Latest debt deal under fire  —  White House debt talks were described at the “fish-or-cut-bait” stage Thursday night, as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought to keep alive an estimated $3 trillion deficit-reduction package already taking fire from the left and right.

CNN Poll: Perry near the top in GOP nomination race  —  Washington (CNN) - As Texas Gov. Rick Perry comes closer and closer to jumping into the race for the White House, he's also close to the top of a new national survey in the battle for the GOP presidential nomination.

Justice Department Prepares Subpoenas in News Corp. Inquiry  —  The U.S. Justice Department is preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations into News Corp. relating to alleged foreign bribery and alleged hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims, according to a government official.

The Lesser Depression  —  These are interesting times — and I mean that in the worst way.  Right now we're looking at not one but two looming crises, either of which could produce a global disaster.  In the United States, right-wing fanatics in Congress may block a necessary rise in the debt ceiling …

Pentagon to Certify It is Ready to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  Top defense officials plan to certify Friday that the Pentagon is ready to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military, officials said, a landmark moment after almost two decades of controversy.

Pritzker turns heat lamps on striking Hyatt workers  —  It was already approaching 100° at 8 a.m. when I arrived at the Park Hyatt where, after 22 months of stalled negotiations, hotel workers were staging a one-day picket to protest the hotel chain's intolerable treatment of their housekeeping staff.

Rove: Palin advisers push non-traditional campaign  —  Karl Rove, on whether Sarah Palin can wage a non-conventional campaign. … Rove then said she was ignoring the “niceties” at “her own peril”.  —  Again, I link to Scott Conroy's piece on Iowa today, where he notes that the old niceties might not mean as much in Iowa anymore.

Read My Lips: No New Taxes  —  THE Taxpayer Protection Pledge has received increased attention as the Aug. 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling approaches.  My organization, Americans for Tax Reform, created the pledge in 1986 as a simple, written commitment by a candidate or elected official …

Weiner in therapy; says hard part will be convincing Hillary Clinton he's recovered  —  Forget his wife — Anthony Weiner has an even bigger problem on his hands: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.  —  The horndog ex-House member from Queens is telling friends that while he's finally started therapy …

ABC Sports says Pawlenty violated copyright with ‘Miracle on Ice’ footage  —  ABC Sports may slap presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty with a cease-and-desist letter for improperly using its footage in a political advertisement, a company official told The Des Moines Register today.

Oh my: CCB bill gets 2-1 approval among adults in CNN poll  —  Tina touched on this in the previous post, but it's important enough to look into the numbers.  Harry Reid might consider the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act the worst piece of legislation in the history of, well, legislation …

G.O.P. Governors Swing Right, Leaving Voters Behind  —  If the states are laboratories of democracy, then the Republican Party's research pipeline has run dry.  Moderate Republican governors, a thriving species before last year's elections, are all but extinct.

U.N. plan sees unity government in post-Gaddafi Libya  —  (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy will seek to persuade warring parties in Libya to accept a plan that envisages a ceasefire and a power-sharing government - but with no role for Muammar Gaddafi, a European diplomat said.

Pentagon mulls NATO request for more U.S. drones in Libya campaign  —  A U.S. official says sending more Predator drones would require moving them from war zones, and counter-terrorism operations elsewhere, and that some U.S. officials and commanders oppose the move.

Greece defaults  —  The latest Greek bailout is done — the official statement is here — and it involves Greece going into “selective default,” which is, yes, a kind of default.  —  I can't remember a major financial story which has been covered so inadequately by the financial press.

Emmett Tyrrell Bachmann and the Pope  —  WASHINGTON — It seems Rep. Michele Bachmann is under increased scrutiny for her religious views, even as she climbs ever higher in the presidential polls.  With tea party support, she is now No. 2 in the Republican polls even though she has been in the race for only a short time.

Don't miss it: John Kerry backs gay marriage  —  What if John Kerry came out for gay marriage and nobody noticed?  —  That's essentially what the Boston Globe revealed on Friday when it reported that the Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee first told the paper …