Obama's new start  —  Riding the lamest of ducks, President Obama just won the Triple Crown.  He fulfilled (1) his most important economic priority, passage of Stimulus II, a.k.a. the tax cut deal (the perfect pre-re-election fiscal sugar high - the piper gets paid in 2013 and beyond); (2) …

North Korea blasts incoming Foreign Affairs chairwoman as ‘human scum’  —  North Korea's official news agency blasted the incoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — while mistaking her for a chairman.  —  Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a Cuban immigrant …

Biden sees ‘inevitability’ for gay marriage  —  Vice President Joseph Biden said in a television interview Friday that “there's an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage.”  —  The vice president, who backs civil unions but not same-sex marriage, weighed in on the issue …

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.

‘We the people’ to open next Congress  —  House to read Constitution  —  The Constitution frequently gets lip service in Congress, but House Republicans next year will make sure it gets a lot more than that - the new rules the incoming majority party proposed this week call for a full reading …

Kamala Harris: Democrats' anti-Palin  —  It's easy to understand why Kamala Harris, California's next attorney general, is being called the future of the Democratic Party, a rising political star in the mold of one of her big supporters — President Barack Obama.

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.

Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2011  —  After extensive consultations with our committee, we have determined that the following blogresses, divas all, are the nominees for the coveted honor of Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2011, the tiara commonly known as the “Ethel” …

Media Parrots Same Talking Points: ‘Most Productive Congress Since Great Society’  —  Is it a coincidence when reporters and anchors all use the exact same words when describing the 111th Congress in such flattering and historic language?  From network anchors in New York to local news across the country …

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.

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 …

Scrooge, George Bailey and ‘Vows’: Our Warring Views on True Love … Maybe it's because I've been chewing over last Sunday's “Vows” brouhaha in the New York Times at the same time I've been scouring store shelves and trimming trees, but something in the combo leads me observe …

Republicans Labor to Avoid ‘Labor’  —  Congress is off for the Christmas holidays, but when lawmakers come back some will be laboring on a newly renamed committee.  —  It's the Education and the Workforce Committee, previously known in the just-concluded Congress as the Education and Labor Committee.

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.

Year in Review: Five Women on Top in Pop Culture … At year's end we've got a rich crop of uppity women — real and imagined — who left their deep prints on popular culture in 2010.  Some are famous, some are obscure.  Some are not widely known by name but known for what they did.

Did He Leave a Forwarding Address?  Yes, the North Pole  —  The theme of the party was Christmas 1962; when I opened the door to Jim and Dylan's apartment in Chelsea, I felt as if I had been transported back in time.  Their place was draped in white lights and evergreen boughs …

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