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Speaking to a town hall audience last week, freshmen Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) cautioned his constituents against raising taxes on wealthy Americans. As he made his case, he meandered into an explanation of his own personal wealth, which he said was not particularly noteworthy, saying he was “just like the rest of you folks.” [...]

... $174,000 a year gig as a member of Congress. As Gosar mentions, he also owns substantial real estate, including a building worth up to $1 million, a dental practice worth up to $500,000, an antique store worth up to $500,000, and other assets.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) chief political strategist, Dave Carney, tells the Texas Tribune Perry is probably mulling a presidential bid.

Said Carney: "Obviously, it's flattering to have everybody, Rush Limbaugh and all these other conservative, right-of-center leaders, talk about you, urging you to think about it, urging you to run, saying they support you. But I don't see any difference in terms of the governor's thinking... I'm sure he's thinking about it because it's just human nature when you have Rush Limbaugh spend 20 minutes talking about you and have all these other people mention you, that you don't sort of think that's flattering and think about it. But I don't see any change in his direction, what he's planning to do."

The United States Department of Justice has green-lighted the prosecution of former presidential candidate John Edwards for alleged violations of campaign laws while he tried to cover up an extra-marital affair, ABC News has learned.

A source close to the case said Edwards is aware that the government intends to seek an indictment and that the former senator from North Carolina is now considering his limited options. He could accept a plea bargain with prosecutors or face a potentially costly trial.

As Joe Lieberman winds down his two-decade career in the Senate, the onetime Democratic vice presidential nominee is reaching out to an unlikely group to help seal his political legacy: freshman Republicans.

Behind the scenes and in front of the cameras, the retiring foreign policy hawk is grooming, mentoring and partnering with a handful of GOP freshmen to ensure that, long after he’s left the Senate, his vision for America’s role abroad survives.

... removed information from its website on Tuesday that said gays and lesbians engage in pedophilia and bestiality. [...]

Among the statements in the documents, dubbed a “legislative manual” by the Family Council, were assertions that gays and lesbians eat human excrement, that gays and lesbians are more likely to be pedophiles and engage in bestiality, and that domestic partner benefits are a recruiting tool.

Just when Republicans were starting to worry their 2012 presidential field would be too boring to bother with, Sarah Palin might be fixing to ride in like a movie hero just at the nick of time.

RealClearPolitics' Scott Conroy has the details on a feature-length documentary set to release next month ...

The film's third act puts a positive spin on Palin's 2008 vice presidential run ... "The Undefeated" eschews less flattering topics ...

Palin apparently loves it.

"The governor thought it was great," Palin's PAC treasurer told Conroy.

America's kids will be learning about the U.S. Constitution this coming school year with help from a decidedly conservative Idaho publishing house, if a tea party group gets its way.

The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.

The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.

Tim Lee reports on a weird new trend in health care where some medical professionals are refusing to treat patients who don’t sign a form restraining their ability to comment on the quality of service provided.

Some conspiracy Web sites are claiming that the shootings that nearly killed Representative Gabrielle Giffords and did end the lives of a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and four others never actually took place. One particularly bizarre site, run by a Texas man, says it was all a government hoax that used actors. [...]

Manuel J. Johnson, a spokesman for the F.B.I., said the bureau was aware of the site, but he declined to say whether an investigation was under way. One shooting victim said he notified the F.B.I. recently after two men showed up at his Tucson home claiming to be investigators and saying they were trying to determine whether the shooting was a hoax.

“They tried to get into my home,” said the victim, who asked that he not be identified because it might attract more such visitors. “They wanted to know if I had any pictures. They said they didn’t believe the event took place.”

The victim said that when he pressed the visitors for identification, one of them presented a business card that listed the Texas conspiracy site, which describes the shooting as an exercise conducted by the Department of Homeland Security. Other people connected to the case, including hospital personnel, victims’ relatives and possible trial witnesses, have received similar visits or seen their images on the Web site, officials said.