Deficit to Hit All-Time High  —  Obama's $3.8 Trillion Budget Forecasts a $1.6 Trillion Shortfall for 2010 Before It Drops  —  WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will propose on Monday a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year …

Obama to Seek Sweeping Change in ‘No Child’ Law  —  The Obama administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, and will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing, as well as for the elimination …

‘Iran will deliver telling blow to global powers on Feb. 11’  —  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the “global arrogance” on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.  —  “The Islamic Revolution opened a window to liberty for the human race …

The Obama Spell Is Broken  —  Unlike this president, John Kennedy was an ironist who never fell for his own mystique.  —  The curtain has come down on what can best be described as a brief un-American moment in our history.  That moment began in the fall of 2008, with the great financial panic …

Forces Pushing Obama on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and top Pentagon officials met repeatedly over the past year about repealing “don't ask, don't tell,” the law that bans openly gay members of the military.  —  But it was in Oval Office strategy sessions …

Democrats squabble over jobs bill  —  Democrats from the president on down say jobs are their No. 1 priority, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expects to announce details of a bill this week.  But a squabble among Senate Democrats is complicating early efforts to bring a bill to the floor.

Good and Boring  —  In times of crisis, good news is no news.  Iceland's meltdown made headlines; the remarkable stability of Canada's banks, not so much.  —  Yet as the world's attention shifts from financial rescue to financial reform, the quiet success stories deserve at least as much attention as the spectacular failures.

Should Edwards Aides Be Shamed And Blamed?  —  Late Friday night, having browsed through Andrew Young's book exposing bare the details of John Edwards's extensive cover-up of his reckless decisions, I tweeted that “The senior staff who covered for John Edwards should be identified and shamed out of the Dem consulting world.”

PUTTING THE PENTAGON BUDGET ON THE TABLE?.... When the White House started talking up the notion of a spending freeze (which isn't really a spending freeze) last week, officials outlined a proposal with modest reductions in discretionary spending not related to national security.

Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs ‘expecting $100 million bonus’  —  Goldman Sachs, the world's richest investment bank, could be about to pay its chief executive a bumper bonus of up to $100 million in defiance of moves by President Obama to take action against such payouts.

Glenn Beck Destroys Chris “I Forgot He Was Black For An Hour” Matthews

500,000 hospital patients sent home too soon every year (and 1,500 a day readmitted for emergency care)  —  More than 500,000 patients every year are readmitted to hospital after apparently being sent home too soon, alarming figures reveal.  —  Labour's waiting-time targets have been blamed …

What Obama Isn't Saying  —  The apolitical politics of progressivism.  —  “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.”  —  The words are those of President Barack Obama speaking to Congress on health care reform on September 9, 2009.

Editorial Shake-Up as Harper's Tries to Stabilize in a Downturn  —  Just before noon last Wednesday, John R. MacArthur, the president, publisher and chief benefactor of Harper's Magazine, joined his editorial staff after its monthly meeting.  —  “We are going through a crisis,” Mr. MacArthur …

Citigroup Said to Plan Sale of $10 Billion Private-Equity Unit  —  Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc. plans to sell or split off its $10 billion Citi Private Equity unit, expanding the list of money-management businesses the U.S. bank is disposing of to reduce debt, people familiar with the matter said.

Kathleen Wells, J.D.: Congressman Engel's Passionate Response to the State of the Union  —  Congressman Engel (D-NY) has been a member of the U.S House of Representatives for 22 years.  He serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, including the Subcommittee on Health, and on the Foreign Affairs Committee.