Rick Perry calls global warming an unproven, costly theory  —  The Texas governor says scientists have ‘manipulated data’ to win research dollars.  —  Reporting from Bedford, N.H.— Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday reaffirmed his view that global warming is an unproven scientific theory …

U.S. Inquiry Eyes S.&P. Ratings of Mortgages  —  The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation's largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed …

Score one for the professional left  —  Greg Sargent has a nice take on the e-mail an Obama campaign official sent mocking Paul Krugman and the “firebaggers.”  But whenever I read these periodic eruptions about “the professional left,” my main thought is: if I were a member of the professional left, I would be stoked.

New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy  —  Ratings on Afghanistan and foreign affairs have also declined  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new low of 26% of Americans approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since Gallup last measured it in mid …

Perry's Public Service  —  Behold, a hard-money Texas politician.  —  All the world's right-thinkers are denouncing Rick Perry for suggesting this week that Texans would get “pretty ugly” with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if he guns the money supply any more between now and the 2012 election.

West: I'll lead you off ‘plantation’  —  Rep. Allen West says he is a “modern-day Harriet Tubman” who wants to lead black voters away from the “plantation” of the Democratic Party.  —  There is a “21st century plantation” of African-American voters unwaveringly supporting Democrats …

Presidential vacations: How does Obama compare?  —  President Obama and his family will be staying at the 28-acre Blue Heron Farm in Martha's Vineyard.  (Ivy Ashe for the Vineyard Gazette)  —  Following his three-day bus tour to promote his economic agenda — and not to mention …

Gov. John Kasich asks union leaders to compromise on Senate Bill 5; union group says repeal it, then we'll talk  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich backtracked on Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday, asking union leaders to negotiate a compromise on the collective bargaining law he championed and end efforts to repeal it.

Liveblog: Coordinated terror attacks near Egyptian border  —  This is a liveblog of the events currently going on near the Egyptian border in the area of Eilat.  There are three events.  —  1. ‘Palestinian’ terrorists shot at an Egged bus - number 392 - from Beer Sheva to Eilat.

Hispanic Democrats Set Sights on New Texas Seat  —  DALLAS—A newly drawn Central Texas congressional district is creating tensions about who best can serve its mostly Hispanic residents—one of their own, or a long-time congressman who happens to be white.  —  As a result of redistricting led …

Coburn: Good thing I can't pack a gun  —  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) ripped his colleagues during a tour of northeast Oklahoma, calling them “career elitists,” “cowards” and said, “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”  —  Coburn's gun-on-the- floor comment comes less …

Fed Eyes European Banks  —  Regulators Scrutinize Ability of Institutions' U.S. Units to Fund Themselves  —  Federal and state regulators, signaling their growing worry that Europe's debt crisis could spill into the U.S. banking system, are intensifying their scrutiny of the U.S. arms …

Bachmann Staffer Arrested for Terrorism in Uganda in 2006  —  The charges were dropped after he spent more than a month in prison.  Now he's rallying Bachmann's faith-based support and prepping for a movie about his ordeal.  —  Updated 6:35 p.m.  —  The evangelical organizer …

AFL-CIO: Labor will stand by Obama  —  Organized labor won't sit out President Obama's reelection campaign and let a Republican win the presidency, the AFL-CIO's political director said Wednesday.  —  Despite the frustration labor activists have expressed toward the administration for the deals …

Underdog Marshall jabs Amodei in 2nd Congressional District debate  —  RENO — Democrat Kate Marshall on Wednesday continued to hammer Republican Mark Amodei as someone who killed jobs as a legislator and who would reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits should he win Sept. 13's special election for Congressional District 2.

Bachmann: I'll bring back $2 gas  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — President Michele Bachmann has a promise: $2 gas.  —  “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again,” Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South Carolina.  “That will happen.”

‘NUTS!’  — Allen West's Strange, One-Word Response To Being Called Out For Ties To Islamophobes  —  Earlier this month, a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent Rep. Allen West (R-FL) a letter asking him to cut off ties with leading anti-Muslim activists …

O'Donnell walks out of CNN interview  —  (CNN) - Christine O'Donnell, the former Delaware GOP Senate candidate, walked off the set of CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight” Wednesday when asked about her views on sexual abstinence and gay marriage.  —  “I'm not talking about policies.

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?  —  A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals.  —  Imagine a world in which a man …