US Commission on Civil Rights’ adopts new focus on racism against white people.

Remember that guy from the American Spectator, Jeffrey Lord, who opened a new front in the war on Shirley Sherrod by claiming she lied about her relative being lynched on the basis of his not knowing the definition of ‘lynch’? Brian Beutler interviewed him. It gets better. Or worse, depending on your point of view.

I’m not sure how effective this will be but the Democrats unveil some of their messaging today, calling GOP plans the “Republican-Tea Party Contract With America.”

Not very complicated. Just a genuinely outrageous story. Bell, California. A small, working class community near Los Angeles was undergoing various budget and city services cuts when it was revealed that the folks running the town were making salaries on a par with bankers, the highest priced lawyers in the country and just … well, the City Administrative Officer was pulling down nearly $800,000 a year, the police chief almost $500,000. All for a town of about 40,000 residents.

Our Christina Bellantoni spent the weekend at Netroots Nation talking to various party operatives, marquee candidates and strategists about what Democrats can do heading into a perilous November election. Can contrasts with Republican rule be drawn among the din of Republican enthusiasm, Tea Party Crazy and double-digit unemployment? Here’s her report on what she heard.

As we noted last week, opposition to the so-called Ground Zero Mosque is just the tip of the iceberg, maybe the minaret, or right-wing opposition to new mosque building across the USA. Opponents of a new mosque and community center in Riverside, California have opted for a new strategy of asking protestors to bring dogs since Muslims “hate dogs.”

TPM is currently interviewing for our Fall intern cycle. TPM interns have gone on to jobs at The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Yahoo, The New Republic, Slate, The New York Sun and sundry other cool places as well as frequently getting hired at TPM. About a third of our current staff started as interns. TPM interns are probably as intimately and rapidly involved in the preparation and production of news coverage as interns at any other news organization. And that ranges from work on the news section of the front page to research for our news blogs to video editing to bylined articles. To learn more and find out how to apply, click here.

With a headline like that, how can you not read?

Former Rep. and now Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum’s campaign for governor has been nose-diving for a couple months. And one of the first bumps on the road was when the main he hired with tax payer dollars to be the state of Florida’s official anti-gay expert was caught returning from a European vacation with a male escort. McCollum is now explaining that in fact Rekers was the best anti-gay expert they could find. See the video.

Public Policy Polling includes this circa-1957 question in its latest poll of the California Senate race:

Do you have a higher opinion of Barbara Boxer’s hair or Carly Fiorina’s hair?

Barbara Boxer’s hair………………………………… 19%
Carly Fiorina’s hair…………………………………… 14%
Not sure…………………………………………………. 67%

No questions on which candidate has the more dynamite body.

Late Update: I forgot about this, but Fiorina was first to bring up the hair.

Later Update: I was too distracted by the hair question to notice the topline: Boxer 49, Fiorina, 40.

Sen. Dodd (D-CT): No recess appointment for Elizabeth Warren. She may not be confirmable.