Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir  —  WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system.  But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

US to step up security at hotels and malls  —  The United States is stepping up security at “soft targets” like hotels and shopping malls, as well as trains and ports, as it counters the evolving Al-Qaeda threat, a top official said Sunday.  —  A year after a foiled plot to bomb a US-bound passenger plane …

Bundle Up, It's Global Warming  —  THE earth continues to get warmer, yet it's feeling a lot colder outside.  Over the past few weeks, subzero temperatures in Poland claimed 66 lives; snow arrived in Seattle well before the winter solstice, and fell heavily enough in Minneapolis to make the roof …

Coded American Civil War message in bottle deciphered  —  A message in a bottle delivered to a Confederate general during the American Civil War has been deciphered, 147 years after it was written.  —  In the encrypted message, a commander tells Gen John Pemberton that no reinforcements …

The Looming Crisis in the States  —  For most of this year, the state of Illinois has lacked the money to pay its bills.  Some of its employees have been evicted from their offices for nonpayment of rent, social service groups have laid off hundreds of workers while waiting for checks …

Even after shellacking, 2012 looks OK for Obama  —  On Boxing Day, it's worth noting that Barack Obama is down but not out.  —  You could tell as much from the contrast between his petulant postelection press conference and his peppy pre-Christmas press conference.

Gibbs: 'It's going to be a while' before Gitmo prison is shut down  —  Even though nearly a year has passed since the administration's self-imposed deadline to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday the facility will not go away any time soon.

Obamas attends church on vacation  —  President Obama and the First Family attended church Sunday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where they spent the afternoon greeting troops on Christmas Day.  —  The Obamas attended services at St. Michael's Church, the base's chapel, at 11:05 a.m. local time.

A remedy for beggar states  —  The nation's menu of crises caused by governmental malpractice may soon include states coming to Congress as mendicants, seeking relief from the consequences of their choices.  Congress should forestall this by passing a bill with a bland title but explosive potential.

Many Russians here aligning with Republicans  —  STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Many Russian immigrants to the “red borough” of Staten Island are flocking to the Republican Party, saying that the national Democrats' “socialistic” policies remind them too much of the top-down oligarchy they fled in their native land.

The U.S. gives Israel billions of dollars every year  —  Our tax dollars are being used to pay for:  —  King County officials Thursday cancelled the previously accepted bus ad  —  from the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign.  Stay tuned for follow up.  —  See Seattle Times article See Seattle PI article

Banks and WikiLeaks  —  The whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks has not been convicted of a crime.  The Justice Department has not even pressed charges over its disclosure of confidential State Department communications.  Nonetheless, the financial industry is trying to shut it down.

Lawmakers seek cash during key votes  —  Numerous times this year, members of Congress have held fundraisers and collected big checks while they are taking critical steps to write new laws, despite warnings that such actions could create ethics problems.  The campaign donations often came …