Freezing Out Hope  —  After the Democratic “shellacking” in the midterm elections, everyone wondered how President Obama would respond.  Would he show what he was made of?  Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of political adversity?

Disappointing Job Growth in U.S. as Jobless Rate Hits 9.8%  —  In a significant setback to the recovery and market expectations, the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

Mr. Olbermann—Sorry We Can't All Be As Perfect As You  —  Recently, a left wing commentator named Keith Olbermann attacked me for being a spokesperson for abstinence education and for being an Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, which promotes teen pregnancy awareness and prevention education.

Rangel: I don't deal in average American citizens  —  One might have thought, given all of the handwringing from Capitol Hill last night over the horrors of censuring, that Charlie Rangel would have learned a little humility from the process.  For instance, on CNN moments after Nancy Pelosi read aloud …

President Obama Makes Surprise Trip to Afghanistan, Sources Tell ABC News  —  Visit Comes Amid Backdrop of Wikileaks Report Highlighting Afghan Corruption  —  President Obama is in Afghanistan on a surprise visit, sources told ABC News' Martha Raddatz.  —  Obama's surprise trip comes …

Wave goodbye to Internet freedom  —  FCC crosses the Rubicon into online regulation  —  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to add the Internet to its portfolio of regulated industries.  The agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, announced Wednesday that he circulated draft rules …

Casting Light on “The Moment of Truth”  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  The report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, issued on December 1, 2010 by Chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, is entitled “The Moment of Truth.”  The words appear in block caps on the second page, weighty and portentous.

McCain Exudes Grumpiness At DADT Hearing  —  Since President Obama announced his intent to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell in this year's State of the Union Address, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — who had previously said that he was open to considering repeal if the military carefully studied …

Arizona Cuts Financing for Transplant Patients  —  PHOENIX — Even physicians with decades of experience telling patients that their lives are nearing an end are having difficulty discussing a potentially fatal condition that has arisen in Arizona: Death by budget cut.

Wikileaks' Domain Gets ‘Killed’  —  After getting dropped by Amazon's web hosting service yesterday, Wikileak was booted today from its Domain Name Service provider.  Now Wikileaks is down again, and effectively homeless.  —  In a statement, EveryDNS says they were forced to terminate …

The Mind in Motion  —  Going through one of Martin Luther King's assessments of Black Power, and I came across this quote: … King doesn't retreat from his ultimate belief that Black Power is a “nihilistic philosophy.”  But what I love here is that there's actual movement in King's writing …

Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans' Credit Cards in Real Time  —  Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting a court order, a new document released under a government sunshine request shows.

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, this CNN crew popped …

A Tax Reform Vision  —  I have a vision.  —  Sometime over the next couple of weeks, President Obama issues a statement that reads: “Over the past several months, Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over what to do with the Bush tax cuts.  I have my own views …

Helen Thomas is At it Again-Says Those Rich Jews Control America  —  Proving once again that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, former White House Correspondent Helen Thomas told an anti-Arab-Bias workshop in Dearboran Michigan that she absolutely stands by her ugly comments about Jews …

Military Chiefs Parade Disagreements Over Don't Ask, Don't Tell  —  Military leaders paraded their differences over whether gays should serve openly in the military during a Senate hearing Friday.  —  The chiefs of the military services most directly involved in the Afghanistan war voiced opposition …

Julian Assange answers your questions  —  The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, answers readers' questions about the release of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables  —  Fwoggie … Julian Assange:  —  I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal.

First thoughts: A bad jobs report  —  A bad jobs report: Economy adds just 39,000 jobs in November and unemployment rate jumps to 9.8%... Also a bad 24 hours for political pragmatism... The deficit doesn't hold with the deficit commission, as it won't get the supermajority today to move …

The fiscal commission succeeded — sort of  —  There are a few ways to look at the final vote on the Simpson-Bowles plan:  —  One way is that the 11 votes they got is fewer than the 14 votes they needed to recommend the plan to Congress.  —  Another is that the 11 votes they got …