Nude Protesters Arrested After Storming Speaker Boehner's Office  —  Seven naked protesters swarmed the office of Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday for some 20 minutes of loud chanting against cuts to AIDS funding.  —  Among their chants: “Boehner, Boehner, don't be a dick, budget cuts will make us sick.”

Reasons to be encouraged about fiscal cliff's endgame  —  Now this is encouraging.  I'm told that representatives of major unions and progressive groups met privately this morning with senior Obama administration officials at the White House — and were pleased with what they heard.

Students Told to Disavow ‘American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality’  —  A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom …

When Work Is Punished: The Tragedy Of America's Welfare State  —  Exactly two years ago, some of the more politically biased progressive media outlets (who are quite adept at creating and taking down their own strawmen arguments, if not quite as adept at using an abacus, let alone a calculator) …

North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012  —  é‡'.... .æ°"  —  Edited and translated by Zhang Qian, People's Daily Online  —  U.S. website The Onion has named North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un as the “Sexiest Man Alive for the year 2012”.

McCain: ‘I would be hard-pressed’ to support Rice for secretary of State  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday he “would be hard-pressed” to support U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice if President Obama appoints her to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of State.

OHIO SENATE PUTS END TO ‘HEARTBEAT’ ABORTION BILL  —  You are here  —  Home » Julie Carr » Ohio Senate puts end to ‘heartbeat’ abortion bill  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The leader of the Ohio Senate put a stop Tuesday to a bill that would have imposed the most stringent restriction on abortions in the nation.

Who Will Be the Next Treasury Secretary?  This Guy!  —  President Obama walks with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew in March on the South Lawn of the White House  —  I was considering doing a post with chin-stroking speculation about who the next Treasury secretary will be, but instead let me just tell you.

A Struggling CNN Worldwide Is Said to Be Drawn to Jeffrey Zucker  —  In the days to come, when Time Warner appoints a new leader of CNN Worldwide for the first time in a decade, that person will face an identity crisis unlike any other in corporate America.  —  Though CNN over all is on track …

Harry Reid puts his finger on the ‘nuclear option’ button  —  So here's today's update in the slow, inexorable march towards filibuster reform: Democrats took yet another step in the direction of changing the rules by a simple majority vote — i.e., exercising the dreaded “nuclear option.”

Cole: Join with Obama on quick deal  —  Republican Rep. Tom Cole urged colleagues in a private session Tuesday to vote to extend the Bush tax rates for all but the highest earners before the end of the year — and to battle over the rest later.  —  The Oklahoma Republican said in an interview …

Bob Dole, 89, hospitalized at Walter Reed  —  Updated 5:23 p.m. Eastern Time  —  Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee and longtime leader of Senate Republicans, has been hospitalized at Walter Reed Hospital, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday.

Regarding Saxby Chambliss  —  Saxby Chambliss is waffling around like a dog off its leash for the first time.  —  He says he does not care about a “twenty year old pledge” he signed.  He's talking about the Americans for Tax Reform pledge that says he pledges not to raise taxes.

Geithner Keeps Withholding Freeze as Weapon to Curb Cliff  —  The Obama administration has a way to blunt about half of the fiscal cliff's economic fallout for 2013, even if Congress stays deadlocked: Freeze paycheck withholding levels.  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has the authority …

Bolling to drop bid for Virginia governorship  —  Washington (CNN) - Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling will drop his bid for the Virginia governorship, CNN has confirmed, a move that clears a path to the Republican nomination for his primary opponent Ken Cuccinelli.

Federal Student Lending Swells  —  The federal lending program designed to make college education available to everyone is creating a pile of debt so large it is fanning worries that it has become too easy to borrow too much.  —  U.S. student-loan debt rose by $42 billion, or 4.6% …

For Latino Groups, Grass-Roots Efforts Paid Off in Higher Number of Voters  —  MIAMI — On Election Day, President Obama got 71 percent of the Latino vote nationally because, in the end, Latinos preferred his message over Mitt Romney's.  —  But how Latinos got that message …

Alan Simpson hopes Grover Norquist drowns in bathtub  —  Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wy.), one of the co-chairmen of the president's debt commission, joked Tuesday that he would like to see anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist drown in a bathtub.  —  The comment was a play on Norquist's famous statement …

Idaho lawmaker shares ‘last chance’ idea to elect Romney  —  A state senator from north-central Idaho is touting a scheme that's been circulating on tea party blogs, calling for states that supported Mitt Romney to refuse to participate in the Electoral College in a move backers believe would change the election result.

James Bond and the new sex appeal  —  In the new James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” Daniel Craig takes off his shirt and examines his wounds.  There appear to be two of them — small holes on his skin from bullets fired at the beginning of the movie.  He touches his wounds and winces.

Blacks fret free-for-all for Jesse Jackson Jr. seat  —  Black leaders are growing increasingly worried that a white candidate might seize the seat of former Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson in the upcoming Illinois special election.  —  With a host of black candidates announcing their intention …

Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ Faces Test in Courts  —  Gay “conversion therapy,” which claims to help men overcome unwanted same-sex attractions but has been widely attacked as unscientific and harmful, is facing its first tests in the courtroom.  —  In New Jersey on Tuesday …

House committee chairs all men  —  At the top of House committees, it's a man's world.  —  Not a single woman will lead any of the major House committees in the 113th Congress.  —  After a day of meetings closed to the public, the House Republican Steering Committee announced an all-male slate …