Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In  —  Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit.

JournoList: Inside the echo chamber  —  For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.  —  Proof of a vast liberal media conspiracy?

Cuomo Details Million-Dollar Bonuses at A.I.G.  —  Seventy-three employees were paid more than $1 million in the latest bonuses at the insurance giant American International Group, according to the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo.  —  The attorney general provided some new details …

Santelli, Sen. Kyl Push Back Against “Outrage” Over AIG Bonuses  —  Defending AIG's right to award its senior executives $165 million in bonuses even after the company benefited from $170 billion in government bailout funds requires a certain amount of rhetorical or political dexterity.

It's not the bonuses.  It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full.  —  Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?

Fox News apologizes for dishonest splicing of Biden clip.  —  Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that Fox News spliced a six-month old clip of Vice President Biden to misleadingly imply that he recently said the “fundamentals of the economy are strong.”  Today, Fox News's Martha MacCallum apologized …

Canadians throw shoes to protest Bush  —  OTTAWA (AFP) — Three Canadians were arrested and others threw shoes in protest against George W. Bush on Tuesday when he gave his first post-presidential speech in western Canada's oil patch.  —  The footwear was tossed at an effigy …

“Off With Those Pants”: Bill O'Reilly Seduces You in Clips From His Dirty Audiobook  —  Your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets.  I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power.  —  Those Who Trespass audiobook

ACORN to Play Role in 2010 Census  —  The U.S. Census Bureau is working with several national organizations to help recruit 1.4 million workers to produce the country's 2010 census, including one with a history of voter fraud charges: ACORN.  —  FOXNews.com

McCain Refuses To Condemn Ingraham's Attacks On His Daughter  —  Last week, ThinkProgress reported that hate radio host Laura Ingraham responded to Meghan McCain's criticism of right-wingers like Ann Coulter by calling her “plus-sized.”  Meghan shot back, telling Ingraham, “stop talking about my body.”

Mistrial by iPhone: Juries' Web Research Upends Trials  —  Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge's instructions and centuries of legal rules.

Republicans Ask Obama to Withdraw Hill Nomination  —  The signatories include Senators Ensign, Brownback, Bond, Kyl, and Inhofe, though interestingly no Republican from the Foreign Relations Committee.  The complaints echo those made by Senators Graham and McCain last week, mainly that Christopher Hill …

Nat'l GOP Trust PAC voices its discontent  —  Yesterday, we had a blog post reporting that the National Republican Trust PAC had asked for its anti-Murphy ad to be taken off the air after NBC affiliate WNYT-13 asked for documentation proving the claims on their ad.

Majority Receptive to Law Making Union Organizing Easier  —  But most Americans not closely following news about union bill in Congress  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds just over half of Americans, 53%, favoring a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers; 39% oppose it.

Gates readies big cuts in weapons  —  Battle looms with Congress  —  Aides said Defense Secretary Robert Gates's decisions will be guided by what he learns while spending time with troops.  —  WASHINGTON - As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates …

Yes, the Community Reinvestment Act Really Did Help Cause the Housing Crisis  —  There has been a lot of push back against the idea that the Community Reinvestment Act nudged banks to give mortgages to people who should have not gotten them.  But then here comes this fantastic story …

WHAT IS GOING ON AT FOX NEWS?  —  What the hell is going on at Fox News?  —  On Friday evening, Fox viewers were treated to an hour-long televangelical special starring Glenn Beck.  (The opening of the show can be seen in our Watch Now window, at right.)  —  Watching Beck cry for the cameras …

The outrageous offenses against Richard Cheney  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  Over the weekend, Dick Cheney — at John King's prodding — accused Barack Obama of, among other things, lying to the public about his proposed domestic policies, taking advantage of the financial crisis …

Dems Fuming Over White House Plan To Make Vets Pay For Service Injuries  —  Democrats in Congress are organizing to squash a White House proposal that would require veterans to use private insurance to pay for treatment of their combat and service-related injuries.

North Korea launches perfect Italian pizza  —  North Korea has opened its first pizzeria after a decade of clandestine international research.  —  It has taken almost 10 years of work, but North Korea has acquired the technology to launch a project very dear to its leader's heart - the nation's first “authentic” Italian pizzeria.

Federal judge scolds prosecutor  —  Appeals Judge Richard Posner cites misconduct as conviction overturned  —  U.S. Appeals Judge Richard Posner is known for his provocative opinions, but his harsh criticism of a Chicago federal prosecutor surprises even close court observers.

GOP turns on itself, risks losses in midterms  —  The California Republican Party has been pummeled by some tough body blows in recent years - and results at the ballot box have been just part of the pain.  —  Now, at a time when the national GOP is trying to find its voice and cultivate new candidates …

Republicans concerned over RNC fundraising  —  GOP strategists and party leaders are increasingly worried that the party's run of bad news over the last month and a half is set to continue this week as the Republican National Committee (RNC) prepares to release what are expected to be markedly low fundraising numbers on Friday.