Bush Tax-Cut Deal With Jobless Aid Said to Be Near  —  WASHINGTON — White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders …

List of facilities ‘vital to US security’ leaked  —  Ningbo port in south-eastern China, one of the facilities on the US list  —  A long list of key facilities around the world that the US describes as vital to its national security has been released by Wikileaks.

Dems aim for 100+ bills in 1 swoop  —  Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Worls Committee has threatened to block swift approval of a land and water omnibus bill if it includes, for example, the version of the Chesapeake Bay protection bill that passed …

Talks begin on Iran's nuclear program  —  Western officials see the Geneva meetings as a test of whether Iran is more willing to bend to international pressure.  —  Jacques Audibert, general and strategic affairs director of France, third from left, talks to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov …

Mike Huckabee wants some respect  —  Dial down the deafening Sarah Palin buzz for just a moment: The most consequential decision in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes could be whether Mike Huckabee decides to run again - and associates say the former Arkansas governor may well take the plunge.

Exclusive: Gen. Petraeus Not ‘Sure’ Victory in Afghanistan by 2014  —  In my exclusive interview with General David Petraeus he was encouraged by the progress made since President Obama's surge of forces into Afghanistan, but is he confident that the Afghan army can take the lead from U.S. forces by NATO's 2014 deadline?

WikiLeaks cables: Barack Obama is a bigger danger  —  WikiLeaks harms the US.  But the president's refusal to acknowledge the threats we face is a bigger danger  —  WikiLeaks has yet again flooded the internet with thousands of classified American documents, this time state department cables.

David Frum, Speech Policeman  —  Last week, the distinguished liberal thinker and activist William Galston, along with an equally distinguished conservative counterpart, David Frum, announced in the Washington Post the forthcoming founding of a new organization called “No Labels.”

Time to Think the Unthinkable: A Democratic Primary Challenge To Obama's Reelection  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Can't tell you how it happened.  All I know, it just happened.  —  Been thinking and reading a lot about President Barack Obama.  Lots of news commentaries about his alleged lack of leadership on this or that issue.

Same-Sex Initiative Reaches Next Hurdle  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It has been more than two years since voters outlawed same-sex marriage with a ballot initiative in California, and it may be two more before the legality of that measure — Proposition 8 — is finally decided, most likely by the Supreme Court.

Hugo Chavez blames massive flooding on capitalism as 70,000 remain homeless in Venezuela  —  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he knows what's been causing the floods that have killed 32 people in his country and left 70,000 homeless: “criminal capitalism.”

Lefties Hate Israel  —  Leading Leftist Website Urges Liberals Not to Donate to Israel's Fire Relief Fund  —  Maybe someday the Jews in America will wake up to the absolute hatred and hostility the left has for the State of Israel.  —  Fire in Israel Not Natural ... Terrorism?

In Interview, Bernanke Backs Tax Code Shift  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday evening that rising inequality was eroding social cohesion and that Congress could help economic growth by making the tax code more efficient.