To Hell with You People  —  Look, I am past exhausted talking about liberal media bias.  It's real, we all know it, and people who deny it aren't even fooling themselves.  But some things just have to be pointed out.  This morning I watched the first 15 minutes of the Today Show.

Tea party groups to join forces in Wisconsin  —  (CNN) - Two of the nation's prominent tea party groups will merge for a Wisconsin bus tour in support of six Republican state senators facing recall elections.  —  Kicking off their four-day “Restoring Common Sense” tour Friday …

Pelosi: My Deficit Committee Members Will Oppose All Entitlement Benefit Cuts  —  The debt limit fight is over, but the fight over entitlement programs will continue for months.  In the weeks ahead, the leaders of both parties in both the House and Senate will name three members each …

Matt Damon Gives Libertarian Reporter a Satisfying Smackdown  —  A reporter from libertarian rag Reason interviewed notorious Massachusetts liberal actor Matt Damon at this year's Save Our Schools March and she tried to throw some business at him about teacher tenure and Ayn Randy incentive stuff and he wasn't having it.

Moody's, Fitch Affirm U.S. Ratings While Warning of Downgrades  —  Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed their AAA credit ratings for the U.S. while warning that the ratings could be downgraded if lawmakers fail to enact debt reduction measures and the economy weakens.

Beware of dangerous politicians  —  Are some political parties more dangerous than others?  —  James Gilligan makes it clear where he comes down on the issue.  Gilligan, a psychiatrist and professor at New York University, presents his new book, “Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others …

Moderate Senate Dems prepare a balanced budget amendment  —  One of the big victories by tea-party Republicans in the debt-ceiling measure signed into law Tuesday was securing a requirement that Congress vote later this year on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

The Hidden History of the Debt Limit Hijack: Democrats Started It  —  I have a piece in the American Prospect today on five turning points in the debt limit fight.  I think they're actually in descending order of importance, and the biggest one is right at the top - this deal is the function …

‘That Evil Hour ...’ … Don't know about anyone else, but I can totally relate to that, and not merely because of Thompson's gonzo sarcasm about O'Brien promising him a gig in American Samoa.  (The actual 1964 correspondence between Thompson and O'Brien is included, pp.

Rachel Maddow Extends MSNBC Contract (Exclusive) … MSNBC has extended Rachel Maddow's contract in a new multi-year deal that will keep the primetime host at the cable news network well beyond the 2012 presidential election.  —  The announcement is expected to come Tuesday at the network's portion …

Dow Plunges 265 Points  —  Stocks plunged amid worries over the state of the economy, pushing the market to its longest losing streak in nearly three years and sending the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to a 2011 closing low.  —  The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 265.87 points, or 2.2%, to 11866.62.

GOP winning the larger argument over government  —  In recent days, the debt ceiling deal — which just passed the Senate and is about to be signed by the President — has sparked a fair amount of handwringing among liberals who worry that the fight shows the left has lost the larger argument …

Debt deal could cut defense $900B over next decade  —  WASHINGTON — Cuts to defense spending in the debt reduction bill could total nearly $1 trillion over 10 years — more than double what President Obama had proposed earlier this year — and sap American military might worldwide, say analysts and members of Congress.

Palin: If we were terrorists Obama would be wanting to pal around with us  —  Sarah Palin says that she isn't just going to roll over and say to the left “hit me baby one more time, call me a terrorist again, call me a racist”, but rather she's going to call them out on their hypocrisy.

Where's Your Budget, Mr. President?  —  Ever since they fudged the numbers to pass ObamaCare, Democrats have abandoned credible spending plans.  —  During the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, President Obama reportedly warned Republican leaders not to call his bluff by sending him a bill without tax increases.

Bush lawyers advising Romney  —  Mitt Romney is mining the George W. Bush White House for legal talent to advise his presidential campaign — including a key person behind the controversial Justice Department memos authorizing waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Spain and Italy rush to quell fresh crisis  —  By Richard Milne in London and Victor Mallet in Madrid  —  Spanish and Italian politicians rushed to formulate a fresh response to the debt crisis engulfing their two countries as their borrowing costs hit new euro-era highs on Tuesday.

Who killed economic growth?  - Animated Video  —  Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits.  Richard Heinberg propose a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history.

Putting Americans Back to Work: President Obama Speaks on the Debt Compromise  —  Click here to see the video.  —  This afternoon, Congress approved a compromise to reduce the deficit and avert a default that would have devastated the economy.  Speaking from the Rose Garden …

Woodpecker-Saving Daughter Costs Mom $500, Possible Jail Time  —  “I've just always loved animals,” said Skylar Capo.  “I couldn't stand to watch it be eaten.”  —  Skylar couldn't find the woodpecker's mother, so she brought it to her own mother, Alison Capo, who agreed to take it home.

What Obama Forgot About Change in Washington  —  So after all that, what did we get, really?  — $91 billion a year in promised cuts for 10 years.  That's about 6% of last year's federal budget, and it is subject to approval by future Congresses.  This is evocative of what happened in 1981 …

Joe Lieberman Says U.S. Should Cut Social Security To Pay For Fighting ‘The Islamist Extremists’  —  This past April, right-wing war hawk John Bolton suggested during an interview on Fox News that the United States should cut Social Security and Medicare to finance the defense budget.

Iran Nuclear Program  —  Related articles, background features and opinions about this topic.  —  Sabotaging Iran's Nuclear Program  —  Mossad Behind Tehran Assassinations, Says Source  —  The funeral of Darioush Rezaei on July 24.  Mossad has been blamed for the killing.

‘Two And A Half Men’ Premiere To Feature Charlie Harper's Funeral, His Girlfriends Back & His House For Sale  —  UPDATE MONDAY: I've got more information on the shrouded-in-secrecy ninth-season premiere of CBS' comedy Two and a Half Men, which will feature the debut of new star Ashton Kutcher and which I now hear will be a two-parter.

For lesson in shared sacrifice, send Congress to boot camp  —  Editor's note: Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré commanded the military response to Hurricane Katrina.  He retired from the U.S. Army in 2008 after 37 years, sits on the board of the Stevenson Disaster Management Institute …

Debt Deal May Hit Medicare  —  Medicare beneficiaries escaped direct cuts in Washington's debt deal, but the agreement could eventually hit seniors and disabled Americans who rely on the program for medical coverage.  —  Health-industry lobbyists and policy experts say Sunday's deal between …

US STOCKS-Massive rout spells trouble for Wall Street  —  * S&P closes below 200-day moving average  —  * Dow off 2.2 pct, S&P off 2.6 pct, Nasdaq 2.8 pct  —  * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to close)  —  The S&P 500 turned negative for the year on Tuesday …