Egypt Protests Turn Violent  —  Pro- and Anti-Mubarak Crowds Collide in the Worst Clashes Since Friday  —  We just got back to the hotel after trying to film on the bridge into Tahrir Square.  —  An angry mob surrounded us and chased us into the car shouting that they hate America.

Senate rejects healthcare repeal  —  The Senate on Wednesday voted down a repeal of President Obama's healthcare law in a 47-51 party-line vote.  —  The vote came two weeks to the day the Republican House voted 245-189 to repeal the law, and just days after a federal judge ruled Obama's …

Senate votes to repeal healthcare law's ‘1099’ tax reporting language  —  The Senate tonight voted to repeal controversial language in last year's healthcare bill that requires companies to report goods and services transactions worth $600 or more to the IRS.

President Obama Signs START Treaty, Doesn't Allow Reporters in the Room  —  President Obama signed the START nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia this morning.  —  Despite the great attention the president has devoted to this treaty — and the vast coverage of the treaty negotiations by the media …

SEIU fights healthcare repeal after obtaining waivers from law  —  The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is lobbying hard against the amendment offered by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to repeal the healthcare reform law.  —  SEIU has sent e-mails …

Enviro Groups' Public Health Pivot in Support of EPA Regs Hitting Red States Too  —  The first signs of a shift came even before Election Day 2010, arriving as letters (pdf) and dramatic ads (pdf).  But as the 112th Congress gets to work, environmental groups are stepping up their transition toward …

Democrats reach for the shiny object  —  Look At the Shiny Object  —  Yesterday Debbie Wasserman-Shultz came out swinging against the latest GOP assault on women, calling the new requirement that only those who are the victims of “forcible” rape be entitled to government funded abortion, “violence against women” and she's right.

Paul: Should the Tea Party compromise?  —  Washington (CNN) - During his first speech on the Senate floor, Tea Party champion Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, brought up what may be a dirty word for some of his constituents: compromise.  —  “Many ask will the Tea Party compromise?

Reagan's Solicitor General Charles Fried: ‘I Am Quite Sure That The Health Care Mandate Is Constitutional’  —  In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on “The Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act,” President Ronald Reagan's former Solicitor General — Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried …

We're All Terrorists Now  —  The Tennessee ACLU sent a letter to public schools warning them not to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.  The Tennessee Fusion Center (H/T Uncle) put the communication on its map of “terrorism events and other suspicious activity”:

Egypt Is A Very Large Proportion of the Arab World  —  I knew Egypt was the largest population of the Arab countries, but until I looked up the numbers I didn't realize how dramatically the demographics of the Arab world are weighted toward Egypt:  —  What's more, a healthy share of Iraqis …

A Toast to Your Health  —  Warning: Alcohol may increase your life expectancy and reduce dementia.  —  The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Monday.  There weren't many surprises in its recommendations to reduce fat and salt, eat whole grains, and cut the overall amount we eat.

WikiLeaks: US and China in military standoff over space missiles  —  The United States threatened to take military action against China during a secret “star wars” arms race within the past few years, according to leaked documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Sen. Tester: GOP Opponent Stands with Michele Bachmann  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Sen. Jon Tester is coming out swinging in his reelection race, immediately tying his new Republican opponent to tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann as he makes the case that his rival favors cuts to veterans' programs.

Milbank is still a Palin ‘virgin’  —  Dana Milbank just shot over an e-mail letting us know it wasn't him who posted - under his name - an item on the Post Partisan blog pointing out that he had “survived” the fist day of his month-long Palin “moratorium.”  —  We posted an item earlier …

News Releases from Headquarters  — EPA Home - Newsroom - News Releases from Headquarters - EPA To Develop Regulation for Perchlorate and Toxic ....  EPA To Develop Regulation for Perchlorate and Toxic Chemicals in Drinking Water  —  Contact Information: Jalil Isa (News Media Only) …

Less government!  More sexism!  —  By now you'd expect House Republicans to ignore jobs in favor of demagoguing on a social issue like abortion.  It's become a familiar playbook.  But what they're doing now is very different, and considerably more dangerous.

The Kochs fight back  —  RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - Faced with an avalanche of bad publicity after years of funding conservative causes in relative anonymity, the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, Charles and David, are fighting back.  —  They've hired a team of p.r. pros with experience working …

Georgia Republican: Nobody Should Need A Driver's License  —  Republican Georgia state legislator Bobby Franklin thinks that driver's licenses impose undue restrictions on the right of citizens to travel.  So he's proposed legislation to stop the state from issuing them.