McCain rejects CPAC invite  —  Sen. John McCain is the only major Republican presidential candidate who will not address the nation's premier gathering of conservatives this year.  —  Sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins today in Washington and brings together thousands …

NEWT RIPS 'NASTY' HILL  —  DROPS NICE-GUY APPROACH TO 'RUTHLESS' RIVAL  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "a nasty woman" who runs an "endlessly ruthless" campaign machine.  —  The conservative Republican made the surprising comments …

U.S. Concedes Uncertainty on North Korean Uranium Effort  —  Last October, the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device, the fruition of decades of work to make a weapon out of plutonium.  —  For nearly five years, though, the Bush administration, based on intelligence estimates …

Rebuke Bush 2pm  —  JOIN THE KATRINA SURVIVORS' REBUKE OF PRESIDENT BUSH  —  New Orleans Needs Federal Aid, Not Presidential Photo-Ops.  —  Mr. President: Katrina Survivors Do Not Welcome You, We Rebuke You!  —  We live in a devastated city and you are a big part of the reason why it sill sits in ruins.

Cheney's contempt for American public opinion  —  Since the smashing repudiation his party suffered at the hands of the American voter in the 2006 midterm elections, Dick Cheney's behavior has become palpably more secretive, combative, and scornful.  The embittered interview he gave …

"Seven words you can never say on television"... but which are said on the Internet.  A lot.  —  Talk about potty-mouths.  —  The Net's not always a kid-friendly place; there is plenty of foul language out there.  And of course, the blogosphere is no different.

Walter Reuther's Ghost  —  Democrats vote to bar secret union ballots.  —  The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote as early as today on a bill that strips 140 million U.S. workers of the right to decide in private whether to unionize.  Naturally, it's called the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Myth of the Middle  —  The story of 2006 was that regular Americans were sick of partisan divisions in Washington.  The vast and consensus-hungry middle asserted itself in November, the narrative went, finally ordering the parties and their childish politicians to stop fighting and to work together.

Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect  —  Complaints About Walter Reed Were Voiced for Years  —  Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.

Is IQ what is truly scarce?  —  There is a new view — or should I say an old view? — percolating in the blogosphere: "There is something special about IQ.  We must conserve IQ at very high cost, and gains in IQ will bring very high social returns."  —  In practical terms, "Conservation of IQ" …

Paper: Pressure Calls Came from New Mexicans  —  Well, our list of suspects just got a whole lot shorter.  —  Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias told McClatchy Newspapers (and The Washington Post) that two members of Congress had called him in mid-October to pressure him about an ongoing corruption investigation of a state Democrat.

A tale of two markets … Categories: … MANY readers profess puzzlement as to how carbon offsets could fail to reduce one's carbon footprint.  The answer is that they probably do reduce one's carbon footprint, but by nowhere near the one-for-one ration that seems to be implied by the extraordinarily low price of carbon offsets.

Democrats View Hillary Clinton as Most Electable Democratic Candidate  —  Fewer than half think Gore will have a good chance to win  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A recent Gallup Panel survey shows that Democrats think Hillary Clinton has the best chance of being elected president among …