Top Items:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Dems unveil $1.1T spending bill — Senate Democrats have filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through fiscal year 2011, according to Senate GOP sources. — The 1,924-page bill includes funding to implement the sweeping healthcare reform bill …
RELATED:
Fox News:
Revolt: Republicans Angry About Omnibus Spending Bill Decry ‘Total Mess’ — Republicans poring over a 1,924-page overarching spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to grind the legislation to a halt, citing massive earmark spending, which …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Hot Air
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Reid threatens to keep Congress into next year — New spending bill totals $575.13 million per page — Forget about going quietly into the night. — Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a broad agenda for an end-of-session sprint that, in other years, could be a whole year's worth of activity …
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers and RedState
The Note:
Thune vs. Romney: First Skirmish of the Campaign for 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination? — ABC News' Jon Karl reports: — We may have just witnessed one of the first skirmishes of the campaign for 2012 Republican presidential nomination. — Speaking on the Senate floor …
Scott Wong / The Politico:
Omnibus includes $8B in earmarks — Three hundred fifty thousand dollars for cool-season legume research in Idaho, North Dakota and Washington. A half million dollars for road roundabouts in Mississippi. And $1 million for arthropod damage in Nevada. — They're just a few …
David Rogers / The Politico:
Democrats' budget bill: $1.1 trillion; 1,900 pages — Defying the political odds, Senate Democrats rolled out a year-end, governmentwide spending bill Tuesday that cuts more than $26 billion from President Barack Obama's 2011 requests even as it holds firm to thousands of the appropriations earmarks …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and FrumForum
James Richardson / RedState:
RedState Action Alert: Dissect the Omnibus
RedState Action Alert: Dissect the Omnibus
Discussion:
Hot Air, gopleader.gov, Associated Press and Whiskey Fire
The Hill:
Liberals giving up tax fight — A House liberal who has led the effort to stop President Obama's tax compromise with the GOP says efforts to change the package are futile. — Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who just a week ago circulated a letter signed by 54 Democrats urging opposition to the deal, now says the “die is cast.”
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Daily Caller, Online NewsHour, Right Turn, Guardian, National Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, FrumForum and The Other McCain
RELATED:
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
House Democrats urge longer extension of unemployment benefits
House Democrats urge longer extension of unemployment benefits
Discussion:
The Politico and The Democratic Daily
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pence will vote against tax cut deal
Pence will vote against tax cut deal
Discussion:
Time, Hot Air, The Note, msnbc.com, FrumForum, The Politico and The Other McCain
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
WHITE HOUSE APPOINTS JON BON JOVI — Actor. Poet. Musician. Performer. Rocker Jon Bon Jovi can now add one more title to his impressive resume: White House appointee. — On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the White House Council for Community Solutions …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin
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Ed O'Keefe / Federal Eye:
Obama taps Jon Bon Jovi for new advisory board
Obama taps Jon Bon Jovi for new advisory board
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Weasel Zippers
UPI:
Miller appeals to Alaska's Supreme Court — U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Miller appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court after a lower court ruled against his challenge of write-in candidate Sen. Lisa Murkowski. — Superior Court Judge William Carey last week ruled Miller, a Tea Party-supported Republican …
Discussion:
Joe Miller for Senate and YID With LID
RELATED:
Guardian:
Assange remains in jail as Sweden fights bail decision — Appeal will be heard in the high court this week against decision to free WikiLeaks founder on bail, on grounds that he may flee — Sweden tonight decided to fight a British judge's decision to grant bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange …
Discussion:
Globe and Mail, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
Photos: Here's The Manor Where Julian Assange Will Be Staying
Photos: Here's The Manor Where Julian Assange Will Be Staying
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org blogs, Little Green Footballs, Guardian, Threat Level and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
Eric Schmitt / New York Times:
Air Force Blocks Sites That Posted Secret Cables — WASHINGTON — The Air Force is barring its personnel from using work computers to view the Web sites of The New York Times and more than 25 other news organizations and blogs that have posted secret cables obtained by WikiLeaks, Air Force officials said Tuesday.
Discussion:
ParaPundit, FrumForum and Wonkette
RELATED:
Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Breaking News on EFF Victory: Appeals Court Holds that Email Privacy Protected by Fourth Amendment — In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Mother Jones, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
The Huffington Post:
Holbrooke's Last Words On Afghanistan Clarified As Being Part Of A Humorous Exchange By Obama Administration — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Tuesday that the reported last words of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, its point person on Afghanistan …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, FrumForum, The American Independent, AmSpecBlog, the brain police and Checkpoint Washington
RELATED:
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Marine Commandant Suggests Presence Of Gays Would Endanger The Lives Of Straight Marines — Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who has opposed repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell — suggested that if Congress lifts the ban against open service and allows gays …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, Pam's House Blend, 67.59.172.92 and Dennis the Peasant
RELATED:
Kevin Baron / Stars & Stripes:
Marine commandant concluded DADT repeal may risk lives
Marine commandant concluded DADT repeal may risk lives
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, Hot Air, Swampland and American Power
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:
For immediate release — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November confirms that the economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down unemployment. Household spending is increasing at a moderate pace …
Discussion:
Grasping Reality …, Economist's View, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, Clusterstock and Calculated Risk
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ROGER SIMON GIVES A STRAW MAN QUITE A LASHING.... The headline on Roger Simon's latest Politico column — “Class warfare is not the ticket” — was the first hint of trouble. As is probably clear to everyone, when the media establishment refers to “class warfare,” they're invariably complaining …
Discussion:
The New Republic and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
GOP donors: We'll leave if Steele stays — Some of the Republican Party's most prominent donors reacted Tuesday with shock — and then fury — to Michael Steele's decision to seek re-election, bluntly warning that they would not raise money for the party if the controversial chairman wins another term.
Discussion:
FrumForum and The Gateway Pundit
Tyler Cowen / The American Interest:
The Inequality That Matters — Does growing wealth and income inequality in the United States presage the downfall of the American republic? Will we evolve into a new Gilded Age plutocracy, irrevocably split between the competing interests of rich and poor?
Discussion:
Ross Douthat, Democracy in America, Ezra Klein, Free exchange, JustOneMinute, Marginal Revolution and EconLog
RELATED:
Edward L. Glaeser / Economix:
Does Economic Inequality Cause Crises?
Does Economic Inequality Cause Crises?
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Amazing: WaPo Fails to Publish Own Poll on ObamaCare's Lowest Popularity Ever — A new ABC-Washington Post poll found ObamaCare sunk to its lowest popularity yet: 52 percent opposed, and only 43 percent in favor. ABC mentioned the poll without fanfare at the end of a Jake Tapper report …
Discussion:
Behind the Numbers and TPMDC
Michael C. Moynihan / Reason:
Assange's Extremist Employees — Why is WikiLeaks employing a well-known Holocaust denier and his disgraced son? — Last week, I wrote that the widely-linked article positing that the CIA was behind a Swedish woman's accusation of rape against Julian Assange was authored by a Russian-born …
Discussion:
The Local, Harry's Place, Weasel Zippers, Little Green Footballs and Hit & Run
Patrick Healy / ArtsBeat:
Actress Thora Birch Fired From ‘Dracula’ — The producers of the Off Broadway revival of “Dracula” fired their star actress Thora Birch on Friday, four days before the play's first performance, the production's director and Ms. Birch said in interviews on Monday.
Caroline B. Glick / Jerusalem Post:
Our World: The feminist deception — Nowhere is fraud at heart of feminist movement more apparent than in silence of inhumane treatment of women who live under Islamic law. — Talkbacks (38) - Opinion — Facebook — Twitter — Making the rounds on YouTube these days is a film …
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog and The Jawa Report