Proposal would allow state religion in North Carolina  —  A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow the state to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies in North Carolina.

The Morning Plum: Republicans increasingly isolated on many major issues  —  One thing that remains striking about our politics right now is the degree to which public opinion among Republicans is increasingly isolated and drifting away from the rest of the electorate.

Video shows Mike Rice's ire  —  NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — In several dozen hours of video of Rutgers men's basketball practices obtained by “Outside the Lines,” coach Mike Rice is seen hurling basketballs from close range at his players' heads, legs and feet; shoving and grabbing his players …

GOP frets Mark Sanford could blow it  —  Mark Sanford won over primary voters Tuesday night, but national Republicans aren't celebrating: Many privately concede the former governor could hand a safe Republican seat to Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch.  —  The affair that sent Sanford's …

Cuccinelli challenges Va. sodomy ruling  — Stumble upon something good?  Share it on StumbleUpon  — Send via Email  — Send this page to Print Friendly  —  Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli is challenging a ruling that overturned the state's sodomy law.

The case for expanding Social Security, not cutting it  —  Nowadays, whenever Social Security comes up in policy debates around Washington, the discussion often focuses on how best to cut benefits in order to shore up the program's finances.  —  Time for an expansion?

Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit  —  The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics …

Embassy Cairo shuts down Twitter feed after Muslim Brotherhood spat  —  The U.S. Embassy in Cairo shut down its Twitter feed Wednesday following a public fight with the Egyptian Presidency and the Muslim Brotherhood over the arrest of an Egyptian television star.

I Never Wanted to Take Your Guns Away  —  I disagree wholeheartedly with those who say that there are just too many guns out there to control and that more gun laws won't make a difference.  Change must start someplace.  I'm pretty sure that no worthwhile endeavor has ever been accomplished without …

Freedom Loses One  —  I don't think we've paused sufficiently to celebrate the wonderful recent defeat for the cause of personal freedom.  After all, these sorts of defeats don't happen every day.  —  Over the past 40 years, personal freedom has been on a nearly uninterrupted winning streak.

If true, state Sen. Malcolm Smith's scheme to buy Republican mayor ticket may be one of the most boneheaded plots in crooked New York politics  —  Smith and City Councilman Dan Halloran, both products of the Queens political machine, have been implicated in a plan to bribe borough GOP leaders …

North Korea Blocks Workers From South at Border  —  SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Wednesday blocked South Koreans from crossing the part of their heavily armed border that leads to an industrial park that the two nations have operated for eight years.

RNC blasts Obama fundraising swing as ‘hypocrisy at its finest’  —  The Republican National Committee released a new web ad Wednesday slamming President Obama over a planned trip to California to raise money for House Democrats.  —  The president will head to San Francisco Wednesday evening …

The Great British class calculator  —  Traditional British social divisions of upper, middle and working class seem out of date in the 21st Century, no longer reflecting modern occupations or lifestyles.  —  The BBC teamed up with sociologists from leading universities to analyse the modern British class system.

Media Covers up Democrat-Backed Planned Parenthood's Support for Infanticide  —  For almost as long as there have been two parties, there have been accusations of mainstream media bias.  Conservatives know it's real.  Liberals insist it's imagined.  Bias is evident not only in how events …

Bill O'Reilly Blows Up At Laura Ingraham In Epic Segment Over His ‘Thump The Bible’ Comments  —  Bill O'Reilly tonight responded to criticisms from the right over his commentary last week that gay marriage opponents need to do more than just “thump the Bible” if they want to win the argument.

Happily Never After?  —  I'm worried about the Supreme Court.  —  I'm worried about how the justices can properly debate same-sex marriage when some don't even seem to realize that most Americans use the word “gay” now instead of “homosexual”; when Chief Justice John Roberts thinks gays …

NBC Confirms Fallon Will Succeed Leno  —  “The Tonight Show” will begin a new era in February when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of the most storied and successful program in late-night television.  —  NBC plans to announce on Wednesday its plan to install Mr. Fallon as the show's sixth host …