All Things Considered

The U.S. government hit the debt ceiling today. This makes life very complicated for the Treasury Department, which now needs to shuffle money around to pay the bills.

But originally, as it turns out, the debt ceiling was supposed to make things easier. A hundred years ago, it seemed so straightforward.

When Congress wanted to spend, it spent. And if it needed to borrow, it approved the sale of a bunch of Treasury bonds. Congress would consider each new bond individually.

When Chelsea Handler's last book, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, was released in 2010, the comedian-turned-writer accomplished something very rare. She had three books on the best seller list, all at the same time. Not only that, she beat Karl Rove to the top of the list.

"When we found out that I came in one and he came in two," Handler recalls, "my sister said — she called me and she said — do you think Karl Rove is sitting in his study in his boxer shorts thinking, 'Who the hell is Chelsea Handler?'"

International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was denied bail Monday after an appearance in a New York City courtroom on sexual assault charges. His lawyers argued he was not a flight risk, but prosecutors said Strauss-Kahn had little motivation to return to court to answer the charges. The IMF issued a statement saying the incident won't have any impact on bailout decisions that need to be made in coming days.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it significantly easier for police to force their way into a home without a warrant. On Monday, the court, by an 8-1 vote, upheld the warrantless search of an apartment after police smelled marijuana and feared that those inside were destroying incriminating evidence.

NATO kept up its bombing campaign against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi over the weekend, hitting missile launchers and other targets around Tripoli. The rebels say they welcome military support, but they would like something more: formal diplomatic recognition for their transitional government.

Some special guests flew in recently for the rebels' weekly pep rally in Benghazi — delegates from areas of western Libya that are still under Gadhafi's control. The delegates came to take their seats in the 30-seat National Transitional Council — a kind of proto-parliament.