U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets  —  CAIRO — American commandos carried out raids on Saturday in two far-flung African countries in a powerful flex of military muscle aimed at capturing fugitive terrorist suspects.  Members of a Navy SEAL team emerged before dawn …

A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning  —  WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy.  Their push to repeal …

Frankenstein Goes to Congress  —  Our question for today is: Why don't the Republicans just throw in the towel?  Really, this is not going well for anybody.  —  Lots of reasons.  There's Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the General Patton of the government shutdown.

Pentagon to recall most furloughed workers, Hagel says  —  The Pentagon will recall most of its furloughed civilian workers in the coming days, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Saturday, in a move that could substantially ease the impact of the government shutdown on the federal workforce.

The rise of the New Confederacy  —  It took on new force with fears of the federal government in Washington interfering with their cherished way of life.  It gathered steam with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.  And it all came into full flower when shore batteries fired on Fort Sumter.

Welcome to Ted Cruz's Thunderdome  —  AN ape sits where Abe sat.  —  The year is 2084, in the capital of the land formerly called North America.  —  The peeling columns of the Lincoln Memorial, and Abe's majestic head, elegant hands and big feet are partially submerged in sludge.

Shutdown's roots lie in deeply embedded divisions in America's politics  —  The government shutdown did not happen by accident.  It is the latest manifestation — an extreme one by any measure — of divisions long in the making and now deeply embedded in the country's politics.

Cuccinelli shuns Cruz limelight  —  RICHMOND, Va.— That was awkward.  —  In the clearest sign yet of the potent effect of the government shutdown on the Virginia governor's race, Republican Ken Cuccinelli avoided being photographed with Ted Cruz at a gala they headlined here Saturday night …

NYT reporter: Obama admin “most closed, control-freak administration I've ever covered”  —  Remember when the media rushed to talk about transparency in the Barack Obama “Hope and Change” era?  Good times, good times.  Leonard Downie, who once worked as the executive editor of the Washington Post …

How I'm going to force PM to hold the referendum on Europe NOW: An incendiary intervention on Euro vote by leading Cameron rebel Adam Afriyie  —  I believe there should be an EU referendum before the next General Election.  It's in our national interest to resolve this issue as soon as possible …

Lew Warns of Dangers If Borrowing Limit Not Raised  —  Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says it will be “dangerous” and “reckless” for Congress to pass an October deadline without raising the government's borrowing limit.  —  Lew said Sunday that on Oct. 17 the government will lose the capacity …

George Will: Supreme Court can rescue another freedom in a campaign cash case  —  The Supreme Court must feel as though it is plowing an ocean as it repeatedly reminds Congress that the anodyne label “campaign finance reform” can encompass a multitude of sins.

TEXT OF OBAMA'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE AP  —  President Barack Obama conducted an interview Friday with AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace that covered a wide range of topics - the government shutdown, the debt ceiling, health care, foreign affairs and the name of Washington's professional football team.

Experts: Arizona only state to halt welfare checks during shutdown  —  FONT:  —  Policy experts say Arizona appears to be the only state in the nation so far to have withheld welfare checks because of the federal shutdown, a move key state lawmakers want Gov. Jan Brewer to reverse.