Jim DeMint backs down on demand to read START  —  South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint backed off his demand Wednesday to force a full reading of the New START treaty, a move that may ease a legislative logjam amid a flurry of activity in the waning days of the congressional session.

Obama tells lawmakers not passing tax deal could end presidency, Dem says  —  In urging lawmakers to vote for his tax deal, President Obama is using one of his go-to lines from the healthcare debate, according to a Democratic lawmaker.  —  Obama is telling members of Congress that failure …

House approves 'Don't ask' repeal, 250-175  —  The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.  —  Lawmakers approved a standalone repeal bill by a vote of 250-175.  Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) gaveled the vote closed.

Michael Moore's Comments on Julian Assange Rape Allegations Spark Outrage  —  Filmmaker Michael Moore is in hot water over comments he made during Tuesday night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.  In discussing rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Moore appeared to dismiss …

Poll: Obama down but not out  —  NBC/WSJ survey shows president leading in 2012 match-ups  —  Below:  —  Deputy Political Director  —  After his party's midterm losses and with the unemployment rate still hovering around 10 percent, President Barack Obama might be down.

The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention  —  (updated below)  —  Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime.  Despite that, he has been detained …

America's Most Walkable Cities  —  The great economic reset we are in the midst of extends even to Americans' choices of places to live.  The popularity of sprawling auto-dependent suburbs is waning.  A majority of Americans—six in 10—say they would prefer to live in walkable neighborhoods, in both cities and suburbs, if they could.

Napolitano to Arizona in wake of Border Patrol agent's killing  —  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is headed to Arizona on Thursday following a gun battle that killed a Border Patrol agent near the U.S.-Mexico border.  —  Agent Brian Terry was shot late Tuesday night on the U.S. side …

Exclusive: Twitter Raises $200 Million at a $3.7 Billion Valuation; Adds McCue and Rosenblatt to Board  —  Twitter has completed its latest round of funding-$200 million at a $3.7 billion valuation-with Kleiner Perkins as the lead investor, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Attention GOP Porkers: Hatch Had His Earmark Requests Stripped From Spending Bill  —  Republican Senators whose earmark requests pepper the much-maligned omnibus spending bill are having a really hard time explaining how they went from requesting earmarks earlier this year to decrying the legislation... because of all the earmarks.

FOXLEAKS: Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science  —  In the midst of global climate change talks last December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the “veracity of climate change data” and ordering the network's journalists to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed …

The 40 Best Conservative Blogs For 2010 (Version 4.0)  —  It's time for me to rank my favorite blogs for the 4th quarter of 2010.  —  Do keep in mind that as the quarter has progressed, some blogs have, of course, moved up and others have dropped, based on how often I visit them …

Redistribution on steroids  —  Rep. Cleaver has proposed a $48 billion earmark  —  When absurdity gives way to hilarity, you must be talking about politics.  —  In the midst of a colossal global concern for the economic stability of our great nation, Emanuel Cleaver …

BP suffered blowout on Azerbaijan gas platform, WikiLeaks cables reveal  —  Embassy cables reveal energy firm ‘fortunate’ to have evacuated workers safely after blast similar to Deepwater Horizon disaster  —  Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak …

Tea Party leader slams John Boehner for Michele Bachmann snub  —  A leader of the Tea Party Patriots questioned the judgment of House GOP leadership Wednesday for passing over Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for a spot on the Ways and Means Committee.  —  The conflict is evidence …

Get America Working: We Need a Movement to Solve a Crisis  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  It's time, America.  Americans need work.  Americans need jobs.  And right now, our government's main job must be to help create these jobs.  The unemployment rate has lingered 9 percent for 19 straight months …

Updating Hotline's RNC Chairman's Race Whip Count  —  Republican National Committee members now have a total of six candidates from which to choose as they contemplate their next chairman.  And, slowly, the 168 members of the committee are making their decisions public.

Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden  —  Swedish prosecutor's office says it has ‘not got a view at all on bail’ and that Britain made decision to oppose it  —  The decision to have Julian Assange sent to a London jail and kept there was taken by the British authorities …

Class Action Lawsuit Targets McDonald's Use of Toys to Market to Children  —  Class Action Lawsuit Against McDonald's  —  CSPI's first notification of intent to sue  —  What the experts are saying about Parham v. McDonald's  —  Practice Illegally Exploits Children, Says CSPI

U.S. Rethinks Strategy for the Unthinkable  —  Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb.  What should people there do?  The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee.  Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe.

Drone kills white al-Qaeda pair in Pakistan mountains  —  A pair of white British Muslim converts who joined al-Qaeda have been killed in a drone attack in a mountainous region of Pakistan, according to reports.  —  The men, one of whom was apparently called Steve, died five days ago …