McConnell: I Won't Agree To Raise The Debt Limit Without Medicare Cuts  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit.  —  In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday …

CNN Poll: GOP 2012 field still up in the air  —  Washington (CNN) - Call it a sign of how unsettled the GOP presidential field remains: Two of the three people at the top of new national poll in the battle for the Republican nomination may not even run for the White House.

Obama Won't Personally Sign Patriot Act Extension  —  ABC News' Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) and Devin Dwyer (@devindwyer) report: Congress officially passed an extension of the Patriot Act tonight, just hours before key provisions of the national security law were due to lapse at midnight.

Bachmann's Debacle  —  “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican.  An elected official called it “an embarrassment”.  The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.

What Obama did to Israel  —  Every Arab-Israeli negotiation contains a fundamental asymmetry: Israel gives up land, which is tangible; the Arabs make promises, which are ephemeral.  The long-standing American solution has been to nonetheless urge Israel to take risks for peace …

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban  —  A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks.

Perry says he will consider White House run  —  Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president.  —  “I'm going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said.  —  For years, Perry has said that he would not run for president and that he had no interest.

Mitt Romney Supports Ethanol Subsidies, Opposes Tim Pawlenty's ‘Hard Truth’  —  ABC News' Emily Friedman (@emilyabc) & Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) report:  —  Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are at odds on one of the biggest issues to voters in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucuses.

Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They're Signs of “White Supremacy")  —  Soquel, California — on the Central Coast:  —  Several high school seniors wore white t shirts to their class's group picture last Wednesday and were suspended for doing so.

Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America  —  Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States  —  (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Just in time for the summer reading season, Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.

This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today  —  Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado  —  There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.

When a party declares intellectual bankruptcy  —  The good news is, House Republicans unveiled a plan yesterday that's intended to create jobs.  The bad news is, the plan can charitably be described as a bad joke.  —  As we discussed yesterday, the jobs agenda, such as it is …

Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally  —  ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise.  A welcome surprise.

Tyler Cowen, America's Hottest Economist  —  The George Mason University professor has written a bestseller, The Great Stagnation, keeps an influential blog, and reads way too many books  —  Tyler Cowen sits with a cranberry juice and a pile of books he no longer intends to read.

Inside Meghan McCain's Bachelorette Pad  —  The famous daughter of the famous senator shows off her 1,100-square-foot bachelorette home in West Hollywood.  —  LEAST-REPUBLICAN PIECE OF CLOTHING: My black studded Christian Louboutin heels.  They are hard-core.  My friend nicknamed them my dominatrix heels.