New Speaker Vows to Share Power—a Tricky Proposition  —  When John Boehner takes over one of the most powerful jobs in Washington this week, he says his first order of business is to make himself less powerful.  —  On Wednesday the new speaker of the House of Representatives plans to offer …

G.O.P. Aims Smaller for Cuts to Budget  —  WASHINGTON — Many people knowledgeable about the federal budget said House Republicans could not keep their campaign promise to cut $100 billion from domestic spending in a single year.  Now it appears that Republicans agree.

Upcoming NewSouth ‘Huck Finn’ Eliminates the ‘N’ Word  —  Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of “all modern American literature.”  Yet, for decades …

Obama weighs major reshuffling of staff  —  As President Obama returns from Hawaii, he is weighing a major reshuffling of his staff that could see as many as eight people playing new key roles in the weeks ahead, Democrats familiar with the process said.  —  Obama has been mulling for months …

A power grab that the GOP avoided  —  When the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, some of us will be thinking back to a vote that occurred 15 years earlier to the day.  Just two months after securing a congressional majority for the first time in 40 years, Republicans strode into the Senate chamber …

Santorum Takes Aim at Romney, Palin  —  Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., at a Capitol Hill coffee shop, trying to give a jolt to his presidential ambitions.  —  Rick Santorum the senator didn't shy from controversy.  Apparently, neither will Rick Santorum the presidential candidate.

Speaker Pelosi Leaves With a Whopper  —  At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us.  It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.”  —  The numbers tell a different story.  —  When the Pelosi Democrats took control …

Palin re-tweet raises questions  —  (CNN) - Normally, it's what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news.  This time it's what she has re-tweeted.  —  The former Alaska governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism …

With New Heart Pump, Cheney Resumes Old Life  —  By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL D. SHEAR  —  WASHINGTON — A few days before Christmas, former Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from several months of a self-imposed political sabbatical to headline a fund-raiser for Maria Cino …

9th Circuit Sends Prop.  8 Case Back To California Supreme Court On Certified Question  —  I just received an automated e-mail from the 9th Circuit, as follows (emphasis mine): … Here is the certified question centering on whether the proponents of Prop. 8 have standing under California state law:

Theater Audience Boos Tea Party Billionaire David Koch  —  David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement and pro-polluter front groups by loudly tacking his name to more laudable charities, like the New York city ballet.  Koch, who has professed his devotion to …

Schumer: Health care foes should forgo coverage  —  New York Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing Republican members of Congress who oppose last year's health care legislation to decline health coverage for themselves and their families.  —  Democrats have been trying to cast Republican members' acceptance …

Saudi Arabia ‘nabbed Israeli-tagged vulture for being Mossad spy’  —  Vulture used as part of bird migration research was reportedly captured in rural area of Saudi Arabia.  —  A vulture tagged by scientists at Tel Aviv University has strayed into Saudi Arabian territory …

Is Kathy Griffin Going Too Far Targeting 16-Year Old Willow Palin?  —  Kathy Griffin was booed by U.S. troops when she made “fat jokes” about Bristol Palin at a Dec. 4, 2010 VH1 event.  (Reuters)  —  Kathy Griffin announced her New Year's resolution to continue a verbal assault on the Palin family.

Why Journalists Aren't Standing Up for WikiLeaks  —  Three reasons that efforts to prosecute Julian Assange aren't drawing more of an outcry about the First Amendment.  —  If you think prosecuting journalists is the province solely of the sort of authoritarian governments in the developing world …

Holly Petraeus To Be Elizabeth Warren's Pick For Top Post In New Consumer Protection Agency (EXCLUSIVE)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration appointee now establishing a consumer financial protection agency, plans to name the wife of General David Petraeus …

Gerry Rafferty dies aged 63  —  Singer-songwriter behind Stuck in the Middle with You and Baker Street endured battles with music industry and alcohol  —  The singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, whose songs such as Stuck in the Middle with You, Baker Street and Get it Right Next Time soundtracked the 1970s …

Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions  —  Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.

Glenn Beck dropped by New York's WOR radio station over poor ratings, replaced by Mike Gallagher  —  Glenn Beck may be one of the hottest talk show hosts in the country, but he apparently left New York's WOR cold.  —  WOR (710 AM), one of the city's two biggest talk radio stations …

Bibi sends Obama letter requesting Pollard release  —  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu wrote President Obama urging clemency for Jonathan Pollard.  —  “At the time of his arrest, Jonathan Pollard was acting as an agent of the Israeli government,” Netanyahu wrote in his letter, sent Tuesday.

Rep. Peter King has ‘nothing but contempt’ for New York Times  —  Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, ripped into The New York Times Tuesday for telling him in a weekend editorial to tone down his rhetoric.  —  From King's response, there is no indication he will do anything of the sort.

Arab kids sing “May our blood be shed” in school in East Jerusalem  —  Arab kids in Sur Baher, Jerusalem  —  taught to sing:  —  “May our blood be shed”  —  by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  —  A Hamas terrorist arrested last month for planning to shoot a missile at a sports stadium …

Mass La. bird deaths puzzle investigators  —  LABARRE — Hundreds of dead and dying birds littered a quarter-mile stretch of highway in Pointe Coupee Parish on Monday as motorists drove over and around them.  —  State biologists are trying to determine what led to the deaths …