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 …

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,” …

Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent ‘cover-up’ emails a month before they went public  —  The controversy surrounding the global warming scandal today deepened after a BBC correspondent admitted he was sent the leaked emails more than a month before they were made public.

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.

Palin: Canada should ‘dismantle’ public health-care  —  WASHINGTON — Marg Delahunty has braved the wilds of the American Midwest to come face-to-face with Sarah Palin.  —  Comedian Mary Walsh's beloved character button-holed the former Alaska governor at a recent book-signing in Columbus …

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 …

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.

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.

Making sense of Justice Scalia's personality—and his theory.  —  In Joan Biskupic's new biography of Antonin Scalia, American Original, the justice wears a wreath of superlatives.  He is the most quoted member of the Supreme Court and the one scholars write about most.

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 …

Thanks for the Memories  —  At his Cabinet meeting Monday afternoon, President Obama took a moment to give thanks to his team.  —  Sipping a glass of water, the president offered special gratitude to the woman on his right.  —  “I advised this hard-working Cabinet to get a little bit of rest this week …

‘Disappointed’ Siegelman: Obama Justice Dept. Virtually The Same As Bush DOJ  —  When the Obama Administration argued in a filing earlier this month that the Supreme Court should not consider an appeal by Don Siegelman, the former Alabama governor wasn't surprised, even though the Obama filing maintained …

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.

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 …

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.