How Nancy Pelosi Can Save The Day, And Regain Power, In Debt Ceiling Fight  —  Could House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) save the day in the fight over the debt limit, and in so doing return to a position of great influence on Capitol Hill?  Yes she could.  —  The House minority is the Siberia of Congress.

The Middle-Class Tax Trap  —  “Let's tell the truth,” Walter Mondale said, accepting the Democratic nomination in 1984.  “Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you.  I just did.”  —  Three months later, Mondale lost 49 states, and liberal politicians learned a valuable lesson.

What's Donald Trump really after?  —  Despite an almost universal refusal by Republican establishment figures and the press to take him seriously, Donald Trump is taking very concrete steps toward forming - and announcing - a presidential campaign.  —  He has interviewed at least two people …

S&P Affirms US AAA Rating, Cuts Outlook to Negative  —  Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded the outlook for the United States to negative, saying it believes there's a risk U.S. policymakers may not reach agreement on how to address the country's long-term fiscal pressures.

President Obama and Vice President Biden's Tax Returns and Tax Receipts  —  Today, the President released his 2010 federal income and gift tax returns.  He and the First Lady filed their income tax return jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096.

Roger Ailes Caught Spying on the Reporters at His Small-Town Newspaper  —  The small-town newspapers in New York's Hudson Valley that Fox News chief Roger Ailes owns with his wife Elizabeth are in a staff revolt after employees caught Ailes spying on them with News Corp. security goons.  More »

It's Now Patriotic to Call Paul Krugman a !  @%$#%@ Hypocrite  —  For almost the entire two and one-half years I've been blogging I've had to put up with Paul Krugman accusing Republicans, conservatives and Tea Party supporters of inciting violence through heated rhetoric over policy differences, particularly Obamacare.

Sarah Palin's website sparks White House buzz  —  Sarah Palin rolled out a new website for her PAC on Monday with significantly more content and features, along with a vehicle for Palin to start gathering email addresses and information from her supporters.  —  The new site, sarahpac.com …

(UPDATED) DOJ Source: Gov't Muslim ‘Outreach’ Jeopardized Active Terror Investigations  —  (UPDATE: Rep. Peter King demands answers following Poole's previous article on this topic.)  An explosive, must-read interview brings sunlight to our counterproductive “outreach” programs.

Where the Tax Money Is  —  Obama targets the middle class while pretending to tax only the rich.  —  A dominant theme of President Obama's budget speech last Wednesday was that our fiscal problems would vanish if only the wealthiest Americans were asked “to pay a little more.”

TheDC Exclusive: Conservatives hit Beck for taking content without attribution  —  A number of conservative activists and bloggers say they're furious at media magnate Glenn Beck for what they call content theft.  Over the past several years, Beck has relied on video, audio and written content …

AFSCME Union Threatens to ‘Weaponize’ Government Jobs  —  It's becoming clearer that the “public service” mentality is quickly slipping way from government employees, if it didn't hit the exits a long time ago.  —  Instead of government employees serving the public, it's clear now their belief is that the public exists to serve them.

Trump: Rove “devastated” by Romney's performance  —  On Fox & Friends this morning, Donald Trump fired back at Karl Rove for calling him a “joke candidate.” … Trump then offered another reason for Rove's comments. … Trump's assertion that Romney is doing poorly in the polls is hardly air-tight …

Andres Serrano's Piss Christ destroyed by Christian protesters  —  • Intruders vandalise photo day after Christian protest  —  • Exhibitor blames Sarkozy speech for inflaming issue  —  When New York artist Andres Serrano plunged a plastic crucifix into a glass of his own urine …

2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced  —  The New York Times won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for its economics commentary and for its reporting on Russia in 2010, while The Los Angeles Times received the coveted public service Pulitzer.  —  The prizes, which are administered by Columbia University …

GANG OF SIX ‘VERY CLOSE’ TO AN AGREEMENT, INTENDS TO ‘MAKE EVERYBODY MAD’.... Two months ago, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a member of the bipartisan “Gang of Six” deficit-reduction talks, said the group was “getting close” to striking a deal.  Two weeks ago, however, the negotiations …

Can't Talk About Residency Patterns Without Talking About Prices  —  Ben Adler, reviewing Suleiman Osman's The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York makes the excellent point that you can't discuss the social underpinnings …

Administration gives green light to Panama trade agreement  —  United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has given the Panama trade agreement a green light, paving the way for a congressional vote on the long-stalled deal within months.  —  Kirk notified Congress on Monday that Panama …

Electric Car Catches Fire, Again  —  Chevy Volt Is Believed To Have Set A Garage On Fire In Barkhamsted  —  BARKHAMSTED,Conn. — A hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt believed to have sparked an overnight blaze in a garage in Barkhamsted last week, reignited again on Monday.