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 …

The Democrats have picked the wrong strategy on the Bush tax cuts  —  The Democrats are converging around a strategy on the Bush tax cuts that, if it works, would potentially eliminate the tax cuts for the rich.  The votes in the Senate are such that legislators on both sides say the strategy won't work …

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.

THE WRONG QUESTION AT THE WRONG TIME.... CBS News sent around a press release yesterday afternoon about a special “In Focus: Debt and Deficit,” hosted by Katie Couric.  —  The release noted, “With this year's record-breaking deficit of $1.5 trillion — the biggest ever in U.S. history …

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 …

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.

Senate Democrats vent anger with Barack Obama  —  Senate Democrats - including typically mild-mannered Bill Nelson of Florida - lit into President Barack Obama during an unusually tense air-clearing caucus session on Thursday, senators and staffers told POLITICO.

Meditation Diet  —  Now out of prison, a slimmed-down Bob Ney spends his days in India with devotees of the Dalai Lama.  —  Former Rep. Bob Ney and Tenzin Sherab by the prayer wheels at Sarah College.  —  Most Americans got their last glimpse of Bob Ney in 2006 when the powerful Ohio …

TSA Backscatter X-ray Backlash  —  Things are happening so fast that I don't know if I should bother.  But here are some links and observations.  —  The head of the Allied Pilots Association is telling its members to avoid both the full body scanners and the patdowns.

With Holder at the helm, detainee policy is a disaster  —  The closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and civilian trials for terrorists were more than policy changes proposed by Barack Obama as a presidential candidate.  They were presented as a return to constitutional government - a dividing line from an uncivilized past.

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 …

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.

Questioning a Payroll Tax Holiday  —  Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin have proposed a one-year payroll tax holiday to stimulate the economy.  I have previously explained why I think monkeying around with the payroll tax is a dreadful idea and won't repeat my argument here.

$#!% Joe Biden Says  —  Can he raise the rafters like his boss?  No. But nobody can flat-out talk like Joe Biden.  And these days, everybody's listening  —  There are only two reporters traveling coast-to-coast with the vice president on Air Force Two on a clear day in early October.

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans had mental illness in 2009  —  CHICAGO - More than 45 million Americans, or 20 percent of U.S. adults, had some form of mental illness last year, and 11 million had a serious illness, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday.  —  Young adults aged 18 to 25 …

Another shutdown?  —  Grover Norquist wants a do-over.  —  The head of the influential Americans for Tax Reform is encouraging the new House Republican majority to adopt a take-no-prisoners approach to federal spending — and if that leads to a 1995-style government shutdown, so be it.

Centrist Sen. Conrad will stay atop Senate budget panel  —  Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) announced Friday he would look to remain chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in the next Congress.  —  Conrad said he'd chosen to keep his top spot on the budget panel and he had opted against seeking …

Palin Aides Relish Beltway's Skepticism  —  Throughout the better part of the last two years, the narrative among influential political operatives and opinion makers in Washington remained unchanged: Sarah Palin would continue to be a dynamic media presence and possible kingmaker …

Raising Social Security Retirement Age Could Cause Spike in Disability Payments  —  The purpose of raising the retirement age, we're told, is to save money and put Social Security on a path to long-term solvency.  But the bean-counting geniuses Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson didn't take one thing …

A Trailblazer With Her Eye on the Bottom Line  —  She grew up sheltered and privileged, in a middle-class Irish enclave of Chicago at midcentury, attending Catholic schools and riding horses at a country club where blacks and Jews were not allowed.  Yet from age 28, she blazed a trail for working women …

Strangling innovation with red tape  —  As a Democrat whose politics are undeniably liberal on social issues, I lamented the outcome of the midterm elections.  But as an entrepreneur with two software start-ups under my belt, I couldn't help but celebrate - and more than a little.

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 …

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 …

Democrats unhappy with Obama's tactics plot change  —  Prominent party members discuss going their own way to fight back - especially on fundraising issues.  —  Reporting from Washington — Frustrated by what they see as President Obama's weakness in battling Republicans …

Unemployment Extension Defeated In House  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a measure that would have reauthorized extended unemployment insurance for another three months, leaving no clear path forward to prevent the benefits from lapsing as scheduled on Nov. 30.