Boehner abandons efforts to reach comprehensive debt-reduction deal  —  House Speaker John A. Boehner abandoned efforts Saturday night to cut a far-reaching debt-reduction deal, telling President Obama that a more modest package offers the only politically realistic path to avoiding a default on the mounting national debt.

Italy Becoming a Bigger Priority for Euro Zone  —  LONDON — With fears growing that Italy could become the latest victim of the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, and with plans for a second Greek bailout deadlocked, top European officials are to meet on Monday to wrestle with the mounting threats to the currency union.

Pawlenty: Science ‘In Dispute’ Over Whether Gays ‘Born This Way’  —  This morning on Meet The Press, David Gregory pressed GOP presidential candidate Gov. Tim Pawlenty about his recent remarks that he likes Lady Gaga's song “Born This Way,” asking if he believes being gay is a choice.

Gawker's John Cook Attempts to Out CIA Agent Who Helped Kill Bin Laden  —  John Cook of Gawker attempted this week to out the CIA staffer who spearheaded the effort to kill Osama bin Laden.  —  In a post titled “Is This the Guy Who Killed Bin Laden?”  Cook attempts to isolate the staffer …

The Sugar Daddy Has Run Out of Sugar; Now We Need New Leaders  —  Barack Obama's big government policies continue to fail.  He should put a link to the national debt clock on his BlackBerry.  The gears on that clock have nearly exploded during his administration.

Mayors call on Obama to strengthen enforcement of country's gun laws  —  A group of more than 600 mayors are calling on President Obama to strengthen and increase enforcement of the nation's gun laws in the wake of a controversial gun tracking operation that may have contributed to the death of at least one federal agent.

Issue could cost Obama his job  —  Where are the jobs?  —  Not the stimulus signs, rhetoric about “shovel-ready” economic voodoo or propping-up of an anemic manufacturing sector, but the real jobs?  —  Polls at the beginning of July showed President Obama in an increasingly hazardous position with voters on jobs and the economy.

Newt Gingrich: ‘This is the Obama Depression’  —  ABC News' Arlette Saenz reports:  —  Newt Gingrich labeled the economic situation in the U.S. as the “Obama depression,” just days after a dismal jobs report and signs negotiations on the debt deal are faltering.

Stop Obama's Egyptian Tank Sale  —  While everyone in Washington was concentrating on the debt crisis this week, the Obama administration attempted to slip through a questionable arms deal that requires serious scrutiny.  Though it got little attention, the Defense Department officially notified Congress …

Allen West: Obama must remove Eric Holder, or he's complicit with Fast and Furious cover-up  —  Florida Republican Rep. Allen West is demanding that President Barack Obama force Attorney General Eric Holder to resign.  —  Appearing on Nashville talker Steve Gill's radio show last week …

Can jobs news get worse?  Just wait and see  —  If you are an American looking for work — no, make that pleading to be allowed to earn a living — you already know this: the job market is even worse than Washington is telling us.  And Washington yesterday told us that the employment situation is just plain ugly.

Conservative group backtracks on marriage pledge slavery language  —  A social conservative Iowa group has retracted language regarding slavery from the opening of a presidential candidates' pledge, amid a growing controversy over the document that Michele Bachmann had signed and Rick Santorum committed to.