Harkin: Health deal was reached days before Brown's Senate victory  —  Sen. Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said negotiators from the White House, Senate and House reached a final deal on healthcare reform days before Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts.

Rep. Hensarling fires back at Obama in the rumble over deficits  —  Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who got President Barack Obama a bit miffed during the question-and-answer session after his address to the House GOP retreat Friday, fired back Saturday evening after the conclusion of the Baltimore conference.

Setting The Record Straight  —  Judson and I have stayed silent in the face of intense media scrutiny  —  and attacks by former members.  As a wife and a mother, I have stood  —  by my husband and family and stayed strong in the face of many baseless  —  accusations and criticism.

UN climate change panel based claims on student dissertation and magazine article  —  The United Nations' expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from the world's mountain tops on a student's dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine.

CAP: New Yorkers are wussies  —  Does the Center for American Progress want to alienate New York while the Obama-Pelosi progressive legislative agenda drowns in popular discontent?  Ken Gude, an associate director at CAP for its International Rights and Responsibility Program …

The stuff of riveting political theater  —  Friday's encounter between President Obama and House Republicans proved to be riveting political theater.  The question is whether it will be remembered as a moment that began to ease the tensions between the two parties — or an asterisk in this era of polarized politics.

A crisis averted in Iraq?  —  I wrote here about the disturbing prospect that the disqualification of hundreds of Sunni candidates in the unpcoming Iraqi elections would degrade those elections and perhaps prompt a surge of sectarian violence.  But now, as Max Boot reports based on statements …

Sarah Palin's PAC raised $1.4 million in final six months of 2009  —  Sarah PAC, the political action committee of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, collected $1.4 million over the final six months of 2009, a solid — if not spectacular — total that demonstrates her fundraising capacity as she mulls a bid for national office in 2012.

Un-frickin-believable: U.S. Military Serving as Chauffeurs, Babysitters for the Pelosi Kids: Receipts That Will Blow Your Mind  —  Meet the Pelosi family!  Using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Judicial Watch uncovered thousands of pages of travel documents related to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's use of military aircraft.

Bay what?  Guantanamo eyed for 9/11 trial  —  By JOHN DOYLE and DAVID SEIFMAN in NY and CHARLES HURT in DC  —  The trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed won't be held in lower Manhattan and could take place in a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, sources said last night.

Pentagon starts clock on lifting gay ban  —  WASHINGTON — The Defense Department starts the clock next week on what is expected to be a several-year process in lifting its ban on gays from serving openly in the military.  —  A special investigation into how the ban can be repealed without hurting …

Tough Choices  —  During these tough economic times, American families are forced to make tough choices about what they can spend money on and what they need to cut from their household budgets.  —  Through the course of the budget process we did the same thing.

Obama's Stunning Admission  —  There's been a remarkable amount of coverage of President Obama's appearance at the House Republican retreat today, but I haven't seen anyone focus on the President's rather stunning admission about the Democrats' health care legislation (Video):

Dorgan: President should have focused on jobs, not healthcare, last year  —  A top Senate Democrat on Friday stressed that jobs and economic recovery, not healthcare reform, should have been the president's top priority last year.  —  While Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) described President Barack Obama's focus …

The State of the Union Is Comatose  —  HANDS down, the State of the Union's big moment was Barack Obama's direct hit on the delicate sensibilities of the Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.  The president was right to blast the 5-to-4 decision giving corporate interests an even greater stranglehold …

Obama tries hand at color commentary during interview at Duke-GU game  —  President Barack Obama said he can't catch as much college hoops as he'd like, but relies on ESPN to keep him up to date.  —  In a mid-game interview on CBS during today's Duke-Georgetown game at the Verizon Center in D.C. …

China's strident tone raises concerns among Western governments, analysts  —  China's indignant reaction to the announcement of U.S. plans to sell weapons to Taiwan appears to be in keeping with a new triumphalist attitude from Beijing that is worrying governments and analysts across the globe.

A Quick Note On eBook Pricing and Amazon Hijinx  —  It appears (if this article is correct) that Amazon has pulled Macmillan books from its online stores because it's unhappy with Macmillan's desire to up the price of their eBooks from $10 to $15.  Macmillan, I'm assuming …

Cossack Rahm Works For The Czar  —  Ezra Klein finds Rahm Emanuel's apparent willingness to let health reform slide into the indefinite future very depressing.  So do I. And it's not just health reform that will die under this approach — it's the road to a caretaker presidency.