Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Are 2010's Most Admired  —  Sarah Palin and Oprah Winfrey are closely matched behind Clinton  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama is Americans' Most Admired Man of 2010, substantially ahead of the former presidents, iconic religious leaders, and others who fill out the top 10 list.

Inside The GOP's Plan To Stifle Obama's Executive Branch Power  —  In the nearly two months since the November midterms, the conventional wisdom has centered on the idea that President Obama's agenda will be largely protected from an influx of Republicans by the Senate's arcane rules and his own veto pen.

In ‘Daily Show’ Role on 9/11 Bill, Echoes of Murrow  —  Did the bill pledging federal funds for the health care of 9/11 responders become law in the waning hours of the 111th Congress only because a comedian took it up as a personal cause?  —  And does that make that comedian, Jon Stewart …

The worsening journalistic disgrace at Wired  —  For more than six months, Wired's Senior Editor Kevin Poulsen has possessed — but refuses to publish — the key evidence in one of the year's most significant political stories: the arrest of U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning for allegedly acting as WikiLeaks' source.

Peretz in Exile  —  For decades, Martin Peretz taught at Harvard and presided over The New Republic—a fierce, if controversial, lion among American intellectuals and Zionists.  Now, having been labeled a bigot, taunted at his alma mater, and stripped of his magazine, he has found peace in a place where there is little: Israel.

Liberals fear failure on spending bill may come back to haunt Obama  —  Left-leaning think tanks already disappointed with President Obama's tax-cut compromise fear its political and economic benefits will be wiped out by budget cuts in the next Congress.  —  They argue Obama …

Under fire, Barbour defends state jet  —  The Mississippi state plane, a zippy Cessna Citation with a capacity of 12, is a favorite of corporate executives and the wealthy, and its principal passenger, Gov. Haley Barbour, might easily be mistaken for one of them when he arrives with a small entourage …

IF ONLY THOSE ‘LUCKY DUCKIES’ HAD SOME ‘SKIN IN THE GAME’.... It's been about eight years since the far-right Wall Street Journal editorial page came up with the notion of “lucky duckies.”  The label was used to describe the millions of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes because they don't earn enough money.

The Trouble With Liberty  —  Libertarians, of both left and right, haven't been this close to power since 1776.  But do we want to live in their world?  —  Just before Thanksgiving, in an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Ron Paul called for Congress to be groped.

Obama applauds Eagles for giving Vick second chance  —  Though the Eagles didn't have a chance to make news on the field tonight, they made some more news off the field.  —  Peter King of NBC reported during Football Night in America that President Barack Obama recently called Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie …

The Finite World  —  Oil is back above $90 a barrel.  Copper and cotton have hit record highs.  Wheat and corn prices are way up.  Over all, world commodity prices have risen by a quarter in the past six months.  —  So what's the meaning of this surge?  —  Is it speculation run amok?

New Science Committee Chair Ralph Hall Praises ‘Tremendous’ BP Spill  —  Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) plans to pursue an aggressive pro-oil agenda as the incoming chair of the House Science and Technology Committee.  In an interview with the Dallas Morning News this month, the …

Sotomayor protests court's refusal of appeals  —  WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has set herself apart from colleagues with her fervent statements protesting the majority's refusal to take some appeals, particularly involving prisoners.  —  Each month, the justices spurn hundreds …

CNN Poll: Controversial health care provision unpopular  —  Washington (CNN) - As a crucial component of the nation's new health care law requiring all Americans to buy insurance faces an uncertain fate in federal courts, a new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans oppose …

Miller says he'll keep fighting for Senate seat  —  CHALLENGE: But GOP candidate won't oppose Murkowksi certification.  —  Anchorage Daily News / adn.com  —  Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller announced late Sunday that he would continue his challenge in federal court of the write …

THE JOBS CRISIS  —  The recession has been over for more than a year now, but so many people are out of work that it doesn't feel like much of a recovery.  In November, the economy added just thirty-nine thousand jobs.  The failure to translate G.D.P. growth into job growth has given us …

Meet the New Batman: An Algerian Muslim Who Saves France from Nazis and Communists  —  Reality isn't always very fun.  Because of that many people turn to comic books for a little escapism.  But there's escapism and PC indoctrination.  Sadly, it appears that DC Comics' Batman is angling for the latter and not the former.

A Return to Normalcy  —  Over the past three years, American politics has been dominated by a liberal fantasy and a conservative freakout.  —  The fantasy was the idea that Barack Obama, a one-term senator with an appealing biography and a silver tongue, would turn out to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt …

ROBIN ASHTON GETS JUSTICE AT JUSTICE.... Looking back, it's still almost hard to believe what went on in Bush's Justice Department.  Monica Goodling, a young graduate of a radical TV preacher's college, made the transition from being an opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee …

Killing in L.A. drops to 1967 levels  —  Homicides decline despite the faltering economy.  The absence of a major drug epidemic may be a key reason.  —  LAPD officers Brent Phillips, right, and Jose Zambada investigate the shooting death of Conrad Phillip on Los Angeles Street near 6th Street last April.

Medicaid Bonuses to Reward States for Insuring More Children  —  The Obama administration plans to announce Monday that it will make $206 million in bonus Medicaid payments to 15 states — with more than a fourth of the total going to Alabama — for signing up children who are eligible …

Rendell Irate Eagles Game Was Postponed  —  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was irate in a live interview Sunday night that the Philadelphia Eagles game was postponed by the NFL.  —  The Guv was obviously upset during a phone interview with Fox 29 and at one point, he was arguing …

America's Dangerous Rush to Shrink Its Military Power  —  Just as in the 1930s, the economy is the supposedly humanitarian excuse for reducing the military—although the endless miseries of the world will not be alleviated if, due to an imbalance of power, great and little wars rage across it.

Palin's Food Fight  —  Michelle Obama and childhood obesity.  —  President Obama's indiscriminate expansion of federal power has inspired a healthy populist rebellion, but his opponents sometimes seem to lose their sense of proportion.  Take Sarah Palin's mockery of Michelle Obama's childhood antiobesity campaign.

Support for individual health insurance mandate slips, poll says  —  Public support for a key element of President Obama's healthcare reform law is slipping after a federal judge ruled the provision is unconstitutional, according to a poll released Monday.  —  A CNN/Opinion Research poll showed …