Jonn Lilyea / This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here:
Yeah, I talked with the Discovery Channel gunman  —  I was in DC stuck in traffic near Walter Reed which is several blocks from the Discovery Channel Building. i watched the drama unfold on CNN in the Walter Reed lobby.  I got home last night to find my cable and TV out.

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
It's Important To Be Right  —  I previously expressed hope that Markos Moulitsas' American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right would be better than the publicity material suggested.  Jamelle Bouie read it for The American Prospect and reports back that it isn't.

Aharding / CNN:
Hillary Clinton for president ad hits airwaves  —  A new ad advocating for Hillary Clinton for president in 2012 began running in New Orleans Wednesday.  —  (CNN) - We've still got two months left until the 2010 midterm elections, but we now have our first television commercial of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
BREWER'S PAINFULLY LONG PAUSES.... I've seen politicians freeze on the air when confronted with a tough question for which they're unprepared, but going blank during a debate's opening statement?  This is a new one.  —  Ben Smith reported, “Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's opening statement …

New York Post:
Dodge Charger owner upset vehicle crushed by suicidal fall  —  Tweet  —  Her car was crushed — and so is she.  —  A New Jersey woman is devastated that her precious sports car — just repaired and fully gassed up — was wrecked by a suicidal man's 40-story attempted death leap on the Upper West Side.

Associated Press:
Gulf oil platform explodes, burning off La. coast  —  GRAND ISLE, La. - An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion.

CNN:
iReport: Did you see the explosion?  Share images  —  [Updated at 12:31 p.m.] All thirteen people aboard a production platform that exploded in the Gulf are accounted for and safely on a commercial vessel according to initial information, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

Vanity Fair:
Rupert Murdoch's War On The New York Times  —  “I read the Journal a little less now.  I find that I can skim it in a way I couldn't before.  If the Journal is gaining market share I'd guess it is more at the expense of USA Today than the Times,” New York Times executive editor Bill Keller tells Vanity Fair writer Sarah Ellison.

Michael Scherer / Time:
Obama Unpopular Ahead of Midterms: Will the GOP Benefit?  —  President Obama, during a town-hall meeting with young African leaders in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 3, 2010  —  The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube.

Jana Winter / Fox News:
Gunman's Environmental Grudges Well Known Before Discovery Channel Hostage Standoff  —  James Jay Lee wasn't a stranger to the Discovery Channel employees he terrorized Wednesday with a gun and with what appeared to be makeshift bombs strapped to his chest and back.

Associated Press:
Israelis, Palestinians resume direct talks  —  WASHINGTON - Seeking to broker a Mideast peace agreement that has eluded U.S. presidents for decades, the Obama administration is overseeing the first direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years.

Andrea Nill / Think Progress:
Purported Eco-Terrorist Angered Over ‘Immigration Pollution And Anchor Baby Filth’  —  This afternoon, a gunman entered the Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring, MD and appears to have taken at least one person hostage.  Among his various bizarre, eco-related demands, one relates directly to immigration.