Surprise!  Palin likes Obama's Nobel speech  —  Sarah Palin and President Obama don't agree on much, but last year's Republican vice presidential nominee just gave the president's defense of “just wars” a thumbs up in an interview with USA TODAY.  In fact, she said that the president's address in Oslo …

Medicare Buy-In Filibuster-Proof?  Senate Dem Deeply Concerned  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Democrats in the Senate may not have a filibuster-proof majority for the latest health care compromise after all.  —  Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), expressed deep concern on Thursday that a new proposal …

Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret Raids by the C.I.A.  —  WASHINGTON — Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.'s most sensitive activities — clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan …

Putting the Plodding Moralism Back In  —  Chris Mooney has a smart post on the vicious—and viciously effective—comeback campaign that's been mounted by climate change deniers.  I highly recommend it, but his claim that deniers “didn't need good science to make another sally …

SoCal councilman wears a Stalin-ized Pelosi  —  That protesters on both sides of the political spectrum equate America's leaders with dictators like Hitler isn't new.  But critics were shocked when such a comparison was made by an elected official.  —  Last Friday, a group rented a room …

Photoshop Follies of API  —  Everybody's favorite Big Oil lobby, American Petroleum Institute, distributed a pamphlet at an API forum last week that includes a delightfully diverse collection of people that apparently agree with their dirty agenda.  —  It appears to be just a typical iStock Photo image …

Unemployment plan would change rules on bank bailouts  —  Executive pay, other limits may be lifted  —  The Obama administration plans to channel money from the government's massive financial bailout program to small businesses as part of an effort to limit the political and economic damage of high unemployment.

Poll: GOP erases popularity gap in Congress  —  Washington (CNN) — Eleven months before crucial midterm elections, a national poll indicates that the public is divided over whether the country would be better off with Democrats or Republicans controlling Congress.

Bernanke's Unfinished Mission  —  Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, recently had some downbeat things to say about our economic prospects.  The economy, he warned, “confronts some formidable headwinds.”  All we can expect, he said, is “modest economic growth next year …

‘Editor & Publisher’ to Cease Publication After 125 Years  —  NEW YORK Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper industry and a journalism institution that traces its origins back to 1884, is ceasing publication.  —  An announcement, made by parent company The Nielsen Co. …

conservatives as self-parodies  —  This interview with Andy Schlafly [below] of conservapedia.com is hard to watch.  It's almost embarrassing.  I think Colbert is at his best for most of the exchange, and the zinger about creating his own reality is marvelous.

The new socialism  —  In the 1970s and early '80s, having seized control of the U.N. apparatus (by power of numbers), Third World countries decided to cash in.  OPEC was pulling off the greatest wealth transfer from rich to poor in history.  Why not them?  So in grand U.N. declarations …

CAIR attorney demands ban and seizure of all Christmas cards sent to Rifqa Bary  —  In a stunning development in the ongoing legal saga of Muslim-turned-Christian convert Rifqa Bary, the parents' attorney, Omar Tarazi, filed a motion with the Franklin County courts last week moving to ban …

High Premiums in Senate Democrats' Health Plan  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats have provided few details about their latest health care proposal, but this much seems clear: Anyone who wants to buy the same health benefits as members of Congress, or to buy coverage through Medicare …

Exclusive Interview: Andrew Breitbart Announces Launch of New “Big” Sites  —  When Andrew Breitbart launched Big Government in September, we asked if he was gearing up to be the next Arianna Huffington: An opinion blog rainmaker with a one-stop digital powerhouse, but presented from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

Police Shoot and Kill Man Outside Hotel in Times Square  —  A plainclothes police sergeant fatally shot a 25-year-old man Thursday morning outside the parking garage of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square following a crackdown on street vendors who were using counterfeit CDs to intimidate tourists, the authorities said.

‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ for Wednesday, December 9, 2009  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  —  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  Guests: Ezra Klein, Lynn Woolsey, Nicole Lamoureaux, Jonathan Turley, Chris Hayes  —  KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST (voice-over) …

Baucus gave girlfriend $14K raise  —  Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, gave a nearly $14,000 pay raise to a female staffer in 2008, at the time he was becoming romantically involved with her, and later that year took her on a taxpayer-funded trip …

Cook Political Report's dire forecast for Dodd  —  The Cook Political Report's Senate race analyst Jennifer Duffy doesn't think much of Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) re-election prospects, in her latest update on the Connecticut Senate race.  —  And she's moving the race rating to “Lean Republican” …

Why Two Parties?  —  Reader NS asks “can you recommend any good works about why the two party system is so entrenched here?  There doesn't seem to be any good constitutional reason — just historical tradition.”  —  I think it's the confluence of three different elements of our institutional structure: