WHILE AMERICA WAS SLEEPING, I fixed a 'news breakfast' for you with these must-reads that will help you kick start the day:

2010

Tea Parties to Forge Alliances: "The tea-party movement is turning more professional. Around the country, tea-party groups are building increasingly sophisticated political organizations and overcoming early bickering to push legislative platforms, elect their own delegates, shake up statehouses and even form alliances with the Republican Party establishment they profess to dislike." (WSJ)

Overlaps with the Religious Right? "A poll released on October 5 by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute indicated that nearly half (47 percent) of Americans who consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement also consider themselves part of the 'Christian conservative movement.'" (the New American)

Schwarzenegger: Obama Will Win in 2012. "Especially if the Republican Party re-takes control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections." (Politico)

Obama Trying Hard to Bring Liberals Back Into Fold: "With four weeks until Congressional elections that will shape the remainder of his term, President Obama is increasingly focused on generating enthusiasm within the base that helped put him in the White House two years ago, from college students to African-Americans." (NYT)

"I'm Not anyone's Puppet": Meg Whitman's former maid (CBS)

No Need to Worry About RSVP'ing for Lee Fisher OH Senate Victory Party: "Republican Rob Portman remains far ahead of Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, 55 – 36 percent among likely voters, in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today that shows the race unchanged from Portman’s 55 – 35 percent likely voter lead September 17." (The Campaign Spot)

Texas -- Perry Lead Over White Widens: to 50-36. (KENS 5)

U.S.

Move Over, al-Qaeda; Hitler Thought It First: "Even before World War II, Nazi strategists came up with a number of plans to strike New York City -- whether with super missiles, kamikaze pilots, long-range bombers or secret agents." (Spiegel)

Was God Trying to Send a Message? Presidential seal falls from podium while Obama was delivering a speech. (AP) -- Raw Video

Dream Ticket in 2012? Obama - Hillary is "on the table," or so Bob Woodward says. (Political Ticker @ CNN)

No Way, Says David Axelrod. (WaPo)

Good Samaritan Tells the Story: "Some may call it chance, but Victor Perez believes a higher power was involved Tuesday when he chased after a vehicle suspected of carrying an abducted 8-year-old girl in Fresno, California." (CNN)


Economy

Expect Wall Street to Go Up Today: "Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1 percent at 0747 GMT" (Reuters)

Midwest's Tequila State: Illinois bonds rated lower than Mexico's (Bloomberg)

Is There Anything Sacred Left? "Faced with deep budget deficits and overextended pension plans, state and local leaders are increasingly looking to trim the lucrative retirement benefits that have long been associated with government employment. Public employees are facing a backlash that has intensified with the nation's economic woes, union leaders say, because of their good job security, generous health-care and pension benefits, and right to retire long before most private-sector workers. " (WaPo)

Like We Said: Is There Anything Sacred Left? Liverpool soccer club agrees sale to the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. (Sky News)

Mortgage Lender Probe Ahead? "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the Justice Department to investigate the nation's largest mortgage lenders on Tuesday, and Maryland joined a growing list of states seeking to halt foreclosures while they probe claims of fraudulent filings." (WaPo)

More Ireland Default Fears: Pressure is mounting on the Irish government. (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard @ Daily Telegraph)

Tales of a Bankrupt Culture: At Sam Zell's Tribune (NYT)

World

Karzai in Talks With the Taliban Over a Negotiated End to War: "The talks follow inconclusive meetings, hosted by Saudi Arabia, that ended more than a year ago. While emphasizing the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said that for the first time they believe that Taliban representatives are fully authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar." (WaPo)

British Embassy Vehicle Attacked in Yemen: Deputy chief of mission targeted; three bystanders and an embassy staffer are wounded (AP)

More NATO Trucks Destroyed in Pakistan: "Dozens of tankers carrying fuel to Afghanistan for NATO troops were torched near Quetta in western Pakistan on Wednesday, the third major attack on supplies since Pakistan closed one border crossing to Afghanistan a week ago and the first at the only checkpoint that remained open. " (NYT)

North Korea Nuclear Threat has Reached 'Extremely Dangerous Level': "It was not clear whether the comments by Kim Tae-hyo, President Lee Myung-bak's deputy national security secretary, were based on recent intelligence." (AP)

ETA terrorists trained in Venezuela? "In the court document, Atristain and Besance testify that they attended a training course in July and August 2008, taught in part by Arturo Cubillas Montan, who was and still is a member of Venezuela's Ministry of Agriculture. In March of this year, another Spanish judge, who was investigating the Chávez government's purported mediation between ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) issued an extradition order for Cubillas, who was born in Spain but is a naturalized Venezuelan citizen. The indictment accuses him of being ETA's leader in Venezuela, and charges that he received assistance from Venezuelan intelligence forces." (Time)

Tech, Science

2 Japanese, an American get the chemistry Nobel: "American Richard Heck and Japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki won the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for developing a chemical method that has allowed scientists to test cancer drugs and make thinner computer screens." Talk about multitasking...

No Headway in Climate Talks: "The United States said on Wednesday U.N. climate talks were making less progress than hoped because of a rift over poorer nations' emission goals, and that other avenues might be needed to tackle climate change. Negotiators from 177 governments are meeting this week in the north Chinese city of Tianjin trying to agree on the shape of the successor to the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol, the key U.N. treaty on fighting global warming, which expires in 2012." (Reuters)

Some Headway in Climate Developments -- The White House Goes Solar: "A photovoltaic system, which converts sunlight directly into electricity to help power things in the White House itself, and then a solar hot water system for the water-heating needs, like showers and stuff." (PNS)

Dinosaurs Even Older than Thought: "A study of footprints found in Poland from the early Triassic age found they dated from just a few million years after what scientists describe as the greatest mass extinction of all time, the ''Permo-Triassic mass extinction''. The footprints, thought to be about 250 million years old, are ''the indisputably oldest fossils of the dinosaur lineage'', according to the researchers who carried out the study. (Telegraph)

Pregnant? A Toast for That! "Women who have one or two alcoholic drinks a week during pregnancy do not harm their children's behavioural or intellectual development, according to a new study." (Sky News)

Media, Showbiz

New vs Old Media: Howard Kurtz moves from the WaPo to The Daily Beast. (The Daily Beast)

Margaret Cho Out of 'Dancing with the Stars': "Comedian Breaks Down in Tears Upon Learning She and Professional Partner Louis Van Amstel Didn't Make the Cut" (CBS)

'Parker Spitzer Falls Flat: Debut attracted only 454,000 viewers: "That not only left CNN far behind its main rivals — Bill O’Reilly on Fox had 3.1 million on Fox News and Keith Olbermann had 1.1 million on MSNBC – but it also trailed Nancy Grace on the HLN channel, who had 468,000 viewers.
Even worse for the new CNN program, it lost viewers from the show on just ahead of it, “John King USA,” which had 471,000 viewers. Perhaps more troubling for CNN, “Parker Spitzer” was down sharply from the show it replaced, “Rick’s List,” hosted by Rick Sanchez, who was recently ousted from CNN. And it even fell short of the show that had long occupied the 8 p.m. slot on CNN, with Campbell Brown." (NYT) -- Reviews Are Even Worse (Reuters)

Gone to Muppet Heaven: "Dr. Gerald Lesser, the man responsible for molding the personalities of "Sesame Street's" famed characters and the lessons they've taught to generations of preschoolers has died. He passed on Sept. 23 at the age of 84." (ABC)

No Cambie el Canal: Televisa acquires $1.2bn stake and prolong key programming agreement (WSJ)