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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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

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.

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 …