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 …

Congress' Job Approval Rating Worst in Gallup History  —  Thirteen percent approve of the way Congress is handling its job  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' assessment of Congress has hit a new low, with 13% saying they approve of the way Congress is handling its job.

Tax deal stumbles toward final vote  —  With the tax-cut deal poised for Senate passage Wednesday at noon, House Republicans trying to tamp down discontent in their ranks from fiscal conservatives are issuing a simple message: This isn't the bill we would've written, but it's good enough.

G.O.P. Panelists Dissent on Cause of Crisis  —  WASHINGTON — The Republican members of the commission appointed by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial crisis plan to release on Wednesday a document that assigns government housing policies substantial blame for the origins of the 2008 financial crisis.

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.

How We Can Honor Richard Holbrooke's Memory  —  As Richard Holbrooke's friends and colleagues gathered in the entrance to George Washington Hospital last night to console each other and begin the vigil for his soul, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came down from saying goodbye to her friend and adviser.

U.S. to Appeal Health Ruling  —  Move Advances Constitutional Struggle Likely to Reach Supreme Court by 2012  —  The Justice Department said it would appeal a decision invalidating a core provision of the federal health-care overhaul, the next skirmish in a constitutional struggle likely …

Mark Zuckerberg  —  On the afternoon of Nov. 16, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg was leading a meeting in the Aquarium, one of Facebook's conference rooms, so named because it's in the middle of a huge work space and has glass walls on three sides so everybody can see in.

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.

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 …

It's Scary Out There in Reporting Land  —  ‘Beats are fundamental to journalism, but our foundation is crumbling.’  —  To understand how badly we're doing the most basic work of journalism in covering the law enforcement beat, try sitting in a barbershop.  When I was getting my last haircut …

Manhattan Moment: Courts shouldn't ignore due process to create class actions  —  Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a case claiming job discrimination against at least 1.5 million women, reached the Supreme Court last week after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed, in a 6-5 vote …

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 …

Will Liberals Challenge Obama Amid the Snows of New Hampshire? … Liberal Democrats are, by nature and history, a perpetually disappointed voting bloc.  They are either consigned to wail in the political wilderness (the Bush years and the Reagan years) or else the fruits of victory quickly sour …

Forget Tea Party rhetoric - pork barrel politics is back  —  Dear Tea Party voter: You've been had.  —  When the good people of South Dakota voted last month to send Republican Kristi Noem to Congress, they probably believed that she would give no quarter to the lobbyists and special interest groups …