Obama Meeting Fails to End Stalemate Over Federal Budget  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and Congressional leaders said Wednesday that a late-night White House bargaining session produced no budget breakthrough that would avert a government shutdown this weekend but agreed the two sides …

Donald Trump.  Seriously?  —  Donald Trump finished second in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll testing the 2012 Republican presidential field.  AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel DunandIn the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, businessman and reality television star Donald Trump finished second behind …

OBAMA: Get Used To High Gas Prices.  “Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”  —  High gas prices aren't a bug, they're a feature.

Obama friend arrested in Hawaii  —  (CNN) - A friend of President Barack Obama was arrested Monday for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a prostitute, according to CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now.  —  Robert Richard Titcomb, 49, was arrested with three …

Obama's support among blacks slips unexpectedly, Hispanics too  —  Barack Obama rode to a comfortable presidential election win in 2008 on the electoral wings of a coalition based on liberal whites, independents and blacks, especially blacks.  —  Obama lost much of his independent support during …

Amendment that says climate change is occurring fails in House  —  The House rejected a Democratic amendment Wednesday that would have put the chamber on record backing the widely held scientific view that global warming is occurring and humans are a major cause.

Election fraud allegations fly in close Wisconsin Supreme Court race  —  Wisconsin citizens and election experts are questioning the veracity of the state's Supreme Court race, which the Associated Press reports left-wing legal activist JoAnne Kloppenburg won by 204 votes over Justice David Prosser …

Cathie Black Is Out as City Schools Chancellor  —  Cathleen P. Black with Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott, who will replace her as schools chancellor, at a news conference in January.  —  11:44 a.m. |  Updated Cathleen P. Black, a magazine executive with no educational experience who was named …

First homosexual caveman found  —  Archaeologists have unearthed the 5,000-year-old remains of what they believe may have been the world's oldest known gay caveman.  —  The male body - said to date back to between 2900-2500BC - was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women …

EVEN THE THREAT OF A SHUTDOWN IS EXPENSIVE.... If congressional Republicans go through with their threat and shut down the government tomorrow night, the costs will be considerable.  It's ironic that those hoping to cut the budget will force a shutdown that's needlessly expensive.

Obama Hits Losing Trifecta In Florida, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Increased Support For Offshore Drilling  —  President Barack Obama hits a losing trifecta with Florida voters: They disapprove 52 - 44 percent of the job he is doing; they prefer an unnamed Republican challenger …

Barbour, Bryant lead in Mississippi  —  Mississippi Republicans want Haley Barbour to be their nominee for President next year, and he's doing far better in his home state than most of the other Republicans looking at the race are doing in theirs.  37% say Barbour is their first choice …

Rush to Use Crops as Fuel Raises Food Prices and Hunger Fears  —  The starchy cassava root has long been an important ingredient in everything from tapioca pudding and ice cream to paper and animal feed.  —  But last year, 98 percent of cassava chips exported from Thailand …

I Can't Help Myself  —  Sullivan: … The Ryan/GOP Plan, as has been pointed out to Sullivan a hundred times now with little to no effect, slashes taxes by trillions and makes up for those tax cuts by slashing trillions in services to our neediest members of society.

I can't believe my best friend is a Republican  —  I love everything about Janet — except how she stands for all the things I find bad and wrong in the world  —  Janet and I would likely have never met, save for the thing that unites so many women across divides of income and age: fat.

Mario Cuomo Still Believes  —  You would think that Mario Cuomo would have been proud to watch his son Andrew sworn in as governor of New York last New Year's Eve, ascending to the job his old man held for 12 years.  Apparently, you would be wrong.  —  “You really want to know how I felt?” the elder Cuomo asked me last month.