The Constitution Is Very Important  —  Thank you for your interest in the Washington Post's Young Pundit Essay Contest.  As the leading newspaper in our nation's capital, we are always looking for budding journalistic talent to bring a fresh point of view our editorial pages …

Judith Miller: From the Times to the nuts  —  Judith Miller used to be a superstar.  She was a major reporter at the New York Times for decades — at the DC bureau, in Cairo, in Paris, special correspondent to the Persian Gulf, embedded with a special unit in Iraq.  She had the best sources.

The New Voodoo  —  Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special.  For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.

Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts  —  The Statue of Liberty, depicted frozen solid in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.”  Many weather forecasters and scientists wonder whether a coming period of “global cooling” may be on the way.  —  A new year is around the corner …

Academic Economists to Consider Ethics Code  —  WASHINGTON — When the Stanford business professor Darrell Duffie co-wrote a book on how to overhaul Wall Street regulations, he did not mention that he sits on the board of Moody's, the credit rating agency.  —  As a commentator on the economy …

Last Kodachrome Developer Stops Developing  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … Kodachrome film is truly dead.  —  Dwayne's Photo, a lab in Parsons, Kansas, was the last lab still processing popular film, which was created by Kodak in 1935.  Dec. 30 was the last day Dwayne's would still accept rolls …

Mosque foes launch Bieber boycott  —  Andy Sullivan, a construction worker and Brooklyn native, has been one of the loudest opponents of Park51, the planned mosque and community center near ground zero.  Founder of the 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge — under which construction workers vow not to work …

Paging Mr. Smith!  How The Senate May Return To The Old-School Filibuster  —  On January 5, 2011 — the first day of the 112th Congress — Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will touch off a long debate, which he hopes will result in a majority-rules vote on a package of meaningful changes to the Senate rules.

Abortion Takes Flight  —  Irish law prohibits all abortions except those necessary to save a woman's life, and as a practical matter it imposes daunting obstacles to terminating life-threatening pregnancies as well.  In a secularized Europe, Ireland is noticeably out of step.

Tricky Call for New Governors: Price of Their Inaugurals  —  MIAMI — To warm up the Florida crowds for his inauguration as governor, Rick Scott has been flying around the state this week on a seven-city “appreciation” tour.  For the main event on Tuesday, he will lead a parade featuring 26 marching bands …

Journalists deny Manning cover-up  —  Pair with access to transcript of comments by Bradley Manning deny they could help prosecution against Julian Assange  —  Two journalists with access to a secret transcript of comments by Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking confidential material …

Murkowski certified Senate election winner  —  JUNEAU — Sen. Lisa Murkowski was officially named the winner of Alaska's U.S. Senate race Thursday, following a legal battle that lasted longer than the write-in campaign she waged to keep her job.  —  Gov. Sean Parnell and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell …

Climate PR effort heats up  —  Hey America!  Are you ready to get wonky on global warming?  —  After a year that started with fallout from the “Climategate” e-mail release, saw the cap-and-trade bill die in Congress, and ended with a gang of Republican climate skeptics winning House and Senate seats …

Time to Rethink Public Employee Unions  —  In New York, sanitation workers have reported that their union ordered them to sabotage the city's blizzard cleanup efforts.  If that claim is true, the union may be responsible for at least one death.  Mayor Bloomberg has vowed to investigate.

Big Gas Find Sparks a Frenzy in Israel  —  TEL AVIV—Two years ago, Ratio Oil Exploration LP, an energy firm here, employed five people and was worth about half a million dollars.  —  Today it sits at the center of a gas bonanza that has investors, international oil companies …

Dems rip proposed rule giving new power to GOP Budget chairman  —  A proposed House rule granting new powers to the GOP chairman of the Budget Committee has sparked outrage from Democrats.  —  The proposed rule would allow the Budget Committee chairman to set spending ceilings for 2011 without a vote by the full House.

GOP presidential hopefuls paying attention to Nevada  —  Nevada was a political afterthought for Republicans in the 2008 presidential election.  —  Caucus votes were nonbinding, meaning delegates could change their minds about whom to support, so candidates focused on other more influential states rather …

University of Virginia reforms speech code  —  The University of Virginia has eliminated four controversial policies that restricted the free speech of students and faculty, becoming one of a minority of schools across the country to do so.  —  The recent decision to change the policies …

Best of Facebook 2010: Politics & Government  —  Earlier this week, we asked fans of the Congress on Facebook, U.S. Politics on Facebook, and Government on Facebook pages to weigh in on the best use of Facebook in 2010 by members of Congress, political campaigns, and government agencies.

The book that defined modern campaign reporting  —  CHESTERTOWN, Md. — Before Richard Ben Cramer bought his old white farmhouse here in 1993, he called in “the best real estate guy that I know,” and then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and his brother Jimmy drove down from Wilmington to have a look.