Appointing a commission to examine the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terrorism "alert" program: good! Letting Bush terror advisor Frances Townsend head that commission: argh.

Jimmy Carter should know better than to just say what various columnists, politicians, and random people on the street have been saying for weeks now. You know, that race is informing the hysterical response to Obama's policy proposals.

So, our nation has fully accepted the fact that low-blow insults and childish retaliation is a-okay. The proof? Our House of Representatives have weighed in on what is and what is not acceptable when insulting the President.

Barack Obama will be on The Late Show with David Letterman next Monday. (This after he hits every single Sunday morning show—he will be exhausted!) This is obviously a snub of terrible Jay Leno.

Here's the stuff of conservative nightmares: The Obama administration wants to "mind map" America using computers, inspired by the Big Brother of Silicon Valley

• So how did Jay Leno's new show do? He hit it out of the park ratings-wise, roping in an estimated 18 million viewers. The reviews were all pretty lousy, though, so don't be surprised if it's all downhill from here. [AdAge, LAT, THR]
• The sale of BusinessWeek: Bruce Wasserstein has dropped out as a potential acquirer of the struggling mag. And it's cutting 20% of its staff. [BW, NYT]
• ABC News has apologized to the White House for Nightline anchor Terry Moran's tweet about Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass." [LAT]
• Speaking of the White House, Barack Obama will be David Letterman's guest on Monday night; it's the first time a sitting president has done the show. [NYT]
• Oprah's season premiere scored big thanks to Whitney Houston. [Wrap]
• The House of Harvey has sustained another blow: Harvey Weinstein's 70 percent stake in the home-video distributor Genius Products, once worth as much as $400 million, is now pretty much worthless. [NYP]
• Speaking of the film mogul, The Weinstein Co. picked up the rights to A Single Man, designer Tom Ford's debut film, at the Toronto Film Festival. [THR]

A high-school kid got beat up on a school bus in Utah Missouri Illinois (!) yesterday, an event so shocking and rare that the nation's seventh-largest news site chose it as its top story. Oh, and the kid was white!

There's lot of financial news to be cheerful about today. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the worst recession since the Great Depression is "probably over" at this point, which is certainly nice to hear even if Bernanke did say that it would be some time before the economy really turned around and new jobs were created. But that's not all!

• Even President Obama has acknowledged (unofficially) that Kanye West's microphone-snatching episode at the VMAs made Kanye a "jackass." Lucky for Jay Leno—and his ratings—Kanye apologized (again) on the comedian's primetime debut last night. "It was rude, period... I'm just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else's hurt," West said. [NYDN, People, Us]
• Topper Mortimer is hooking up with Vogue editor Valerie Boster. (It's about time the dude moved on.) Meanwhile, his ex, Tinsley, is having issues with her new reality show. Producers are trying to drum up other socialites to make appearances since she's not "dynamic enough on her own." [P6]
• Jeremy Piven won't be hugging it out with the Public Theater any time soon. His lawyers have served the venue with a cease and desist over its play, "The Piven Monologues," which details his fishy bailout from "Speed the Plow." [P6]
• Patrick Swayze has died after a 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Stars have been paying tribute to the Dirty Dancing star via Twitter, and the old-fashioned way, in released statements. [NYDN, People, Us, Star]

Poor Barack Obama. The press once fawned over his ever move, word and action, but those days are over, for coverage of his presidency has grown increasingly negative. But, don't worry, because he's still on top.

The community group ACORN has come under heavy fire after two employees were filmed giving a fake hooker advice on how to commit tax fraud. Now they're thinking of suing Fox News for airing the footage. But does it matter?

Basically the entire nation has rallied around the idea that Kanye West is an entire asshole for ruining Taylor Swift's big moment last night. So, too, has Barack Obama, our president. But he won't do it on the record.

• Openings: Gansevoort 69 opened today in the meatpacking space formerly occupied by Florent. And Motorino's first Manhattan outpost is now open in was once Una Pizza Napoletana. A few more openings today are here.
• Also open, but just for private parties for the time being: The Boom Boom Room, the new bar on the 18th-floor of Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel, which will open to the public on September 22. [DBTH, UrbanDaddy]
• Michael Psilakis and Donatella Arpaia are parting ways at Mia Dona. [Eater]
• Times Square's era of sleeze may soon make a return. The Box, the club co-owned by Simon Hammerstein, takes over China Club for two weeks next month to create Club Purgatorio, a "multi-level world of macabre fantasy." [GS]
• Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had lunch today at Il Mulino. In case you're wondering, the duo dined on "fish, pasta and salad." [NYT]
• Last night wasn't a great one for John Mayer. It seems he was forced to flee GoldBar after a guy at the bar was stabbed in stomach. [Page Six]

U.S. Commandos have killed one of the Al Quaeda operatives behind the African embassy attacks, and counterterrorism agents just disrupted an active terror cell in Queens, N.Y. Where are the alarm bells?

Have you heard? All the trouble the president's been having with his health care initiative is Twitter's fault. So says ad man James Othmer in a New York Times op-ed. Wait, wasn't Twitter saving Iranian democracy like 10 minutes ago?

The former and current POTUS having lunch together in the West Village at Il Mulino. The secret service has been securing the location all day. Image via David Latimer's Twitter.

Joe Wilson, the Congressman who heckled Obama, refuses to apologize again. Dick.

Democrats claim that Barack Obama's ideological opponents are nothing but backward racists. That makes sense.

Rod Blagojevich and his alleged misdeeds have been the subject of much spilled media ink, and much of that ink was spilled by his own hand. But could that story now have spilled blood?

• Today's awkward cable moments: CNN reported this morning that the Coast Guard opened fire on a boat on the Potomoc. (Not true.) And the geniuses at MSNBC thought it would be a really neat idea to once again commemorate 9/11 by re-airing its coverage from the fateful morning. Thanks, guys.
• Fran Drescher is in discussions to host a Fox News show. No joke. [USN]
• President Obama sits down with Steve Kroft on Sunday's 60 Minutes. [CBS]
• A long list of media figures turned out for Dominick Dunne's memorial service yesterday at Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on the UES. [NYT, WWD]
• Anna Wintour is "bigger than ever," at least according to Tina Brown. [TDB]
• Obits: Larry Gelbart, the man who developed the TV series MASH and co-wrote Tootsie, is dead at 81. And Frank Batten Sr., the man responsible for bringing the Weather Channel into the world, is dead at 82.
• As if Twitter wasn't inundated with enough self-promotion as it is, the company now says it plans to start accepting advertising. [Reuters]