ALEXIS GARCIA COVERS THE SMART GIRL POLITICS SUMMIT.

AT AMAZON, The Prisoner: The Complete Series. $46.99.

BILL QUICK NOW HAS ALL HIS BOOKS ONLINE, in various E-reader formats, all DRM-free. Check it out!

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE PUNK becoming a trend?

ED MORRISSEY: Guess What Happened To That “Obama Recovery.”

SENATE DEBT DEAL? Reid, McConnell endorse debt deal, will present to rank-and-file Monday.

UPDATE: Boehner’s “sell piece.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Look at this chart.

MORE: Much more here.

MICHAEL BARONE: GOP wins when the fight is over cuts not more taxes. “Democrats went into this fight with a precedent in mind, the budget fight between President Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995-96. The conventional wisdom is that Clinton won that fight and Republicans lost. That’s not quite right: After shifting to noticeably more moderate policies, Clinton was re-elected in 1996, but Republicans lost few House seats and held onto their congressional majorities at the same time. The difference this time is that Obama has not shifted policies noticeably, but instead has seemed to position himself as a complainer on the sidelines, asking voters to call their congressman. He has presented no specific plan of his own.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, IRAQ WOULD BE GROWING MORE, NOT LESS, VIOLENT: And they were right! “Iraq is more dangerous than it was just a year ago, after a surge in bombings, assassinations and violence by Shi’ite militias, according to a report released today. In his quarterly review to Congress, a top government adviser accused the U.S. military of glossing over the issue, just months before soldiers are due to leave the country.”

ALEXIS GARCIA INTERVIEWS HERMAN CAIN. Cain predicts he’ll finish at least 3d in the Ames straw poll.

AT DILBERT, THOUGHTS ON DISASTER PREPARATION:

FOR REAL SECURITY, TRY A BRASS KEY IN THE HANDS OF SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST: Researchers Say Vulnerabilities Could Let Hackers Spring Prisoners From Cells. “Vulnerabilities in electronic systems that control prison doors could allow hackers or others to spring prisoners from their jail cells, according to researchers. Some of the same vulnerabilities that the Stuxnet superworm used to sabotage centrifuges at a nuclear plant in Iran exist in the country’s top high-security prisons, according to security consultant and engineer John Strauchs, who plans to discuss the issue and demonstrate an exploit against the systems at the DefCon hacker conference next week in Las Vegas.”

SALENA ZITO: The White House’s Over-The-Cliff Moment: “When historians look back on this moment in American politics, they may wonder why the White House failed to focus on the consuming issue of the time: the economy — and, in particular, jobs. . . . In June, the nation’s unemployment rate rose for a third straight month, as employers added only 18,000 workers and corporate earnings languished. Anyone buying basic groceries can feel the pinch of consumer prices rising to offset higher commodity costs, so buying little beyond what you absolutely need has become the norm. President Barack Obama’s support has eroded among the very independent voters who helped him sweep into office. That drop-off is based on his inability to lead on numerous issues, but most importantly on the economy.”

BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY:

So… I’ve been reading Gawker. Y’know Gawker? Celebrities, sex, internet videos, gossip, that kind of shit. But Gawker has apparently gotten into politics more than I remember, and HOLY SH*T is the Left not dealing with the Tea Party thing very well.

I mean, I expect this kind of sh*t from Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and the New York Times (which says a thing or two about where the New York Times has gone in the last few decades). But the f*cks at Gawker, who snark at Angelina Jolie, want to put the Tea Party people on trial for Fiscal Terrorism (for not raising the debt ceiling). And apparently, by not supporting Pell Grants, you hate poor people, as opposed to realizing that government spending contributes to the higher education bubble (yes, I know the idea of government contributing to the higher education bubble doesn’t compute to these people, but seriously).

If they ever get around to rolling back the entitlement state, holy f*cking sh*t is it going to get ugly.

Wisconsin writ large.

FASTER, PLEASE: “Terrapower, a startup funded in part by Nathan Myhrvold and Bill Gates, is moving closer to building a new type of nuclear reactor called a traveling wave reactor that runs on an abundant form of uranium. The company sees it as a possible alternative to fusion reactors, which are also valued for their potential to produce power from a nearly inexhaustible source of fuel.”

JAMES POULOS: Only Libertarianism Can Save The GOP Now.

AT AMAZON, it’s the computer outlet sale.

REASON TV: What We Saw At The Save Our Schools Rally In Washington, DC.

CRAZY STUPID LOVE scores good reviews from Carl Kozlowski and Kurt Loder.

Plus, Ed Morrissey reviews Cowboys and Aliens.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Hidden Costs Of Medical Student Debt.

The acceptance of student indebtedness as the “norm” of medical school has provided a kind of carte blanche for robust tuition increases. Median yearly tuition at public medical schools is $29,000, and at private institutions it is $47,000 — increases from two decades earlier of over 312 percent and 165 percent, respectively. While some may counter that future doctors can well afford such increases and loans, the rising debt load has had and will have repercussions on patients, particularly those in greatest need.

Paying so much up front has transformed an education that was once a path to public service into a significant financial investment that needs to yield returns.

Well, yes.

UPDATE: Link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

SO IS THERE ANYONE IN MEXICO WHO ISN’T GETTING GUNS COURTESY OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT? ATFE Investigates U.S. Army’s Lost AK-74s: I Feel So Much Better Now.