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Barack Obama’s most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.

The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 -- a referendum on the Obama presidency and a possible Republican “comeback.” But preposterous as it sounds, the real action migrated to New York’s 23rd, a rural Congressional district abutting Canada. That this pastoral setting could become a G.O.P. killing field, attracting an all-star cast of combatants led by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Kristol and Newt Gingrich, is a premise out of a Depression-era screwball comedy. But such farces have become the norm for the conservative movement -- whether the participants are dressing up in full “tea party” drag or not.

The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true...

Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners -- holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.

Technically, it's not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers' annual tax bills won't change.

Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less. ...The extra withholding may seem like a small amount siphoned from each paycheck, but it adds up to a $1.7-billion fix for California's deficit-riddled books...

At a get-out-the-vote rally in Fairfax County, Moran said: “I mean, if the Republicans were running in Afghanistan, they’d be running on the Taliban ticket as far as I can see.”

Moran was talking about Republicans Robert F. McDonnell for governor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and state Sen. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, who is running for attorney general. By some accounts, the three represent the most conservative Republican ticket to run in Virginia in many years. Moran’s comments clearly were aimed to motivate Democratic voters to turn out on Tuesday and vote blue.

According to WAMU, McDonnell spokeswoman Crystal Cameron called Moran’s remarks “negative” and “vicious.”

The reality is that [Sozzafava] was selected by eleven County Chairman, and there was not a primary process here....As the national chairman, I dont have the luxury of picking my nominees... my responsibility is just to help them get elected.

Despite this cynical maneuver.. I think we have a real good chance here to keep this thing going.

Is there a little egg on your face in the process? Yes. Is a lot of the base bothered by this? Yes. But it's a local process... [and] parties need to be careful how outsiders come in and dictate [local elections]. Do you want people from New York going to Florida and saying, 'I dont like who you picked?'

The bottom line is this: the party is broadly based. I'm trying to move this party along, embracing everyone.

Featherbedding occurs when paychecks are issued for nonexistent employees and the money goes directly into union coffers. Thousands of the jobs Obama officials say were saved or created by the stimulus program are no more real than those invisible positions invented by unions to bulk up their treasuries.

Congress could have passed a one-pager saying the first 650,000 jobless persons to report for work at the White House will receive a voucher worth $230,000 redeemable at the university, community college or trade school of their choice... taxpayers would be better off with such a deal, too.

Dede Scozzafava is the most amoral, underhanded, unprincipled and craven creature to crawl out of New York state politics since... well, Eliot Spitzer.

"This lady clearly has as agenda that's different than most Republicans; she was out there promoting herself," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, noting that he has encouraged all members of the GOP conference to support Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

Unbelievable.  From British local press:

Sir Ian McKellen's penchant for ripping out pages of the Bibles he finds in hotel rooms has caught on - fans have started sending him sections of text they've removed.

The openly gay Lord of the Rings star tears out a section of Leviticus, which condemns homosexuality, whenever he finds the good book in hotel suites - and his small-scale vandalism has inspired others to do the same.

He tells Details magazine, "I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible.

"I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages... that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom."