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.

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 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?

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

In tough times, Barbour flies high  —  The Mississippi state plane, a zippy Cessna Citation with a capacity of 12, is a model favored by corporate executives and the wealthy, and its principal passenger, Gov. Haley Barbour, might easily be mistaken for one of them when he arrives …

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 …

‘Lame ducks can still fly,’ Daniels says of his last 2 years  —  Lame duck?  Hardly.  —  With only two years left as governor, Gov. Mitch Daniels feels more charged up than ever.  —  The November election gave him solid Republican majorities in both the Senate and House …

Bailed-Out Banks Slip Toward Failure  —  Number of Shaky Lenders Rises to 98 as Bad Loans Pile Up; Smaller Institutions Hit Hardest  —  Nearly 100 U.S. banks that got bailout funds from the federal government show signs they are in jeopardy of failing.  —  The total, based on an analysis …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

BROKAW: 'WE'LL SEE' IF OBAMA CAN LEARN ON THE JOB — HE DIDN'T HAVE HARD POLITICAL EXPERIENCE AS A GOV LIKE REAGAN DID  —  CATB  —  LOL .. all we heard was how Palin wasn't qualified .. she is much more qualified than “their” Obama!  —  Report Post »  —  Log in to Reply  —  TXPILOT

The World from The Hill: Bipartisan effort pressures Obama to help Iraq's Christians  —  Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are fervently pressing the White House to stem mounting attacks on Christians in Iraq.  —  Fearful of fresh violence in Iraq, many of the oldest sects of Christianity …

Subnational Government Debt Loans in China  —  Sometimes it's a bit hard to say what's happening in China (my photo, available under cc license)  —  Via Tyler Cowen, an anonymous “senior” Japanese official says: … Certainly something missed in many admiring columns about the quality …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Obama extends Kwanzaa greetings  —  President Obama and the first lady sent out Kwanzaa greetings Sunday on the first day of the seven-day celebration.  —  “Michelle and I extend our warmest thoughts and wishes to all those who are celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season,” Obama said in a statement.