In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts  —  President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.

White House uses Twitter to bully critics  —  President Obama's director of progressive media is obsessed with one particular conservative provocateur.  Jesse Lee's duties at the White House include “online response” — and there has been no shortage of responses to one person who routinely communicates with him on Twitter.

Katie Pavlich Scandal Grows: FBI, DEA Involved With Operation Fast and Furious  —  Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson answered questions from Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley surrounding Operation Fast and Furious.  Melson voluntarily participated in the interview …

Pawlenty co-chairman: Bachmann will be ‘very hard to beat’ in Iowa  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) is going to be “very hard to beat” in Iowa's Republican caucuses, a co-chairman of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign said Wednesday.  —  Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman …

The Obama-Keynes Mystery  —  I'm not alone in marveling at the extent to which Obama has thrown his rhetorical weight behind anti-Keynesian economics; Ryan Avent is equally amazed, as are many others.  And now he's endorsing the structural unemployment story too.

U.S. says Israel's inclusion on terrorist watch list was a mistake  —  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel was included erroneously on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, a U.S. official said.  —  John Morton, the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division …

Gov. Rick Perry: The Candidate Obama Would Fear the Most  —  More than any other potential GOP presidential candidate, President Obama fears Texas Gov. Rick Perry.  That's because Perry is the only one who can devastate virtually any Obama claim.  —  Take the whine we hear most often from the President …

Court bars enforcement of 'don't ask, don't tell'  —  (07-06) 13:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ordered a halt today to the armed forces' discharge of openly gay service members, citing the Obama administration's disavowal of laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker's Collective Bargaining Law  —  While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it's helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates.

Casey Anthony Juror: ‘Sick to Our Stomachs’ Over Not Guilty Verdict  —  Casey Anthony juror Jennifer Ford said today that she and the other jurors cried and were “sick to our stomachs” after voting to acquit Casey Anthony of charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

CNN Cancels ‘In the Arena’ With Eliot Spitzer  —  1:30 p.m. |  Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” and said it would shift Anderson Cooper's 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot.  —  The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett …

Media Making Things Up: “Tears” and “Rages” During “The Undefeated”?  Really?  —  Obviously we've seen our share of media lies, but the latest fabrications circulated take a big slice of the cake.  The UK Daily Mail reports that I was “in tears” as Todd “rages over Hollywood stars ripping” me in the new film “The Undefeated.”

How Effective Was The 2009 Stimulus Program?  —  So the stimulus — the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA — is starting to wind down.  What are the results?  —  Depends on whom you ask, of course.  Conservatives will say unemployment is near double-digits and growth is slow, so clearly it didn't work.

Thinking Outside the Box: Let's Lower the Debt Ceiling  —  In the midst of our economic emergency, which is beginning to resemble a full-on Greece-style meltdown, every politician in America has taken to the soap box to say the exact same thing: We need to reduce our national debt and cut spending to get America back on track.

Call Your Friends Right From Facebook  —  Over the last year, the messages team has been working to make it easier to have one on one conversations with your friends.  In November, we launched the new messages, which brings together your chats, texts, emails and messages all in one place.

Bill Clinton likens GOP effort to Jim Crow laws  —  Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday compared GOP efforts to limit same-day voter registration and block some convicted felons from voting to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes.  —  In a speech to liberal youth activists Wednesday …

TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs  —  A traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year.  (Mark Boster)  —  The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt …

Obama Warns Debt Ceiling Should Not Be ‘Used As A Gun’ To Extract Tax Breaks  —  ABC News' Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) Reports:  —  In some of his harshest language to date in the fight over the deficit, President Obama warned today that the debt ceiling should not be “used as a gun” …

Could Barack Obama drop Joe Biden?  —  Barack Obama will dump Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton.  Or Andrew Cuomo.  Or whoever's next to emerge in the speculation game.  —  As political pipe dreams go, the idea that a sitting president will swap out his running mate is one of the oldest — and least likely to come true.

Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists  —  Players: Famed evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins; Rebecca Watson, female activist.  —  Opening Serve: Richard Dawkins made an unexpected appearance in the comments section of biologist PZ Myers' post at Scienceblogs.com last week.

The GOP's evolving case against taxes  —  There are two ways to increase taxes.  One is you just raise rates, particularly the top rates.  Economists in general — and Republican economists in particular — don't much like this approach because it raises taxes on the last dollars you've earned.