Dems will vote on just middle class tax cuts, Hoyer says  —  Steny Hoyer, the number two in the House Dem leadership, told Democrats at a caucus meeting this morning that they would get to vote this year on just extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, a senior Dem aide tells me …

Fox News Chief Blasts NPR ‘Nazis’  —  Roger Ailes slams Jon Stewart as a conservative-basher, explains why he rode to Juan Williams' rescue—and sees NPR as taxpayer-funded propaganda.  Part II of Howard Kurtz's interview.  —  When Jon Stewart was appearing on the O'Reilly Factor a few weeks back …

Are GOP Leaders Quietly Trying to Axe Office of Congressional Ethics?  —  Rep. Dreier Called Office Three Days After GOP Won Majority  —  Is the House GOP Targeting Ethics Office?  —  “If you drain the swamp,” said Leonard, “all the crocodiles get nervous.”

CARVILLE: OBAMA NEEDS A PAIR  —  Speaking to reporters Thursday, Democratic strategist James Carville dropped this one-liner: “If Hillary gave up one of her balls and gave it to Obama, he'd have two.”  —  The quote was first noted by Tribune reporter Mike Memoli on his Twitter account.

House fails to eliminate NPR funding  —  The House on Thursday voted to move forward on legislation without voting on a proposal put forth by Republicans to defund NPR.  —  Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the next majority leader, said the vote demonstrates that Democrats “are still not ready to listen” …

Rick Perry open to sending the US military into Mexico  —  Gov. Rick Perry says he's open to the idea of sending U.S. troops into Mexico to fight the drug war.  The Texas governor told MSNBC this morning that border violence has escalated dramatically since George W. Bush was governor a decade ago.

The Junk Grabbing Photo You'll Be Seeing All Day Today  —  Sometimes all it takes to launch another wave of talk about a hot topic is an image.  And when it comes to junk grabbing, that picture comes to us today from Denver.  —  The Denver Post, in a front-page story Thursday morning …

READ the 20th Amendment: New Republican Senators Violating US Constitution  —  A handful of newly elected Republican US Senators have written to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid trying to undo the Constitutional authority of other elected incumbent US Senators.  —  That's right.

Have Scott Brown and Ron Wyden figured out the way forward on health care?  —  The GOP's slogan on health-care reform has, till now, been “repeal and replace.”  But they don't have the votes for either.  What they might have the votes for is reform that, maybe, one day, if all goes well, could lead to replacement.

Public Knows Basic Facts about Politics, Economics, But Struggles with Specifics  —  Few Aware of Inflation Rate or TARP and Deficit Specifics  —  Take the Latest Quiz Online!  —  Before you read the report, we invite you to test your own News IQ by taking the latest interactive knowledge quiz.

Ghailani and Military Detention, continued  —  I agree with Ben and Bobby that the disappointing Ghailani verdict does not imply that the prosecution should have been brought in a military commission.  As they argue, most if not all of the challenges of Ghailani's trial would have been replicated …

‘Refudiation’ of $600 Billion Printed Out of Thin Air  —  While on a United Airlines flight from New York City to Los Angeles this week, a fellow passenger handed me a copy of the The Wall Street Journal Nov. 15 op-ed by Alan Blinder—"In Defense of Ben Bernanke"—and suggested that I write …

Vote on Whether This Couple Gets an Abortion  —  The Arnolds are having a baby.  Unless the public votes to have the child aborted.  Meet the couple behind Birthornot.com, where “you can vote and choose whether we abort or keep our unborn child.”  —  Pete and Alisha Arnold, both 30 …

Palin Adviser Wanted Execution Without Trial For Convicted Terrorist Ahmed Ghailani  —  A Federal District Court in Manhattan convicted Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani yesterday on one count of of conspiracy for the 1998 terror bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Clinton critical of religious freedom in Europe  —  WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Wednesday the state of religious freedom in Europe, as Washington highlighted policies and attitudes toward Muslim veils and Islam as a whole.

Pot growers portrayed as terror threat  —  What were they smoking?  —  Federal, state and local officials carrying out a counter-terrorism drill in Northern California Wednesday played out a scenario in which local marijuana growers set off bombs and took over the Shasta Dam, the nation's second largest, to free an imprisoned comrade.

Family waits to see if mother, accused of blasphemy, will be hanged  —  Itan Wali, Pakistan (CNN) — In this village in Pakistan's Punjab province a tearful 12-year-old girl ponders if the Pakistani government will soon hang her mother.  —  “Whenever I see her picture I cry,” Isham Masih told CNN.

Poll: Californians want it both ways on budget  —  Voters favor cuts to balance the budget — yet they object to most of the cuts that could be made, a Los Angeles Times/USC Poll shows.  —  Bunks are placed in open areas at Mule Creek State Prison.  The California budget crisis has led …

Sen. Lisa Murkowski Tells Local TV She Will Vote For Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal  —  Last night during an appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) refused to say if she would vote for a National Defense Authorization Act that included a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but this afternoon …

IPCC Official: “Climate Policy Is Redistributing The World's Wealth”  —  Climate policy has almost nothing to do anymore with environmental protection, says the German economist and IPCC official Ottmar Edenhofer.  The next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during …