Tea Party Nation: The left's killed “a billion people”  —  THIENSVILLE, Wis. — The founder of Tea Party Nation claimed liberal ideology is responsible for “a billion” deaths over the last century during a raucous rally here Saturday in support of one of the six Republican state senators facing a recall election Tuesday.

What Happened to Obama?  —  Drew Westen is a professor of psychology at Emory University and the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”  —  Atlanta  —  IT was a blustery day in Washington on Jan. 20, 2009, as it often seems to be on the day of a presidential inauguration.

S&P executive says it could take over a decade to restore US credit rating  —  John Chambers, the chairman of Standard & Poor's sovereign debt ratings, on Sunday estimated that it could take between 9 and 18 years for the nation to regain its AAA credit rating.

The worst thing the GOP has ever done?  —  I was on a radio show recently talking about the debt-ceiling hostage standoff and was asked whether this was the worst thing Republicans — or any major party, really — have ever done.  The more I think about it, the more the question resonates with me.

Sunday Reflection: Why the GOP should give Obama the higher taxes he wants  —  Well, the debt deal is behind us, but it's clear that the White House wants more taxes.  Instead of fighting this head-on, the GOP might want to think about future ways of giving President Obama what he says he wants.

London riots: Dozens injured after Tottenham violence  —  Clasford Stirling, a resident of Tottenham for 32 years, said the area looked like a battlefield  —  More than 40 people have been arrested after rioting saw police attacked, buildings looted and vehicles set alight in Tottenham, north London.

Cokie Roberts on Downgrade: ‘The Problem That We Have Here is the Constitution’  —  ABC's Cokie Roberts said something on national television Sunday that made her colleague George Will shake his head on camera.  —  During a “This Week” discussion about the recent credit rating downgrade …

Pressing All the Buttons for a Panic Attack  —  BRADLEY ALFORD, a money manager in Atlanta, just hit the panic button.  —  No, really.  Mr. Alford just hit the key on his computer that initiates the Wall Street equivalent of the nuclear option: Sell everything.

Rick Perry: In Less Than Three Years, America Has Forgotten God, Needs to Repent  —  Apparently, in the 930 days since Barack Obama became president, the United States has slipped into a dangerous agnosticism, if not outright atheism. … When Christian right-wingers say that America has …

Paul Ryan Signals Willingness To Raise Revenues, Shifting Positions Following Downgrade  —  House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said he is open to revenue increases as part of a deal to reduce the deficit today, seemingly shifting positions from the hardline opposition his party has maintained against revenue growth.

If we are to survive the looming catastrophe, we need to face the truth  —  The idea that a capitalist economy can support a socialist welfare state is collapsing before our eyes, says Janet Daley.  —  Getting it right: the Tea Party recognised where America's policies were heading

Timothy Geithner to stay at Treasury  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will stay at his post through the fall and President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, the Treasury Department announced Sunday.  —  “Secretary Geithner has let the president know that he plans to stay …

Downgrade Blues  —  BARACK OBAMA must wonder sometimes if his luck has run out.  —  Maybe he used it all up in 2008.  —  “Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”  —  “When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn't say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow,’ ” he told an audience at a Chicago fund-raiser on Wednesday.

In this grave crisis, the world's leaders are terrifyingly out of their depth  —  Ineffectual: an emergency telephone conference among the G7 finance ministers feels as relevant as a Bourbon family get-together in the summer of 1789  —  Certain years have gone down in history as great global turning points …