EXCLUSIVE: Dems ‘Almost Certain’ to Bypass Conference  —  Now that both the House and Senate have passed health care reform bills, all Democrats have to do is work out a compromise between the two versions.  And it appears they're not about to let the Republicans gum up the works again.

Hell Freezes Over: Rush Limbaugh Loves Union Hospitals and Socialized Medicine  —  Over the past year of Obama's presidency, conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh has routinely mocked, distorted and even invented various health insurance reform proposals before Congress.

Dems' Only Hope For 2010: Make The Race About The Other Guy  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Democratic incumbents face the most threatening political environment since the Republican landslide of 1994 — and they know it.  —  The trends are all moving in the wrong direction.

Al-Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers  —  Officials: Perpetrator of Afghan attack was supposed to infiltrate al-Qaida  —  The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double-agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News.

Group Gives Up Death Penalty Work  —  Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.  —  There were other important death penalty developments last year …

Former Bush Officials Refusing to Endorse Policies They Support Out of Pique  —  Peter Baker's article on John Brennan and Obama-era counterterrorism is pretty conventional “friendly profile of important government official” stuff.  But this is a good break with convention that more reporters should engage in:

Staff walks out on party-switcher Griffith  —  Rep. Parker Griffith's (Ala.) staff has resigned en masse after his recent decision to switch parties and become a Republican.  —  In a sternly worded statement, Griffith Chief of Staff Sharon Wheeler announced the exit of herself …

Democrats Considering Health Care-Immigration Deal To Overcome Key Sticking Point  —  Lawmakers who want to extend health coverage to illegal immigrants will not block the passage of the final health care reform bill so long as the White House offers a substantive promise to start pushing comprehensive immigration legislation this year.

‘N-Word’ Sign Dogs Would-Be Tea Party Leader  —  Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo — taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston — in which he holds a sign reading “Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar.”

Rarely does it ever feel like...  We can truly make a difference.  January 19th, here in Massachusetts, that can all change.  —  Scott Brown is going to provide this state with the once in a lifetime chance to change this country forever.  —  I won't get into specifics, since if this matters you already know them.

Appeals court upholds Moussaoui's conviction, life prison term  —  A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction and life prison term of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

New US flight checks ‘discriminate against Nigeria’  —  Buzz up!  —  ABUJA (AFP) - Nigeria, home of the failed US plane bomber, Monday branded new security measures for passengers flying to the United States unfair and said they amounted to discrimination against its 150 million people.

Quist: Defeating liberals a bigger battle than defeating terrorism  —  Allen Quist, a Republican who is seeking to defeat Rep. Tim Walz in southern Minnesota's First Congressional District, told attendees of the Wabasha County Republicans Christmas Party in mid-December that beating the …

The man behind RedState.com shakes up the Republican Party  —  Erick Erickson, 34, has emerged as one of the leading new voices for Republican activists through his blog, RedState.com.  —  Times]  —  MACON, Ga. — Between pecks at his laptop, Macon City Council member Erick Erickson ticked off some of his goals for the new year:

Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful  —  Young children spanked by their parents may grow up to be happier and more successful than those who have never been hit, a study has found.  —  According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely …

Freed Guantánamo inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight  —  At least a dozen former Guantánamo Bay inmates have rejoined al-Qaeda to fight in Yemen, The Times has learnt, amid growing concern over the ability of the country's Government to accept almost 100 more former inmates from the detention centre.

President Obama Names Transgender Appointee to Commerce Department  —  President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.  —  In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's board of directors …

White House Spokeswoman Says Different Bertha Lewis on Visitor's Log  —  UPDATE: According to Politico's Ben Smith, the Bertha Lewis who went to the White House is not ACORN's CEO but another woman named “Bertha Lewis.”  I contacted Smith to tell him that Big Government would offer a correction if the …

UM, PATHETIC  —  “All violent feelings have the same effect,” John Ruskin wrote, in one of his most famous essays.  “They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the ‘Pathetic Fallacy.’ ” Ruskin published “Of the Pathetic Fallacy” …

Secret Service Let Third Intruder Into White House  —  Michaele and Tareq Salahi were not the only uninvited guests at the White House state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.  —  At the last minute, someone from the Indian diplomatic delegation invited a man to attend …

MI5 told US about Detroit bomber's terror links a year ago  —  Britain told American intelligence agents more than a year ago that the Detroit bomber had links to extremists, Downing Street has announced.  —  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was named in a file of people based in Britain who had made contact with radical Muslim preachers.

Mayor digs in after Twitter appeal  —  New York (CNN) - Need help from city hall?  If you are looking for a quick response, you might want to send a “tweet” as well as making that customary phone call.  —  The daughter of a 65-year-old Newark man did just that when she used Twitter …

Thoughts on the Underwear Bomber and the Aftermath  —  Obama has went where the Bush Administration never fully went; the explicit profiling of Muslim passengers.  Granted there was kind of an unspoken rule during the Bush Administration but now it has gone further.  What are my thoughts?

U.S. Evangelicals' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push  —  KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda's capital to give a series of talks.

Dear Right-Wing Bedwetters: George H.W. Bush Sought to Try Lockerbie Terrorists in US Court  —  Pictured: a terrorist-enabling ACLU civil liberties extremist  —  Jim DeMint, summing up the ZOMG-you-can't-give-these-terrists-a- trial meme on Sunday. … But back before Republicans reflexively went …

‘Missing arms spark Yemen alert’  —  The closure of three embassies in Yemen followed local security forces losing track of six trucks full of arms and explosives, say reports from Yemen.  —  France announced its mission in the capital Sanaa was shut on Monday, a day after the US and UK closed theirs.

RNC Funding Northern Mariana Islands  —  The RNC has transferred $20K to the Northern Mariana Islands in the past 2 months, according to FEC reports, in what could be support for local candidates or, RNC critics say, political payback.  —  The transfers, made in Oct. and Nov. …