Obama says he cannot guarantee Social Security checks will go out on August 3  —  President Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3 if Democrats and Republicans in Washington do not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit in the coming weeks.

Wonkbook: Why liberals should thank Eric Cantor  —  (KAREN BLEIER - AFP/GETTY IMAGES) I knew the White House wanted a compromise on the debt ceiling.  I just didn't expect them to do quite so much, well, compromising.  —  Here's what appears to have been in the $4 trillion deal they offered …

Ron Paul won't seek congressional term in 2012  —  LAKE JACKSON — After serving almost 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul told The Facts this morning he will not be seeking another term for the District 14 seat.  —  Paul, 75, will instead focus on his quest for the presidency in 2012.

Half Brother of Afghan President Is Killed in Kandahar  —  By ALISSA J. RUBIN, CARLOTTA GALL and RUHULLAH KHAPALWAK  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — The powerful half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was shot dead on Tuesday by a close family associate, according to Karzai family friends who were nearby.

Fresh doubt cast on Obama's health care story  —  During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama often discussed his mother's struggle with cancer.  Ann Dunham spent the months before her death in 1995, Obama said, fighting with insurance companies that sought to deny her the coverage she needed to pay for treatment.

Police reports show different side of Michele Bachmann  —  From complaining about her house being egged to filing a report that she was being held “against my will” in a public restroom, Michele Bachmann has left a trail of police reports showing a seldom-seen side of a presidential candidate.

Education Omaha Schools Spend $130,000 in Stimulus Money to Buy 8,000 ‘Social Justice’ Diversity Manuals  —  If I told you that your tax dollars (130,000 of them) went to buying a “diversity” manual that asserts the government and other institutions create advantages that …

“Right to Life” robocalls from D.C. tell Wisconsin recall voters to stay home  —  If you get a robocall informing you that you should not vote in a recall election in Wisconsin today, please know you've been lied to.  You need to go to the polls between the hours of 7AM and 8PM and vote in person as usual.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Thinks We're Still in the Bush Era  —  Another day, another chart from the “non-partisan” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on what “accounts” for the public debt.  At some level, these exercises are silly: all prior legislation could be equally said to …

Israel Bans Boycotts Against the State  —  JERUSALEM — The Israeli Parliament on Monday passed contentious legislation that effectively bans any public call for a boycott against the state of Israel or its West Bank settlements, making such action a punishable offense.

Bachmann: I'm ‘Very Proud’ Of Husband's Ex-Gay Therapy Clinics  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) refused to comment on her husband's Christian counseling clinics, dodging a question from a local ABC News reporter in Iowa about new video evidence showing one counselor telling a gay patient …

Unruly passenger on flight diverted to Cleveland faces federal charges  —  Passenger helps flight crew restrain suspect  —  Last Updated: 14 hours and 16 minutes ago  —  CLEVELAND - The unruly passenger who caused a commercial jet flying from Chicago to Germany to divert to Cleveland Friday is facing federal charges.

Gingrich Leaps On The Court Stripping Bandwagon, Claiming ‘There Is No Supreme Court In The American Constitution’  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from Pella, Iowa.  —  At an Iowa campaign stop, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) offered a truly bizarre explanation …

Obama: Job Losses Prove Stimulus Worked  —  (CNSNews.com) - Three days after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the national unemployment rate had ticked up from 9.1 percent in May to 9.2 percent in June, President Barack Obama said that the loss of jobs in the public sector is …

Proud Of Being Ignorant  —  This is the dumbest story ever written in all of human history. … Note that this was under “Politics and Policy.”  It's as if the purveyors of Beltway-ism and fen-fen joined forces and hatched a diabolical plot.  —  Adam expounds: … The worst part is there no actual hypocrisy.

The Future Deficit Can Inherently Exists In The Future  —  Kicking the can down the road is generally understood to be a bad thing.  But it's crucial to note that in the context of discussion of America's long-term structural deficit, the can in question inherently exists in the future.

Utah's Huntsman passes on S.C. senator's pledge  —  GREER — Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who would like to be the Republican nominee in the White House race, said Tuesday he's not about to sign the spending limit pledge that a South Carolina senator has turned into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support.

Gordon Brown Says Newspaper Hired ‘Known Criminals’  —  LONDON — Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown brought new and alarming charges on Tuesday to the broadening scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch's media empire in Britain, accusing one of the most prestigious newspapers in the group of employing …

Not over 'til ex-first lady sings  —  Michelle Paterson, former governor David Paterson's wife, is writing a book.  —  “It's about getting thrown into being first lady.  How the press treated us.  About those who served David and who didn't.  All from my own perspective.  I don't include anyone else's thinking.

GOP looks for special-election upset  —  Republicans are hopeful they can pick off a Los Angeles-based House seat long held by Democrats in Tuesday's special election.  —  The odds are against their candidate, businessman Craig Huey, but he's surprised observers on both sides of the aisle by making the race closer than expected.