'Underwear Bomber's' Alarming Last Phone Call  —  Abdulmutallab Called His Father to Say It Would Be Their Last Contact  —  The accused “underwear bomber” made a dramatic final call to his father that he found so alarming, the father approached Nigerian officials who took him directly …

DIVERSE REACTIONS TO LIMBAUGH  —  As news broke Wednesday night of radio show host Rush Limbaugh's hospital visit due to chest pains, many of his political counterparts on the left put down their ideological swords and wished him well on Twitter.  —  “All best wishes to Mr. Limbaugh tonight …

Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment  —  No Charges Filed  —  HOUSTON — Police went to a southwest Houston apartment to break up a disturbance but ended up finding something else, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.  —  A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street.

58% Favor Waterboarding of Plane Terrorist To Get Information  —  Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day.

DCCC Chair: GOP Opposition To National Security Funds Will Be Issue In 2010  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Democratic leadership in Congress is pledging to make Republican votes against key national security and defense funding measures a feature in the upcoming congressional elections …

A Thing of Beauty  —  This Chris Matthews quote is a Palinesque work of art: … Yes, Gerald.  I hope you and your loved ones have a Happy New Year, even though we live under the grave threat of KUNG FU FIGHTING TERRORISTS!

Did The Obama Administration Violate An Executive Order By Releasing Qais Qazali?  —  Did the Obama administration, by releasing Qais and Laith Qazali and more than 100 members of the Iranian-backed Asaib al Haq, violate an executive order put in place by President Ronald Reagan to prevent negotiations with hostage takers?

Dem recruits continue to head for exits  —  Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas.  —  State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.).  She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.

The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality  —  “Collectively all of you, most of you whom are, I'm not sure, of drinking age, you've created the best political organization in America, and probably the best political organization that we've seen in the last 30, 40 years.

'Sent from the candidate's BlackBerry.' Really?  —  (CNN) - A mass e-mail was sent on Tuesday from Carly Fiorina's senatorial campaign, appearing to not only come from the candidate herself, but from her personal BlackBerry.  —  While most campaigns send e-mails appearing to be written from the candidate …

What ever happened to the “Duke 88”?  —  The “Duke 88” consisted of 88 Duke professors who signed an ad which implicitly assumed that Duke lacrosse players raped a black stripper, an allegation that proved to be entirely fraudulent.  The ad praised protesters who had put lacrosse players' photos on …

What Might Have Been  —  Looking back over a decade that was pretty great for China, India, much of Eastern and Central Europe, Brazil, and some parts of Africa but bad for the United States, it really is sobering to reflect on how contingent it all was.  —  As you know, I'm a firm believer …

Comic Book Adaptation of the Decade  —  We had a lot of comic book adaptions in the zeros, and the best of them, contrary to what you might have heard, is Iron Man.  I promise you that this is a better movie than The Dark Knight.  Go back and watch them again if you don't believe me.

The End Of TheConservatives.Com: Wash Times Cancels Site  —  TheConservatives.com, the Washington Times Web project that was billed as an ambitious “multiplatform” venture to allow “the Joe the Plumbers of the world to speak up to major thinkers, like Newt Gingrich,” has gone silent.

Judge dismisses all charges in Blackwater shooting  —  A federal judge on Thursday threw out charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing 14 people in a 2007 shooting in downtown Baghdad.  —  In a 90-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled …

A Cold-Blooded Foreign Policy  —  No despot fears the president, and no demonstrator in Tehran expects him to ride to the rescue.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  With year one drawing to a close, the truth of the Obama presidency is laid bare: retrenchment abroad, and redistribution and the intrusive regulatory state at home.

Obama to review intelligence report on New Year's Eve  —  President Barack Obama will review intelligence assesments Thursday evening on the failed Christmas Day airline bombing.  —  Obama had set a Thursday deadline for the initial assessment.  Earlier on Thursday, the White House …