BREAKING: CBO Says Repealing ObamaCare Would Reduce Net Spending by $540 Billion  —  The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021.

Memo to Speaker Boehner: If You Won a Congessional Majority Because You Pledged to Cut Spending and You Can't Think of a Single Program to Cut Now, Please Go Home  —  That Congress botched its first-ever public reading of the Constitution is worrisome, but less so than the fact they've spent …

Rudy gearing up for DC run  —  Confident that he'd have a chance to win, Rudy Giuliani is rounding up his top political advisers for a possible 2012 presidential run, sources tell Page Six.  —  Sources say the tough-talking former mayor “thinks the Republican race will be populated …

EXCLUSIVE: Sonny Bono's Widow - Rep. Mary Bono - In Lurid Photo Scandal With Woman Investigated By FBI  —  Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has been caught on camera in a lurid scandal where another woman is apparently licking her breast.  —  RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the photo …

Obama mouthpiece Robert Gibbs was forced out by new henchman William Daley  —  I wondered yesterday whether Robert Gibbs jumped or was pushed and noted that President Barack Obama's words indicated that it was “not an entirely voluntary departure”.  —  It's being reported by John King …

Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin  —  As a long-standing Palin hysteric, I have to confess a mite less concern in 2011 than at any time since she has been farcically commanding the attention of the political class.  Not much has changed essentially: Palin's favorable ratings remain roughly where they have been.

Statement by the President on H.R. 6523  —  Today I have signed into law H.R. 6523, the “Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.”  The Act authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, for military construction, and for national security-related energy programs.

MA Supreme Court Deals Banks a Major Blow on Foreclosure Fraud, in the Ibanez Case  —  In a major ruling in the Massachusetts Supreme Court today, US Bank and Wells Fargo lost the “Ibanez case,” meaning that they don't have standing to foreclose due to improper mortgage assignment.

White Flight  —  President Obama's path to a second term may rely on states shaped by the same social forces he embodies.  —  Right turn: Sen. Marco Rubio's supporters in Florida included many whites who voted for Obama in 2008.  —  By any standard, white voters' rejection of Democrats …

Village Voice Caught in Jayson Blair-Style Fabrication Scandal (Updated)  —  Rob Sgobbo (pictured), a young writer for the New York Daily News, has had a freelance story he wrote yanked from the Village Voice's website.  He apparently fabricated sources and lied about his reporting.

Bachmann for President?  'I'm Going to Iowa - There's Your Answer'  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Rep. Michele Bachmann confirmed to ABC News today that she's considering a run for president in 2012 — albeit with a non-traditional sense of her own timeline for making a decision.

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as “human shields”  —  Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt's threatened Christian community  —  Egypt's majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night.

The Texas Omen  —  These are tough times for state governments.  Huge deficits loom almost everywhere, from California to New York, from New Jersey to Texas.  —  Wait — Texas?  Wasn't Texas supposed to be thriving even as the rest of America suffered?  Didn't its governor declare …

Egypt threatens to remove Central Park obelisk  —  Archaeologist concerned about damage to hieroglyphic text on Cleopatra's Needle  —  Below:  —  Since 1881, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the secretary general …

Bachmann's Epiphany and My Own ‘Conversion’  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has recently come under a lot of attention, even ridicule, for telling an audience of Michigan Republicans how she “shed her youthful Democratic roots and became a Republican.”  —  Her story:

Ex-lobbyist seeks light sentence, cites charity  —  Attorneys for one-time superlobbyist Paul Magliocchetti cite his $700,000 in charitable donations as one of the reasons he should not be sentenced to prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions.

Obama will seek repeal of provisions barring Gitmo inmate transfers  —  President Obama said he'll seek the repeal of provisions in the new defense authorization bill barring the transfer of terrorist suspects to the U.S. for civilian trials.  —  Obama said he had signed …

PELOSI GOES MAD!  Blames Bush For Dems Losing House  —  Maybe all those injections into her lips, or the pressure of being Speaker of the House but allow me to suggest that it is time to call those nice men to with the special jackets.  You know the ones with the long sleeves that tie in the back?

Obama in Political, Economic Quandary Weighing Tax Overhaul  —  President Barack Obama and his economic team are torn over whether to make overhauling the tax system a priority or relegate it to a brief mention in his annual State of the Union address, a top administration official said.

Investigation into death of Notorious B.I.G. heats up  —  Los Angeles (CNN) — A task force made up of local and federal law enforcement agencies is actively pursuing leads into the 1997 slaying of hip hop artist Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G. …