Charlie Rangel walks out of ethics trial  —  Complaining bitterly that he was denied the right to have an attorney present, an emotional Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) walked out of his highly publicized public ethics trial Monday morning, an unexpected twist in the ethics inquiry has tarnished Rangel's four-decade congressional career.

McConnell on Earmarks: The People Have Spoken—I'm Listening  —  Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Monday regarding the united Republican Leadership moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress:

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 …

Safer Social Security  —  Social Security is not the key fiscal problem facing the nation.  Payments to its beneficiaries amount to 5 percent of the economy now; by 2050, they're projected to rise to about 6 percent.  Over the same period, federal health care costs will increase six times as much.

Open Letter to Ben Bernanke  —  The following is the text of an open letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signed by several economists, along with investors and political strategists, most of them close to Republicans:  —  We believe the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchase plan …

Vicious Infighting at NBC News  —  MSNBC's president vowed to fire Keith Olbermann after he threatened to take his case to other networks.  Howard Kurtz on the civil war that has NBC brass—and his own staff—fuming.  —  Keith Olbermann was having dinner with his manager at an Upper East Side restaurant …

Medicare After Obama  —  Playing around with the NYT's deficit calculator I came up with a plan that involves raising the eligibility age for Medicare.  —  I'm a bleeding heart, at heart, and don't like the idea of any kind of cut on social welfare expenditures.

Sen. Schumer wants a federal investigation and ban of reusable grocery bags  —  How many times have we heard from Al Gore, Hollyweird celebrities, and other environmentalists that the use of reusable bags are not only necessary for the environment, but is also useful for carrying those heavy items …

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 …

The World as He Finds It  —  On Wednesday David Axelrod, President Obama's top political adviser, appeared to signal that the White House was ready to cave on tax cuts — to give in to Republican demands that tax cuts be extended for the wealthy as well as the middle class.

A lame and spineless duck?  —  The lame-duck session of Congress that kicks off this week will test whether Democrats have spines made of Play-Doh and whether President Obama has decided to pretend that capitulation is conciliation.  —  Congress faces an enormous amount of unfinished business …

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.

Murkowski maintains election write-in lead  —  COUNTING: About 89 percent of ballots for senator unchallenged.  —  JUNEAU — Sen. Lisa Murkowski retained 89 percent of the undisputed write-in votes in Alaska's still-undecided Senate race, as the fifth day of the ballot hand count ended.

Europe stumbles blindly towards its 1931 moment  —  It is the European Central Bank that should be printing money on a mass scale to purchase government debt, not the US Federal Reserve.  —  Unless the ECB takes fast and dramatic action, it risks destroying the currency it is paid to manage …

MCCAIN MOVES THE GOAL POSTS.... A couple of months ago, when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led the charge to kill “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” repeal, he specifically relied on a Pentagon survey on the issue.  How, McCain said, could Congress possibly act before lawmakers know the results?

Gov-elect Andrew Cuomo taps former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to keep New Yorkers safe  —  How's this for strange bedfellows: Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will co-chair Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo's transition committee on public safety, the Daily News has learned.  —  Sources in the Cuomo transition say Giuliani …

Foreclosure King Defaults on Rent, $15 Million Loan  —  For people pushed out of their own homes by the law firm of foreclosure king David J. Stern, consider Monday's news a piece of sweet irony.  Stern, the South Florida lawyer who built a business empire in the foreclosure industry …