Obama Offered To Raise Medicare Eligibility Age As Part Of Grand Debt Deal … WASHINGTON — In his press conference on Monday morning, President Barack Obama repeatedly insisted that he was willing to tackle some sacred cows as part of a larger package to raise the debt ceiling.

Michelle Obama orders 1,556-calorie meal at Shake Shack  —  First lady Michelle Obama ordered a whopper of a meal at the newly opened Washington diner Shake Shack during lunch on Monday.  —  A Washington Post journalist on the scene confirmed the first lady, who's made a cause out of child nutrition …

EXCLUSIVE: Mila Kunis Says She'll Accompany U.S. Marine to Corps Ball  —  Most men will spend their lives dreaming about going on a date with Mila Kunis - but for one U.S. Marine, that fantasy may very well turn into a reality.  —  Sgt. Scott Moore, of the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines in Musa Qala …

Lawmaker points loaded gun at reporter in the Senate  —  A state lawmaker known for championing the rights of gun-owners pointed a loaded firearm at the chest of a reporter during a recent interview at the Capitol.  —  Republican Sen. Lori Klein was showing off her raspberry-pink handgun …

Michele Bachmann Clinic: Where You Can Pray Away the Gay?  —  A former patient who sought help from the Christian counseling clinic owned by GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, told ABC News he was advised that prayer could rid him of his homosexual urges and he could eventually be “re-oriented.”

CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden's family DNA  —  Senior Pakistani doctor who organised vaccine programme in Abbottabad arrested by ISI for working with US agents  —  The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden …

Snowe: No Medicare Or Social Security Cuts In Debt Deal  —  Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) said she will not support any debt deal that includes cuts to the two social safety net programs, citing “strong bipartisan support.”  “There are solvency problems with both programs.

Bachmann Responds To Slavery Controversy With Another Slavery Analogy  —  In their apparent effort to ban pornography, GOP presidential frontrunner Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN) and competitor Rick Santorum simultaneously signed a pledge declaring that African-American children …

Alan Grayson To Run For Office Again  —  ORLANDO, Fla. — WFTV learned on Monday that former U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson is running for office again.  —  On Monday, Grayson said he doesn't plan to do anything different.  He said he's running again because of all the people who have reached out and asked him to.

Chicagoans Overwhelmingly Vote to Ban Palin, Beck & Coulter Books at Book Fair in Obama's Home Town  —  In June we attended the Printer's Row Literature Festival in Chicago.  City blocks were closed off for tents and booths full of all types of literature.  We presented a board with a selection …

Why we're in the budgetary soup  —  Just in case you hadn't noticed, no one has elected Grover Norquist to anything.  Still, he looms as a major obstacle to Congress reaching a deficit-reduction agreement needed to raise the federal debt ceiling.  Norquist heads Americans for Tax Reform …

Public Now Divided on Debt Limit Debate  —  Default Concerns Rise among Independents  —  As the debate over the nation's debt and deficit continues, the public has grown more concerned that failing to raise the debt limit would force the government into default and hurt the economy.

News International papers targeted Gordon Brown  —  Newspapers obtained information from the former prime minister's bank account, legal file and family medical records  —  Journalists from across News International repeatedly targeted the former prime minister Gordon Brown …

BREAKING: It Turns Out Obama Gave ACORN $541K This Year, Not $80K  —  Remember that story from a few days ago, the one about the Obama administration giving ACORN a $79,819 grant in March despite a federal law that prohibits the government from giving money to ACORN?  —  It turns out that sum is a lowball figure.

The Great Fiction  —  Catherine Rampell, Bruce Bartlett, and Matt Yglesias are all pushing the chart below from a paper by Suzanne Mettler.  According to this gang, people who use, for example, the mortgage interest deduction or who have a 529 college savings program are willfully ignorant …

Pro-Voucher Tea Party Group Admits It Wants To ‘Shut Down Public Schools And Have Private Schools Only’  —  As ThinkProgress has documented, a tightly-knit group of right-wing Political Action Committees (PACs) and corporate foundations have unleashed an assault on public education …

McConnell On Casey Anthony Trial: It Means Terrorists Could Win  —  The top Republican in the Senate invoked the high-profile acquittal of Casey Anthony on charges she murdered her daughter as a reason to oppose the use of civilian trials for terrorism suspects.  —  “These are not American citizens.

Panetta appears to link al-Qaeda presence with Iraq invasion  —  Pool/Reuters - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta delivers remarks to U.S. troops as he visits Camp Victory in Baghdad July 11, 2011.  Panetta arrived in Iraq on Sunday on his first trip there as U.S. defence secretary.

Why 'Caylee's Law' Is A Bad Idea … Within minutes of the Casey Anthony verdict, much of America devolved into the mass media equivalent of a mob bearing torches and pitchforks.  Twitter lit up with calls for vigilante justice, and proposals that we revoke the Fifth Amendment's protection …

Top Senate Dems privately warn: Deep Medicare cuts will squander our big advantage on issue  —  Top Democrats in charge of keeping the Senate in Dem hands and maintaining the political health of the party — DSCC chair Patty Murray and messaging chief Chuck Schumer — have privately expressed frustration …