Earthquake Rumblings In MA - Rasmussen Shows Brown Within 9% / Update: Brown within 2% With Definite Voters and Leads By 44% With Independents  —  Rasmussen is the first major polling organization to poll the Massachusetts Senate special election, and the “pre-released” poll numbers show Martha Coakley …

Joan Rivers bumped off flight in Costa Rica when Continental gate agent finds passport suspicious  —  Above, Rivers celebrates the New Year with family and friends in Costa Rica last week.  On her return, though, she had a tough time leaving the country because of her ‘suspicious’ passport.

More Arugula From David Brooks  —  Today's column by the NY Times' David Brooks is getting a good deal of blogospheric attention.  Brooks puts on his familiar “Americans In The Mist” safari hat to once again analyze those strange beings from beyond Manhattan (and the Beltway), and reaches the following conclusion:

Tea Party groups plan ‘strike’  —  Washington (CNN) - Some Tea Party activists from across the country are planning a ‘national strike’ on January 20, the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama's inauguration.  —  The idea of holding an economic protest sprung up during the holidays …

Florida GOP Chairman Resigns  —  The resignation of Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer today — a decision that came after weeks of calls for his head from conservatives — raises the question of whether Gov. Charlie Crist's already embattled Senate candidacy has sustained a blow from which it cannot recover.