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 …

Round 1 in Appeals of Health Care Overhaul Goes to Obama  —  The Obama administration prevailed Wednesday 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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Republicans reject president's call to include tax revenues in debt deal  —  (CNN)-Republican congressional leaders Wednesday rejected President Barack Obama's call to include tax revenues as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.  —  Obama said at a White House press conference Wednesday …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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

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 …

Obama press conference - false choices and demagoguery  —  I watched Obama's press conference today, and he is a wonder to behold.  He is a relentless demagogue who plays Americans against Americans and sets up false choices as part of a class warfare agenda.

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.

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 …

Sarah Palin's man in Iowa says she will run for the White House in 2012  —  Sarah Palin will run for the White House in 2012 and conduct an “unorthodox, grassroots campaign the likes of which you've never seen”, according to the man in Iowa who has spent the past eight months organising for her in Iowa.

Bush v. Gore  —  Is it worse for a child to see pornography or graphic violence?  —  The Supreme Court struck down a California law regulating the sale of violent video games to children on Monday.  Writing for the majority, Justice Scalia noted that, unlike sexual content, which can be regulated …

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.

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 …

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 …

U.S. Designates Israel as Country That Tends ‘To Promote, Produce, or Protect’ Terrorists; Also Calls Israel Anti-Terror Partner  —  (CNSNews.com) - In an implicit admission that Israel is so threatened by terrorism that it is not only surrounded by countries and territories that produce terrorists …

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:

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 …