Food-safety measure passes Senate in Sunday surprise  —  A bill that would overhaul the nation's food-safety laws for the first time since the Great Depression came roaring back to life Sunday as Senate Democrats struck a deal with Republicans that helped overcome a technical mistake …

Nina Totenberg: ‘I Was At - Forgive the Expression - a Christmas Party...’  —  “I was at - forgive the expression - a Christmas party,” NPR reporter Nina Totenberg interjected on Inside Washington in the weekend's oddest cautionary separation from a common description for a common event …

Barbour doesn't remember Civil Rights era being ‘that bad’  —  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he doesn't remember the Civil Rights era being “that bad,” citing his attendance at a Martin Luther King Jr. rally nearly 50 years ago.  —  “I just don't remember it as being that bad,” Barbour …

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.  —  The system, by far the largest …

60 Minutes' one-sided, GOP-friendly report on state budgets  —  Did Chris Cristie's speechwriters script this CBS report on state budget deficits?  It certainly reads that way.  —  In 2,600 words about state deficits, you won't find the phrase “tax cuts.”

When Zombies Win  —  When historians look back at 2008-10, what will puzzle them most, I believe, is the strange triumph of failed ideas.  Free-market fundamentalists have been wrong about everything — yet they now dominate the political scene more thoroughly than ever.  —  How did that happen?

The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  This Tuesday is an important day in the fight to save the Internet.  —  As a source of innovation, an engine of our economy, and a forum for our political discourse, the Internet can only work if it's a truly level playing field.

TRENDING: Palin disses Michelle Obama over ‘dessert’  —  (CNN) - Sarah Palin is again taking aim at Michelle Obama over her anti-obesity campaign, taking the opportunity in Sunday's “Sarah Palin's Alaska” to land a diss against the first lady's efforts to improve nutrition.

Proposed Amendment Would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law  —  The same people driving the lawsuits that seek to dismantle the Obama administration's health care overhaul have set their sights on an even bigger target: a constitutional amendment that would allow a vote of the states to overturn any act of Congress.

Skillman won't launch gubernatorial bid in 2012  —  INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana Lieutenant.  Governor Becky Skillman announced Monday that she will not run for Governor in 2012.  —  “With much disappointment, I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for Governor in 2012.

Tea Party Discontent Bubbles to the Surface  —  Discontent Boiling Over Tax Cuts Bill and House GOP Committee Leadership Positions  —  The new Congress hasn't been seated yet but signs of a rift are already beginning to emerge between Republican leaders and Tea Party groups …

Obama reaches out to liberal groups to shore up Democratic base after tax deal  —  In the wake of President Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans, the White House is moving quickly to mend its strained relationship with the Democratic base, reassuring liberal groups, black leaders …

Marshall seeks to ban gays from Virginia National Guard  —  Following this weekend's vote by the Senate to allow gays to openly serve in the military, Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince WIlliam) said he is drafting a bill for the 2011 legislative session that would ban them from serving in the Virginia National Guard.

Preparing for Mass Evacuation From Korea  —  As the Korean peninsula enters what U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates calls “a difficult and potentially dangerous time,” the long-dormant Korean conflict is rumbling back into the public consciousness.  Government officials from the U.S. …

CNN Poll: Three-quarters approve of new tax cut law  —  Washington (CNN) - Most Americans like the new tax cut law that President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday, according to a new national poll.  —  And a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday also indicates …