Topics  —  When PUBLIC UNION workers decide to “screw” those that are actually paying their salaries it's time for a change.  —  BOMBASTIC  —  People died.  The union officials should all be charged with manslaughter.  —  Either that.  Or the citizenry needs to take their own retaliation against the “workers”.

So much for bipartisanship — a slew of recess appointments  —  On Wednesday, Obama shed any pretense of bipartisanship in making six recess appointments.  As were his previous recess appointments, this batch included two individuals whose records are so controversial that they could not obtain confirmation …

'Don't ask, don't tell' has been repealed.  ROTC still shouldn't be on campus.  —  Now that asking and telling has ceased to be problematic in military circles, ROTC has resurfaced as a national issue: Will universities such as Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools be opened …

Obama's Million Dollar Hawaiian Vacation: Costs to Taxpayers Detailed  —  BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - Nestled in three luxury beachfront homes just outside a local favorite surf spot on the pristine turquoise waters of Kailua Bay, President Barack Obama and his family and friends are enjoying a seemingly quiet Christmas vacation.

O'Donnell Claims Political Witch Hunt  —  Former Tea Party Senate Candidate Denies She Used Campaign Funds for Personal Use  —  Former Tea Party Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell defended herself today against a report that the federal government was investigating her for misuse of campaign funds …

Geraldine Doyle, 86, dies; one-time factory worker inspired Rosie the Riveter and ‘We Can Do It!’ poster  —  Geraldine Doyle, 86, who as a 17-year-old factory worker became the inspiration for a popular World War II recruitment poster that evoked female power and independence under the slogan …

Joe Scarborough: ‘I May Feel the Need to Run for Office Again’ … Sign up for our free online newsletter!

Tucker Carlson: Michael Vick ‘should have been executed’  —  Tucker Carlson, filling in for Sean Hannity on Fox News last night, picked up the issue of President Barack Obama's call to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, during which the president thanked Lurie for giving Michael Vick a second chance.

Cal Thomas She Told Us So  —  Sarah Palin deserves an apology.  When she said that the new health-care law would lead to “death panels” deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed.  —  Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers — The New York Times — that she was right.

For G.O.P., End of the Preordained Candidate  —  WASHINGTON — A year ago, Republicans here were shut out of governing but could console themselves with having retained their hold on the party apparatus.  This week, they will celebrate the new year having come roaring back to regain the House …

Atheists Excluded from Mayoral Prayer Service (Press Release)  —  Atheists Excluded from Mayor-Elect Gray's Inauguration  —  Washington, D.C.) - Atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other nontheistic Washington, D.C. residents will have no representation at Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray's …

What the tea party wants from the Constitution  —  I'm very curious to know what the GOP — or the tea partyers they're presumably pandering to — think will happen when every piece of legislation requires “a statement from its sponsor outlining where in the Constitution Congress is empowered to enact such legislation.”

PewResearchCenter Interactive  —  Pew Research News IQ Quiz  —  What's Your Political News IQ?  —  To test your knowledge of prominent people and major events in the news, we invite you to take our short 12-question quiz.  Then see how you did in comparison with 1,001 randomly sampled adults asked …

Liberals should accept defeat and get back to their goals  —  Was 2010 American liberalism's Waterloo?  How are we to square the achievement of so many goals that have long been on progressive wish lists with the resounding defeat suffered by supporters of these measures in November?

Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour to free sisters sentenced to life in prison for robbery  —  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) announced late Wednesday that he will grant an early release from prison to two sisters serving unusually long sentences for armed robbery.  —  Gladys and Jamie Scott have each served 16 years of a life sentence.

The Poorhouse: Aunt Winnie, Glenn Beck, And The Politics Of The New Deal  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … An employee of Associated Charities, a private organization dedicated to alleviating poverty in the District of Columbia, met an old black woman carrying a basket of cinders near the dump …

In Israel, No Welcome Mat For African Migrants … Dozens of African migrants cross into southern Israel through the border with Egypt last week.  Construction has begun on a $270 million, 87-mile fence along the porous border.  It's one of four measures proposed to try to stem the flow of African migrants into Israel.

Fox Utterly Destroys Cable News Ratings Competition in 2010  —  The Nielsen numbers are in for 2010, and in the battle for cable news ratings supremacy, Fox News took the title for the ninth year in a row — bludgeoning the competition for another year.  —  The blowout comes on the heels …

A MISGUIDED SENSE OF VICTIMHOOD, CONT'D.... Maybe it's the season that brings out the worst in far-right Christians feeling sorry for themselves.  —  A couple of weeks ago, Fox News' Gretchen Carlson whined that in American society, it's Christianity that “always seems” to “take the boot.”