'Sarah Palin's Alaska' Breaks TLC Ratings Record  —  Sarah Palin's documentary / travelogue / reality / biopic shattered TLC ratings records Sunday night.  —  The debut of Sarah Palin's Alaska delivered a whopping 5 million viewers.  —  The first episode of the eight-part series was the most-watched program launch in TLC's history.

OUP USA 2010 Word of the Year: Refudiate … Refudiate  —  has been named the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2010 Word of the Year!  —  refudiate verb used loosely to mean “reject”: she called on them to refudiate the proposal to build a mosque.  —  [origin — blend of refute and repudiate]

McConnell bows to right on earmarks  —  As he worked the phones over the past week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concluded he was in a no-win situation over earmarks.  —  The Kentucky Republican could dig in and fight a proposed ban on earmarks, opening him up to attacks …

House Panel Says Facts in Rangel Case Are Undisputed  —  In an ominous sign for Representative Charles B. Rangel, the House ethics committee on Monday said the facts presented by a prosecutor accusing Mr. Rangel of violating Congressional rules were not in dispute and that the congressman himself had not refuted the charges.

Virginia Thomas stepping down as head of Liberty Central  —  Virginia Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has decided to relinquish control of Liberty Central, the conservative group she founded less than a year ago, so that the organization can escape the …

Vicious Infighting at NBC News  —  Steve Capus, the NBC News president, strongly echoed this theme.  Some of Olbermann's behavior was bad for the company.  —  Griffin, who had been friends with Olbermann since they first worked together at CNN three decades ago, pleaded for understanding.

Harry Reid creates special leadership job for Chuck Schumer  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to overhaul the Senate Democratic leadership next year, handing New York Sen. Chuck Schumer an expanded role spearheading the party's messaging efforts.  —  In a letter obtained by POLITICO …

Wow!  HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video)  —  Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning.  They all had American Flags on their bikes.  —  A veteran brings Cody to tears when he gives …

Top Republican: Hoyer is ‘the only one we really talk to’  —  Outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is the GOP's primary source of contact within the Democratic leadership, a top Republican said Monday.  —  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee …

2 Dems claim Huffington stole website idea  —  Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post.  —  Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed …

CNN Poll: Election not a mandate for GOP  —  Washington (CNN) - Americans approve of the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the midterms, but only one in six say the election results were a mandate for the GOP, according to a new national poll.

Apple Finally Snares Beatles  —  Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog.  —  Apple Inc. is preparing to disclose that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation …

Full Frontal Nudity Doesn't Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA  —  The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President's health care proposal.  In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block …

The Party of No  —  By offering up their joint recommendation last week for balancing the budget, the co-chairmen of Barack Obama's fiscal commission didn't solve our deficit problem once and for all, or clear a path through the political thickets facing would-be budget cutters.

Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires  —  Related Story: McAlester soldier mourned  —  McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.  —  Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army …

Obama shares dreams for his kids in book on 13 Americans  —  President Obama's picture book for kids, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (Knopf, $17.99), pays tribute to 13 Americans whose traits he sees in his own children.  —  The 31-page book, for kids ages 3 and up …

Murkowski receives warm welcome from fellow senators as lame-duck begins  —  Sen. Lisa Murkowski received a warm welcome from fellow Senators on the Senate floor Monday and congratulations from National Republican Senate Campaign Chairman John Cornyn.  —  Ballots are still being counted …

Amidst National Islamophobic Upheaval, Arizonans Protest Mosque That's Actually A Church  —  In an era saturated with absurd moments of anti-Muslim fear-mongering, mosques have become a touchstone for Islamophobia.  Even unbuilt mosques have set off a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Tennessee …

Kalpen Modi Returns To White House Job After Leaving To Film ‘Harold & Kumar’ Sequel  —  ABC's Michael Falcone reports:  —  After a brief hiatus to film a sequel to the popular “Harold & Kumar” movie, the actor, Kalpen Modi (also known as Kal Penn), is returning to a job in the White House

Is America bribing Bibi or blackmailing him?  —  THE way the New York Times reports it, you might think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are treating Israel's prime minister with more solicitude than he deserves.  If he will only agree to freeze Israeli settlement building in the West Bank …

Obama Blames Himself for Tone in Washington  —  Just 20 days after his inauguration, with Republicans trying to block his stimulus bill, President Obama refused to acknowledge that he had underestimated how hard it would be to change the way Washington works.

Lieberman, Collins seek earlier release of Pentagon 'don't ask, don't tell' report  —  Two influential senators who want repeal of the military's “don't ask, don't tell' policy have called on the Pentagon to accelerate the release of a report examining the effects of such a sweeping change, and how it can be implemented.

The best campaign of the 2010 election  —  The Fix spends an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about campaign politics.  —  Given that, we like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of the political game — we know what's good, what's bad and what's just plain odd.

Tea party groups push GOP to quit culture wars, focus on deficit  —  In a letter to Republican leaders, tea party members advise the GOP to avoid culture-war social issues such as gay rights and abortion and to focus on reducing deficit and role of government.