Stupid Conspiracies  —  Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose.  I've pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child.

Jobs Report Is the Strongest Since the Start of the Slump  —  In the strongest jobs report since the recession began two years ago, the nation's employers all but stopped shedding jobs in November, the government reported on Friday, and they appeared to be on the verge of finally rebuilding the work force.

NV-Sen: Dear Harry, Kicking Your Ass is Going to be Fun  —  Harry Reid has raised a small fortune for his reelection campaign, and it's not working: … I've been talking to a lot of people in Arkansas recently, and they all say that Blanche Lincoln traded her vote on health care for her chairmanship of the Ag Committee.

Obama delays Copenhagen, raises stakes  —  by Jim Tankersley and updated 4:50 pm EST  —  President Barack Obama will push back his visit to the international climate change treaty negotiations in Copenhagen from the first week of the conference to its final scheduled day, a senior White House official said this afternoon.

Prostitutes Offer Free Climate Summit Sex  —  Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference.  Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

Reform or Else  —  Health care reform hangs in the balance.  Its fate rests with a handful of “centrist” senators — senators who claim to be mainly worried about whether the proposed legislation is fiscally responsible.  —  But if they're really concerned with fiscal responsibility …

McCain's madder than he's ever been  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) says he's “madder than he's ever been.”  —  And that's saying something.  —  Don Imus and the Arizona Republican were talking Friday morning about the February stimulus vote when McCain, who kept his famous temper at bay during the '08 campaign, went Howard Beale.

CNN Poll: Obama approval under 50 percent  —  Washington (CNN) - Support for President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy is fairly high, but that hasn't stopped his approval rating from dropping below 50 percent for the first time in a CNN poll.  —  According to a CNN/Opinion Research …

Exclusive: Beck's movie bombs in New York, Boston — and Washington, D.C.  —  In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets.  In Boston, another 17.  And in Washington, D.C., the hotbed of political activism, his tearful film drew only 30, Raw Story has found.  —  Glenn Beck's new movie The Christmas Sweater …

Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.

The Analytic Mode  —  Many Democrats are nostalgic for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign — for the passion, the clarity, the bliss-to-be-alive fervor.  They argue that these things are missing in a cautious and emotionless White House.  —  But, of course, the Obama campaign …

Good news is bad news  —  Today's unemployment report was good news.  But in a real sense good news is bad news, because this month's not-too-bad number deflates the sense of urgency.  —  The fact remains that realistic projections show unemployment staying disastrously high for many years.

Obama's hollow speech on Afghanistan  —  We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills — for 18 months.  Then we start packing for home.  —  We shall never surrender — unless the war gets too expensive …

Can Congress cut Medicare costs?  —  Jim Horney is the director of federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  Before that, he worked on the Senate Budget Committee, and before that, he served as chief of the Projections Unit in the Budget Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office.

Homeland Security panel faces ethics scrutiny after credit card hearing  —  At a hearing in late March, the nation's credit card companies faced the threat of expensive new rules from an unlikely regulator: the House Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

Going for gold: Rudy Giuliani takes job as security consultant for Rio 2016 Olympic Games  —  Further proof that Rudy Giuliani is less than focused on running for office has emerged in an unlikely spot - Rio de Janeiro.  —  Brazilian officials, joined by Giuliani in sunny Rio …

Breaking: Obama's “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom- Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List  —  Scott Baker from Breitbart-TV.com and Co-Host of ‘The B-Cast’ submitted this shocking report today on Obama's deviant Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.

My theory of the public option fight, and of health care  —  Digby has a great post on the politics of the public option: … I'm a policy guy, arguably to the point of myopia.  The public option compromises that are on the table at this point aren't really compromises worth having.