ABC announces Oprah-Obama Christmas special  —  The queen of daytime will interview the president of the country during an ABC holiday special that brings together Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama.  —  The network has announced “Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special,” …

Blog Removes Offensive First Lady Image That Topped Google  —  Web Site Hosting Offensive Image of Michelle Obama Appears to Have Taken it Down  —  An offensive image of first lady Michelle Obama that had topped Google Image search results appears to have been removed.

Dobbs Reaches Out to Latinos  —  Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc.  —  Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week …

Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required  —  A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report.  It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy.

How a letter from 1964 shows what's wrong with the Senate today  —  One of the challenges in arguing about the use of the filibuster is that the filibuster has changed drastically in recent decades, but it's done so quietly.  Quietly enough that people don't really understand that it's changed at all.

Palin Suggests Reforming Canada's Universal Health Care System: ‘Let The Private Sector Take Over’  —  Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (playing the character of Marg Delahunty) attended a Sarah Palin book signing in the United States last week and asked the “thrilla from Wasilla, the Alaskan Aphrodite” …

Six charged in town hall disturbance  —  • Six people arrested in August outside a raucous town hall meeting in south St. Louis County have been charged with misdemeanor ordinance violations.  —  The six, including a Post-Dispatch reporter, had attended a demonstration outside …

Palin: 'We'll see' about run with Beck  —  Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday did not rule out running for president alongside Fox News host Glenn Beck in 2012.  —  Palin was asked during an interview with Fox News's “Fox & Friends” about the chances that she …

Bad Picks Have Consequences  —  I was just looking at this run-down of recent polls by Tom Jensen at Public Policy Polling.  The upshot is that while it seems extremely unlikely Republicans could regain control of the senate next year, it's not impossible and they look well positioned …

Phil Carter's resignation from key detainee policy post  —  Phillip Carter is a lawyer, a former Army Captain, a veteran of the Iraq War and a very harsh critic of the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies.  He was a vigorous supporter of Barack Obama's campaign …

The behavioral economics of Thanksgiving  —  This column originally appeared in the Food section.  —  It happens every year.  It's not that you resolve to be virtuous on Thanksgiving, just reasonable.  Two plates of food, and no more.  One piece of pie, and that's enough.

Briefing by Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell  —  Washington, DC  —  MR. WOOD: Good afternoon, everybody.  Welcome to the briefing.  As promised, Senator Mitchell is here, and he is going to give you an update on the recent announcement by the Israeli Government with regard to settlements.

REPORT: At Least 40 GOP Lawmakers Fail A Principle Of The ‘Purity Test’  —  Yesterday, Republican National Committee member Jim Bopp unveiled a resolution to deny funding of candidates who do not uphold right-wing conservative values.  The resolution, termed a “purity test,” …

After Cheney  —  I.  —  When Vice President Biden travels to Iraq, which he does every two months or so, he flies on Air Force Two to an airbase in southern England and then transfers to a cargo plane, a C-17, retrofitted for vice-presidential comfort with an Airstream trailer bolted on to tracks in the center of the hold.

Obama to attend beginning of U.N. climate meeting  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen for a U.N. climate change meeting on December 9, hoping to add momentum to an international process despite slow progress on a domestic bill to cut carbon emissions.