The ACORN has fallen from the tree: The House voted 345 to 75 to cut off all federal funding to ACORN, the community organization that has recently come under fire after a series of controversial videos exposed some of its employees giving career advice to a journalist posing as a pimp. The majority of Democrats joined Republicans in voting to defund the group. The Senate also voted to defund ACORN this week.

The Obama administration’s decision to shelve a missile defense shield based in Eastern Europe is seen as a victory by some and a betrayal by others in that region. Ordinary citizens in the Czech Republic, where a radar system was to be installed, exclaimed relief. But in Poland, which was to host 10 interceptor rockets, officials were disappointed. Aleksander Szczyglo, head of Poland's National Security Office, called the decision a "defeat primarily of American long-distance thinking about the situation in this part of Europe." The proposal, first promoted by the Bush administration, had been under a seven-month review. Russia has always opposed it, worrying about the prospect of having U.S. rockets based so close to its region. Analysts say that the choice to pull out of the plan could increase the likelihood that Russia will now participate with the U.S. in the dispute about Iran’s nuclear program.

Yale lab tech Raymond Clark III was arrested Thursday morning for the murder of grad student Annie Le, but this isn’t his first run-in with the law. In 2003, when Clark was in high school, police were called in regarding his dispute with his then-girlfriend. "The two are in a relationship which [the girlfriend] wishes to terminate and [the male] does not wish to end it,” the now-sealed police report says, according to the New Haven Independent. “At one time [the male] did force her to have sex with him” and “wrote on her locker.” The woman involved wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday: "Its jsut [sic] bringing back everything… Its [sic] been a rough few days." A neighbor of Clark’s, meanwhile, told The New York Daily News that he was “very controlling” of his fiancée and “would never let her talk to anyone.” Le’s body was found hidden in a wall on Sunday. Security ID cards indicate Clark was the last person to see her alive.

Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck will never let this die: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi teared up at a press conference on Thursday as she said that the tone of the national debate reminds her of the political violence of San Francisco in the 1970s. When asked if she thought the debate over the federal government could lead to violence, Pelosi said, “I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance. … I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw… I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and… I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.”

Let's hope she fares better than Hillary: White House aides says Michelle Obama's fall schedule will include a "dedicated focus" on health-care reform in an effort to contribute a less controversial and more sociable voice to the contentious issue that has the country divided. "She will do things that fit in with what she cares about, like health-care reform and the implications it has for family and kids," Camille Johnston, Obama's director of communications, said. "She will spend her time focusing on where policy and people intersect." Obama will reportedly skip the specifics and instead urge healthy eating, keeping fit, and getting preventive care in an effort to relate to the soccer-mom demographic.

A (relatively) miniature Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton—with the classic outsize jaws, long legs, and teensy arms—has been discovered in China, and is providing scientists insight into the evolutionary line that produced the beast that would someday inspire a million Halloween costumes. This scaled-down Tyrannosaurus ancestor, called Raptorex kriegsteini, was nine feet long and weighed only about as much as a human: 150 lbs. (A whippet compared to its descendant, which was nearly 100 times heavier and five times longer.) The discovery disproves a long-held belief among paleontologists that T. rex's distinctive features developed as a consequence of its enormous size. Scientists now think of Raptorex’s traits as “a body blueprint for a predator—jaws on legs, as it were—that is one of the most successful of the Mesozoic…" And they were scalable as Tyrannosaurus grew: “When they did there was no turning back until the asteroid hit."

Kate Gosselin’s hair is on a roll. The newly single reality-TV star and mother of eight is filming her new TV pilot this weekend, Radar reports, and beauty tips are on the docket. Kate will team up with Paula Deen, the Food Network’s grand dame of Southern cooking, for a show based on the Web site Mom Logic, featuring parenting advice, health and beauty tips, and celebrity gossip. Gosselin’s recent turn on The View could be prophetic: The Mom Logic show may end up imitating The View’s use of multiple hosts, Radar reports, citing comedian Sandra Bernhard and Tammy Lynn Michaels (the wife of Melissa Etheridge) as under consideration.

