Harry Reid commends Mitch McConnell's debt plan  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday praised Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for putting forth a plan to raise the debt ceiling, calling it a “serious proposal” that he's continuing to study.  —  “He spent a great deal of time working on this.

No yelling at Obama today  —  Carney reminded journalists, “I used to be where you are, and I used to ask questions.”  —  AP Photo  —  A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off …

One by one, bars get tapped out  —  Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes — a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.  —  In the days leading up to the shutdown …

Mitch McConnell: We Must Rewrite The Constitution Because ‘Elections’ Haven't ‘Worked’  —  Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered what may be the most concise summary of conservative constitutionalism ever spoken …

Austrian driver's religious headgear strains credulity  —  Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised  —  An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”.

On Deficit, Americans Prefer Spending Cuts; Open to Tax Hikes  —  Twenty percent favor deficit reduction by cutting spending only  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' preferences for deficit reduction clearly favor spending cuts to tax increases, but most Americans favor a mix of the two approaches.

GOPer wants FBI probe of Rupert Murdoch  —  New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal “disgraceful.”

Palin nemesis goes nude  —  GOP presidential hopeful Sarah Palin and her family are the subjects of a profile by George Gurley in the September issue of Playboy, according to sources.  Insiders say the story will run next to a four-page nude pictorial of Mercede Johnston, the sister of Bristol Palin's estranged baby daddy, Levi.

Rick Perry's Confederate past  —  Rick Perry made national headlines in 2009 when, during a speech to a Tea Party group, he floated the possibility that Texas could secede from the union.  But the governor's substantive ties to the neo-Confederate movement may be deeper than previously known.

Pawlenty says no to marriage pledge  —  (CNN) - Add Tim Pawlenty to the list of Republican presidential candidates who will not sign the controversial marriage pledge from The Family Leader, a socially conservative group in Iowa.  —  The former Minnesota governor said he is a strong advocate …

Police charge mother in Nashville airport altercation  —  Woman refused to let officers screen daughter  —  A 41-year-old Clarksville woman was arrested after Nashville airport authorities say she was belligerent and verbally abusive to security officers, refusing for her daughter to be patted down at a security checkpoint.

BREAKING: Debt ceiling: Moody's puts U.S. on notice  —  By: CNNMoney.com Senior Writer Jeanne Sahadi  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - The public pressure on lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling was ratcheted up Wednesday when a major rating agency said it would put the sterling bond rating …

Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope Is the Antichrist  —  The Iowa front-runner for the GOP nomination was a longstanding member of a strict Lutheran synod with controversial views of Catholicism  —  Michele Bachmann is practically synonymous with political controversy …

Body of Leiby Kletzky, missing 8-year-old boy, found dismembered; pieces in Dumpster, refrigerator  —  The body parts of a missing 8-year-old Brooklyn boy were found Wednesday in a Dumpster and the refrigerator of a man suspected in his disappearance, police said.

Laughably bogus poll tries to ‘prove’ Obama is losing Jewish support  —  Republicans are touting yet another poll that purports to predict the end of the Jewish allegiance to the Democratic Party.  Citing a new poll by Republican John McLaughlin and Pat Caddell, the GOP's favorite “Democrat …

Prosecute News Corp.  —  The U.S. government should go after Murdoch's media company for its corrupt practices and revoke its TV licenses if it's found guilty.  —  Bribery, illegal wiretapping, interference in a murder investigation, political blackmail, and rampant disregard for both the truth and basic decency.

Key Democrat testifies against healthcare reform bill's Medicare cost-control panel  —  A key Democrat testified Wednesday against a major provision of the healthcare reform law that is intended to help control Medicare costs, but that Republicans have alleged will encourage “rationing” of care.

The Kenneth Gladney Charade Collapses  —  It took a St. Louis County jury less than 50 minutes to return a not guilty verdict in the assault trial featuring Kenneth Gladney and two union members who were charged with attacking him outside a two hall event during the tumultuous summer of 2009.

Tea party members tackle a new issue: manatees  —  Everybody knows what the tea party members oppose.  High taxes.  Big government.  Obama's health care plan.  High-speed rail.  —  Now, for at least some local tea party members, there's one more to add: manatee protection.

Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed  —  A little more than a year ago, Wired.com published excerpts from instant messenger chats between accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo, the ex-hacker in whom he confided and who reported him to the authorities.

Pessimism deepens as economic concerns rise: Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  (Reuters) - Americans are deeply pessimistic about the future as economic concerns rise and White House talks on raising the U.S. debt limit sputter, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

The Start-Up of You  —  The rise in the unemployment rate last month to 9.2 percent has Democrats and Republicans reliably falling back on their respective cure-alls.  It is evidence for liberals that we need more stimulus and for conservatives that we need more tax cuts to increase demand.

US more unpopular in the Arab world than under Bush  —  I've written numerous times over the last year about rapidly worsening perceptions of the U.S. in the Muslim world, including a Pew poll from April finding that Egyptians view the U.S. more unfavorably now than they did during the Bush presidency.

Bancroft Family Members Express Regrets at Selling Wall Street Journal to Murdoch  —  This story was co-published with The Guardian.  —  A number of key members of the family which controlled The Wall Street Journal say they would not have agreed to sell the prestigious daily to Rupert Murdoch …

Mumbai: Explosions shake India's financial hub  —  Police told local media that eight people had been killed and more than 100 wounded.  —  One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district.

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Washington gets $200 billion a month, Social Security costs $50 billion a month, and Obama is threatening to starve Grandma?  —  President Obama told CBS News today that he “cannot guarantee that those [Social Security] checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue.