Obama weighs major reshuffling of staff  —  As President Obama returns from Hawaii, he is weighing a major reshuffling of his staff that could see as many as eight people playing new key roles in the weeks ahead, Democrats familiar with the process said.  —  Obama has been mulling for months …

Boehner fires back at Dem senators with vow to push forward with repeal  —  Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's office (R-Ohio) pointedly vowed on Tuesday to push ahead with legislation repealing healthcare reform.  —  Boehner's office responded to a letter sent by the Senate's top five Democrats …

Theater Audience Boos Tea Party Billionaire David Koch  —  David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement and pro-polluter front groups by loudly tacking his name to more laudable charities, like the New York city ballet.  Koch, who has professed his devotion to …

Santorum Takes Aim at Romney, Palin  —  Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., at a Capitol Hill coffee shop, trying to give a jolt to his presidential ambitions.  —  Rick Santorum the senator didn't shy from controversy.  Apparently, neither will Rick Santorum the presidential candidate.

Speaker Pelosi Leaves With a Whopper  —  At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us.  It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.”  —  The numbers tell a different story.  —  When the Pelosi Democrats took control …

Upcoming NewSouth ‘Huck Finn’ Eliminates the ‘N’ Word  —  Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of “all modern American literature.”  Yet, for decades …

G.O.P. Aims Smaller for Cuts to Budget  —  WASHINGTON — Many people knowledgeable about the federal budget said House Republicans could not keep their campaign promise to cut $100 billion from domestic spending in a single year.  Now it appears that Republicans agree.

With New Heart Pump, Cheney Resumes Old Life  —  By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL D. SHEAR  —  WASHINGTON — A few days before Christmas, former Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from several months of a self-imposed political sabbatical to headline a fund-raiser for Maria Cino …

Rep. King blasts critics, defends hearing on homegrown terror  —  The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee lambasted The New York Times on Tuesday while defending his planned hearings on the radicalization of Muslims living in the U.S.  —  Two days after the Times questioned …

Prop 8: 9th Circuit Appears Ready to Grant Proponents Standing to Appeal  —  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a “ruling” of sorts on the appeal of Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling that found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional*.  The “ruling” was actually a certification of a question …

Navy Captain Loses Command Because of Videos  —  WASHINGTON — A series of coarse and sexually explicit videos produced several years ago and shown to the crew of a Navy aircraft carrier by an officer who later became the ship's captain has cost the officer his command.

Palin re-tweet raises questions  —  (CNN) - Normally, it's what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news.  This time it's what she has re-tweeted.  —  The former Alaska governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism …

A power grab that the GOP avoided  —  When the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, some of us will be thinking back to a vote that occurred 15 years earlier to the day.  Just two months after securing a congressional majority for the first time in 40 years, Republicans strode into the Senate chamber …

Freshman Rep. pledges to forgo federal health insurance  —  Washington (CNN) - As House Republicans prepare to introduce a repeal of the health care reform bill, one new GOP congressman said he is standing by his pledge to forgo federal health insurance despite a potentially expensive personal impact.

The House GOP Weaponizes the Constitution … On Thursday, Capitol Hill Republicans, a day after taking control of the House, intend to read the U.S. Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives.  This is, of course, a stunt designed to position the GOPers as the party that really …

Keep Your Laws Off My Body  —  I'm something of a product of my times.  In the 1980s and 1990s I heard a lot of putatively honest liberals insist that the one zone of life that was absolutely sacrosanct was our own bodies.  The state simply had no business getting involved in “our bodies.”

Importance of Issues  —  Voter Concern About Economy Hits Highest Level In Over Two Years  —  With a new Congress scheduled to swing into action this week, the number of voters who rate the economy as a Very Important issue has reached its highest level since early August 2008.

Senator Barack Obama Explaining his 2006 Vote Against Raising the Debt Limit  —  From Sen. Obama's Floor Speech, March 20, 2006:  —  The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.  It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills.

Is Kathy Griffin Going Too Far Targeting 16-Year Old Willow Palin?  —  Kathy Griffin was booed by U.S. troops when she made “fat jokes” about Bristol Palin at a Dec. 4, 2010 VH1 event.  (Reuters)  —  Kathy Griffin announced her New Year's resolution to continue a verbal assault on the Palin family.

Gerry Rafferty dies aged 63  —  Singer-songwriter behind Stuck in the Middle with You and Baker Street endured battles with music industry and alcohol  —  The singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, whose songs such as Stuck in the Middle with You, Baker Street and Get it Right Next Time soundtracked the 1970s …