Roland Burris Almost Certain To Be Seated, Legal Scholars Say  —  Rod Blagojevich's decision to appoint Roland Burris to Illinois' vacant Senate seat, even as the governor faces intense criminal scrutiny, is being treated as a crazy political power grab.  It also seems very likely to be permanent.

Cabinet debating 48-hour Gaza truce as international pressure grows  —  The cabinet will reconvene Wednesday to discuss a French proposal for a 48-hour “humanitarian” cease-fire, after failing late Tuesday night to reach a decision.  Tuesday's meeting followed a day in which a Hamas rocket struck Be'er Sheva …

Lobbyist Sues Times, Citing Report of McCain Ties  —  WASHINGTON — A Washington lobbyist sued The New York Times and several of its reporters and editors Tuesday, charging that the newspaper had falsely created an impression that she had engaged in an improper romantic relationship with Senator John McCain.

Downgrades And Downfall  —  How could a single unit of AIG cause the giant company's near-ruin and become a fulcrum of the global financial crisis?  By straying from its own rules for managing risk and then failing to anticipate the consequences.  —  Third of three parts

Coming Soon: The 21st Century  —  Social and political epochs rarely end precisely on schedules provided by calendars.  Many historians date the end of Europe's 19th century to 1914 and the outbreak of World War I. What we call “The Sixties” in the United States, with its ethos of reform and protest …

FLORIDASTAN: ISLAMIC ANTI JEW, PRO-HAMAS RALLY - THE HATRED OF THE GOOD  —  Federal building Broward Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Muslims rally against the Jewish state.  —  It was pandemonium.  Muslims dress in full jihad garb juiced with .... hate.It looked like Halloween in Gaza.

One group that still is getting a raise — Congress  —  WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have at least one reason to ring in the new year: They've given themselves a $4,700-a-year pay raise starting Thursday.  —  With the economy in a recession and millions of Americans losing their jobs …

Russia Aside, Georgia Chief Is Pressed at Home  —  GOMARDULI, Georgia — On Dec. 20, the eve of his 41st birthday, President Mikheil Saakashvili was racing around western Georgia shaking hands.  He told miners that his “heart hurt” when he saw their city suffer, and promised to build …

If the IDF made Hamas-style videos....  Have you ever seen Hamas' jihadist music videos?  They are cheesy propaganda with awful music and tacky special effects that would be funny if they weren't advocating genocide.  —  Anyway, here is my take on how an IDF video would look if it was directed by the same talent that Hamas uses...

For Some Culprits In Financial Meltdown, Life Is Still Pretty Good  —  This probably won't come as a surprise.  But some of the major culprits in the financial crash — former CEOs or top execs at banks whose billion-dollar losses helped precipitate the turmoil — don't seem to be paying …

Consumers Union to Buy Gawker Blog Consumerist  —  Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, planned to announce on Wednesday that it had acquired Consumerist.com, a popular blog formerly owned by Gawker Media.  —  Consumerist is one of several sites Gawker has sold this year …