Young British artist Damien Hirst is feuding with a 19-year-old street artist named Cartrain, who used the image of the Hirst’s legendary diamond skull in a series of collaged portraits of Hirst. Though Hirst demanded Cartrain hand over all of his works using the infamously garish piece For the Love of God—a human skull was recreated in platinum and adorned with thousands of diamonds—Cartrain gifted one to The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones. Jones deems the piece, which depicts the skull wearing Hirst's signature nerdy thick-framed glasses and with a blue butterfly between its teeth, as an “excellent Dadaist collage that makes a lot of ‘official’ contemporary art look pretentious” and will not surrender the work to Hirst’s lawyers.

Somewhere, Larry Summers is red-faced. This year three women with science and engineering backgrounds were named CEOs of large American companies, joining a growing number of female executives with degrees in math and science. As an example, Forbes profiles Xerox’s Ursula Burns, who, decades ago, parlayed a mechanical-engineering degree into a summer internship at the company she now runs. Forbes compares this trend to Wall Street, where female executives with legal and business backgrounds have been "fired, demoted, or made into scapegoats in recent years." Many studies indicate that women are rapidly moving toward achievement parity with men in science and math, but these reports don’t look at the more subtle lessons of scientific training: analytical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork. And maybe just as important, because "the work is empirical and evidence-based, it goes a long way toward blunting the stereotyping of female leaders as being driven by emotion and personal relationships rather than by facts."

Just one year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers sent shockwaves through the U.S. financial system, some of the products that helped bring the firm down, credit-default swaps, have lost their meltdown stigma. While we slog through the slowest recession rebound since 1945, market confidence for credit-default swaps is at its highest level since June 2008, and is contributing to growing confidence in the overall credit market. (CDS provide investors protection against default and the chance to speculate on corporate debt.) One analyst explains to Bloomberg that Lehman’s failure had repercussions that “were astronomical, broadly speaking, but the CDS market worked well” at bouncing back.

Twitter to close to finishing a round of funding which would value the social-network micro-blogging site at $1 billion, according to the industry site TechCrunch. In February, an earlier funding round led by Benchmark capital valued the company at $250 million. Despite its rising popularity, the site, where people post 140-character messages, has struggled to figure out a way to become a viable business. The site reached 44.5 million visitors in June, 15 times more than it reached a year prior.

It doesn’t come with furniture, but the new homeowner should check the floorboards: Bernard Madoff’s Montauk, New York, beach house has sold to an unidentified buyer. Interest in the property was “fast and furious,” according to the real-estate agent, who would not specify the exact price except that it was more than the $8.75 million asking price. Madoff bought the 3,000-square-foot home in the 1980s, and it was seized by the government in July. Neighbors along the beach include Robert DeNiro and Ralph Lauren.

What a summer for deathwatches. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon all succumbed during the same week in late June. Walter Cronkite, John Hughes, and Ted Kennedy followed. Then there was DJ AM, Patrick Swayze, and on Wednesday night the news of the death of Peter, Paul and Mary's Mary Travers. Though the number of celebrities who died this summer was no higher than previous seasons, according to Lou Ferrera, an editor at the Associated Press, the importance should be measured in who they were and what they represented. The New York Times’ Sarah Kershaw says for baby boomers, this summer marked the end of legends uniquely representative of their generation’s culture.

Obama is getting it from the right wing for his decision to scrap missile-defense in Eastern Europe: He appears to have scrapped it without having extracted much from Russia in return. So why did he do it? Marc Ambinder offers an explanation: “The Obama administration believes that Iran is a much larger threat than Russia; it believes that money ought to be spent to deter Iran's likely capabilities; it believes that overmatching deterrence technology would encourage Iran to get up to speed more quickly; it assumes that, by locating a radar station and missile battery up north, tensions with Russia will increase; and that, if anything, removing the missiles gives the Russians one less way to avoid the pressure for them to act against Iran. From the standpoint of security, the U.S. and NATO actually have a freer hand to respond to any provocation by Russia.”

