House rejects measure that would extend key Patriot Act provisions through December  —  A measure to extend key provisions of the Patriot Act counterterrorism surveillance law through December failed the House Tuesday night, with more than two-dozen Republicans bucking their party to oppose the measure.

Lugar to Tea Party: “Get real.”  —  WASHINGTON, DC (WANE) - He's an institution in Washington, DC.  Over the years, few senators have garnered more respect on Capitol Hill than Indiana's Richard Lugar .  He's been a fixture in the Senate since 1977; seemingly unbeatable at the ballot box.

Saudi oil reserves ‘overstated by 40%’  —  US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world's biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40%  —  The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating …

My Farewell* Post to Politics Daily Readers … For the last couple of years, I have been honored and privileged to be a part of the superb Politics Daily team.  It is with some reluctance that I announce my imminent departure from PD for The Daily Caller.  —  PD remains a unique place on the Web …

Planned Parenthood Video Fuels Abortion Debate  —  Undercover Video Shows Fake Pimp Seeking Abortions for Underage Sex Workers, Getting Advice from Planned Parenthood Employees  —  (CBS) In Washington Tuesday the House began hearings on the controversial subject of abortion.

Plans Near for Freddie and Fannie  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and House Republicans are settling into a game of chicken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with each side daring the other to advance a plan for replacing the two housing finance companies.

On Health Care, Justice Will Prevail  —  THE lawsuits challenging the individual mandate in the health care law, including one in which a federal district judge last week called the law unconstitutional, will ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court, and pundits are already making bets on how the justices will vote.

Barack Obama: “I didn't raise taxes once.”  —  President Barack Obama says he didn't raise taxes once.  —  In an interview on Super Bowl Sunday, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly asked President Barack Obama to react to a Wall Street Journal editorial that accused Obama of being …

Mass protests continue in Egypt  —  Pro-democracy supporters hold fresh rallies in Cairo, just hours after the release of a detained Google executive.  —  Protesters in the Egyptian capital are holding mass demonstrations, with a new wave of optimism reaching the pro-democracy camp following …

Christine O'Donnell Will Use Committee To ‘Investigate’ Left-Wing Groups  —  Failed GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is back, and she's telling supporters she wants her newly formed political action committee ChristinePAC to “investigate and counter attack leftwing groups.”

Rick: Sarah skips CPAC for C-notes  —  Rick Santorum knocked Sarah Palin's decision to skip CPAC, saying on Tuesday that she must have “business opportunities” that are keeping her from the annual conservative conference that is a showcase for potential presidential contenders.

Lautenberg to Pro-Life Republicans: 'Don't Go Near My Daughters'  —  “If they want to make a choice, that's up to them and it's with the advice of a doctor and loving parents and a loving family.”  —  (CNSNews.com) - In expressing opposition to the House Republicans' “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act …

Budget cuts take hits from both sides  —  Facing a two-front war on the left and right, the House Appropriations Committee voted, 27-22, Tuesday evening to move ahead with Republican plans for cutting close to $40 billion from domestic and foreign aid spending over the last seven months of this fiscal year.

Rep. Fred Upton On Global Warming: ‘I Do Not Accept That It Is Man-Made’  —  At a public forum today, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the new head of the House energy committee, denied that climate change is manmade.  Upton, who received $20,000 from Koch Industries in his most recent campaign …

Unbiasing Academia  —  I'm not surprised that John Tierney's new article on Jonathan Haidt has gotten a lot of attention from conservatives; it involves a liberal academic telling them something they already know: that academia discriminates against them. … In blog years, this is an age-old argument.

There will be blog  —  Conservatives To Beck: You're Doing It Wrong.  —  As much as I'm enjoying the feud between Bill Kristol and Glenn Beck over Beck's paranoid theory that the upheaval in Egypt will lead to a caliphate in Eastern Europe, I'm not entirely sure why Kristol is objecting.

Brown, BP Cleared of Lobbying Scots to Free Bomber  —  Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government and BP Plc were cleared of lobbying Scottish politicians to free Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi in a report that said U.K. officials helped Libya seek his release.

Tim Pawlenty Refuses To Say Whether Gays Should Be Allowed To Serve In The Military At All  —  In his quest to win the Republican presidential nomination, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has made reinstating the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy a key part of his campaign.

The fallacy of careless contrarianism  —  LAST week, I posted a video of an impressive young man delivering a moving short speech in opposition to the attempt to add an amendment to Iowa's constitution outlawing gay marriage.  Steven Landsburg, an economist at the University of Rochester, was not impressed.

The silver lining to occupational licensing  —  Stephanie Simon's WSJ article on the rise of jobs needing a license of some description has resulted in a predictable rash of approving comments, especially from Matt Yglesias, for whom the issue is something of a hobby-horse.

Biden Announces $53 Billion Rail-Funding Plan  —  WASHINGTON—Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a $53 billion plan Tuesday to upgrade and build intercity passenger-rail networks.  —  Mr. Biden, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced the plan at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.