To Combat Obama, Al-Qaeda Hurls Insults  —  Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet.  “A house Negro,” Ayman al-Zawahiri said.  —  That was just a warm-up.

Which Governor Is Wackier?  —  I love Blago.  —  I love his beady little eyes.  I love his Serbian shock of hair.  I love his flaring nostrils.  I love the way he jogs through the snow under indictment, like a stork in spandex trying to gallop.  I love the way he compares himself …

West Wing on steroids in Obama W.H.  —  President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy “czars” that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts.

Ben Stein Asks Us to Feel Sorry for Wildly Irresponsible People  —  I have been off the Ben Stein beat for quite some times, since it is ably covered by Felix Salmon and I don't want to encourage Stein by giving him undue attention.  But this week's offering is such a doozy that I had to say something.

Challenges loom as Obama seeks space weapons ban  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.

McCain won't vote for stimulus as it stands  —  But Obama economic adviser says the current plan is balanced  —  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama dispatched his top economic adviser and vice president Sunday to relentlessly press their sales pitch for an $825 billion stimulus package …

Pro-Israel rally crashed in Sweden  —  Protestors gathered to support Israel were pelted with eggs and bottles, then dispersed by police  —  A pro-Israel rally in Malmo, Sweden was torn apart Sunday by pro-Palestinian residents who arrived on the scene with eggs, bottles, and tear gas grenades which they threw at Israel's supporters.

Radio Spreads Taliban's Terror in Pakistani Region  —  PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Every night around 8 o'clock, the terrified residents of Swat, a lush and picturesque valley a hundred miles from three of Pakistan's most important cities, crowd around their radios.

RANGEL PROBERS AWOL  —  ETHICS INQUIRY STALLS AS POLS LEAVE PANEL  —  Nobody's home at the House ethics committee that's supposed to be investigating Rep. Charles Rangel.  —  The panel created on Sept. 24 to probe the Harlem Democrat's alleged ethical lapses has been virtually disbanded …

Learn more  —  John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.  Scholars have verified that Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, was the author of a letter threatening President Andrew Jackson.  —  “Andrew Jackson” by Thomas Sully in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.