‘Niggerhead’  —  Ok, then: … In all seriousness, I think this says very little about Rick Perry, and a lot more about the country he seeks to govern.  A few choice quotes: … And from the Times: … Surely there are people, in both stories, who find the name offensive.

Shock Photos: Candidate Obama Appeared And Marched With New Black Panther Party in 2007  —  New photographs obtained exclusively by BigGovernment.com reveal that Barack Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Alabama in March 2007.

For Christie, a ‘modern front-porch campaign’?  —  As Chris Christie weighs the obvious appetite for his candidacy against the tremendous logistical impediments and political risks, a prominent Christie admirer is offering a path forward: A campaign run largely from New Jersey, its television campaign waged by an independent Super PAC.

TWU blasts city for putting handcuffed Occupy Wall Street protesters on buses  —  The Transport Workers Union will go to court Monday to try to stop the city from forcing bus drivers to transport Wall Street protesters arrested by the NYPD, the Daily News has learned.

Why business despairs of Obama  —  Take a deep breath.  The industrialised world, America included, seems stuck in one of those horror movies, where the monster, thought to be slain, morphs into something even more scary.  The fear is that a double-dip, or worse, is now upon us.

Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales  —  In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world's largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France.

Warren, Brown in dead heat: UMass Lowell/Herald poll  —  Joe K, Deval would do better  —  Democrat Elizabeth Warren's meteoric ascent in Massachusetts politics has landed her in a virtual dead heat with Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, while two Democrats who passed on the race …

Cain wins straw poll at GOP women's forum  —  GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain won this weekend's straw poll at the National Federation of Republican Women's Convention reports NBC News.  —  Cain received 48.9 percent of the vote, well ahead of the second place finisher Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 14.1 percent.

What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Rules?  —  Imagine a league where players who make it through three seasons could never be cut from the roster.  —  Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality.  Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league.

STATE FOR SALE … - POLITICS - PROFILES - THE TALK OF THE TOWN - COMMENT - TABLE OF CONTENTS - THE FINANCIAL PAGE - NEWS DESK - THE POLITICAL SCENE

Furiously unraveling  —  The joke goes that anything named “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms” ought to be a convenience store instead of an arm of the federal government, but what's going on in Washington these days with the embattled agency is no laughing matter.

BREAKING: South Carolina to hold primary on January 21  —  Washington (CNN) - South Carolina's Republican presidential primary will be held on Jan. 21 of next year, two GOP sources tell CNN.  —  South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Chad Connelly will formally announce the date later this morning.

A U.S.-Backed Geothermal Plant Struggles  —  WASHINGTON — In a remote desert spot in northern Nevada, there is a geothermal plant run by a politically connected clean energy start-up that has relied heavily on an Obama administration loan guarantee and is now facing financial turmoil.

Voting Law Changes in 2012  —  PUBLICATIONS  —  Ahead of the 2012 elections, a wave of legislation tightening restrictions on voting has suddenly swept across the country.  More than five million Americans could be affected by the new rules already put in place this year …

Holding China to Account  —  The dire state of the world economy reflects destructive actions on the part of many players.  Still, the fact that so many have behaved badly shouldn't stop us from holding individual bad actors to account.  —  And that's what Senate leaders will be doing this week …

Thank Wal-Mart for your new bank card fee  —  When Bank of America announced last week that it would charge $5 a month to customers who make purchases with their debit card, customers railed against the bank.  —  Many conservatives and libertarians said the anger should be aimed at Congress …