McConnell: Saying Medicare is off the table is ‘silly talk’ and ‘nonsense’  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that Medicare reform must be part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, despite indications that changing the entitlement will be politically unpopular.

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban  —  A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks.

CNN Poll: GOP 2012 field still up in the air  —  Washington (CNN) - Call it a sign of how unsettled the GOP presidential field remains: Two of the three people at the top of new national poll in the battle for the Republican nomination may not even run for the White House.

Obama Won't Personally Sign Patriot Act Extension  —  ABC News' Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) and Devin Dwyer (@devindwyer) report: Congress officially passed an extension of the Patriot Act tonight, just hours before key provisions of the national security law were due to lapse at midnight.

Mitt Romney Supports Ethanol Subsidies, Opposes Tim Pawlenty's ‘Hard Truth’  —  ABC News' Emily Friedman (@emilyabc) & Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) report:  —  Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are at odds on one of the biggest issues to voters in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucuses.

Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They're Signs of “White Supremacy")  —  Soquel, California — on the Central Coast:  —  Several high school seniors wore white t shirts to their class's group picture last Wednesday and were suspended for doing so.

Perry says he will consider White House run  —  Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president.  —  “I'm going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said.  —  For years, Perry has said that he would not run for president and that he had no interest.

Bachmann's Debacle  —  “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican.  An elected official called it “an embarrassment”.  The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.

What Obama did to Israel  —  Every Arab-Israeli negotiation contains a fundamental asymmetry: Israel gives up land, which is tangible; the Arabs make promises, which are ephemeral.  The long-standing American solution has been to nonetheless urge Israel to take risks for peace …

When a party declares intellectual bankruptcy  —  The good news is, House Republicans unveiled a plan yesterday that's intended to create jobs.  The bad news is, the plan can charitably be described as a bad joke.  —  As we discussed yesterday, the jobs agenda, such as it is …

Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally  —  ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise.  A welcome surprise.

This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today  —  Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado  —  There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.

Tyler Cowen, America's Hottest Economist  —  The George Mason University professor has written a bestseller, The Great Stagnation, keeps an influential blog, and reads way too many books  —  Tyler Cowen sits with a cranberry juice and a pile of books he no longer intends to read.

America's Forgotten Liberal  —  JANUARY was the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, and the planet nearly stopped turning on its axis to recognize the occasion.  Today is the 100th anniversary of Hubert H. Humphrey's birth, and no one besides me seems to have noticed.

Herman Cain: Federal Reserve Chairman, Tea Party Champion  —  The businessman's tenure with the Kansas City Fed should make for interesting debates with anti-Fed stalwart Ron Paul  —  There's no question that Herman Cain is the big winner in the the latest national Gallup poll …

Questions about Ratko Mladic  —  The individual whom The New York Times describes as Europe's “most wanted war crimes suspect” was captured yesterday in Serbia and will likely be extradited to be tried before an international war crimes tribunal at the Hague: … I have two questions about this:

Frank bashes GOP ‘thugs’ over possible Warren appointment  —  Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Senate Republicans have “acted like thugs” in threatening to prevent a prominent consumer advocate - or anyone else - from heading a new consumer-protection agency.