Reid, Senate Dems go hardball on taxes  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has adopted a hardball strategy for dealing with Republicans on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts.  —  Reid will force a vote on extending tax cuts for families earning below $250,000 and individuals below $200,000 …

Don't touch my junk  —  Ah, the airport, where modern folk heroes are made.  The airport, where that inspired flight attendant did what everyone who's ever been in the spam-in-a-can crush of a flying aluminum tube - where we collectively pretend that a clutch of peanuts is a meal and a seat cushion is a …

Axis of Depression  —  What do the government of China, the government of Germany and the Republican Party have in common?  They're all trying to bully the Federal Reserve into calling off its efforts to create jobs.  And the motives of all three are highly suspect.  —  It's not as if the Fed is doing anything radical.

Obama Forces Showdown With G.O.P. on Arms Pact  —  WASHINGTON — Just two weeks after an election that left him struggling to find his way forward, President Obama has decided to confront Senate Republicans in a make-or-break battle over arms control that could be an early test of his mettle heading into the final two years of his term.

War of military vs. civil terrorism trials  —  If you rely on headlines and partisan politicians for news, you'd be forgiven for believing that the just-concluded civilian trial of former Guantanamo detainee, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, was, as Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) described, “a total miscarriage of justice.”

House Panel Recommends Censure for Rangel  —  WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee on Thursday recommended that Representative Charles B. Rangel be formally censured for ethical misconduct, the most serious punishment the House can mete out to a member short of expulsion.

Worm Was Perfect for Sabotaging Centrifuges  —  Experts dissecting the computer worm suspected of being aimed at Iran's nuclear program have determined that it was precisely calibrated in a way that could send nuclear centrifuges wildly out of control.  —  Their conclusion, while not definitive …

Boehner Warns GOP on Debt Ceiling  —  Raising the debt ceiling is shaping up as a difficult early vote for the new House GOP majority.  Many of the new Republican lawmakers harshly criticized their Democratic opponents during the campaign for voting to raise the limit in the past …

Lieberman on DADT: We Have 60  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman said Thursday that repealing “don't ask, don't tell” as part of the National Defense Authorization Act is no longer a question of votes, it's a question of process.  —  “I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared …

U.S. deploying heavily armored battle tanks for first time in Afghan war  —  The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, defense officials said, a shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics …

Bryan Fischer: The feminization of the Medal of Honor - Part II  —  The blowback to my column of two days ago, in which I argued that we seem to have become reluctant to award the Medal of Honor to those who take aggressive action against the enemy and kill bad guys, has been fierce.

Fox's “Nazi” rhetoric also comes straight from the top  —  In a recent interview, Fox News chairman Roger Ailes referred to National Public Radio executives as “Nazis” with a “Nazi attitude,” and claimed “[t]hey are the left wing of Nazism.”  Ailes' employees at Fox News, particularly Glenn Beck …

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.

Miller seeks to stop election certification  —  LAWSUIT: Candidate asserts misspelled votes shouldn't count.  —  The Republican candidate in the Alaska U.S. Senate race asked a federal judge Thursday for a preliminary injunction stopping officials from certifying the election.

Afghan Hero Dog Is Euthanized by Mistake in U.S.  —  FLORENCE, Ariz. — When a suicide bomber entered an American military barracks in Afghanistan in February, it was not American soldiers but Afghan stray dogs that confronted him.  Target and two other dogs snarled, barked and snapped at the man …

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.

McConnell Refuses To Throw America Under The Omnibus  —  The federal budget should not be written on Post-It Notes.  —  Trackback Link (Loading. . .)  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared today that he would not support an omnibus spending bill to fund the government.