Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco  —  We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe.  However, the latest round of publications …

Obama Freezes Pay for Federal Workers  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama announced a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers on Monday as he sought to address concerns over sky-high deficit spending and appeal to Republican leaders to find a common approach to restoring the nation's economic and fiscal health.

Liberal groups blast Obama pay-freeze proposal, release alternative plan  —  Representatives of three liberal advocacy groups on Monday blasted President Obama's proposed two-year freeze on federal civilian worker pay.  —  John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute, Tamara Draut of Demos …

PRECEDENT AND PROLOGUE  —  Momentous Supreme Court cases tend to move quickly into the slipstream of the Court's history.  In the first ten years after Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that ended the doctrine of separate but equal in public education, the Justices cited the case more than twenty-five times.

What happens when Medicare controls costs too well  —  There's one school of thought that says Congress is incapable of controlling costs in Medicare, and then there's, well, this: … One of the dirty little secrets of the health-care system is that Medicare has done a much better job controlling costs …

Democrats warm to tax-cut compromise  —  A faction of congressional Democrats is making a push to persuade President Obama to consider a compromise on tax policy that would leave only the nation's 315,000 richest households facing higher taxes in January.  —  Over the past few days …

The Spanish Prisoner  —  The best thing about the Irish right now is that there are so few of them.  By itself, Ireland can't do all that much damage to Europe's prospects.  The same can be said of Greece and of Portugal, which is widely regarded as the next potential domino.  —  But then there's Spain.

‘The criminalization of politics’  —  THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT that former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) schemed to get around a Texas law prohibiting corporate contributions to political campaigns.  Mr. DeLay's state political action committee accepted $190,000 in (legal) corporate contributions.

Blasts target Iranian nuclear scientists  —  One professor dies, another is injured on their morning commutes.  The attacks prompt a stern warning by the head of IranÂ's atomic energy agency.  —  Reporting from Beirut — Two separate explosions killed a nuclear scientist and injured another …

Smithsonian Christmas-Season Exhibit Features Ant-Covered Jesus, Naked Brothers Kissing, Genitalia, and Ellen DeGeneres Grabbing Her Breasts  —  WARNING: This story contains graphic photographs of items on display in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

APNewsBreak: NJ must pay $271M for killing tunnel  —  TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey owes the federal government more than $271 million after canceling a rail tunnel connecting the state with New York, according to a debt notice obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

WikiLeaked: John Kerry calls for Israel to cede Golan Heights and East Jerusalem  —  On a February trip to the Middle East, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital …

Picasso's electrician reveals artist's ‘treasure trove’  —  The works include a portrait of the late artist's first wife, Olga  —  A retired electrician in southern France who worked for Pablo Picasso says he has hundreds of previously unknown works by the artist.

Of WikiLeaks and the Pentagon Papers  —  In connection with the latest WikiLeaks flap, commenter Brett Bellmore asks rhetorically, “Do you think America would be better off if the Pentagon Papers hadn't been leaked?”  —  Yes!  Hell, yes!  Much better off.  —  The Pentagon Papers leak didn't end the Vietnam War.

American exceptionalism: an old idea and a new political battle  —  Is this a great country or what?  —  “American exceptionalism” is a phrase that, until recently, was rarely heard outside the confines of think tanks, opinion journals and university history departments.

The Partisan Mind  —  Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been president when the Transportation Security Administration decided to let Thanksgiving travelers choose between exposing their nether regions to a body scanner or enduring a private security massage.

Deadweight Loss of Liquor License Restrictions  —  Street noise is a very real issue in large swathes of Manhattan and I think it's perfectly understandable that people prefer not to have lively nightlife scenes located directly outside their windows.  So when I read Sarah Laskow's long …