Obama Cites ‘Systemic Failure’ in U.S. Security  —  HONOLULU - President Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation's security apparatus for the attempted bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.”

Rove granted divorce in Texas  —  Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, a family spokesperson said.  —  Dana Perino, the spokesperson, said: “Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week.

A Less Than Honest Policy  —  There is a middle-class tax time bomb ticking in the Senate's version of President Obama's effort to reform health care.  —  The bill that passed the Senate with such fanfare on Christmas Eve would impose a confiscatory 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans …

Obama greater than Jesus  —  The U.S. president - the practical saviour of our times  —  He is provocative in insisting on an outstretched hand, where others only see animosity.  —  His tangible results in the short time that he has been active - are few and far between.

Power of Attorney  —  Your new book, “Crisis and Command,” is an eloquent, fact-laden history of audacious power grabs by American presidents going back to George Washington.  Which president would you say most violated laws enacted by Congress?  —  I would say Lincoln.

Source: CIA failed to circulate report about bombing suspect  —  (CNN) — The father of terrorism suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab talked about his son's extremist views with someone from the CIA and a report was prepared, but the report was not circulated outside the agency, a reliable source told CNN's Jeanne Meserve on Tuesday.

Skittish Democrats Refuse To Defend Obama On National Security  —  Are Democrats so cowed by Republican attacks on Obama's foreign policy that they're unwilling to defend him?  —  It's now been five days since the attempted bombing of Flight 253 in Detroit, and Congressional Democrats …

Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution  —  Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between …

Election 2012: Nebraska Senate  —  Health Care Vote Puts Nelson 30 Points Down in Reelection Bid  —  The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn't have to face Nebraska voters until 2012.  —  If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports …

Who's running the TSA?  No one, thanks to Sen. Jim DeMint  —  WASHINGTON — An attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day would be all-consuming for the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration — if there were one.

Where is the national GOP in the Massachusetts special election?  —  Normally, when a special election occurs to fill a seat in Congress or especially the Senate, the national parties throw resources and attention onto the race.  The lack of competition for attention allows the national parties …

Medicare vs. Medicaid: A Stark Warning About Having States Execute Reform  —  Political map of the United States, ca.  2002 (source: Univ. of Texas at Austin)  —  The Social Security Act of 1965 created two public insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid.  One proved to be a big success, and the other, not so much.

Terrorism Still Less Deadly in US Than Lack of Health Insurance, Salmonella  —  Since we still seem to be having a national freakout over some loser who got on a plane with a bomb in his underwear, which was apparently worthy of a presidential address, it might be a good idea to put …

Ten Things to Watch in the Health-Care Reform Conference  —  It's not just about abortion and the public option.  Every decision Congress faces while merging the Senate and House health bills will give it the opportunity to make reform better.  —  Schoolhouse Rock undersold the excruciating difficulty involved in making a bill a law.

Five steps to recovery for Dems  —  You wouldn't know it by listening to many Democrats, but the last time I checked, the party still controls the White House, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and 26 governor's offices across the country.  And while they could be heading …

Published Document States Khamenei Is Planning to Escape to Russia ...Update: Khamenei's Jet Put on Standby  —  A letter published on the Iranian websites claims that Ayatollah Khamenei is planning a possible escape to Russia.  —  There were rumors floating around yesterday that Ayatollah Khamenei was preparing to flee Iran.

Source: ‘False’ report led to Capitol lockdown  —  UPDATE 2: A false report of a man wielding a machine gun near the Capitol led to a nearly one-hour lockdown of the sparsely populated complex on Tuesday afternoon, a highly placed law enforcement source tells POLITICO.