Round One in Appeals of Health Care Law Goes to Obama  —  The Obama administration on Wednesday prevailed in the first appellate review of the 2010 health care law as a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that it was constitutional for Congress …

Obama: It's Kids Versus Corporate Jets on Debt-Ceiling Talks  —  President Obama speaks during a press conference in the East Room of the White House on June 29, 2011.  —  Kids versus corporate jets.  —  If President Obama's news conference accomplished anything on Wednesday afternoon …

How you know the negotiations have truly failed  —  (SHAWN THEW VIA BLOOMBERG) The best advice I've gotten for assessing the debt-ceiling negotiations was to “watch for the day when the White House goes public.”  As long as the Obama administration was refusing to attack Republicans publicly …

Lennon was a closet Republican: Assistant  —  John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death - according to the tragic Beatles star's last personal assistant.  —  Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 …

Bachmann's Husband Calls Homosexuals ‘Barbarians’ Who ‘Need To Be Educated’ And ‘Disciplined’  —  When trying to figure out where presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) gets her stringent, anti-gay views, you only have to look as far as her husband.

Sarah Palin Blasts Hollywood Stars as ‘Full of Hate’ at Movie Premiere (Exclusive Audio) … PELLA, Iowa — Sarah Palin stared a bit uncomfortably at a movie screen Tuesday night watching a montage of Matt Damon, David Letterman, Madonna, Howard Stern, Bill Maher, Louis C.K. and other celebrities malign her …

Texas lukewarm on Perry bid  —  A potential Rick Perry Presidential bid has been getting oodles of attention in the last few weeks.  There's one place where voters aren't real into the possibility though- Texas.  Only 33% of voters in the state think he should make a bid for the White House compared to 59% opposed to him running.

Has Bachmann Met Her Waterloo? … Like This Story  —  Follow Slate's Fighting Words … - Do Gay Bars Make a Lot of Money?  - Extremely Witty Poems by a Poet Who Was Sure He Was Going to Hell- Shafer: Why Patch and Other Hyperlocal Journalism Is a Complete Waste …

Christie Loses Support for Second Term as Residents Oppose Cuts  —  More than half of New Jersey residents say they wouldn't back Governor Chris Christie for a second term, disapproving of his choices on a range of policy and personal issues, from killing a commuter tunnel to using …

What Does Newt Gingrich Know?  —  Let's consult the literature — all 21 books by the self-proclaimed ideas man of politics.  (Gingrich cites 23 books on his Web site.  We are not counting the Contract With America or the coffee-table book “Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny.")  —  Multimedia

North Korea to Chair UN Disarmament Conference  —  Despite numerous breaches of arms embargoes and continued threats to expand its nuclear weapons program, North Korea has assumed the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.  In a speech to the 65-nation arms control forum in Geneva …

Obama Breaks Silence About Boeing v. NLRB Labor Dispute  —  ABC News' Amy Bingham reports:  —  President Obama broke his silence today about the dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board over a proposed plant in South Carolina.  —  The move by the NLRB to block Boeing's plan …

Jewish Dems losing faith in Obama  —  David Ainsman really began to get worried about President Barack Obama's standing with his fellow Jewish Democrats when a recent dinner with his wife and two other couples — all Obama voters in 2008 — nearly turned into a screaming match.

Rudy breaks vows  —  The gay car dealer who opened his home to Rudy Giuliani in 2001 during his humiliating divorce battle says the former mayor offered to preside at his wedding if same-sex marriage were ever legalized — but is now ducking his calls to make good on the offer.

Nerves Show on Team Obama  —  Recent scrambling by the president's political advisers indicates they're very worried about his reelection chances.  —  Fretful: President on defense.  —  It's been a rough June for the White House.  Instead of being able to run a campaign taking credit …

RI Senate OKs civil unions bill  —  Gov. Chaffee says he'll sign it in to law  —  PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Rhode Island moved one step closer to allowing same-sex civil unions on Wednesday after the Senate passed a bill to legalize them.  —  The Senate Judiciary committee voted 7-4 to approve the measure.

Exclusive: Myspace to Be Sold to Specific Media for $35 Million  —  Closing another chapter on one of the Internet's most iconic properties, Myspace has been sold to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million.  —  Sources close to the situation said the deal is being completed today …

Report: ‘Neo-Taliban’ are most dangerous terror group  —  Violent Islamist groups in Pakistan have coalesced under the Taliban umbrella to become the world's most significant terrorist threat and are the most capable of obtaining nuclear weapons, according to a report released Wednesday.

Taking Action Matters  —  Something I like to ask people who are disgruntled with the performance of the political system is what have you, personally, done about it?  When was the last time you wrote or called your member of Congress?  Can you even name the people who represent …

Obama Stops Short of Backing Gay Marriage  —  WASHINGTON — After months of saying his position on same-sex marriage is “evolving,” President Obama on Wednesday traded that language for comments that stopped just short of endorsing the notion that gay people have the right to marry.

'That's why they're called leaders'  —  One of the more common Republican criticisms of President Obama, at least in the context of the debt-reduction talks, is that he hasn't shown enough “leadership.”  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took to the floor late last week to cry …

Greece Passes Austerity Budget.  Did they Make a Mistake?  —  This morning, Greece passed another austerity budget.  This has been, to put it mildly, unpopular.  The country has been beset by days of riots in protest of the spending cuts, apparently led by self-proclaimed anarchists who seem …

Exclusive: S&P to deeply cut U.S. ratings if debt payment missed  —  (Reuters) - The United States would immediately have its top-notch credit rating slashed to “selective default” if it misses a debt payment on August 4, Standard & Poor's managing director John Chambers told Reuters.

Obama needs to create jobs, not fight for them  —  (Mark Wilson - Bloomberg) Ron Klain, former chief of staff to both Al Gore and Joe Biden, thinks President Obama needs to make more of a show of fighting for job-creating policies.  “The greatest risk to the president will be if the American people believe …

Officials: W.Va. Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records  —  Federal mine disaster investigators disclosed a few pieces of new information Tuesday night from their year-long look at the April 2010 deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion.  They said that: