Wow. If President Obama fought every day like he did on Labor Day, talking to a group of Milwaukee union members, Democrats wouldn't be looking at "enthusiasm gap" come November. The president, sleeves rolled up, looked like he was having a great time, joking about Republicans "sipping Slurpees" while Democrats did the tough work of getting the economy out of a ditch. For this passionate labor crowd, Obama dropped his talk of bipartisanship and hammered Republicans for opposing his agenda, even the tax cuts for small businesses they have traditionally backed.

A determined Republican stall campaign in the Senate has sidetracked so many of the men and women nominated by President Barack Obama for judgeships that he has put fewer people on the bench than any president since Richard Nixon at a similar point in his first term 40 years ago.

The great political failure of the 1960s was the New Left's inability to bring the labor movement into its great liberationist tent. There were lots of reasons for that, one of them being that most big union leaders didn't want to be in that stinky tent with a lot of hippies, feminists, dashiki-wearing black militants and "fags." (That last comes from AFL-CIO leader George Meany's description of the New York delegation to the disastrous 1972 Democratic convention: "They've got six open fags and only three AFL-CIO representatives!") Also, not a small matter: The New Left opposed the Vietnam War; again, most labor leaders supported it.

There are 3 items, all related to books, which I wanted to note for the holiday:

(UPDATED) To an audience of about 50 people -- fully half of whom were members of the press -- Pastor Bill Keller launched his 9-11 Christian Center at ground zero this morning with a fiery sermon targeting Muslims and Mormons as hell-bound followers of false faiths. Keller took aim in particular at Glenn Beck, a Mormon, and Imam Rauf, the organizer of the Park51 Islamic community center.

Government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removals of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal's endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota.

In the turbulent year of the tea party, Republican Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware set out to jangle no nerves as he ran for a Senate seat long held by Vice President Joseph Biden. It's the way Republican strategists originally envisioned 2010, a roster of seasoned politicians pointing the party toward significant gains in the Senate.

With the fight over Congress intensifying and President Obama’s agenda hanging in the balance, coverage of this fall's governor’s races has largely fallen by the wayside. But the outcomes of some of these races will have significant consequences -- none more so than the contest in Texas, between Republican incumbent Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White, the former mayor of Houston.

Craigslist has apparently closed the adult services section of its website, two weeks after 17 state attorneys general demanded it shut down the section.

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Earl has made landfall near Western Head, Nova Scotia.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will not participate in a second debate with her Democratic opponents. Which is sad, because that first debate was wonderful television. When Brewer was actually able to form sentences, they were full of nonsense.

(updated below)

Something about 21st century warfare brings out Washington's lust for historical comparison. The moment the combat starts, lawmakers and the national press corps inevitably portray every explosion, invasion, frontline dispatch, political machination and wartime icon as momentous replicas of the past's big moments and Great Men.

This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog

A 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old girlfriend will soon face capital murder charges in a Dallas-area double-shooting after the second victim died, authorities said Friday.

Politico, a free Washington D.C.-area newsletter, wants to know how -- or, I guess, where -- President Barack Obama will commemorate the forthcoming anniversary of 9/11, which falls this year on Sept. 11.

Police in Bosnia say they believe they have located a young woman shown in a video throwing puppies into a river.

Vito Fossella, the Staten Island congressman who lost his seat in 2008 after a drunk driving arrest sparked revelations that he had a second family (including a girlfriend and a child) in Virginia, is now jumping on the anti-mosque bandwagon.

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has rocked much of New Zealand's South Island. No immediate tsunami alert has been issued and no injuries have been reported.

The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg asks the sort of question that only people in DC would ever think of asking: Why don't President Obama and former President Bush hang out?