Top Items:

Poll: 71% shun GOP handling of debt crisis — CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto. — Americans are unimpressed with their political leaders' handling of the debt ceiling crisis, with a new CBS News poll showing …
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GOP turns hard right on debt — Turning right with a vengeance, Republicans will bring to the House floor Tuesday a newly revised debt-ceiling bill that is remarkable for its total absence of compromise at this late date, two weeks before the threat of default.

Moody's suggests U.S. eliminates debt ceiling — * Says ceiling brings periodic uncertainty to bond holders — * Suggests example of Chile in curbing debt — Ratings agency Moody's on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders.
Discussion:
CNN

Wonkbook: A three-part deal on the debt ceiling? — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell listens to a question while addressing the media on the budget talks. (Mark Wilson - GETTY IMAGES) We seem to be coming closer to a deal on the debt ceiling. It begins with the McConnell plan …
Discussion:
Rortybomb, FrumForum, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Volokh Conspiracy and Firedoglake


Congress tees up crucial votes on debt limit — A bipartisan effort in the Senate to allow President Obama to raise the federal debt ceiling in exchange for about $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years gained momentum Sunday, as leaders agreed they would have to act in the next two weeks …

The Republican Retreat — In the negotiations over the debt ceiling, the Republican Party had everything mapped out except the endgame. — For months, Republican leaders used all the tools at their disposal — the anti-spending intensity of their base, the White House's desire for a deal …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Post

No one likes the GOP's reckless tactics
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Balloon Juice

Budget experts raise concerns over McConnell debt-limit fallback plan
Discussion:
The Politico, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and The Moderate Voice


News and Its Critics — A tabloid's excesses don't tarnish thousands of other journalists. — When News Corp. and CEO Rupert Murdoch secured enough shares to buy Dow Jones & Co. four years ago, these columns welcomed our new owner and promised to stand by the same standards and principles we always had.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Politico, The Wire, Guardian, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Company Town, Gawker, Mediaite, Bloomberg, Hot Air, Sadly, No!, Outside the Beltway, TVNewser, Felix Salmon, Washington Post, The Hill, Balloon Juice, ThinkProgress and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »
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Troubles That Money Can't Dispel — “Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. But some mistakes don't stay buried, no matter how much money you throw at them. — Time and again in the United States and elsewhere, Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation has used blunt force spending …
Discussion:
BBC, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Guardian, The Startup Economy, The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Truthdig, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather, Paul Krugman, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Booman Tribune, Harry's Place, The Political Carnival, PolitickerNY and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »


Second top Scotland Yard official in 2 days resigns
Discussion:
Financial Times and The Reaction

Wall Street Journal hits back over phone-hacking scandal
Discussion:
News Desk, Sydney Morning Herald, The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog News and Mercury Rising, more at Mediagazer »

The Slow, Painful Coming Death Of The Independent, Conservative Blogosphere — Way, way back in 2001, when I got started in the blogosphere, the Right side of the blogosphere was bigger and more influential than the Left. Why? Well, in American politics, the energy tends to be with the party that's out of power.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, Riehl World View, American Power, Althouse and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Video of a brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges — Warning, the video below is extremely graphic in nature. If you choose to watch this video, you will see the Taliban brutally execute more than a dozen bound Pakistani policemen. The Taliban then proceed to pump rounds into those who survived the initial firing.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
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Taliban Video Shows Execution of 16 Pakistanis
Discussion:
FrumForum


Coburn of Oklahoma to Offer $9 Trillion Budget-Cut Plan to Spur Debt Talks — Republican Senator Tom Coburn said he will unveil a plan tomorrow that would cut $9 trillion from the federal budget over the next 10 years in an effort to curb spending and avoid a default on U.S. debt.
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid and Jared Bernstein
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Coburn to unveil $9T deficit-reduction plan — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Sunday the federal government can save $1 trillion though tax reform, a proposal that will put him at odds with some GOP colleagues. — Coburn plans to unveil a $9 trillion deficit-reduction package Monday …
Discussion:
Hot Air


Chance for quick budget deal fades — Timing of special session is in doubt as GOP legislative leaders try to line up enough votes to end state shutdown. — Four days after the announcement of a budget deal, fresh signs emerged Sunday that the agreement is not coming together as first hoped …
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Minnesota shutdown drags on
Discussion:
Minnesota Public Radio and FrumForum

A Big Week for the New Consumer Agency — This is a big week for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Today, the President will announce his intent to nominate Richard Cordray to serve as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Discussion:
Washington Wire and Executive Gov

Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate — Some argue the U.S. economy can bear higher pre-Reagan tax rates. But those rates applied to a much smaller fraction of taxpayers than what we're headed for without spending cuts. — President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate …
Discussion:
The Glittering Eye


Phone Hacking: John Yates ‘to be suspended’ over Neil Wallis links — One of Scotland Yard's most senior officers, John Yates, is likely to be suspended on Monday pending an investigation over the phone hacking scandal and his links to Neil Wallis, sources have told The Daily Telegraph.
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Magazine, Guardian, The Wire, Guy Fawkes' blog and News: News blog, more at Mediagazer »
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Robert Samuelson Wants Us to Follow the Example of a Country With 7 Years of Double-Digit Unemployment — Yes, I am serious. In his column today Samuelson holds up Latvia as the model for the United States to follow. The unemployment rate in Latvia is currently close to 20 percent.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman