Rep. John Murtha dies at 77  —  Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month.  —  Elected to Congress in 1974 …

Gibbs Responds to Boehner, Cantor  —  White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just responded to a letter sent today from House Republican Leader John Boehner and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor regarding the proposed bipartisan health care summit:  —  The President is adamant that we seize …

Shelby releases holds on Obama nominees  —  Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has released his controversial “holds” on more than 70 pending presidential nominations, his office said Monday night.  —  Senators, usually from the minority party, often use the legislative tactic …

Meghan McCain Calls Out Tea Party For Racism, On ‘The View’ (VIDEO)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Racism in the “tea party” is a why young people are turned off by the movement, according to Meghan McCain.  —  McCain weighed in on recent rhetoric from the group's first convention when she guest hosted “The View” Monday.

‘Miss Me Yet?’  Billboard With Photo Of Bush Is Real; Not An Internet Trick  —  Internet chatter had led to speculation that it might be an urban myth — nothing more than clever digital trickery spreading via the Web.  —  But our friend Bob Collins at Minnesota Public Radio assures us he's seen it with his own eyes:

Fox News: Palin's ‘Telepalmer’ Notes Were A Clever Plot To Call Attention To Obama's Teleprompter  —  As ThinkProgress reported on Saturday night, paid Fox News contributor Sarah Palin was caught using “hand"-written notes during a Q & A session at the National Tea Party Convention this weekend.

Nelson to oppose Becker for NLRB spot  —  Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson (D) on Monday announced he would oppose Craig Becker's nomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — a move that could ultimately scuttle Becker's confirmation indefinitely.  —  Senate Democratic leaders needed …

Apple Says it Will Lower Prices if iPad Doesn't Sell  —  Remember the kerfuffle over the original iPhone?  Apple charged luxe prices for the first few months, and then after it had wrung every possible dollar out of the early adopters, dropped the cost to capture more price-sensitive users.

NOAA: Blizzard Rearranges Climate Change Announcement  —  As D.C. continued to dig out from Snowmageddon and is keeping an eye on another storm system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was busy making a climate change announcement.  —  NOAA, part of the Department of Commerce …

Times Paterson ‘Exposé’ Will Be ‘PG-13, Not XXX’  —  For days now, buzz has been building that the New York Times was prepping an explosive exposé that would lead to Governor Paterson's swift resignation.  The blog hysteria peaked over the weekend, when Business Insider reported …

Wall Street's Race to the Bottom  —  Jamie Dimon is wrong.  We shouldn't expect a crisis ‘every five to seven years.’  —  Banking is based on trust.  The banks get our paychecks and hold our savings; they know where we spend our money and they keep it private.  If we don't trust them, the whole system breaks down.

Washington Post actively sought out “liberals are condescending” piece  —  Well, this is interesting.  Remember that “Why are liberals so condescending” piece by Gerard Alexander the Washington Post published last week?  Turns out, the author didn't submit the piece the the Post — the Post sought him out:

The Progressive Tantrum … His point is that people are inconsistent, so the government just has to ignore them and run a deficit to create jobs.  I have two questions about this:  —  1. Is it really the case that people want the government to create jobs?

COLLINS STILL CAN'T ADMIT HER MISTAKE.... For reasons that are still unclear, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has decided to take a leadership role in going after the Obama administration's handling of the attempted Abdulmutallab attack.  So far, this hasn't gone especially well.

Get Over It: ‘Birtherism’ Is Not Journalism  —  Some people will tell you that there is no such thing as a stupid question.  They're wrong.  People ask stupid questions all the time.  It becomes a problem when people do it on purpose.  —  The “we're just asking questions” …

Red Eye Celebrates Third Year By Topping CNN Prime Time Last Week  —  MSNBC's David Shuster became a fan of Fox News' late-night comedy/news hybrid Red Eye just in time for its three-year anniversary.  —  And it's coming at a time when the 3amET show is seeing big ratings in the A25-54 demographic …

Calif. insurer's rate increases draw attention of federal government  —  President Obama's secretary of health and human services fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent.