Blagojevich snubs Senate, taps Burris for seat  —  In defiance of U.S. senators who said they would not seat his pick, Gov. Rod Blagojevich today selected former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to succeed President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate.  —  Blagojevich praised Burris for his …

A Fatah Friend Writes: I'm Supporting the Israeli Air Force  —  It's a strange world, but there you have it.  I've been talking to friends of mine, former Palestinian Authority intelligence officials (ejected from power by the Hamas coup), and they tell me that not only are they rooting …

‘Magic Negro’ flap might help Saltsman  —  The controversy surrounding a comedy CD distributed by Republican National Committee chair candidate Chip Saltsman has not torpedoed his bid and might have inadvertently helped it.  —  Four days after news broke that the former Tennessee GOP chairman …

ZBIG SMACKS DOWN MORNIN' JOE  —  Zbig to Joe: “You have a such stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on it's almost embarrassing to listen to you.”

McKinney relief boat rammed by Israeli navy  —  A boat carrying international peace activists, including former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip sailed back into a Lebanese port on Tuesday after being turned back and damaged by the Israeli navy, organizers of the trip said.

2008 Weblog Awards Finalists  —  Here is a complete list of the finalists for The 2008 Weblog Awards.  Finalists badges (hosted by Imageshack) will be available Wednesday.  Voting is scheduled to begin on January 5, 2009.  —  Please note that the names of the Technorati Autority categories have changed …

Canvassing Board nudges Franken's lead up to 50  —  The State Canvassing Board today made changes to a handful of withdrawn challenges in the U.S. Senate recount battle and gave DFL challenger Al Franken a net gain of four votes, nudging his unofficial lead to 50.

Breaking Up Is Harder to Do After Housing Fall  —  When Marci Needle and her husband began to contemplate divorce in June, they thought they had enough money to go their separate ways.  They owned a million-dollar home near Atlanta and another in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as investment properties.

Reading Into Bush's Book List  —  In what without a doubt is the most astounding op-ed piece of the year, Karl Rove reveals that his friend and former boss, George W. Bush, has read probably hundreds of books over the course of his presidency.  One of them was Albert Camus' “The Stranger,” …

From the left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance  —  AMSTERDAM: Two years ago, the Dutch could quietly congratulate themselves on having brought what seemed to be a fair measure of consensus and reason to the meanest intersection in their national political life …

New Jersey Is the Perfect Bad Example  —  Obama should look here to see what high taxes do.  —  Madison, N.J.  —  When Barack Obama makes his New Year's resolutions, at the top of his list ought to be the following: “I will not allow America to become New Jersey.”  —  Think of it as our gift to the nation.