EXCLUSIVE: Dems ‘Almost Certain’ to Bypass Conference  —  Now that both the House and Senate have passed health care reform bills, all Democrats have to do is work out a compromise between the two versions.  And it appears they're not about to let the Republicans gum up the works again.

Hell Freezes Over: Rush Limbaugh Loves Union Hospitals and Socialized Medicine  —  Over the past year of Obama's presidency, conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh has routinely mocked, distorted and even invented various health insurance reform proposals before Congress.

New US flight checks ‘discriminate against Nigeria’  —  Buzz up!  —  ABUJA (AFP) - Nigeria, home of the failed US plane bomber, Monday branded new security measures for passengers flying to the United States unfair and said they amounted to discrimination against its 150 million people.

Dems' Only Hope For 2010: Make The Race About The Other Guy  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Democratic incumbents face the most threatening political environment since the Republican landslide of 1994 — and they know it.  —  The trends are all moving in the wrong direction.

Freed Guantánamo inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight  —  At least a dozen former Guantánamo Bay inmates have rejoined al-Qaeda to fight in Yemen, The Times has learnt, amid growing concern over the ability of the country's Government to accept almost 100 more former inmates from the detention centre.

Al-Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers  —  Officials: Perpetrator of Afghan attack was supposed to infiltrate al-Qaida  —  The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double-agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News.

Group Gives Up Death Penalty Work  —  Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.  —  There were other important death penalty developments last year …

Poll: Republican Scott Brown Trails by 11 in Mass. Senate Race  —  There has been a notable absence of public polling in the January 19 special election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.  That will begin to change tomorrow, when Scott Rasmussen releases the results of a poll that he's conducting tonight.

Quist: Defeating liberals a bigger battle than defeating terrorism  —  Allen Quist, a Republican who is seeking to defeat Rep. Tim Walz in southern Minnesota's First Congressional District, told attendees of the Wabasha County Republicans Christmas Party in mid-December that beating the …

Former Bush Officials Refusing to Endorse Policies They Support Out of Pique  —  Peter Baker's article on John Brennan and Obama-era counterterrorism is pretty conventional “friendly profile of important government official” stuff.  But this is a good break with convention that more reporters should engage in:

Staff walks out on party-switcher Griffith  —  Rep. Parker Griffith's (Ala.) staff has resigned en masse after his recent decision to switch parties and become a Republican.  —  In a sternly worded statement, Griffith Chief of Staff Sharon Wheeler announced the exit of herself …

Democrats Considering Health Care-Immigration Deal To Overcome Key Sticking Point  —  Lawmakers who want to extend health coverage to illegal immigrants will not block the passage of the final health care reform bill so long as the White House offers a substantive promise to start pushing comprehensive immigration legislation this year.

White House Spokeswoman Says Different Bertha Lewis on Visitor's Log  —  UPDATE: According to Politico's Ben Smith, the Bertha Lewis who went to the White House is not ACORN's CEO but another woman named “Bertha Lewis.”  I contacted Smith to tell him that Big Government would offer a correction if the …

‘N-Word’ Sign Dogs Would-Be Tea Party Leader  —  Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo — taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston — in which he holds a sign reading “Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar.”

President Obama Names Transgender Appointee to Commerce Department  —  President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.  —  In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's board of directors …

The man behind RedState.com shakes up the Republican Party  —  Erick Erickson, 34, has emerged as one of the leading new voices for Republican activists through his blog, RedState.com.  —  Times]  —  MACON, Ga. — Between pecks at his laptop, Macon City Council member Erick Erickson ticked off some of his goals for the new year:

Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful  —  Young children spanked by their parents may grow up to be happier and more successful than those who have never been hit, a study has found.  —  According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely …

Appeals court upholds Moussaoui's conviction, life prison term  —  A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction and life prison term of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

UM, PATHETIC  —  “All violent feelings have the same effect,” John Ruskin wrote, in one of his most famous essays.  “They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the ‘Pathetic Fallacy.’ ” Ruskin published “Of the Pathetic Fallacy” …

Revisionaries  —  How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids' textbooks.  —  Don McLeroy is a balding, paunchy man with a thick broom-handle mustache who lives in a rambling two-story brick home in a suburb near Bryan, Texas.  When he greeted me at the door one evening last October …

Grayson: Satan should write foreword to Cheney book  —  The Prince of Darkness himself might be best-suited to write the foreword to former Vice President Dick Cheney's forthcoming book, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) suggested Monday.  —  Grayson, during an appearance on MSNBC …

Mayor digs in after Twitter appeal  —  New York (CNN) - Need help from city hall?  If you are looking for a quick response, you might want to send a “tweet” as well as making that customary phone call.  —  The daughter of a 65-year-old Newark man did just that when she used Twitter …

Secret Service Let Third Intruder Into White House  —  Michaele and Tareq Salahi were not the only uninvited guests at the White House state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.  —  At the last minute, someone from the Indian diplomatic delegation invited a man to attend …

Majority of Americans Optimistic About U.S. in the Future  —  Assessment of the future more colored by politics than in the past  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Sixty-three percent of Americans describe their outlook for the United States during the next 20 years as “very optimistic” or “optimistic.”