How Congress Occupied Wall Street  —  Politicians who arrive in Washington as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires.  Why?  —  Mark Twain famously wrote, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”  Peter Schweizer's new book, “Throw Them All Out …

Poll: Romney, Gingrich in statistical dead heat in N.H.  —  Two things are true about New Hampshire Republican primary voters.  They vote for people they know.  And they love an underdog with a comeback story.  —  Four years ago it was the weathered but feisty veteran John McCain who revived …

Failure Is Good  —  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's a complete turkey!  It's the supercommittee!  —  By next Wednesday, the so-called supercommittee, a bipartisan group of legislators, is supposed to reach an agreement on how to reduce future deficits.

Runaway mom dreadlocked up  —  Here's your mom, kids.  Proud?  —  The hippie Florida mother of four who ditched her children and banker husband to sleep in Zuccotti Park's squalor hit rock bottom yesterday when she was hauled off in handcuffs, her dreadlocks flying wildly in every direction …

Syracuse's Bernie Fine placed on leave  —  Two former Syracuse University ball boys say they were molested by associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine, starting in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1990s.  —  Police in Syracuse said they have opened an investigation into the allegations.

Cain receives Secret Service protection  —  Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain began receiving protection from the U.S. Secret Service Thursday, his campaign said, making the Georgia businessman the first GOP presidential contender to received stepped-up security on the campaign trail.

A Caveman Won't Beat a Salesman  —  Obama is somber but unserious.  Glib unseriousness isn't the answer.  —  There is an arresting moment in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs in which Jobs speaks at length about his philosophy of business.  He's at the end of his life and is summing things up.

Alleged W.H. shooter: I am modern-day Jesus  —  Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, the 21-year-old man charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama by firing shots at the White House, allegedly recorded a video pitch to send to Oprah Winfrey, in which he claims he is the “modern day Jesus Christ.”

The Technocratic Nightmare  —  During the first half of the 1990s, I lived in Brussels and wrote about the European Union, among other subjects, for The Wall Street Journal.  This was the heyday of European integration.  Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand and Jacques Delors were in power …

Bachmann: A Seven-Foot Doctor Told Me Obamacare Requires The IRS To Pre-Approve Medical Treatments  —  Michele Bachmann prides herself for pressing Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but during an appearance at Webster City, Iowa Wednesday night, the Minnesota congresswoman proved …

Anti-Gay Iowa Leader Who Benefited From Gingrich's Donations Forgives Speaker For Marriage Infidelities  —  Last July, Iowa's FAMiLY Leader unveiled “The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY,” a 14 bullet pledge presidential candidates will have to sign to secure any …

Bachmann: “I haven't had a gaffe”  —  Michele Bachmann, making the case on Fox News that she's the safest candidate in a rather jaw-dropping statement. … Besides small gaffes like confusing one John Wayne for another, mixing up the date of Elvis' birth with the date of his death …

Court orders reinstatement of redistricting official  —  The Arizona Supreme Court Thursday evening reinstated the chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, rebuffing Gov. Jan Brewer⊃1;s unprecedented action earlier this month.  —  The ruling came less than three hours …