Stress-related condition ‘incapacitates’ Bachmann; heavy pill use alleged  —  In late July 2010, Rep. Michele Bachmann's then-communications director, Dave Dziok, told his boss that he planned to take a new job with the public relations firm Edelman.  —  Dziok had worked for Bachmann …

Coburn rejoins Gang of Six, backs $3.7T deficit-reduction plan  —  Democratic and Republican senators are rallying behind a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan announced Tuesday morning by the five remaining members of the Gang of Six.  —  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who pulled out of the Gang …

The Road Not Taken  —  Over the past months, Republicans enjoyed enormous advantages.  Opinion polls showed that voters are eager to reduce the federal debt, and they want to do it mostly but not entirely through spending cuts.  —  There was a Democratic president eager to move to the center.

Phone-hacking: Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks face MPs - live  —  • Rupert Murdoch attacked at select committee  —  • ‘This is the most humble day of my life,’ Murdoch tells MPs  —  • News Corp chair was ‘asked to enter No 10 by back door’  —  • Rupert ‘had no knowledge at all of Taylor settlement’

Bachmann continues to surge  —  Michele Bachmann's momentum continues to build and she's taken first place by the smallest of margins on PPP's newest national Presidential poll.  21% of Republican primary voters say she's their top choice to 20% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Rick Perry …

Exclusive Bill Clinton Interview: I Would Use Constitutional Option To Raise Debt Ceiling And “Force The Courts To Stop Me”  —  Former President Bill Clinton says that he would invoke the so-called constitutional option to raise the nation's debt ceiling “without hesitation …

Man Attempts Attack on Murdoch During Hearing; Murdoch's Wife Lunges at Attacker  —  A Parliament hearing into hacking by News Corp. journalists erupted into chaos Tuesday as CEO Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a man with what appeared to be a pie.  —  Wendi Deng Murdoch, his wife …

Reddit Co-Founder Charged With Data Theft  —  Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old programmer and online political activist, was indicted Tuesday in Boston on charges that he stole over four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers.

Software Designer Reports Error in Anthony Trial  —  MIAMI — Assertions by the prosecution that Casey Anthony conducted extensive computer searches on the word “chloroform” were based on inaccurate data, a software designer who testified at the trial said Monday.

FAMiLY LEADER's Bob Vander Plaats Erupts In Laughter At Faggot Joke: 'That's Pretty Good'  —  The FAMiLY LEADER's 14-point marriage fidelity pledge has divided the GOP's 2012 presidential field and raised concerns among GOP operatives that the group and its president — three …

GOP Balancing Act  —  A balanced budget amendment is the wrong debt solution.  —  Republicans this week plan to force votes in the House and Senate on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The last time Congress voted on a BBA was in 1997.  It failed.  The first unsuccessful BBA was proposed in 1936.

NBC/WSJ poll: Majority says not raising debt ceiling would be problematic  —  A majority of Americans say that Congress failing to raise the debt ceiling would be a real and serious problem, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.  —  Fifty-five percent of all respondents …

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Raids Homes of Suspected ‘Anonymous’ Hackers  —  The FBI executed search warrants at the New York homes of three suspected members of notorious hacking group Anonymous early Tuesday morning, FoxNews.com has learned.  —  More than 10 FBI agents arrived at the Baldwin, N.Y. …

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate  —  OVERVIEW  —  While administration officials project an economic catastrophe if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2, many Americans do not see this deadline as a major problem.  Four-in-ten (40%) say that, from what they've read and heard …

Justice Department lawyers contradict FBI findings in anthrax case  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized Congress a decade ago.

Rick Perry Says He Has No Interest In VP Slot  —  Keywords:  —  Enlargephoto by: Bob Daemmrich  —  Gov. Rick Perry talks to the media about his possible presidential plans after a meeting of the Cash Management Commitee on July 19, 2011.  —  John Nance Garner, the colorful West Texas politician known as …

Harry Potter's Shylocky Goblins  —  I'm not a Harry Potter fan myself, but I did see the last movie this weekend and I was struck by how much J.K. Rowling's Goblins appear to be modeled after anti-Semitic stereotypes.  Aside from being small, miserly, and gifted with large schnozes, Goblins …

ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Advantage on Aiding the Middle Class Helps Keep Obama's Approval Afloat  —  Analysis By ABC News' Pollster Gary Langer:  —  Most Americans think the Republicans in Congress have got Wall Street and large corporations' backs, while President Obama prevails …

New Kids Paying Manhattan Rents … After years of dominating the Manhattan rental market, Wall Street dynamos are starting to make way for bloggers and tech geeks.  —  Media and technology workers are rapidly gaining ground as a percentage of the borough's renters—while the numbers …

Some federal workers more likely to die than lose jobs  —  Federal employees' job security is so great that workers in many agencies are more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired, a USA TODAY analysis finds.  —  Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs …

What if the President Told a Joke and Nobody Laughed?  —  Not possible, you say—not for the funniest person alive.  But it's true.  President Obama was on the White House lawn today, introducing former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordary as the new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.