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 …

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 …

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 …

Photos: Here's The Manor Where Julian Assange Will Be Staying  —  So, this is where Julian Assange will be vacationing from prison.  It's Ellingham Hall in Suffolk, England, an estate owned by the independently wealthy journalist Vaughan Smith (and his parents, according to the UK title).

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 …

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.”

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 …

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 …

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?

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.

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.

Amateur Hour: VA Judge Makes Elementary Error In Health Care Ruling  —  The Virginia federal district court judge who ruled yesterday that the individual mandate in the health care bill is unconstitutional is catching a lot of flack — and not just for having a financial interest in an anti-health care reform consulting firm.

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 …

Dan Choi Hospitalized; A Discussion About Our Community's Multi-Faceted Sacrifices  —  NOTE FROM PAM: Today brought news to our inbox that Autumn and I wanted to share with Blend readers in what we feel is an appropriate context.  We learned that Dan Choi, who sacrificed his privacy …

Air Force Blocks Sites With Leaked Cables  —  The U.S. Air Force is blocking its personnel from using work computers to view the websites of the New York Times and other major publications that have posted secret material obtained by WikiLeaks, people familiar with the matter say.

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 …

Ben Franklin's Nation  —  After you read this column, go to YouTube and search “Hans Rosling and 200 countries.”  You'll see a Swedish professor describe the growth of global wealth and well-being over the past 200 years.  —  He presents an animated time-lapse chart.

Obama's Judges Blocked At Historic Rate  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … As the first congressional session of Obama's presidency draws to a close, what began as a slow process of confirmation has ballooned into a full-blown judicial crisis.  The Senate has overseen the slowest pace …

Shuttle driver is charged in hit-and-run crash near Dulles  —  The driver of a speeding SuperShuttle van left a trail of damaged vehicles as he fled at least six hit-and-run crashes along Interstate 66 and the Dulles Access Road on Monday morning, police said.

Missing Appliances Puzzle Sanitation Officials  —  Over the last several months, , 22,741 New Yorkers contacted the city's Department of Sanitation and arranged for the pickup of refrigerators, air-conditioners and freezers.  In more than 11,000 instances, the machines vanished …

The Top 50 Gawker Media Passwords  —  Readers of Gizmodo, Lifehacker and other Gawker Media sites may be among the savviest on the Web, but the most common password for logging into those sites is embarrassingly easy to guess: “123456.”  So is the runner-up: “password.”

Census: Segregation hits 100-year lows in most American metro areas  —  New Census figures released Tuesday shows that 75 percent of US metro areas - most of them in the South and West - saw racial segregation drop to levels not seen for more than a century.  —  Atlanta

To Conquer Wind Power, China Writes the Rules  —  TIANJIN, China — Judging by the din at its factory here one recent day, the Spanish company Gamesa might seem to be a thriving player in the Chinese wind energy industry it helped create.  —  But Gamesa has learned the hard way …