Boehner Blasts Dems' ‘Chickencrap’ Tax Cut Vote Gambit (VIDEO)  —  This afternoon, House Democrats will hold an up or down vote on vote on President Obama's plan to extend tax cuts to income below $250,000, and they've figured out a way to prevent the Republicans from pulling procedural tricks …

NASA Finds New Life (Updated)  —  NASA has discovered a new life form—called GFAJ-1—that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth.  It's capable of using arsenic to build its DNA, RNA, proteins, and cell membranes.  This changes everything.

Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion In Earmarks  —  Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.

The DADT Hearings In Six Minutes: GOP Talking Points Debunked  —  This morning, during a hearing about the impact of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates …

U.S. Weighs Prosecution of WikiLeaks Founder, but Legal Scholars Warn of Steep Hurdles  —  WASHINGTON — Calls to prosecute the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, mounted this week as his organization began releasing documents from a cache of 250,000 State Department cables …

A strange way to honor the founding fathers  —  Republicans gained control of the House last month on a promise to “restore the Constitution.”  So it is no small irony that one of their first orders of business is an attempt to rewrite the Constitution.  —  On Tuesday, Rep. Rob Bishop …

A Month After Elections, 200,000 Votes Found  —  The city's Board of Elections routinely reminds New Yorkers that the election night vote count is unofficial and preliminary.  —  Still, the difference in the results from Nov. 2 and in the returns formally certified by the board on Wednesday seems striking …

JUAN WILLIAMS ON UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE  —  If we want people to work and keep up their work ethic, why are we keeping them on unemployment insurance to not work?  —  That seems to be Juan Williams take on the current situation.  In this clip from Fox News today Juan Williams explains …

LETTER FROM DUBLIN  —  It is one thing to know that someone you love is terminally ill; their death still comes as a shock.  —  I certainly don't want to compare the arrival of the EU-IMF team in Dublin last week to a bereavement.  But I was surprised at how upsetting I found it, given that it came as no surprise.

Disaster in the North: 40 dead as fire rages across Carmel Mountains  —  Firefighters: We lost complete control of the fire; mass evacuation from northern towns begins; bus evacuating some 50 prison guards gets caught in the flames, killing 40.  —  40 people died on Thursday as a huge brushfire …

Muslim imam who lectures on non-violence in Germany is arrested for beating up his wife  —  A Muslim imam who lectures on non-violence and advises the German government on interfaith issues has been arrested in Germany for beating up his wife.  —  Sheikh Abu Adam, 40, is now on remand …

Michelle Rhee's Next Move: Florida Governor-Elect Rick Scott's Transition Team  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone reports:  —  An interesting move for former Washington, DC schools chief Michelle Rhee.  She's joining Florida Republican Governor-elect Rick Scott's education transition team.

TRENDING: An Unscripted Moment on Palin's book tour  —  Spirit Lake, Iowa (CNN) - It was an unscripted moment on Sarah Palin's tour to promote her new book, “America by Heart.”  As hundreds of Palin's fans filed inside a cordoned off area of a northern Iowa Walmart today …

DeMint Sets Sights On Four Dems  —  South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R) is turning his attention to 2012 and using the vote this week on an earmark moratorium to pick his Democratic targets.  —  DeMint sent an email to the supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund early Wednesday highlighting four Democrats …

Presenting plan to cut deficit, commission members offer surprising compromises  —  Members of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission expressed a surprising willingness Wednesday to compromise on issues that have long divided Republicans and Democrats, including raising taxes and cutting Social Security.

Unemployed, and Likely to Stay That Way  —  The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work.  —  That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well.  But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning.

Graham: Feingold ‘may run against Obama in 2012’  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday he thinks outgoing Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) could challenge President Obama in the 2012 primaries.  —  Graham said Feingold, a reliably liberal senator who lost his bid for reelection this fall …