Dems warn Baucus with gavel threat  —  In an apparent warning to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), some liberal Democrats have suggested a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not to strip committee chairmen of their gavels.

WARNING EXPLICIT CONTENT: - A copy of the email sent by Police Officer Justin Barrett  — Weather - Traffic - News - Sports - Business - Entertainment - Morning - Health - On TV - Blogs - About Us  —  Many pages in this Fox Television Stations, Inc. web site feature links to other sites …

Poll: Obama loses ground on health care  —  NBC/WSJ survey also shows a drop in his overall job-approval rating  —  President Barack Obama discusses health care reform during a town hall meeting at Broughton High School on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C.  —  Deputy political director

Debra Burlingame: Revenge of the ‘Shoe Bomber’  —  The terrorist sues to resume his jihad from prison.  The Obama administration caves in.  —  Multimedia  — previous  — next  —  Health Care Reform  —  President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system may have momentum.

Exclusive: Earmark critic steered cash to blimp, former aide  —  Rep. Pete Sessions — the chief of the Republicans' campaign arm in the House — says on his website that earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people.”  —  Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered …

EXCLUSIVE: No. 3 at Justice OK'd Panther reversal  —  Case involved polling place in Philadelphia  —  Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop …

50 Most Beautiful 2009 - Top 10 (HTML)  —  1. Rep. Martin Heinrich … Rep. Martin Heinrich has gone from climbing mountains to climbing stairs.  —  The avid outdoorsman, who once ran a wilderness adventure program for children and teens, now has to rely on his trips from his fifth-floor Longworth office …

Despite Obama's Objections, House Appropriators Seem Intent on Earmarks  —  The Democratic-controlled House is poised to give the Pentagon dozens of new ships, planes, helicopters and armored vehicles that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the military does not need to fund next year …

Cash for Clunkers: Federal rebate revs up buyers  —  Dale Skreen, left, of Loretto, took a last look at his 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck before he drove away in his 2009 Ford F-150 XLT pickup.  Salesman Adam Notsch helped Skreen get a federal rebate in the Cash for Clunkers program.

Dan Rather wants Obama to help save the news  —  Login or register to post comments  —  Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather called on President Barack Obama to form a White House commission to help save the press Tuesday night in an impassioned speech at the Aspen Institute.

‘Auto-Tune’ the latest, greatest spoof  —  With his mashup of news, music and video called “Auto-Tune the News,” Michael Gregory is taking political satire into the digital era.  “Auto-Tune the News” is the brainchild of Gregory, 24, and his two brothers and sister-in-law.

British Foreign Secretary: Clinton threatened to cut-off intelligence-sharing if torture evidence is disclosed  —  I've written several times before about the amazing quest of Binyam Mohamed — a British resident released from Guantanamo in February, 2009 after seven years in captivity …

Jihadi's Facebook Account: I will kill you (Updated: Pics Added)  —  ****STICKY OVERNIGHT****NEW POSTS BELOW***  —  More on the banality of terror.  You should read it for the context in understanding the federal indictments against Ziyad Yaghi, Mohammad Omar Aly Hussain, and six others.

America's Moral Panic Over Obesity  —  With health care in the news, everyone's looking for magic bullets to save money.  Obesity seems to be a growing favorite: wouldn't it be great if we could make everyone look like Jennifer Anniston, and be cheaper to treat?

Obama's weapon: A dose of homecoming king charm  —  (CNN) — As President Obama pushes forward with his agenda, he may find that a homecoming king's likeability is just as integral as the power and authority inherent to the Oval Office.  —  “I just don't think you can be effective without being liked …

Debts paid, Hillary Clinton builds $3+ million campaign fund for ...?  —  With all of the immense numbers coming out of Washington these days, former senator, ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign debt is chump change.  Make that, “was.”  —  Here's the news: There is no more Hillary Clinton campaign debt.

New Poll: Bring Down Debt, Don't Spend More  —  Most Americans continue to want the federal government to focus on reducing the budget deficit rather than spending money to stimulate the national economy, a new New York Times/CBS News poll finds.  Yet at the same time, most oppose some proposed solution for decreasing it.

REPORT: A Statistical Analysis Of Policy Trends And Abnormalities In Sarah Palin's Tweets  —  After stepping down on Sunday morning, Sarah Palin posted her final Twitter update to her @AKGovSarahPalin account, which had close to 125k followers.  With Palin's refusal to specifically address …

Reverend Ike, Who Preached Riches, Dies at 74  —  The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, the flamboyant minister better known as the Reverend Ike, who preached the blessings of material prosperity to a large congregation in New York and to television and radio audiences nationwide …