US's Bin Laden deal with Pakistan  —  US forces were given permission to conduct unilateral raid inside Pakistan if they knew where Bin Laden was hiding, officials say  —  The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden …

John Boehner: Cut ‘trillions’ as debt limit nears  —  NEW YORK — Speaker John Boehner will call on Congress to offset a debt ceiling hike with spending cuts of a greater amount, an ambitious proposal that puts House Republicans on a collision course with Democrats who want much more modest spending restrictions attached to the vote.

NBC's Three-Hour ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Down 23% … A supersized edition of Donald Trump's competition series Celebrity Apprentice spanned three hours, going head-to-head against the rest of primetime on Sunday.  —  But, NBC's three-hour telecast — which saw Star Jones and LaToya Jackson fired …

2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy  —  Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you'll learn two lessons, over and over again.  One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans …

Why I Will Not Support Jon Huntsman.  Ever.  [UPDATED]  —  “I cannot tolerate a man serving as our ambassador to our chief strategic adversary in the world plotting, while in that capacity, to run against the President of the United States.”  —  Ambassador Jon Huntsman is gearing up now to run for President of the United States.

Gallup poll sees growing support for third party in GOP, Tea Party  —  A majority of Republicans said for the first time that a third party was needed in American politics, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.  —  Fifty-two percent of Republicans, and an even stronger number of Tea Party supporters …

Suspect in flight disturbance had Calif. ID  —  SAN FRANCISCO - The passengers sat stunned as they watched a man walk quickly toward the front of American Airlines Flight 1561 as it was descending toward San Francisco.  He was screaming and then began pounding on the cockpit door.

Gingrich Set to Run, With Wife in Central Role  —  WASHINGTON — Callista Bisek's friends from rural Wisconsin were stunned when, well over a decade ago, she confided that she was secretly dating an older, married man: Newt Gingrich.  —  Still in her 20s when they met …

Gunter Sachs, the playboy who married Brigitte Bardot, kills himself at 78  —  Millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, the German-born former husband of Brigitte Bardot, has killed himself at the age of 78.  —  He is reported to have shot himself at his home in the Swiss resort of Gstaad.

Whose Foreign Policy Is It?  —  For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office.  But last week made it official: When the story of America's post-9/11 wars is written …

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver announce separation  —  The former first lady has moved out after 25 years of marriage.  Maria Shriver helped bolster Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign against charges that he groped women during his movie career.  —  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver …

Brooklyn, NY - After Outrage Hasidic Newspaper Issues Statement On Altered White House Photo  —  Brooklyn, NY - Much has been written about a controversial altered photograph of the White House situation room published by Der Tzeitung, a Chareidi newspaper, based out of Brooklyn.

Navy Authorizes Chaplains to Perform Same-Sex ‘Marriages’ in Naval Chapels  —  (CNSNews.com) - Anticipating the elimination of the military ban on homosexuality, the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy will be able to get married in Navy chapels …

Unspoken Truths  —  Until cancer attacked his vocal cords, the author didn't fully appreciate what was meant by “a writer's voice,” or the essential link between speech and prose.  As a man who loved to talk, he turns to the masters of such conversation, both in history and in his own circle.

‘Underwater’ Homeowners Rise to 28 Percent, Zillow Says  —  More than 28 percent of U.S. homeowners owed more than their properties were worth in the first quarter as values fell the most since 2008, Zillow Inc. said today.  —  Homeowners with negative equity increased from 22 percent …

South Carolina Taking Light Bulb Ban into Its Own Hands  —  Fed up with the federal government's ban of the traditional incandescent light bulb, state representatives in South Carolina are pushing for the state to produce and use incandescents solely for its state.

‘Burn a Bush’?  Michelle Obama invites rapper Common to a poetry reading  —  First Lady Michelle Obama has scheduled a poetry evening for Wednesday, and she's invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet and rapper, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., AKA “Common.”