Max Baucus may have failed to win over any Republicans over after months of trying, but he did succeed in pleasing one group he was catering to: the health-insurance industry. Industry player who already struck deals with President Obama and Democrats “saw most of those deals left intact—and in some cases sweetened” according to the Associated Press. Mandates will expand their customer bases greatly and they won’t have to compete with a government plan. The non-profit co-ops won’t threaten their business, and Baucus lessened the hit companies will take to payments they get for offering private plans under Medicaid by over $50 billion. “Privately, industry lobbyists acknowledged that the plan is far more to their liking than any of the other measures currently under discussion,” according to the AP. On Wednesday, health insurance stocks jumped.

There's been all kinds of complicated math required this season when it comes to the health-care bill. For the Democrats, a new number has come into focus: 60. With the introduction of a compromise health-care proposal Wednesday, Democratic leaders must figure out a way to keep all 59 Democrats in the Senate united and attract at least one Republican to their side. Said Sen. Chris Dodd: “I wouldn’t say today with absolute certainty that you could get to 60, but it would be just as foolish to say you can’t get there either. This is the Senate.” As there isn't even strong unity within the party—liberals want more people insured than the current bill allows; centrists want to keep costs down—getting to number 60 may be a Herculean task. Sen. Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, has become every Democrat's favorite member of the opposite party, as they try to convince her to join their side. As of yet, she has resisted.

Jimmy Carter claims that Congressman Joe Wilson’s “You Lie” comment during President Barack Obama’s speech was motivated by racism. But Democratic lawmakers Wednesday tried to distance themselves from Carter’s comment: “Listen, he’s the former president, and he’s entitled to his point of view,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. “I personally believe President Obama and his administration are focused on the issues, and I agree with that.” Carter told NBC News that there’s “an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs also brushed off Carter’s accusations of racism: “The president does not believe that criticism comes based on the color of his skin.” Congressional Democrats do not want racism to hamper the 2010 midterm elections by turning off swing voters. “I think 2010 will be about—as most midterm elections are—the economic well-being of the America,” said Sen. Robert Menendez. “And that’s where the focus should be.”

Look who’s watching YouTube movies now: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling for the state's attorney general to launch an investigation into ACORN, the liberal nonprofit, in the wake of conservative activists releasing undercover videos online that showed some of the group's employees giving advice on how to set up a prostitution ring and other crimes straight out of a Law & Order plotline. Schwarzenegger’s concerns are about ACORN’s San Bernardino branch, where the conservative filmmakers posed in outrageous pimp-and-ho costumes and queried a haggard ACORN employee on "how not to get caught" with their business. The ACORN employee also talks about how she shot her ex-husband and "laid some groundwork" before going to a domestic-violence shelter. The U.S. Senate voted to block federal housing grants to ACORN on Monday.

Keeping America's spies and intelligence employees in business costs the country $75 billion. Dennis C. Blair, director of National Intelligence, told reporters the price tag in a conference call Tuesday. Blair emphasized that the tab did not differentiate between national and military intelligence work. As chief of intelligence, Blair has 200,000 people in his employ. The last time similar figures were released was 1994, when the number was less than $27 billion. "We don't publish—nor am I going to make news tonight telling you how much each individual agency is funded for and what it's used for," Blair said.

Mary Travers of the popular folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary died after a years-long battle with leukemia. She was 72. In the early '60s, Travers joined Peter Yarrow and Noel "Paul" Stookey to make music that mixed acoustic guitars with liberal politics. Their version of the Pete Seeger song "If I Had a Hammer" became a civil-rights anthem, and they performed the song at the 1963 March on Washington. The band recorded several Top 10 albums, and scored a No. 1 hit with "Leaving on a Jet Plane." The trio continued performing together until just a few years ago, when Travers was no longer able to perform because of her illness. Peter and Paul didn't sing her part, and were delighted when the audience would sing it for them.

Noordin Mohamed Top, a terrorist who allegedly masterminded bombings in Bali and Jakerta that claimed the lives of almost 300 people, was killed early Thursday morning in a police raid. Noordin has been Southeast Asia’s most-wanted terrorist and fingerprints were used to confirm his identity after the siege. In a 2008 report, the U.S. State Department wrote that Noordin was involved in every major anti-Western attack in Indonesia since 2002. He had previously escaped two police shootouts unharmed.

Officials in the American intelligence community have told the White House that Iran has not restarted its nuclear weapons development program, Newsweek reports. They say that Iran has not had an active program since 2003. The latest assessment may prove controversial as it contradicts the view of American allies, including Israel. A former U.N. weapons inspector told the magazine, "People are looking at the same information and reaching different judgments. Given all the developments in Iran, these assessments are hard to believe with any certainty. Nobody's been able to bring total proof either way." But Israel is not alone in its assessment. According to court documents, Germany's intelligence agency also believes the Iran program is active. The consensus among American authorities may encourage Obama to continue to try to engage Iran's leaders.

In these down times, fashion brands are searching for a way to stay profitable. Burberry, the British company that has relied on a sensibility that dates back to the 19th century, is looking to the 21st century to do that by starting a Facebook-like social network. Next month the brand, known for its iconic trench coat, will launch artofthetrench.com, the Financial Times reports. Potential users will be "customers who need the brand experience, who need to feel the brand," a Burberry executive said. "That word-of-mouth spreads through their social networks and continues to be a positive conversation."

An Australian fathered four children by his daughter over more than 30 years, after he began raping her daily at age 11, authorities say. Child-welfare advocates are asking for an investigation into social-services agencies because the children were all born with health problems in major Melbourne hospitals with no father listed. One of the children died from a severe developmental disorder shortly after birth. Shockingly, the woman alerted authorities three years ago, but because she refused to cooperate with police out of fear of her dad, nothing was done. In a striking similarity to Austria's Joseph Fritzl, who kept his daughter in a dungeon and fathered seven children with her, the Australian woman's mother claims she had no idea her husband was abusing her daughter, even though the three of them lived together with the surviving grandchildren until 2005.

When assembly-line jobs with Detroit automakers began to decline, Michigan tried to offset them by adding "knowledge" workers to its economy. But in recent years, the Big Three have aggressively cut these jobs, too—30,000 white-collar positions from their North American offices, almost all in Michigan, vanished between the end of 2006 and June. The state's unemployment rate is now 15.2%. While these midcareer professionals are doing OK thanks to generous severance packages, many feel stuck, unable to find jobs in Michigan, but unwilling to pack up their families and move somewhere else. Labor-market economists say these skilled workers' specialized expertise, highly valued in their former posts, is a tough sell anywhere else. "Even if you tell people you'll work for free," says an ex-Chrysler employee with a new consulting business, many companies "don't even want to talk to you."

The Obama administration is likely to announce Thursday that it will put on hold aspects of the United States’ European missile defense plan. The proposal, first promoted by the Bush administration, has been under a seven-month review. Two NATO allies, the Czech Republic and Poland, had agreed to host components of the plan, so Obama must weigh the consequences of disappointing those countries with hindering relations with Russia, an opponent of the proposal. "It is most probable that the U.S. administration will unfortunately scrap the plan altogether," said Jaroslaw Gowin, a lawmaker from Poland's ruling Civic Platform party. "But maybe the U.S. will offer us an alternative." When he took office, Obama said he would examine the plan but has not offered a reaction to it until now. The proposal involved installing 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar network in the Czech Republic.

Yale lab tech Raymond Clark III was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the murder of grad student Annie Le. He has been charged for her death, with bond set at $3 million. Records of their ID cards show that he was the last person to see Le alive, law enforcement sources tell the Hartford Courant, and the New Haven Register reports he has been linked to the crime through DNA. According to the swipe cards, Clark entered a room where Le was—and then she never used her card again. The records also show that Clark moved around the building in uncharacteristic ways, including the spot where Le’s body—she died of suffocation—was found. Clark, 24, had been named a “person of interest” in Le’s murder.