out of Big Tujunga Canyon, and three to five homes were lost. The Los Angeles Times reports that “a wall of fire crept like lava” toward Pickens Canyon, igniting trees as it went. Said one scientist watching the fires: “Nothing can stop it.”

Here’s a surprise: Almost a year after the U.S. government pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers are starting to see a return on their generosity. While critics said they’d never see the money again, the U.S. has made a profit of about $4 billion from eight of the biggest banks that have fully repaid their debts to the government. The government has earned an additional $35 million from smaller banks that have paid back their obligations. The government is far from in the clear—The Treasury Department could still take a hit from guarantees on toxic mortgages, not to mention the bailouts of AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and GM and Chrysler.

Elections in Afghanistan have been marred by a jump in fraud reports—to 550 from 270, The New York Times reports. One man showed up to his job at the polling station at 6 a.m. to find ballot boxes already filled. When he complained, bodyguards chased him off, in just one example of the reported voting fraud. President Hamid Karzai, who has about 46 percent of the vote, compared to rival Abdullah Abdullah's 31 percent, is often the beneficiary of the reported fraud. Both Karzai and Abdullah are declaring victory, and official results won’t be announced until a panel has convened to investigate voter fraud. Western officials are uneasy at the prospect of a government in limbo while U.S. troops are battling the Taliban in a difficult new phase of the war. Independent election observers say “systematic and institutional corruption” is at work.

Thousands of mourners lined the Mall and gathered on the steps at the foot of the Capitol to say farewell to Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose hearse made its final journey to Arlington Cemetary, where his brothers are buried. The crowd sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" in an impromptu moment, and burst into applause when Kennedy's hearse arrived. Kennedy's widow, Victoria, and other family members greeted some of the well-wishers, who included the longest-serving senator, 91-year-old Robert Byrd, among other prominent politicians. The motorcade traced the same route traveled during the funerals of John and Bobby Kennedy. The senator's grave is within a few hundred feet of his brothers'. Several hundred former and current staff members waved American flags to celebrate their old boss. At Kennedy's funeral, President Obama praised Kennedy as "a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the U.S. Senate."

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge backpedaled on accusations made in his new book that Bush officials pressured him to raise terror alerts to boost the president’s approval ratings. In The Test of Our Times, which comes out Tuesday, Ridge says Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft urged him to raise the terror-alert level before 2004’s Election Day. “I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?' " he writes in the book. In an interview, Ridge said “I was never pressured,” and that he doesn’t want to second-guess his colleagues. Ridge, who now heads a security consulting firm, also took time to hit the current administration on national security in the interview, saying Congress is lacking a sense of urgency about protecting the country.

After almost 50 years of unbroken rule, Japan's leading party has been kicked out of power by the Democratic Party of Japan, which won 300 of the 480-seat house, according to exit polls. Prime Minister Taro Aso said he would resign as head of the LDP because he takes responsibility for his party’s loss. The upset comes during a time of record unemployment and economic uncertainty for the country. "The people are angry with politics now and the ruling coalition," said the opposition's leader, Yukio Hatoyama, who called the results a "revolution." "We felt a great sense of people wanting change," he added.

Former President Bush’s staffers may be having trouble finding jobs, but his children are doing OK: NBC’s Today show has hired Jenna Bush Hager, the daughter of George W. Bush, to work as a new correspondent. Hager, a 27-year-old teacher in Baltimore, will contribute monthly stories about issues like education. “It wasn’t something I’d always dreamed to do,” Bush said. “But I think one of the most important things in life is to be open-minded and to be open-minded for change.” Bush will also continue to work in her school, where she will be a reading coordinator this year.

After a tough summit with South America's leaders, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe discovered he had come down with swine flu. Officials are contacting the other leaders who were at the summit, where Uribe was harshly criticized for agreeing to allow U.S. troops to use Colombian bases, to make sure they do not also have the virus. Uribe is the second president in Latin America to contract the disease. Oscar Arias, Costa Rica's leader, was quarantined after he announced he was ill in August, and has since recovered. Uribe's spokesman said he will continue to handle his duties as he recovers.

During the campaign, Ted Kennedy passed the torch to Obama. But now, will Obama run with it? When it comes to health reform, Peter Dreier and Marshall Ganz argue in The Washington Post that Obama needs to look no further than his own campaign. They write that like women’s suffrage, Obama established a large grassroots network during the presidential campaign which he must reactivate in order to pass health-care reform. And in the the past few weeks, that network has reenergized, as droves of Obama supporters have filled town-hall meetings across the country. But now, argue Dreier and Ganz, Obama will need to activate it to fight the right wing: “This requires "movement" tactics, from leaflets, vigils, and newspaper ads to nonviolent civil disobedience—such as occupying insurance-company offices and picketing the homes of insurance executives—to focus attention on the companies and individuals who are the major obstacles to reform.”

