Senate's Returning Democrats Unanimously Favor Filibuster Reform  —  All except Dodd sign a letter urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to change the rules.  —  All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to consider action …

Supreme Court rules against Miller  —  The Alaska Supreme Court today ruled against Joe Miller on all counts, a decision that leaves his challenge of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's victory on life support.  —  “There are no remaining issues raised by Miller that prevent this election from being certified …

Congress Passes Bill To Care For 9/11 Responders after Gaining Support of Oklahoma Senator  —  Senators on both side of the aisle came together to unanimously pass a bill to give continuing health benefits and compensation to first responders who got sick after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Barney Frank Makes a Fool Out of Conservative Reporter Over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  A conservative reporter from right-leaning CNS News thought he would play gotcha journalist and ask gay Congressman Barney Frank about gay and straight soldiers showering together.  Big mistake.  Huge.

Shock: Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson favors marijuana legalization  —  Robertson a welcome addition to drug reform circles, former narc tells Raw Story  —  Count this among the 10 things nobody ever expected to see in their lifetimes: 700 Club founder Pat Robertson …

MooreandMe: And Then He Came Down  —  Last night, I did something I hadn't done in a very long time.  I took a long, hot bath.  I just laid there, and I started to feel how tired I was, and I started to feel less tense.  And then I got up, and I went to my bedroom, and I laid down next …

Obama on vacation: same old, same old  —  HONOLULU - For Ronald Reagan it was riding horses on his California ranch.  For George W. Bush it was clearing brush and biking around his Crawford, Texas, estate.  For Barack Obama, the signature image of his presidential vacationing, so far …

Steven Spielberg advising Nancy Pelosi on rebranding Democrats … THE FIX NEWSLETTERS … THE LIVE FIX … POLITICS & PINTS

Senate Passes Arms Control Treaty With Russia, 71-26  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a new arms control treaty with Russia, scaling back leftover cold war nuclear arsenals and capping a surprisingly successful lame-duck session for President Obama just weeks after his party's electoral debacle.

Oops!  Fox & Friends Accidentally Identifies Elie Wiesel As “Holocaust Winner”  —  Wow.  We all make mistakes and typos.  There will probably be at least one in this post alone.  However, some typos are worse than others.  This is one of those typos.  Last week, Fox & Friends …

Barack Obama's plan to close Gitmo ‘in shambles’  —  Nestled among a string of improbable victories President Barack Obama racked up in the lame-duck Congressional session is legislation containing the most debilitating setback to date to his plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay …

W.H.: Polar bears not ‘endangered’  —  The Obama administration is sticking with a George W. Bush-era decision to deny polar bears endangered species status.  —  In a court filing Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service defended the previous administration's decision to give the polar bear …

The ‘Subsidy’: How Merrill Lynch Traders Helped Blow Up Their Own Firm  —  Two years before the financial crisis hit, Merrill Lynch confronted a serious problem.  No one, not even the bank's own traders, wanted to buy the supposedly safe portions of the mortgage-backed securities Merrill was creating.

Nice.  Muslim Group Launches “Christmas Is Evil” Poster Campaign  —  A Muslim group launched a “Christmas Is Evil” poster campaign in Great Britain.  —  How very leftist of them...  A radical Muslim group launched a “Christmas is evil” poster campaign hoping that their efforts would help destroy Christmas.

In St. Paul schools, the not-so-sweet life  —  The St. Paul school district will make all public schools “sweet-free zones” by the end of the school year.  —  Jill Gebeke made it a habit to reward herself with a small piece of chocolate after lunch every day.  It's hard work being a school principal, after all.

For the record, Nina Totenberg loves Christmas; Blogs portray NPR commentator as combatant in War on Christmas  —  Nina Totenberg, 2005.  (Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press)/ Kris Kringle in ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’ (20th Century Fox)  —  Breaking news: Nina Totenberg does not hate Christmas!

The Blast Shack  —  We asked Bruce Sterling (who spoke at Webstock '09) for his take on Wikileaks.  —  The Wikileaks Cablegate scandal is the most exciting and interesting hacker scandal ever.  I rather commonly write about such things, and I'm surrounded by online acquaintances …

The Would-be GOP Kings  —  Who among us can contain their excitement?  The GOP presidential-primary season has begun!  —  By my count, there are 24 people who are beneficiaries of nontrivial presidential buzz: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels …

Oprah Winfrey on Michael Jackson, Sarah Palin, and Starring in Her Own Reality Show  —  PARADE's December 26 cover story is a one-on-one sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.  The queen of talk discusses everything from her new venture to supporting Obama, and, maybe, becoming an ambassador.

RNC candidates make social pledges  —  Some of the top-tier candidates seeking the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee have made their pitches to the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List in hopes of convincing social conservatives of their beliefs.

The New Old Age: Over 75 and Still Working  —  When economists and policy types and members of Congress talk about older Americans working past normal retirement age, an increasing theme of late, we tend to think they mean a few years beyond age 65, right?  Working until ages 68 or 69 …