SEX, MONEY AND POLITICS: Something Rotten In New York.

BARACK OBAMA’S DEFINITION OF SIN: “Being out of alignment with my values.”

THE PARTY OF TED KENNEDY . . . PARTIES LIKE TED KENNEDY! Calif Delegates relax at Blake Hotel. But two of their delegation showed up so drunk hotel called paramedics. But without Ted Kennedy’s liver. Kids, don’t try that at home. You’re not professionals.

TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE: Barack Obama, The Empty Stool. “President Obama has consistently been absent, more concerned about branding than leadership, with image and atmospherics than truly rallying the troops and harnessing our resources and solving our most pressing problems. He turned over the task of crafting solutions on the stimulus bill and the health care bill to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, who predictably butchered it. He botched the budget compromise with John Boehner and withdrew from the process. When he thought that partisan gridlock in Congress might make him look bad, rather than forging into the gridlock and navigating a way forward he withdrew to the White House and played over 100 rounds of golf. The problem for President Obama is that the soaring oratory will not work this time. The contrast between the rhetoric and his actual achievements is too great.”

SULTAN KNISH: Everything Is Fake Now.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense.

REAL DJ AT WORK: So I mentioned earlier that blogging is kinda like DJing. But here’s a real DJ — Angina P, an online friend from the old MP3.com days, over a decade ago now — performing at Forms of Hands in 2011. And here’s another cool video where you can see her working. She’s come a long way.

Here’s her website.

FORGET LABOR DAY — how about celebrating Creators’ Day? “It is long past time to celebrate the people who necessarily come first in the economic process, the people who create the jobs, the people who sign the paychecks, the people who risks their effort and time and capital, the people whose ideas and drive and commitment make the paychecks possible. Without risk-takers, innovators, creators, adventurers, entrepreneurs — no jobs, no wages, no salaries, no employees, no workers, no labor, no nothin’.”

CLARICE FELDMAN: Media Madness, And The Reckoning. “Besides being pathological, the media approach is clearly coordinated, and understandably so given the incestuous relationships between so many in the media and the Democratic party.”

AN EASY-TO-BUILD long-range water balloon launcher.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANT SECURITY: Not Even Close Enough For Government Work. “The intruders used ordinary bolt cutters to penetrate as far as the uranium storage building before dawn on July 28, and then went undiscovered until they approached an officer in his vehicle and surrendered.” Troubling displays of ineptitude, indeed. But then, there’s a lot of that going around these days.

AT AMAZON, DVD and Blu-Ray as low as $5.99.

#WARONMEN: Amid Spreading Sexual Harassment Scandal at Homeland Security Dep’t, ICE Chief Resigns. “The Department of Justice is trying to get the lawsuit squelched on the basis that there was no claim of retaliation. One thing is sure, the Obama administration would like this matter to go away and not bother them until after the election.” The other thing that’s sure is that it won’t get the kind of media coverage it would get in a Republican administration with an election two months away.

#FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS: Help! My Daughter’s Playgroup Expects Me To Bring Organic Snacks, but I Can’t Afford It.

GOTCHER WHITE HOUSE BEER RECIPES RIGHT HERE. I haven’t whipped up a batch of homebrew in ages. I should probably start again.

MISSING IN ACTION: Female Superheroes. Well, after Helen Slater as Supergirl, where else is there to go?

YET ANOTHER VARIETY OF Romney-Ryan magnetic bumper sticker. Also here.

CRIME: Maple Syrup Heist Leaves Quebec In A Sticky Mess. “The puzzle is how the culprits managed to siphon off almost C$30 million ($30.4 million) of syrup. That’s the equivalent of 10 million pounds or roughly 15,000 barrels of syrup. And the stock didn’t vanish somewhere in the supply chain of a major city. It’s missing from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, a tiny town of 903 people, according to the 2011 Census. They’re usually more focused on cranberries, whether it’s harvesting them or celebrating them in cranberry festivals. So imagine the surprise when a “routine inventory check,” as the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) calls it, revealed evidence of a massive heist. Row after row of barrels were empty, filled with nothing but sweet-smelling Quebec air.”

FROM HOMELESSNESS to the Paralympics.

MONDAY: NATIONAL EMPTY CHAIR DAY.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Reason TV: What We Saw At The “Go Topless” Protest. But the Reason TV folks chickened out.

WATCH HIM WRIGGLE, WATCH HIM SQUIRM: Axelrod ducks, weaves, but won’t say whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Why Nothing Is Shovel-Ready Anymore: A Worst-Practices Seminar.

RASMUSSEN: Romney 48, Obama 44. “Just prior to this past week’s Republican National Convention, Romney trailed the president by two. Today’s four-point advantage confirms that the GOP hopeful has received the expected convention bounce.”