Barack Obama's gift for the Queen: an iPod, your Majesty  —  Barack Obama met the Queen at Buckingham Palace today and gave her a gift of an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of her 2007 United States visit to Richmond, Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia.

REASSURINGLY THE SAME  —  I realize that it doesn't afford me a lot of opportunities for personal or spiritual growth.  But I'm nonetheless comforted by the fact that the Republicans running things in the House GOP caucus are still as clinically insane as in years past.

Democrats Predict 210-Vote Victory in NY-20  —  Venture capitalist Scott Murphy (D) will win the special election in New York's 20th district by 210 votes after all outstanding absentee and military ballots are counted, according to projections made by Democratic Party officials and obtained by the Fix.

Joe The Plumber Admits He Knows “Little” About EFCA, Gets Jeered By Workers  —  Oof.  Looks like Joe the Plumber's campaigning against the Employee Free Choice Act in Pennsylvania didn't go so well.  —  Mr. Plumber, whose appearances were organized by the anti-EFCA group Americans for Prosperity …

PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama tax pledge up in smoke  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - One of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday.  —  The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise …

We're Not Keeping Score, but...  LONDON — Is President Obama trying to muzzle his press corps?  —  The standard form during “joint press availabilities” — bureaucratic lingo for press conferences where leaders from two different countries stand next to each other and take questions from reporters …

David Letterman Calls Bill O'Reilly a ‘Goon’ During Heated Interview  —  Whenever Bill O'Reilly appears on the David Letterman show you just know sparks are going to fly due to Letterman's inability to keep his anger managed and last night's show did not disappoint although it seems that Letterman …

Bachmann-Turnip Overdrive: Clueless ‘global currency’ paranoia in high gear  —  It seems to be slowly sinking through the addled pates of Michelle Bachmann and her avid codependents, like Glenn Beck (henceforth dubbed “the Turnip"), that all this talk about “replacing the dollar with a global currency” …

Obama Working With 61% Approval on Foreign Affairs  —  President does less well on the economy and the deficit  — USA - Foreign Affairs - Government and Politics - Leadership - Presidential Ratings - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama …

Attorney general drops Stevens prosecution  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department moved to dismiss former Sen. Ted Stevens' indictment this morning, effectively voiding his Oct. 27 conviction on seven counts of filing false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.The decision …

What the heck happened to Hillary?  —  What has gotten into Hillary Clinton?  —  Since taking office on February 2, Clinton has gone from being one of the most guarded public figures in the history of hemming and hawing, to one of the straightest-talking secretaries of state imaginable.

Four Banks Are First to Return U.S. Aid  —  Four regional banks from around the country yesterday became the first firms to repay emergency aid from the government, but the show of strength also underscored concerns about the health of a key element of the federal economic recovery program.

Harvard Derivatives Whiz Fired For Emailing Larry Summers About “Frightening” Trades?  —  A former quantitative analyst at Harvard Management Company, the university's once-vaunted endowment manager, tells the Harvard Crimson she was fired for voicing concern to then-university president Larry Summers' chief …

Barney: GOP suffers psych disorder  —  House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank was in quite a mood on the floor of the House today — questioning the sanity of Texas Republican John Culberson and other conservatives over their opposition to the new AIG bonus bill.

Bomb blows backside off Lenin statue  —  One of Russia's most famous statues of Vladimir Lenin has been bombed, leaving the Bolshevik revolutionary with a gaping hole in his rear.  —  The bronze statue, in the city of St Petersburg, was badly damaged before dawn on Wednesday, when the blast blew a hole in Lenin's coat.

Inflation: Bring It On  —  Ezra refers to a good post by James Hamilton on how recent Fed actions — specifically, growing its balance sheet and changing its composition in historically unusual ways — could compromise its ability to fight inflation.  He writes: … We need not worry about hyperinflation.