Obama Is Set to Shuffle His Staff  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is planning the first major reorganization of his administration, preparing to shuffle several positions in the West Wing as he tries to fortify his political team for the realities of divided government and his own re-election.

U.S. Approved Business With Blacklisted Nations  —  Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The Humbug Express  —  Hey, has anyone noticed that “A Christmas Carol” is a dangerous leftist tract?  —  I mean, consider the scene, early in the book, where Ebenezer Scrooge rightly refuses to contribute to a poverty relief fund.  “I'm opposed to giving people money for doing nothing,” he declares.

Exclusive - Biden: White House to Hold Line on Taxes in 2012; ‘Inevitability’ of National Consensus on Gay Marriage; Air Bases May Remain in Afghanistan Past 2014  —  The president's primary negotiator for the tax cut deal on Capitol Hill told me the administration will hold the line in two years …

We misunderestimated him: Bush's memoir sells 2m copies in a month - nearly as many as Bill Clinton's sold in six years  —  For someone who mangled words on a regular basis, it's an impressive feat.  —  Former U.S. President George W Bush's memoir has sold an astonishing two million copies since …

Reid: My job will be ‘easier’ next year  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says his job will be “easier” in the 112th Congress, despite a slimmer Democratic majority and a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.  —  “It's going to be much easier than it was,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun.

Woman arrested at ABIA after refusing enhanced pat down  —  Early Wednesday morning, a computer glitch shut down a security checkpoint for a couple of hours at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  The line snaked out the door as many travelers waited for more than an hour and some missed their flights.

Whoops: homosexuals lose “get out of jail free” card  —  According to National Review Online, there may be a whole lot of homosexuals who just got an unpleasant surprise.  With the repeal of the law prohibiting homosexual service in the United States military, they just lost their “get out of jail free” card.

Proposed U.S. House Rules Welcome (Quiet) Mobile Devices to the Floor  —  So, it looks like, yep, iPads are indeed coming to the floor of the House of Representatives, at least as long as the rules changes proposed by the incoming Republican leadership are adopted as they stand.

Union Visits Private Home To Intimidate, Local Media Calls It “Caroling”  —  From WGEM, and the only thing funnier than their headline is the thought that WGEM likely receives a lot of ad money from the union in advertising. … Are you kidding me?  A caravan of 80 people to sing insults and …

Would global warming be so bad?  —  Guest blogger Stefan Karlsson presents his take on global warming, more often called ‘global climate change.’  —  What has always troubled me the most with the view that we needs to stop “climate change” in the form of “global warming” is the idea that it would be bad if the Earth became warmer.

EPA vows to enforce curbs on emissions  —  The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year in an attempt to curb global warming.  —  The move, coming on the same day the Interior Department unveiled …

Bloomberg's aides provided political support for Ground Zero mosque, released emails show  —  Mayor Bloomberg's top deputies went to great lengths to help the developers of a planned mosque near Ground Zero - even drafting a letter to the community board for them.

Job Offers Rising as Economy Warms Up  —  As the economy gradually recovers, some big U.S. companies are cranking up their recruiting and advertising thousands of job openings, ranging from retail clerks and nurses to bank tellers and experts in cloud computing.

The Enlightened Despotism of Chinese-Style Family Planning  —  Last year Financial Post columnist Diane Francis declared that “a planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate.”  New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman …