‘Filibernie’: Sanders rips tax deal for more than eight hours  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is railing against President Obama's tax-cut package in a lengthy floor speech.  —  Sanders, one of the Senate's leading liberals, is protesting Obama's deal with Republicans …

Swindle of the year  —  Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did.  In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion 2009 stimulus package.

Palin-Hating Columbia Professor, Huffington Post Blogger, Busted for Incest  —  Let's begin with a flashback, shall we?  In July 2009, when Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska, Columbia University professor David Epstein wrote at his Huffington Post blog: … Got that?

Levi's Story  —  A study on “When Marriage Disappears: The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America” was published Monday by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values.

The White House's case for the tax-cut deal in one graph  —  They're circulating this around the Hill:  —  It's also worth nothing that those numbers could end up looking a lot better — say, if the payroll-tax cut gets extended next year, which many think likely - or …

Assange Lawyers Prepare for U.S. Spying Indictment  —  Attorney Says American Indictment Related to Espionage Act Imminent for Wikileaks Founder  —  Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man behind the publication of more than a 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables …

SOCIAL SECURITY'S HUMBLE ORIGINS.... When President Obama was doing his best to defend his tax deal with congressional Republicans to the left the other day, he emphasized to his allies that “in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise.”  —  To bolster his case, the president noted …

Navy Sets World Record With Incredible, Sci-Fi Weapon  —  U.S. Navy engineers at the Office of Naval Research prepared and test-fired a slug from their rail gun in a 2008 test firing.  On Friday, December 9, the ONR will attempt to break its own record.  —  A theoretical dream for decades …

Man In the Middle?  —  I think President Obama will benefit politically from the tax compromise, both because the economy will improve—somewhat, anyway—and because some voters will perceive him as more of a centrist.  But I agree with Peggy Noonan that Obama didn't help himself with those who actually watched his press conference:

Wow I am disgusted by Peter Orszag's move to Citigroup  —  This morning's New York Times includes a nice column by Peter Orszag about disability.  It begins with the words “I will begin a new job for Citigroup in January, so this is my last article.”  Page 6 of the business section provides …

John Not a Speaker at Elizabeth Edwards Funeral  —  Her Estranged Husband Missing from List of Those Slated to Give Eulogies  —  (CBS) Plans are set for Elizabeth Edwards' funeral Saturday.  —  Mourners will hear tributes from her daughter and two close friends - but not her estranged husband …

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Obama honors Nobel winner with statement about himself  —  There was an extraordinary scene at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Friday morning.  The prize went to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was barred by the Chinese government from attending the ceremony.

Introducing “The Cannabis Closet”  —  Longtime Dishheads will remember that rather extraordinary reader email thread that had to do with secret middle-class, mainstream marijuana use - for medical and non-medical reasons.  The thread “The Cannabis Closet” began with one reader email in March 2009 …

The Strategic Mistake of a Decade.  —  Now that the Senate has killed DADT repeal, I wonder if anyone remembers this? … Democrats and moderate Republicans responded with a “Gang of 12” that would preserve the judicial filibuster while allowing some of Bush's nominees to go through.

IKE'S SPEECH  —  Afew months ago, Grant Moos was closing his boathouse, near Hackensack, Minnesota, as he does every summer, tying up loose ends, sweeping up debris.  This year, though, his sister Kathy insisted that it was finally time to do something about six cardboard boxes that for decades …