Senate Republicans Threaten Tax Dispute Blockade  —  WASHINGTON — Not even 24 hours after President Obama met with senior Republican Congressional leaders and expressed hopes for a “new dialogue,” renewed partisan fury engulfed the Senate on Wednesday, as Republicans threatened to block …

It took a guy to do this?  House Speaker-elect John Boehner orders a change to benefit just 71 members  —  For some reason it took a male Speaker of the House to accomplish this:  —  The nearly six dozen female members of the incoming House of Representatives will have a new restroom …

Too Big to Succeed  —  THE world has experienced a severe financial crisis and economic recession.  The Treasury and the Federal Reserve took actions that saved businesses and jobs and may very well have saved the economy itself from ruin.  Still, the public seems ungrateful, expressing anger at these institutions that saved the day.

Fed wants to strip a key protection for homeowners  —  WASHINGTON — As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.

GOP to upend spending process  —  House Republicans seem intent on blowing up the staid appropriations process when they take power in January — potentially upending the old bulls in both parties who have spent decades building their power over the federal budget.

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe  —  A WikiLeaks cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan.  —  Post Comment  —  In its first months in office …

How Lieberman Got Amazon To Drop Wikileaks  —  Early this week, after hacker attacks on its site, Wikileaks moved its operation, including all those diplomatic cables, to the greener pastures of Amazon.com's cloud servers.  But today, it was down again and mid-afternoon we found out the reason …

Tea Partiers resist GOP healthcare repeal tactic  —  Tea Party lawmakers are balking at the House Republican leadership's plan to simultaneously repeal and replace President Obama's healthcare law.  —  The resistance from conservative lawmakers is a clear indication of the challenge Republican leaders face …

GOP Will Retain House Control in 2012 — Guaranteed.  —  Control of the House of Representatives after the 2012 elections will still belong to the Republicans.  IF Barack Obama stages a political comeback (which is certianly within the realm of possibility), Democrats will start the presidential coattails drumbeat.

Andy Stern takes on America's second deficit  —  “Do we really need another deficit-reduction plan?”  I ask Andy Stern.  I like this stuff, but even I'm getting exhausted by the endless parade of plans, each just slightly different than the last, and none with an obviously supportive constituency in Congress.

The Dickishness Of The GOP  —  What we've observed these past two years is a political party that knows nothing but scorched earth tactics, cannot begin to see any merits in the other party's arguments, refuses to compromise one inch on anything, and has sought from the very beginning to do nothing but destroy the Obama presidency.

Fox is quickly becoming the second-chance employer for fiery figures  —  Don't panic.  Fox is hiring.  —  The leading cable news network and its business news offshoot, Fox Business Network, have made a habit of signing up reporters and media personalities who've found themselves on the wrong side in employee-employer spats.

Palin, I knew Reagan.  You're no Reagan.  —  Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University.  He is a principal with the Dilenschneider Group, a global public relations firm.

EXCLUSIVE: Controversial Drug Given to All Guantanamo Detainees Akin to “Pharmacologic Waterboarding”  —  The Defense Department forced all “war on terror” detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison to take a high dosage of a controversial antimalarial drug, mefloquine, an act …

The Republican case for ratifying New START  —  Republican presidents have long led the crucial fight to protect the United States against nuclear dangers.  That is why Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush negotiated the SALT I, START I and START II agreements.

U.S. Diplomats Noted Canadian Mistrust  —  WASHINGTON — In early 2008, American diplomats stationed in Ottawa turned on their television sets and were aghast: there was an “onslaught” of Canadian shows depicting “nefarious American officials carrying out equally nefarious deeds in Canada,” …

County Recorder in Massachusetts Goes After MERS  —  This is one of those mind-blowing days, one I don't feel like I have much of a grip on.  But with all the despair with the federal government, the power structure that protects the banks at all costs, etc., it's worth looking at some potential good news for a change.

Cables condemn Russia as ‘mafia state’  —  Kremlin relies on criminals and rewards them with political patronage, while top officials collect bribes ‘like a personal taxation system’  —  Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials …

A strange way to honor the founding fathers  —  Republicans gained control of the House last month on a promise to “restore the Constitution.”  So it is no small irony that one of their first orders of business is an attempt to rewrite the Constitution.  —  On Tuesday, Rep. Rob Bishop …

Nigeria to Charge Dick Cheney in Pipeline Bribery Case  —  Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — Nigeria will file charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and officials from five foreign companies including Halliburton Co. over a $180 million bribery scandal, a prosecutor at the anti-graft agency said.

Judicial Watch Obtains Documents from Obama Administration Detailing Actor Andy Griffith's “Misleading” Medicare Advertisements  —  Obama Administration Spent $3,184,000 in Taxpayer Dollars on Advertising Program Deemed “Misleading” by Non-Partisan FactCheck.org

Poll Problem: Incoming Governor Warns Presidential Candidates Not to Skip Event If They Want His Support  —  Branstad said pre-caucus endorsement is possible  —  Iowa Governor-elect Terry Branstad, a Republican, could become the king of the caucus.  He is the state's top Republican …