Hagel delivers shaky performance  —  Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) delivered a shaky performance at his confirmation hearing to lead the Pentagon while enduring a difficult day of grilling by his former Republican colleagues.  —  Hagel stumbled over some answers — describing Iran as having a …

Ted Cruz's Bogus Attack on Hagel  —  Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (L) talks with committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) (R) as they and former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) arrive for Hagel's confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of defense on Capitol Hill January 31, 2013 in Washington, DC.

Pastor Apologizes For Snide Remark On Meal Receipt  —  St. Louis woman says she got waitress fired for online leak  —  The St. Louis pastor responsible for the credit card receipt heard 'round the Internet termed her snide scribblings a “lapse in my character and judgment,” …

RNC ends 2012 in the black  —  The Republican National Committee ended the 2012 presidential cycle in the black, the party announced Thursday.  —  The committee ended the year with $4.7 million in cash on hand, and raised $378 million over the last two years.

Poll Finds Most Americans Support Treating Marijuana Like Alcohol; Even More Think the Feds Should Let States Do So  —  As the Obama administration mulls its response to marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, the latest Reason-Rupe Public Opinion Survey finds that most Americans …

Snort: Senators reportedly in ‘shock’ over Hagel's ineptitude, bumbling  —  Stop, our aching sides!  This reminds us of the shock ... SHOCK ... when President Obama totally blew the first debate.  Remember, he even had to jet off to California to soothe the shock and worry of “deeply shaken” big-time celebrity donors.

IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family  —  (CNSNews.com) - In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Tough questions follow Al Gore book tour  —  If you thought Al Gore was a media darling, you haven't seen his latest book tour.  Although Gore has been selective in which outlets he appears on to promote his new book, “The Future,” they haven't treated the former vice president with kid gloves.

Geraldo contemplating run for Senate  —  Television personality and radio host Geraldo Rivera announced Thursday he's “truly contemplating” a run for Senate in New Jersey.  —  “I mention this only briefly, fasten your seatbelt,” Rivera said on his radio show.

Japan's ‘Cool Hand Luke’ moment for surface temperature  —  At NASA's Climate 365, there is an interesting story posted with this statement and a graph:  —  Some say scientists can't agree on Earth's temperature changes … In sync?  Weellll, not quite.  Japan apparently hasn't ‘got their mind right’ yet as the graph shows:

Hillary Clinton Takes a Rest, How Weird Is That?  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton's plan for 2013 was simple.  —  She'd embark on an epic swansong around the world as secretary of state, a dizzying itinerary of east-west and north-south flights that would take her past 1 million miles in the air …

Paranoid NRA Releases Enemy List - Are YOU On It?  —  Enemy lists...They go back as far as politics have been a part of our culture.  Nixon, Joseph McCarthy, Pol Pot, Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who is, we believe, still dead.

Time Inc. Cuts Some 500 Jobs, Biggest Layoffs in Years  —  Time Inc., the publisher of magazines including Time and Sports Illustrated, has begun eliminating about 6% of its head count — nearly 500 jobs — in the biggest round of cuts at the company since 2008 .

Biden: New gun controls won't likely end shootings  —  Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged that new gun laws would not “fundamentally alter” the likelihood of another mass shooting, though he insisted there has been a “sea change” in American views on guns in the wake of Newtown.

Cardinal Mahony removed from public church duties  —  Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez on Thursday announced dramatic actions in response to the priest abuse scandal, saying that Cardinal Roger Mahony would no longer perform public duties in the church and that Santa Barbara Bishop Thomas J. Curry has stepped down.