Government shutdown: John Boehner's private fight for Hill health subsidies  —  With the federal government nearing shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner stood on the House floor Monday and called on his colleagues to vote for a bill banning a “so-called exemption” that lawmakers and staffers receive for their health insurance.

McCain: ‘Apocalypse is upon us’ (Video)  —  The Department of Defense released a statement early Tuesday that shocked college sports fans.  The department said that all athletic competitions at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies would be postponed for as long as the government remained closed.

The Saddest Paragraph You'll Read About the Government Shutdown Today  —  With NIH furloughs, children with cancer are being turned away from clinical trials.  —  You've heard about the Pandacam, the closed monuments and national parks, and the furloughed federal workers.

Perry: Wife Misspoke About Abortion  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry, right, and his wife, Anita, arrive for his state of the state address in the house chambers at the state capitol, on, Jan. 29, 2013, in Austin, Texas.  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry today owned up to an “oops” moment that wasn't even his.

Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job  —  “Many of them seem loaded,” the liberal congressman says, charging his GOP colleagues smelled like alcohol  —  In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated …

Sebelius: “Give Us the Same Slack You Give Apple”  —  A number of people trying to access HealthCare.gov or equivalent state level marketplaces this morning are experiencing technical difficulties.  This will not be surprising to devoted Moneybox readers, and at a briefing I attended yesterday …

Two Russians Walk Into a Parliamentary Crisis...  What is a president in a presidential constitutional republic to do when faced with an intransigent, bull-headed faction among his people's representatives?  —  Well, Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first democratically elected president …

US Government Shutdown And Science: Curiosity Goes To Sleep, Flu Monitoring Goes Offline [UPDATE]  —  Note: this article has been updated with new information about the Mars Curiosity rover.  —  With no budget compromise on the immediate horizon, the U.S. government looks to be headed for shutdown starting on Tuesday.

Ted Cruz May Be Unwittingly Boosting Rand Paul's Brand  —  Cruz has redefined extremism in the Republican Party to such an extent that Paul doesn't come across as such a dangerous fringe candidate anymore.  —  WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 30: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) leaves a Republican Senate caucus meeting …

Unskewing Obama's Sexuality  —  Dean Chambers, the man who helped “unskew” polls during the 2012 presidential campaign to show Mitt Romney was actually leading, now says President Obama is gay.  —  “I think Sullivan is right, but not for the right reason.  I do believe that Barack Obama is in fact our first gay president.

Is Republican Intransigence Reasonable?  —  Tyler Cowen on the politics of the looming government shutdown: … This is as good a summary as I've seen of the basic strategy being pursued by the savvier of what you might call the House Intransigents.  Not by all of them, however: Pace Cowen …

Court grants eight cases  —  The Supreme Court, returning from its summer recess, on Tuesday granted review of eight new cases, including one involving a long-running copyright dispute in Hollywood over the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated 1980 movie, Raging Bull, about the life of boxer Jake LaMotta.

Biden Accidentally Shows Press Cover of Classified Document  —  Vice President Joe Biden appeared Monday to show the cover of a codeword-classified document to reporters during a meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  —  The contents of the document …

Ben Carson: ‘I had my first encounter with the IRS’ after challenging Obama  —  At an event in Birmingham, Ala. Monday night, former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson revealed that he had received a visit from the Internal Revenue Service following his much-noted remarks at a National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year.