White House Blocks Testimony on Party Crashers  —  Updated |  10:22 p.m. The White House on Wednesday invoked the separation of powers to keep Desiree Rogers, President Obama's social secretary, from testifying on Capitol Hill about how a couple of aspiring reality television show celebrities crashed …

Did you hear the one about Washington lecturing Afghans on corruption?  —  President Obama, who with his latest troop moves has taken ownership of the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan, has based at least part of his ongoing support on the government there erasing corruption as a condition for such expensive American aid.

Senator Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont said on Wednesday that he would try to block the Senate from confirming Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.  —  The move is unlikely to derail Mr. Bernanke's reappointment …

Mean Street: The Sham of a Mockery of an Obama Jobs Summit  —  What is it about Thursday's White House “jobs summit” that rubs me the wrong way?  —  All presidents engage in these sorts of elaborate PR stunts.  Why not just dismiss it as another meaningless piece of Washington political theater?

Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over ‘Climategate’  —  Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon.  —  Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee …

All men watch porn, scientists find  —  Scientists at the University of Montreal launched a search for men who had never looked at pornography - but couldn't find any.  —  Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.

New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill  —  ALBANY — The State Senate defeated a bill on Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage, after an emotional debate that touched on civil rights, family and history.  The vote means that the bill, pushed by Gov. David A. Paterson …

Huffington Post Suffers ClimateGate Panic Attack  —  Your humble correspondent has been checking the Huffington Post Green section every day since the ClimateGate scandal exploded.  After all, that Green section is pretty much predicated on the theory that the earth is warming dangerously and that Man is the cause of it.

Franken fallout has GOP fuming  —  Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes.  —  The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn't doing much to stop them.

Anderson Cooper's Ratings Plummet  —  Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings.  —  The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year.  His 10 p.m. show, “Anderson Cooper 360,” has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.

Washington Times cuts in staff, coverage cue new era  —  The Washington Times, which gained a strong foothold in a politically obsessed city as a conservative alternative to much of the mainstream media, is about to become a drastically smaller newspaper.  —  Nearly three decades …

Utahns growing tired of Bennett  —  Poll shows most want a change — but rivals trail far behind senator  —  Two of every three Utahns want to see Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, ousted in his re-election bid next year.  —  However, all of the challengers seeking to unseat him currently trail far behind …

Unbelievable update: The crappiest NYTimes column on Obamacare just got crappier; Update: Kristof's disingenuous non-response  —  Scroll for updates...Kristof non-responds...holes remain...  Today, I did something that Pulitzer Prize-winning NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof apparently didn't do …

GOP Senator Pens Obstruction Manual For Health Care  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual — a how-to for holding up health care reform — and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.

Sens. Feinstein and Durbins attack on citizen journalism  —  The Senate is currently considering a media shield law, pushed by media outfits that want federal protection for their journalists.  —  The legislation originally had a broad definition of “journalist”, but that was curtailed thanks …

Comcast Gets NBC From G.E., Reshaping the TV Industry  —  After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal, from the General Electric Company.  —  The deal had valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion.

Rep. Waxman Advocates Media Bailout  —  Rep. Henry Waxman trekked from Capitol Hill to Federal Trade Commission headquarters today to deliver a message to journalists and news consumers: All of you need to reach a consensus about working with the government in order to bail out the struggling news industry.

If you give away the public option, what do you get?  —  Most of the energy in the Senate right now is being directed into a mad rush for compromise proposals on the public option.  This reflects the sense that the right compromise on the public option is a compromised public option.