Mental-health experts have few examples to guide them when trying to determine whether Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kept in captivity for 18 years, will recover from her brutal experience. Dugard was found this week at a California compound where she had been kept by Phillip Garrido since she was 11. She now has two children fathered by her kidnapper. According to psychologists who spoke with the Los Angeles Times, Dugard’s first concern will be getting reacquainted with her mother, although not too quickly. They say she is at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. A 2000 study of 24 kidnap victims from Italy found that nearly 50 percent suffered from the disorder. "The picture is not rosy," one expert said.

After endless tabloid covers and his wife spilling her side of the story to Larry King in a tearful interview, Ed Hardy-loving man-about-town Jon Gosselin is finally speaking out. Good Morning America was the lucky news organization to get an exclusive with the father of eight and is supposedly “very open and honest” about the future of his reality show. A source told E! that “TLC has had him on a gag order and he’s sick of it. Jon basically comes right out and says he’s worried the show is ‘exploiting’ his eight children.” And lucky us: He’s rumored to be shopping around other TV ideas in order to stay in the spotlight.

No love for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on Saturday at this year’s annual Republican retreat. South Carolina’s House GOP Caucus stopped short of resolving to impeach Sanford, but did say they were "disgusted," and that Sanford had "disgraced" the state. "Members of the caucus are disappointed in him, angry with him and in some ways disgusted by the whole thing and they want to deal with it as quickly as possible," said House Speaker Bobby Harrell. One lawmaker asked "Is there anybody in this room that feels the governor should not resign?" No one came to the governor's defense. Sanford's use of state planes and other travel expenses have come into question since he admitted an affair with a woman in Argentina. Harrell has urged the GOP to hold off on impeachment until the state's ethics commission wraps up their investigation.

Seven people were found dead, and two more critically injured, following a spree of violence in a mobile home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Saturday. Police say they are trying to identify a suspect in the killings, but have no leads. Police said that the victims included school-age children, as well as some middle-age adults. The murders mark the largest homicide in the history of southeastern Georgia. According to onloookers, a woman arrived at the scene shortly after the murders took place, and began to scream, “They killed my boy!”

The United Arab Emirates seized a ship transporting explosives, detonators, grenades, and munitions bound for Iran two weeks ago, according to diplomats. The shipment is in violation of United Nations sanctions. The ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company, had 10 containers on board disguised as oil equipment. The U.N. has yet to receive a response from either Iran or North Korea. Earlier this summer, the Security Council voted to adopt a resolution that punishes North Korea for its recent nuclear-bomb test and missile launches. It requires the inspection of any material in international waters that is suspected of carrying arms.

In a column in Newsweek, Jacob Weisberg argues that Republicans shouldn't be afraid of "death-panel" rumors and warnings that the health-care bill will "pull the plug on Grandma." Instead, the scariest policy in the pipeline is a provision in the 2001 GOP-led tax cuts that reduces the estate tax to zero beginning next year and lasting for exactly 12 months, Weisberg argues. The estate-tax revision that Sen. Chuck Grassley fought for will incentivize "ailing, elderly rich people to end their lives" before December 31, 2010, when the estate tax will jump back to 55 percent, he says. Economists have produced evidence showing that benefactors die in greater numbers just before tax hikes and just after tax cuts. One Australian study showed that more than half of the people who would have normally died the last week of June 1979 made it to July, when Australia abolished its inheritance tax. Weisberg also cites a University of Michigan study that came to the same conclusion.

Religion is complex, but on Facebook, it’s reduced to 100 characters. In the “Religious Views” box, users are reportedly struggling to package their faith into short soundbites. And, as William Wan writes in The Washington Post, what results is a “revealing peek into modern faith and what happens to that faith as it migrates online.” Of Facebook’s 250 million users, he reports, over 150 million have filled out that “Religious Views” box. “Christian” is the most popular religion on Facebook. The 10th most popular, not surprisingly, is “Jedi.”

It would have made Michael proud: many in Mexico say that they broke the record for the most people dancing to “Thriller” together in one place. Thousands of people in black fedoras and white gloves convened in Mexico City on Saturday—on what would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday—to recreate the famous video, but whether they’ll go down in the record books is unclear. The Guinness Book of World Records will have to certify that every single person danced "Thriller" in its entirety. Said one proud dancer: “Mexico gave the best tribute in the world to Michael Jackson.”

Leaked ministerial documents show the British government had decided it was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom" to release the Lockerbie bomber, the Times of London reports. The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary, and show that Straw initially wanted to exclude the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, from a prisoner-transfer agreement arranged with Libya. But Straw changed his position as Libya began using its multimillion-pound deal with British Petroleum as a bargaining chip. Libya had refused to ratify the deal for six months. “The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner-transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual,” Straw wrote. Six weeks after the government reversed its position on the bomber, the BP deal went through. The son of Libya's leader, Saif Gaddafi, said it was "obvious" the two countries were talking about al-Megrahi during the negotiations. BP and Lord Mendelson maintain the deal had nothing to do with the bomber's release.