Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy  —  SO America's latest crisis — until it wasn't — was airport screeners touching our junk.  As this long year lurches toward its end, we all agree that something has gone wrong in America, and we're desperately casting about for a coherent explanation for our discontent, if not a scapegoat.

McCain wants ‘regime change’ in North Korea  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is calling for “regime change” in North Korea - and blames the recent crisis on the failings of Pyongyang's lone international supporter, China.  —  “It's time we talked about regime change in North Korea …

A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web  —  SHOPPING online in late July, Clarabelle Rodriguez typed the name of her favorite eyeglass brand into Google's search bar.  —  In moments, she found the perfect frames — made by a French company called Lafont — on a Web site that looked snazzy and stood at the top of the search results.

Despite Alaska Senate race results, Joe Miller presses on in principle  —  Much of America may have moved on, but Joe Miller has not.  More than a week after the last vote was counted in Alaska's closely watched U.S. Senate race, the Republican nominee continues to press his case in court …

A G.O.P. Chairman Seeks New Power for U.S. Watchdogs  —  WASHINGTON — The Republican who will lead the chief investigative committee in the House is planning to vastly expand scrutiny of the Obama administration by seeking new subpoena powers for dozens of federal agency watchdogs in hopes …

Former Republican Sen. Warns GOP May ‘Have Gone So Far Overboard That We Are Beyond Redemption’  —  In an age when far-right tea party activists have taken over the Republican Party and demanded lockstep allegiance, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been one of the few GOP lawmakers to step out of line.

Ictu questions bailout terms  —  The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has said that the country cannot afford to pay the terms of the proposed €85 billion EU/IMF bailout package.  —  Addressing the large-scale rally against the Government's planed austerity measures in Dublin today …

Ex-Justice Criticizes Death Penalty  —  WASHINGTON — In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium.  With the right procedures, he wrote, it is possible to ensure “evenhanded …

Our puritanical progressives  —  An eminent Harvard law professor, James Thayer (1831-1902), argued that although the judicial function is “merely that of fixing the outside border of reasonable legislative action,” this still gives courts “a great and stately jurisdiction.”

Kyl: START delay more ‘reality than policy’ with Reid's packed agenda  —  Senators foreshadowed an explosive lame-duck debate over whether ratification of the START nuclear-arms treaty would wait until the 112th Congress.  —  Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the minority whip whose support is seen …

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Politically correct Portland rejected feds who saved city from terrorist attack  —  In 2005, leaders in Portland, Oregon, angry at the Bush administration's conduct of the war on terror, voted not to allow city law enforcement officers to participate in a key anti-terror initiative …

Democratic South finally falls  —  For Democrats in the South, the most ominous part of a disastrous year may not be what happened on Election Day but what has happened in the weeks since.  —  After suffering a historic rout — in which nearly every white Deep South Democrat in the U.S. House …

Charlie Rangel urges reprimand, not censure  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel is ready to make a last stand to salvage his reputation and tell the House that a censure should be reserved for crooked politicians.  —  He will argue that he's not one of them.

Simon Says  —  That Fat Lip Might Give Obama Some Street Cred … Gauze in hand, President Barack Obama walks to his car after the game of basketball Friday at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.  —  Just three weeks after getting a shellacking in the midterm elections, President Obama got a fat lip.