An Affordable Truth  —  Maybe I'm naïve, but I'm feeling optimistic about the climate talks starting in Copenhagen on Monday.  President Obama now plans to address the conference on its last day, which suggests that the White House expects real progress.

NPR reporter pressured over Fox role  —  Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network's top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network's political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

Tea Party Tops GOP on Three-Way Generic Ballot  —  Running under the Tea Party brand may be better in congressional races than being a Republican.  —  In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote.

Team of Ten's Goal: A Not-Quite-Public Plan  —  WANTED: A health insurance plan that seems to be government-run but is not actually government-run.  Must make voters feel like they are getting the same V.I.P. treatment as United States senators and representatives (who by law are actually not supposed to get any real V.I.P. treatment).

U.S. Forecasts Smaller Loss From Bailout of Banks  —  WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department expects to recover all but $42 billion of the $370 billion it has lent to ailing companies since the financial crisis began last year, with the portion lent to banks actually showing a slight profit, according to a new Treasury report.

Girlfriends and Double Standards  —  Before Max Baucus there was Paul Wolfowitz.  Will the ethical uproar be the same?  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Here's a poser: Suppose a public official is accused of recommending his girlfriend for a promotion, though he was the one who first flagged …

In Polls, Much Opposition to Health Care Plan Is From Left  —  Don't know why I didn't catch this earlier, but it strikes me as fairly important.  —  Ipsos/McClatchy put out a health care poll two weeks ago.  The topline results were nothing special: 34 percent favored …

What Barack Obama Really Thinks Of The White House Press  —  We are past, for the moment, the White House “war” on Fox, such as it was.  (Obama did an interview with Fox News' Major Garrett a few weeks back, and General Petraeus is on Fox News Sunday today, with close Obama ally Dick Durbin.)

U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat  —  This may have been the most dangerous year since 9/11, anti-terrorism experts say.  —  Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration, grappling with a spate of recent Islamic terrorism cases on U.S. soil …

Palin's Father: She Left Hawaii Because Asians Made Her Uncomfortable  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Did Sarah Palin leave Hawaii because there were too many Asians?  In the New Yorker review of “Going Rogue,” Sam Tanenhaus writes that Palin's father suggested as much to the reporters who wrote “Sarah From Alaska.”

Justice thwarts Black Panther subpoenas  —  The Obama team is covering up voter-intimidation evidence  —  Could it be that President Obama's legal team is imploding due to a voter intimidation case involving the New Black Panther Party?  So many new developments regarding the Black Panther case occurred …

Supreme Court to take up corruption law  —  ‘Honest services’ called too vague; prosecutors call provision vital  —  The Supreme Court this week will consider whether to apply the brakes to what critics have called a vague and limitless law that has proved essential to federal prosecutors …

Pearl Harbor mini-submarine mystery solved?  —  Researchers think they have found the remains of a Japanese mini-submarine that probably fired on U.S. battleships on Dec. 7, 1941.  —  Japanese warplanes hit, from left, the USS West Virginia, USS Tennessee and USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.