Venezuelan leader wins key reform  —  Venezuelans have voted to lift limits on terms in office for elected officials, allowing President Hugo Chavez to stand for re-election.  —  With 94% of the vote counted, 54% had voted to end term limits, a National Electoral Council official said.

Former Gitmo Guard Tells All  —  Army Private Brandon Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo in the first years the facility was in operation.  With the Bush Administration, and thus the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step forward and tell his story.

To Fix Detroit, Obama Is Said to Drop Plan for ‘Car Czar’  —  DETROIT — President Obama has dropped the idea of appointing a single, powerful “car czar” to oversee the revamping of General Motors and Chrysler and will instead keep the politically delicate task in the hands …

Graham: Nationalizing Banks Should Be On The Table  —  In a gloomy segment about the financial sector on ABC'S This Week, two self-avowed fiscal conservatives said that the U.S. Government should at least consider nationalizing the country's banking system as a means of moving beyond the current lending crisis.

Obama back to old routines in Chicago  —  CHICAGO — The first family's mode of arrival to their Chicago neighborhood Friday evening was the first sign that things had changed since they were last in town.  —  President Obama, his wife, two daughters and mother-in-law boarded Marine One at dusk from Chicago's O'Hare airport.

The Gamble: Winners and Losers  —  One of the advantages of being more or less “tits up” for the past 48 hours is that my illness has allowed me to finish The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008.  —  As a service to my readers …

California Budget is run by “Girly Men”  —  California is about to go out of business quite literally and still these idiot tax cutting freaky Republicans like Sen. Dave Cox are doing their best to do just that.  A lot of Americans don't know that California has a weird super majority vote …

Obama administration no longer issuing denials on Fairness Doctrine  —  Remember when the Left laughed at conservatives' concerns over the Fairness Doctrine?  Barack Obama already said he opposed the reimposition of the FCC rule, they said.  After all, Obama's campaign gave this definitive statement in June 2008:

There could be 100bn Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy  —  There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.  —  Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

Dems Fed Up With McCain: “Angry Old Defeated Candidate"ompr  —  Democrats are growing increasingly frustrated with the brash political attacks Sen. John McCain has launched against Barack Obama in the weeks since the new president took office.  No one expected the Arizona Republican to be a legislative ally for this administration.

The 7 stimulus lessons for the Dems  —  The stimulus fight is now history — but Democrats who don't study their stimulus mistakes are doomed to repeat them.  —  Two weeks of highly concentrated debate, backroom maneuvering, internecine fighting and reconciliation have taught …

Stimulus Bill Broke 7 Obama Promises  —  From YouTube: … Funny, but not one of Mr. Obama's promises were met with the most expensive spending bill in our nation's history.  —  Indeed, Mr. Obama has not kept his word on most of the bills so far passed, if any.

In a Likely Obama Pick, Some Find Hope for a Shift in Drug Policy  —  SEATTLE — Washington State law prohibits the possession of marijuana except for certain medical purposes.  Hempfest is not one of them.  Yet each summer when the event draws thousands to the Seattle waterfront to call …

Taxpayer revolt: Porkulus protest in Seattle, Obama to sign theft act in Denver  —  There should be one of these in every town in America.  What are you doing?  Liberty Belle announces a taxpayer protest against the porkulus tomorrow in Seattle: … If you can get a real pig roast going, all the better!

U.S. to Study Effectiveness of Treatments  —  WASHINGTON — The $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress will, for the first time, provide substantial amounts of money for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness.

Burris under an ethical cloud  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  A month to the day after he was sworn into office by Dick Cheney, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is under an ethical cloud that threatens to upend his turn on the national stage.

U.S. Envoy Reaches Out to Iran in Afghan Visit  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — President Obama's top envoy to Afghanistan declared Sunday that Iran should play a vital role helping stabilize the war-torn country.  It was the latest statement by Obama officials signaling a clear shift away …