Another politician forced to resign after sending naked pictures to woman he had online relationship with  —  A politician who emailed a woman nude photos of himself that were posted on a GOP activist's website has resigned and said he will consider all legal options to have the pictures taken down.

GOP ponders Perry: Savior or flop?  —  To a sizable slice of the Republican base, Rick Perry looks like the conservative, charismatic presidential candidate they have been waiting for in the 2012 campaign.  —  To many GOP elites, however, the Texan looks more like a general election flop in the making.

How John Boehner escaped disaster  —  In the midst of a rebellion from his own colleagues, John Boehner faced a big decision.  —  It was 10 p.m. last Thursday, the most stressful moment of his Speakership.  —  Boehner's debt-limit bill was short on votes, and the GOP leadership was forced …

Revealed: Operation Shady RAT  —  For the last few years, especially since the public revelation of Operation Aurora, the targeted successful intrusion into Google and two dozen other companies, I have often been asked by our worldwide customers if they should worry about such sophisticated …

D.B. Cooper Mystery: Alleged Niece Comes Forward  —  A woman claiming to be the niece of infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper has spoken to ABC News in an exclusive interview about her role in the recently re-ignited 40-year-old cold case that has haunted the FBI for years.

In debt deal, the triumph of the old Washington  —  To keep Democrats honest, the trigger would bring automatic cuts to some federal agency spending.  To keep Republicans honest, Democrats wanted to trigger automatic cuts to the Pentagon's budget.  —  By Sunday afternoon …

Tense moments at Common Purpose meet  —  Tensions between the White House and its liberal allies came to a head last night at the weekly Common Purpose meeting, where progressive leaders and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling had a tense exchange about the debt deal, two Democratic sources said.

After Debt Bill, Obama Takes Staffers Out for Burgers  —  Congressional leaders will get the pens President Barack Obama used to sign the debt ceiling bill, but White House staffers who logged long hours to secure the deal got lunch with the boss. … Mr. Obama treated a handful …

Minnesota School Faces Lawsuit Over Racist ‘Wigger Day’ … A Minnesota school district allowed a homecoming event called “Wigger Day,” during which students wore clothes and behaved in a manner that “from their perspective, mimicked black culture,” according to a federal class action lawsuit filed against the district on Friday.

Air Force Suspends Christian-Themed Ethics Training Program Over Bible Passages  —  The Air Force has suspended a course that was taught by chaplains for more than 20 years because the material included Bible passages.  —  The course, called “Christian Just War Theory” …

A Debt Deal Dissenter Explains His Vote  —  Here's why Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok) voted against the deal to raise the debt limit: … Coburn was one of two Republicans to vote in favor of the deficit reduction package put forth by President Obama's fiscal commission, as well as the bipartisan Gang of Six …

Senate Democrats' frustration with media begins to show in FAA fight with House  —  After an acrimonious, months-long debate over raising the national debt limit, a battle many Democrats think the Republicans won, Senate Democratic leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated over how the media reports …

More Americans Oppose Than Favor Debt Ceiling Agreement  —  Americans are twice as likely to think it will make economy worse rather than better  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are more likely to oppose (46%) than favor (39%) the agreement President Obama and Congress reached to raise the federal debt ceiling.

Republicans Attack Obama For Having A Birthday Party  —  Apparently, you're not allowed to do anything other than create jobs, if you're Barack Obama (Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs?).  The right wing is going apoplectic because there is a star-studded Chicago fund-raiser in conjunction with his 50th birthday.

Washington Chain Saw Massacre  —  Even before Emanuel Cleaver, the Democratic congressman from Missouri, called the debt deal “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich” and Nancy Pelosi tossed in a side of “Satan fries,” the whiff of sulfur was rising from the Capitol.

Gingrich denies fake follower allegation  —  Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond emails:  —  At no time has the campaign or Gingrich Communications employed an outside group to inflate the number of followers of @newtgingrich.  Any accusation of the kind is a lie, a smear and unsubstantiated.

Just Watch This of the Day: Why the Internet Exists, Reason #143,106: “Mariachi Connecticut performing for a beluga whale at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium.”  —  [thanks tracey!]

As the economy threatens collapse President Obama celebrates signing debt deal with lavish 50th birthday dinner (featuring Jennifer Hudson)  — President to host massive birthday dinner in Chicago this evening, featuring a star turn by singer Jennifer Hudson

The Debt Deal Makes It Nearly Impossible for the GOP Nominee to Pivot to the Center  —  With the passage of the debt limit increase package this week, many political activists and observers have undoubtedly heaved a sigh of relief and either headed off on vacation or refocused their attention on the …

Flying blind  —  ON DECEMBER 16th, 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama met in Chicago with key members of his economic team to discuss their response to the deteriorating economic situation.  Just two weeks earlier, the Bureau of Labour Statistics reported that 533,000 jobs had been lost in November …

Bachmann vs. Romney … - Walter Kirn: Catch-22 Isn't Joseph Heller's Best Book - Devastating Photos of the Famine in Somalia - Sex Selection Happens in the U.S., Too.  How Should Doctors Deal With Such Cases?  - When They Test Birth-Control Pills, Who Takes the Placebos?

‘Mission Accomplished’: Breivik Call To Cops  —  Anders Behring Breivik said “mission accomplished” during a call to police after he massacred 69 people on Utoya island, it has been reported.  —  According to the Verdens Gang (VG) daily, the 32-year-old right-wing extremist said: “Breivik.

Liberals hate the debt deal.  So what?  —  Your Browser DoesNot Support IFrames.  —  In the 48 hours or so since the parameters of the compromise legislation to raise the debt ceiling went public, liberals have made quite clear their dissatisfaction with the deal.

Santorum To Give Out Free Jelly At Ames  —  Rick Santorum may not have raised a lot of money or attracted much support in the polls, but his campaign for the presidency will be trying a new tack for votes at the Ames Iowa Straw Poll: Some delicious homemade peach jam.

The Second Great Contraction  —  print recommend Send link clip secure rights  —  CAMBRIDGE - Why is everyone still referring to the recent financial crisis as the “Great Recession”?  The term, after all, is predicated on a dangerous misdiagnosis of the problems that confront …

Chevy Volt: Still Not Selling  —  The July sales numbers are out and the Chevy Volt continues to electrify (get it?) the country.  GM sold ... 125 Volts last month!  —  Way back in March I made fun of the Volt for selling 281 units in February.  Turns out, February was a good month.

Gaming Out the Debt Deal: Will It Hurt Obamacare?  —  The emerging, if still tentative, conventional wisdom about the debt ceiling agreement is that Democrats may ultimately prefer the plan's automatic spending cuts to whatever cuts the new super-committee proposes.

The Scariest 4 Economic Graphs I've Seen This Year  —  This is a remarkable sequence of pictures from Calculated Risk showing that no major economic indicator has returned to its pre-crisis level.  In other words, after two years of recovery, not a single key broad measure of the economy has actually recovered.

New York State's Fracking Lawsuit Barred by Law, U.S. Says  —  The U.S. government said it will ask a judge to dismiss a New York lawsuit that seeks to force a fuller environmental review of how natural-gas extraction could affect 9 million water drinkers in the state.