Debt-Limit Harakiri  —  Mitch McConnell isn't selling out Republicans.  —  Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday he's concluded that no deal to raise the debt ceiling in return for serious spending restraint is possible with President Obama, and who can blame him?

Obama and DNC raise $86M, more than doubling GOP field - RNC campaign targets four swing states - Mandel brings in $2.3M for Senate bid - Hahn wins in CA-36 - Barbour camp eyes Perry - One month until  —  (aburns@politico.com) and (jhohmann@politico.com)  —  2012 SIREN - OBAMA'S NUMBER …

News Corp pulls out of BSkyB bid  —  BSkyB bid dropped by Rupert Murdoch's media group after pressure from the public and parliament  —  Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corporation bowed to pressure from the public and parliament on Wednesday and withdrew its bid to take full control of pay-TV company BSkyB.

At Least 10 Reportedly Dead After Explosions Rock Mumbai Markets  —  Three separate explosions tore through a business district in India's Mumbai Wednesday, leaving at least 10 people dead and over a dozens injured, NDTV.com reported.  The country's Home Ministry reportedly confirmed …

Raise Taxes or Granny Gets It  —  The liberal media's idea of a grown-up.  —  President Obama is pulling out the big guns and pointing them straight at your grandmother.  “Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3” …

California special election: Hahn cruises to solid victory  —  Democrat Janice Hahn defeated Republican Craig Huey in a bitterly contested Southern California special election marked by stinging attacks from both sides.  —  Hahn finished with a healthy 54.56 percent of the vote to Huey's 45.44 percent in Tuesday's vote.

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.

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 …

Missing 9-year-old B'klyn boy found dead: sources  —  The dismembered body of a missing 9-year-old Hasidic boy was found at two locations in Brooklyn and police this morning arrested a suspect in the slaying — who had the child's severed feet in his freezer, sources told The Post.

No Justice: Gladney Attackers Found Not Guilty  —  Hours ago a a St. Louis county jury found Elston McCowan and Perry Molens not guilty in the videotaped beating of Kenneth Gladney. … In the above excerpt, the Post-Dispatch did not bother seeking quotes from Gladney or other witnesses …

6 fake Democrats fall, setting stage for GOP recalls  —  Six fake Democratic candidates put up by the Republican Party to buy time for Republican state senators subject to recalls accomplished that job Tuesday, but none of them did the unexpected and knocked off a real Democrat.

Prison doctor gets paid for doing little or nothing  —  A California surgeon has mostly been locked out of his job: on paid leave, fired or fighting his termination.  When he does work, it's reviewing records.  He made $777,000 last year, including back pay.  —  A file photo of San Quentin State Prison.

Settled in Albany, Gay Marriage Draws Opposition  —  Laura L. Fotusky, the town clerk in Barker, N.Y., a small community north of Binghamton, looked at the calendar, looked at her Bible and knew what she had to do.  —  She drafted a letter to the Town Board and said she would resign on July 21 …

How to Shave a Bundle Off the Deficit: Spend Less on Nukes  —  We're planning to spend as much on nuclear weapons in the next decade as we did in the last on the Iraq War.  But toward what end?  —  Congress is in the midst of an intense debate over a massive defense spending bill …