• CBS News reports, “George Bush spends 58% of US Budget on Whiskey and some Bling for his hommies.” [CBS News]

• Proving that August has been “racism month” in politics for decades, it was this day in 1957 that Strom Thurmond ended his 24 hour filibuster of the civil rights bill. [This Day In Mythstory]
• US uses foreign aid as bribe money to countries on the UN Security Council in exchange for pro-war votes, probably. Maybe. Possibly. [Freakonomics]
• Cenus report on poverty and income released today, but administration doesn’t want you to know that everyone is poorer, unless they’re not. [The Carpetbagger Report]
• McCain bored of dry-humping Bush, headed to South Carolina to make love, sweet love. [Pandagon]
• Now you know about secret holds, and knowing is half the battle. [TPMmuckraker]

• CIA confirms it’s still the evilest motherfucker on the block by firing DC blogger “Econo-Girl” for a post stating, “torture is wrong.” [Econo-Girl]

• The Brookings Institute focuses the full intellect of their army of PhDs and comes up with “it sucks to be poor.” [NYT]
• Cynthia McKinney and Cindy Sheehan: who got served? [Sweetness & Light]
• Web-editors of Hezbollah’s official website live in fear that one day they will forget to put “Israel ” in quotation marks, and find an envelope on their desks with more than a pink slip in it. [ Alghaliboun.net]
• Annoying Emergency Broadcast System “beeeeep” to be replaced by whatever annoying ringtone you happen to be using. Which actually might not be a bad idea. [WFMU; The Local]
• Why does the government spend so much money? You gotta pander to win. [Heritage.org]

* House narrowly approves ethics legislation that increases disclosure requirements for dealings with lobbyists; earmarks now must be publicly sponsored. Most Democrats and 20 Republicans vote nay and the new rules must be reconciled with Senate proposal. [WP, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
* Senators pile on earmarks to emergency spending bill in spite of renewed veto threat from Bush. [WP, NYT]
* Some lawmakers are rethinking their resistance to raising fuel economy standards. [WP]
* “Day of reckoning” for tax cuts will probably be January 1, 2011. [WP, WSJ]
* Administration releases plan for flu outbreak; funding is not established. [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Businessman pleads guilty to bribing Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) with $400,000; Jefferson’s “legal problems are steadily mounting and have undercut his party’s efforts to portray the Republicans as the party of political corruption.” [WP, NYT]
* Callers to Medicare hotline are frequently provided wrong or incomplete information, independent study finds. [WP]
* Valerie Plame is shopping a book deal. [NYT]

Things you shouldn’t get too excited about: MORE »

* Tony Snow will “likely” replace Scott McClellan. [CNN, NYT]
* Bush and Republican lawmakers face blame for high gas prices yet have “few if any” available short-term solutions; president will call today for the strict enforcement of price gouging laws. [WP, W$J]
* Attorney for fired CIA officer denies his client leaked classified information to the Washington Post. [WP]
* Bush presses for bipartisan agreement on immigration, though he is not backing a specific proposal. Bush: “I know this is an emotional debate, and I can understand it’s emotional, but one thing we cannot lose sight of is that we’re talking about human beings, decent human beings.” [WP, NYT, W$J, USAT]
* Many Republican candidates are plotting how to distance themselves from Bush and the war; approval of the president dips to 32% in CNN poll. [NYT, CNN]
* Excessive supplemental provisions to emergency spending bill receive renewed criticisms. [NYT]

MORE »

* Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost $94B in 2006, up from $48B in 2003, and higher than comparable costs of the Vietnam War; Senate will debate another round of emergency spending next week. [WP]
* Bolten “hopes to demonstrate to the public and the Republican-led Congress that it will no longer be business as usual in a White House afflicted by political defeats, an overseas war and shrinking public support”; Tony Snow and Dan Senor top the list of likely successors to McClellan. [WP, USAT, W$J]
* Bolten faces the challenge of finding “ways to open up the Oval Office to new ideas and to the opinions of people who are not longtime Bush confidants.” [WP]
* Rove will focus on November’s midterm elections: “The president and the new chief of staff said they wanted me focused on the big strategic issues facing the administration.” [NYT]
* Bush will urge Chinese President Hu Jintao to “take a more aggressive stance against governments that U.S. officials believe could potentially threaten U.S. interests and, more broadly, the international system.” [WP, W$J]

MORE »

* Bush: “As more capable Iraqi police and soldiers come on line, they will assume responsibility for more territory with the goal of having the Iraqis control more territory than the coalition by the end of 2006.” [WP, NYT]
* Iraq will define Bush’s legacy; his approval rating in Gallup poll slips to 36%. Mark McKinnon: “The war is really driving almost everything in government.” [USAT]
* Sen. Feingold (D-Wis.) introduces legislation to censure Bush. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.): “How many of his Democrat colleagues will follow him over the cliff?” [WP, NYT]
* Republican lawmakers seek to boost spending despite misgivings from party bosses. [WP]
* Bush’s optimistic message on Iraq fails to resonate. [WP]
* Former White House advisor admits to “committing fraudulent returns.” [WP, NYT]
* Rep. Katherine Harris is expected to drop her Senate candidacy. [NYT]