REPUBLICAN STUDY COMMITTEE LAYS DOWN A RADICAL ‘MARKER’ ON SPENDING.... The new House GOP majority suffered some embarrassment a couple of weeks ago when party leaders backed off a promise to cut $100 billion from the budget in their first year.  —  This week, a leading right-wing contingent within …

Michelle Obama's ‘Get Moving’ Program Linked to Pedestrian Deaths  —  WASHINGTON — The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady's program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.

Social conservatives launch Iowa series, without Romney for now [UPDATED]  —  The Family Leader, Bob Vander Plaats' Iowa conservative group, announces a speaking series:  —  The series line-up begins with former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty on Monday, February 7.

Rick Santorum Responds to Brody File on Comment About President Obama's Race and Abortion  —  EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: RICK SANTORUM HAS JUST SENT THE BRODY FILE A STATEMENT ON THE STORY BELOW: … Abortion is a toxic subject.  Race is a toxic subject.  And soon to be GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum …

GOP Can Force a Senate Vote on Repeal  —  While the health care repeal that the House passed Wednesday has little chance of passage in the Senate, Republicans will probably succeed in eventually forcing a vote on the measure — albeit with at least a 60-vote threshold.

SPOTTED: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan Waiting for Jury Duty  —  ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports: If you thought Supreme Court justices are exempt from jury duty in their local courts, think again.  —  Justice Elena Kagan was spotted among a crowd of prospective jurors huddled in a waiting lounge this morning at D.C. Superior Court.

Goodbye to a Guy Named Joe  —  On Wednesday, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced that he won't be a candidate for re-election in 2012.  Normally people look particularly appealing when they're promising to go away.  This time, not so much.  —  “I can't help but also think about …

Give me $1 billion to cut the budget deficit  —  I have a plan to reduce the budget deficit.  The essence of the plan is the federal government writing me a check for $1 billion.  The plan will be financed by $3 billion of tax increases.  According to my back-of-the envelope calculations …

Palinoia, the Destroyer  —  What's behind the left's deranged hatred.  —  Why does their hatred of her burn so hot?  —  Ask them, and they'll most likely tell you: Because she's a moron.  But that is obviously false.  To be sure, her skills at extemporaneous speaking leave much to be desired.

Delusions of world-historical grandeur  —  One thing that is endlessly amusing about the contemporary right is their comical lack of historical proportion, their frequent tendency to compare their current situation to the plight endured by history's leading victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide.

Fox News Poll: Most Say Prayer Helped Save Congresswoman Giffords  —  Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survive the Tucson shooting, according to a Fox News poll (Reuters).  —  Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona …

Exclusive: Over a million immigrants land U.S. jobs in 2008-10  —  (Reuters) - Over the past two years, as U.S. unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally.

If Obama wants to be bold, he should be bold  —  Peter Baker has a lot of juicy tidbits about the frequent infighting and petty spats that split the White House economic team over the past two years, but the individual who comes off worst in the article is not Larry Summers or Christina Romer or Peter Orszag or Rahm Emanuel.

Police Seize ‘Large Amount’ Of Weapons From Blogger Who Praised Gifffords Shooting: ‘1 Down And 534 To Go’  —  Police in Arlington, MA this week seized a “large amount” of weapons and ammunition from local businessman Travis Corcoran after he wrote a blog post threatening U.S. lawmakers …

A Racy Show With Teenagers Steps Back From a Boundary  —  MTV executives have a new hit drama on their hands, featuring the sexual and drug-fueled exploits of misfit teenagers.  They also have something else — a fear that coming episodes of the show may break the law.

Ted K's son may be eyeing Lieberman's seat in Conn.  —  The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's son, Ted Jr., is among the names being floated as potential candidates for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's seat in 2012.  —  Kennedy, the middle child of the late senator and his former wife …

An update from the Chairman  —  When I joined Google in 2001 I never imagined—even in my wildest dreams—that we would get as far, as fast as we have today.  Search has quite literally changed people's lives—increasing the collective sum of the world's knowledge and revolutionizing advertising in the process.

Petraeus Team: Taliban Made Us Wipe Village Out  —  Expect more Afghan villages to be destroyed by American rockets and bombs — if, that is, the Taliban “saturate” them with homemade explosives and kick out the villagers.  But the U.S.-led coalition isn't going to destroy populated areas …

Hubris heading for a fall  —  It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, and in a recent speech that seemed like Larry Summers's swan song, the president's now-departed economic adviser warned that America is “at risk of a profound demoralization with respect to government.”

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010  —  Charges: The A.Q. Khan of the culinary world, her secret recipes are demonstrably more dangerous to America than a nuclear armed North Korea.  When not delighting delusional hicks on “Huckabee,” she's cooking up coronary-clogging treats like the …