Whitehouse Reveals Smoking Gun of White House Claiming Not to Be Bound by Any Law  —  Damn, I love me some Sheldon Whitehouse.  He, like, actually knows the law.  And he, like, is willing to actually read the stuff he is exercising oversight over.  —  Which is why this speech he gave today …

Peggy Noonan Admits GOP Is Controlled By Fundies, "Idiots"  —  Nooner, who's apparently been in a coma for the past 30 years, is shocked, shocked! to find that the GOP's base is a bunch of [flat-earther homophobic] religious bigots. … And why would that be? … You don't say!  Goodness, who let them in?

Romney Spokesman Won't Say If Atheists Have Place In America  —  A spokesman for the Mitt Romney campaign is thus far refusing to say whether Romney sees any positive role in America for atheists and other non-believers, after Election Central inquired about the topic yesterday

Huckabee Surges, Obama Gains in Iowa  —  The new NEWSWEEK poll shows the former Arkansas governor now has a two-to-one lead over Romney, while Barack improves against Hillary.  —  Yana Paskova / Getty Images  —  Looking Up: Huckabee now seems unstoppable in the Iowa caucuses

Pelosi calls Cheney swipe undignified  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says a swipe that Vice President Cheney took at Democratic House leaders is "beneath the dignity of his office."  —  Capitol Hill was abuzz Thursday with discussion of the vice president's assertion in an interview …

Democrats Call for Inquiry in Destruction of Tapes by C.I.A.  —  Angry Democratic lawmakers called for investigations today into the Central Intelligence Agency's destruction in 2005 of at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody.

O'Reilly: Progressive blog readers = 'devil worshippers.'  —  On Fox News yesterday, Bill O'Reilly let loose on "far-left websites" like DailyKos, stating, "If you read these far-left websites, you're a devil worshipper.  You are."  O'Reilly's ombudsman responded, "As a journalist, you know better than that."

The Mandate Muddle  —  Imagine this: It's the summer of 2009, and President Barack Obama is about to unveil his plan for universal health care.  But his health policy experts have done the math, and they've concluded that the plan really needs to include a requirement that everyone have health insurance — a so-called mandate.

Steynophobia  —  Late yesterday I stumbled across an article about a "human rights complaint" filed by the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) against Maclean's, Canada's most widely-read news magazine, for running a "flagrantly Islamophobic" excerpt from Mark Steyn's book, America Alone.

Islam's Silent Moderates  —  The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with 100 stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day.  (Koran 24:2)  —  IN the last few weeks …

Site of Barack-Oprah event isn't unionized  —  MANCHESTER - Barack Obama's presidential campaign deeply concerned organized labor by booking its big rally Sunday with superstar Oprah Winfrey at the Verizon Wireless Arena.  —  A union representing organized stage hands have been trying unsuccessfully …

Why I won't do Spanish debate  —  I declined the invitation to participate in the Spanish-language Republican presidential debate on Sunday because I do not want to endorse the further Balkanization of American political life.  —  The debate is being sponsored by Univisión …

Imam's daughter in hiding after her conversion to Christianity sparked death threats  —  The daughter of a British imam is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity.  —  The 31-year-old, whose father is the leader of a mosque in Lancashire …

IN MY OBJECTIVE OPINION  —  Iowahawk Guest Political Analysis  —  By Hugh Hewitt  —  In the annals of American history there are but a handful of defining, epochal speeches.  —  Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  —  Roosevelt's stirring Inaugural reassurance that "all we have to fear is fear Itself."