Backdoor taxes to hit middle class  —  NEW YORK (Reuters.com) —The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

Top Defense Officials Seek to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  WASHINGTON — The nation's top two Defense officials called for an end on Tuesday to the 16-year-old “don't ask, don't tell” law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time in its history.

The 2010 Comprehensive Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of Self-Identified Republicans  —  As I've mentioned before, I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book, American Taliban, which catalogues the ways in which modern-day conservatives share the same agenda as radical Jihadists in the Islamic world.

Are You Capable of Decency, Rahm Emanuel?  —  The newly-released mind-boggling, record-smashing $3,400,000,000,000 federal budget invites plenty of opportunity to debate the merits of incurring more and more debt that will drown the next generation of Americans.  Never has it been possible to spend your way out of debt.

Blanche Lincoln Poll  —  John Boozman will enter the Arkansas Senate race this weekend as the frontrunner.  He leads incumbent Blanche Lincoln by an amazing 56-33 margin in our first poll of the race.  —  Lincoln's approval rating has sunk to just 27%, with 62% of voters in the state disapproving of her.

Rep. Paul Ryan's daring budget proposal  —  The White House's 2011 budget is only the second-most interesting budget proposal released recently.  First prize goes to Congressman Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, who's released a budget proposal that actually erases the massive long-term deficit.

N.L. Premier Williams set to have heart surgery in U.S.  —  ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.  —  Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday …

Tebow's Super Bowl ad isn't intolerant; its critics are  —  I'll spit this out quick, before the armies of feminism try to gag me and strap electrodes to my forehead: Tim Tebow is one of the better things to happen to young women in some time.  I realize this stance won't endear me to the …

Obama takes another dig at Las Vegas  —  President Barack Obama on Tuesday took another dig at Las Vegas at his New Hampshire town hall Tuesday after similar remarks got him into hot water last year.  —  Obama said that people should now “blow a bunch of cash in Vegas” during a tough recession.

Reid: Senate can't pass reconciliation first, decision hopefully by next week  —  Emerging from a meeting Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hopes Democrats can decide by next week on a way to move the health care bill forward.

The Fat Lady Sings for Keith Olbermann  —  “It ain't over until the fat lady sings.”  —  The fat lady is doing more than singing for Keith Olbermann.  And, like most of the other women in the life of MS-NBC's premiere leftist sexist, she's not interested in dating him.

Limbaugh ‘thanks God every day’ for Obama's political problems  —  Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said that he “thank[s] God every day” for the political difficulties facing President Barack Obama.  —  Limbaugh told Fox News in an interview to air on “Fox and Friends” …

What's a Degree Really Worth?  —  A college education may not be worth as much as you think.  —  For years, higher education was touted as a safe path to professional and financial success.  Easy money, in the form of student loans, flowed to help parents and students finance degrees …

Murtha in intensive care  —  Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha was in intensive care at a Virginia hospital Tuesday because of serious complications related to gall bladder surgery last week.  —  Murtha's congressional office confirmed that he underwent scheduled laparoscopic surgery to remove …

Shoe bomber was read Miranda rights  —  Republicans may have a hard time keeping up their talking point about how reading Miranda rights to the Christmas Day bomber represented a dangerous new direction under President Barack Obama.  —  It turns out that that back in December 2001 …

Jenny Sanford: Husband Refused to Be Faithful in Wedding Vows  —  S.C. First Lady Tells Barbara Walters: ‘I Thought He Loved Me in His Own Way, Which Is Not a Warm, Bubbly Way’  —  South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford recalls how she made the “leap of faith” to marry husband Gov. Mark Sanford …

Sarah Palin magazine hits newsstands and convenience stores  —  One of the things Sarah Palin has sought to do since stepping down from the governor's office in Alaska is seize control of her image.  So it is perhaps a sign of how difficult a task that remains for the GOP's former vice presidential nominee …

Early draft of the Constitution found in Phila.  —  Researcher Lorianne Updike Toler was intrigued by the centuries-old document at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  —  On the back of a treasured draft of the U.S. Constitution was a truncated version of the same document, starting with the familiar words: “We The People. . . .”

Tea Party Star Leads Movement On Her Own Terms … text sizeAAA  —  The National Tea Party convention is on Thursday — though it's probably more accurate to call it a Tea Party convention, not the Tea Party convention.  —  But despite the convention, questions remain for the fledgling movement: Where is it heading?

Brennan: All Transferred Detainees Who Returned to Terrorism Were Released by Bush, No Recidivism for Those Released by Obama  —  In a letter to congressional leaders sent Monday night, White House adviser John Brennan, the assistant to President Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism …

Nervous Dems Go On Polling Spree  —  Dems facing a difficult political terrain next year began polling their districts early to survey a tumultuous political landscape, according to reports filed with the FEC.  —  At least 14 potentially vulnerable Dems commissioned polls in the last 3 months of '09 …

Rising FHA default rate foreshadows a crush of foreclosures  —  The share of borrowers who are falling seriously behind on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration jumped by more than a third in the past year, foreshadowing a crush of foreclosures that could further buffet an agency vital to the housing market's recovery.

Kim Jong-il's regime is even weirder and more despicable than you thought.  —  Visiting North Korea some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial “minder” whom I'll call Mr. Chae.  He guided me patiently around the ruined and starving country, explaining things away by means of a sort …

The 82nd Annual Oscar Nominations  —  By THE NEW YORK TIMES  —  Below is the full list of the 82nd Annual Oscar Nominations, which were announced Tuesday morning:  —  Best Picture  —  “Avatar”  —  “The Blind Side”  —  “District 9″  —  “An Education”  —  “The Hurt Locker”

In sex scandal, Edwards braced for media onslaught that never came  —  Two weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, the National Enquirer published a detailed story reporting that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had had an affair, and that the woman involved, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter …