Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics  —  When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said yesterday.

Behind the Curve  —  President Obama's plan to stimulate the economy was “massive,” “giant,” “enormous.”  So the American people were told, especially by TV news, during the run-up to the stimulus vote.  Watching the news, you might have thought that the only question was whether the plan was too big, too ambitious.

Consider The Source  —  Rod Dreher initiates a train wreck with this post that is a little bit about a ghastly home invasion and murder in a small Texas town and more about a comment made by one of the victims.  This is from the Dallas Morning News:  —  [Terry and Penny Caffey] were married eight months later.

Obama quickly takes sharp turn on foreign policy  —  Lost in the cacophony of the economic crisis is the issue on which the candidate Barack Obama promised to effect some of the most change: foreign policy.  —  And yet, as Obama's presidential term has buzzed with bailouts, stimulus …

Geithner, With Few Aides, Is Scrambling  —  WASHINGTON — Rarely have so few people had so little time to prop up so many pillars of the economy as those in the Treasury Department under Timothy F. Geithner.  —  In the six weeks since Mr. Geithner took over as Treasury secretary …

Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds  —  When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.  —  The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation.  The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases …

Dailykos, firedoglake on blogging in the Obama era  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Liberal bloggers were the cyber cheerleaders for Barack Obama in the 2008 race for the White House.  But now that he has won, these “netroots” activists face a major challenge: criticizing the new president and his administration.

PERV GROUP PUTS 10G ‘HIT’ ON ANDY  —  ALBANY - A $10,000 In ternet bounty was placed on Attorney General An drew Cuomo's head by a suspected agent of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, The Post has learned.  —  The shocking death threat by the infamous organization of pederasts …

George Galloway stoned in Egypt  —  A humanitarian convoy led by maverick MP George Galloway,carrying medical supplies for Gaza has come under attack in Egypt  —  The convoy, carrying aid worth £1m, was pelted with stones and vandalised after it stopped in El-Arish …

Republicans See Their Party As Leaderless  —  Who's in charge here?  —  Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republican voters say their party has no clear leader, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.  Another 17% are undecided.  —  Just five percent (5%) …

United, Newspapers May Stand  —  Back when I was a young media reporter fueled by indignation and suspicion, I often pictured the dark overlords of the newspaper industry gathering at a secret location to collude over cigars and Cognac, deciding how to set prices and the news agenda at the same time.

Union bill creates jobs & #8212;for GOP ops  —  Danny Diaz's morning e-mails are back.  —  Diaz, until last month the relentless communications director for the Republican National Committee and reliable source of jabs at Democrats, now sends out a new “Morning Roundup” of attacks on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Miniter to lead Times editorial pages  —  The Washington Times on Monday named Richard Miniter as editor of the editorial pages and vice president of opinion, the latest of a series of dramatic moves to boost the newspaper's global impact.  —  He is a veteran of the Wall Street Journal editorial page …

Flat Tires on the Omnibus  —  THE CONGRESSIONAL budget process — and process is an awfully polite word for the current chaos — gets uglier and uglier.  The $410 billion omnibus spending bill that is crawling to final passage and an unenthusiastic signature comes nearly halfway through the fiscal year.

Pentagon says Chinese harassed U.S. ship  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of “increasingly aggressive conduct.”  —  During the incident, five Chinese vessels …

Liberals told to leave  —  An instructor for a hunter safety course orders Obama voters to get out of his class.  —  Thirteen-year-old Lane Dunkley just wanted to go hunting with his grandfather.  —  What he got was a lecture on politics.  —  Dunkley and his father, Daniel Reddy …

A Matrix of News Winners Buoys NBC  —  NBC's “Today” show has the longest winning streak in television history: every week for 13 years, and counting.  Now the evening newscast competition seems to be swinging NBC's way as well.  —  The NBC “Nightly News” with Brian Williams …

Nearly Three Dozen GOP House Winners Dodged Obama's Coattails  —  Some of the most competitive congressional races of 2010 will be in districts where voters split their ballots between Republicans for the House of Representatives and Democrat Barack Obama for the White House.

Who Pays for Cap and Trade?  —  Hint: They were promised a tax cut during the Obama campaign.  —  Cap and trade is the tax that dare not speak its name, and Democrats are hoping in particular that no one notices who would pay for their climate ambitions.  With President Obama depending …

Obama's Double Talk  —  To those who believe that Barack Obama is a different kind of politician — more honest, more courageous — please don't examine his administration's budget.  If you do, you may sadly conclude that he resembles presidents stretching back to John Kennedy in one crucial respect.

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling  —  (CNN) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

Peretz, investors buying back TNR  —  Marty Peretz, former owner of the New Republic, is buying back the magazine with a group of investors led by former Lazard executive Laurence Grafstein.  —  Peretz confirmed recent reports of his interest in the magazine this morning to POLITICO …

Do Lawyers Work Harder Than Movers?  —  I'm just now getting to read Lisa Schiffren's contribution on the Corner to the growing overclass revolt taking the American right by storm: … First off, as Schiffren notes Barack and Michelle Obama are both high-achieving meritocrats in their own right.