Tea Partiers aim to remake local GOP  —  A year ago, when the Tea Party movement first stirred to life, it had to shout to be noticed, with big public rallies that drew thousands of conservatives to places like Fountain Square and VOA Park in West Chester - citizens angry about government bailouts …

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.

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 …

Steele Rules Out 2012 White House Run  —  RNC Chairman Sees a Party in Transition  —  “Come on, don't ask me that,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said when presented with the inevitable question about his 2012 intentions and if his political aspirations included running for the White House next time around.

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.

How to Reform Our Financial System  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA 10 days ago set out one important element in the needed structural reform of the financial system.  No one can reasonably contest the need for such reform, in the United States and in other countries as well.

Terrorists ‘plan attack on Britain with bombs INSIDE their bodies’ to foil new airport scanners  —  Britain is facing a new Al Qaeda terror threat from suicide ‘body bombers’ with explosives surgically inserted inside them.  —  Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines …

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.

Bayh could oppose budget's terror trial fund  —  Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) on Sunday signaled he might not support the White House's proposed $200 million fund to help cities defray the costs of hosting domestic terror trials.  —  “It's hard to justify spending more money,” Bayh told Fox News Sunday …

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.

Alexander: Blame for debt-reduction panel's defeat also rests with president  —  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Sunday fired back at the president's remark last week that Republican politicking was to blame for the defeat of the debt-commission proposal in the Senate.

ATLAS EXCLUSIVE: Obama Organizing in High School  —  An Atlas reader, Chuck, has a student in the eleventh grade in an Ohio High School.  Her government class passed out this propaganda recruiting paper so students could sign up as interns for Obama's Organizing for America (OFA is the former mybarackobama.com site.)

The Audacity of Cope  —  Blame it on Scott Brown.  Blame it on poll numbers which all seem to be shifting in one direction.  Hell, maybe we should blame it on Rio.  Whatever the reason, President Obama took the hopefully productive step of visiting with Republican legislators this week.

The Secessionist Campaign for the Republic of Vermont  —  The President on Wednesday may have reassured Americans that the state of the Union is “strong,” but, just the week before, a group of Vermont secessionists declared their intention to seek political power in a quest to get their state to quit the Union altogether.

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 …