Exclusive: E-mails between Sanford, woman  —  Woman in affair declines interview  —  Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford's personal e-mail account and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Obama's Michael Dukakis moment  —  Barack Obama got ABC to move their news division into the White House in order to make the big pitch for his egalitarian, everyone-gets-treated-equally ObamaCare push.  Instead, Obama fumbled into a Michael Dukakis moment that exposed him as a hypocrite.

MPs ‘snub’ Ahmadinejad party  —  More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.  —  All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.

The Cap and Tax Fiction  —  Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday.

Hillary Is Wrong About the Settlements  —  The U.S. and Israel reached a clear understanding about natural growth.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.

Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station  —  Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force.  —  A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.

Bush administration leaks bolstered Rick Renzi's reelection bid  —  In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press …

Obama Set for First Step on Immigration Reform  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to meet with Congressional leaders of both parties on Thursday to begin laying the political groundwork for sweeping immigration legislation, even though its passage this year is considered very unlikely.

NY Times Bashes Obama's HuffPo Question As “Staged,” But Hailed Bush's “Mission Accomplished” Moment  —  The New York Times has now weighed in on the battle over President Obama's question from a Huffington Post reporter, and Times writer Kate Phillips, like other reporters …

Palin blasts Alaska blogger over Trig photo  —  Sarah Palin is again responding forcefully to a perceived attack on one of her children, this time attacking an Alaska blogger who edited a picture of her and her baby son, Trig, to replace Trig's face with the image of a conservative Alaska talk show host, Eddie Burke.

Beware the Christians!  —  Comparing the Christian right with the brutal ayatollahs in Iran is childish nonsense.  —  As we watch the horrors in Iran, it makes us wonder if anything like that could happen in America.  In Iran, the mullahs control everything and feel justified in any injustice …

Emanuel: Sanford needed a cigarette  —  Perhaps no one knows how to butter up reporters better than White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.  —  The longtime Washington insider is known for personally reaching out to reporters and always being cognizant of the media landscape.

McCain-Graham play nice on Iran  —  Two of President Barack Obama's toughest critics on Iran had kind words for him Thursday.  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) praised Obama for taking a tougher tack toward the Iranian regime this week.

Fox News set for best year yet  —  Viewership solid as rivals take post-election hits  —  Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year.  —  With the second quarter coming to a close …