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 …

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 …

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 …

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?

State Budgets: The Day of Reckoning  —  Steve Kroft Reports On The Growing Financial Woes States Are Facing  —  (CBS) By now, just about everyone in the country is aware of the federal deficit problem, but you should know that there is another financial crisis looming involving state and local governments.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …