The U.S. Coast Guard is reporting that an off-shore oil rig has exploded 80 miles south of Louisiana and west of the Deep Horizon site.  The blast occurred at 9:30 am Central Daylight Time, rescue crews are en route.

Updates to follow…

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Update via TBD, 5 pm ET: “Police shot the suspect. His condition is not known. The three hostages are safe.”

At 5:30 pm, NBC is reporting that the suspect is dead.

Previously…

“A man possibly armed with explosives took at least one hostage Wednesday at the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland, police said.” [CNN]

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Seeing as I have never, in my life, watched Glenn Beck do ANYTHING (except of course in little snippets on the Daily Show and such), I guess I might be a totally neutral, unbiased observer of today’s doings. Just like Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa of the St. Louis Cardinals, who are going to observe themselves before tonight’s game against the Nats. The announcement of their appearance yesterday caused quite the stir over that Yahoo’s horsehide blog, Big League Stew, as evidenced by this sage comment:

This is non-political in the same way that MLK’s speech was non-political. All Americans with strong morals will find nothing to disagree with. The only people who will be upset are the America-haters and non-Americans. Beck is a modern day Martin Luther King. In the future, we will remember Beck as the great patriot who stood for American values in the face of tyranny. LaRussa and Pujols will go down as brave warriors who withstood the persecution of the liberal media to stand on the side of liberty.

Boy.  This will be ten different kinds of stupid.  Play-by-play, post-jump. Read more »

Prop 8 remains in effect in California.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay Monday afternoon, scheduling a hearing for the week of December 6 in San Francisco. Gay marriages, which had been set to resume as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, are back on hold.

Arguments must be submitted prior to the December hearing:

The opening brief is now due September 17, 2010. The answering brief is due October 18, 2010. The reply brief is due November 1, 2010.

But wait! There’s more!

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Update: The not-mosque backers are disputing the Haaretz story. See below.

We don’t know why (or how) Haaretz is breaking this news, but here it is:

After weeks of heated debate over plans for an Islamic community center near Ground Zero — the site of the 9/11 attacks on New York — it seems Muslim leaders will soon back down, agreeing to move to a new site.

The decision follows a high-profile campaign against the project that included advertisements on New York buses showing images of the burning Twin Towers, an iconic landmark razed when al-Qaida terrorists flew packed passenger planes into them in 2001. The New York Republican party is also said to be planning a hostile television campaign.

Sources in New York said on Monday that Muslim religious and business leaders will announce plans to abandon the project in the next few days.

But not before Harry Reid hands over his nuts to Pam Geller:

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The ruling’s in: Prop 8 is “unconstitutional under both the due process and equal protection clauses”…

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples.

But don’t get your hopes up — opponents were already working the angles last night:

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Manchester, Connecticut: “A warehouse driver who was asked to resign his job at a beer distributor went on a shooting rampage Tuesday morning that left nine people dead, including himself, and others wounded, company and government officials said.” [Salon/AP]