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When the Associated Press put together a roll call of the notable deaths of 2010, some of them came with a little glitter in their brief descriptions from reporter Bernard McGhee. For example: Sen. Robert C. Byrd, 92. Rose from an impoverished childhood in West Virginia's coal country to become the longest-serving senator in U.S. history. June 28. Or this one: U.S. Rep. John Murtha, 77.…

Via Ed Morrissey, Gallup finds that all 10 of the states that lost House seats due to the new census numbers are majority-Democrat. Nine of the 10 states that lost congressional seats as a result of this year’s census are in the Northeast or Midwest. The exception is Louisiana, whose population loss at least partly as a result of Hurricane Katrina cost it a seat. Politically, all 10 of these…

Time magazine's failure to choose the Tea Party as its Person or Persons of the Year surely reflects a desire that they will cease to be significant any day now. David Von Drehle's "runner-up" article in its Person of the Year issue concluded the Tea Party has already peaked and is well on its way to collapse: "The Tea Party is a hot brand, but there's no one in power to enforce the trademark.…

In an interview in Sunday's Parade magazine with former ABC correspondent Lynn Sherr, Oprah Winfrey refused to express disappointment with Barack Obama. Sherr asked "Can  I ask about President Obama? Are you concerned, disappointed?" Oprah grandly suggested Obama saved us all from a second Great Depression: No. I think that no one understands until you’ve been in that seat the enormous…

“This is such a weak field,” Fox News analyst Juan Williams, recently ousted from NPR for not fully toting the far-left line, declared during a Fox News Sunday discussion of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, prompting an appalled Bill Kristol to mock: “Yeah, President Obama had done so much when he ran for President. I mean, all of these guys are better qualified than Barack…

A man is arrested and detained for months without any charges being brought against him.  He is being held in deplorable conditions, forced to endure extreme physical and mental distress.  He is exposed to the same ‘torture’ tactics that other enemies of the United States have allegedly suffered through.  So why isn’t the Commander-in-Chief taking heat for this travesty of justice? Because…

2010 will be by far the worst ever in the 48 years records of new home sales have been kept, and there is little if any reason to believe things will get better soon. The news on existing home sales has hardly been better, given the price reductions sellers have had to make to move their homes. Graphics will follow shortly indicating just how bad the market for new and existing homes has been…

It was two days before Christmas, and some Washingtonians were still complaining that images mocking Jesus had been removed from the National Portrait Gallery. On the top of the front of the Style section on Thursday, Washington Post art critic Philip Kennicott called for the head of Smithsonian secretary Wayne Clough: "the best option for undoing the damage remains the resignation of the man…

Condemning everyday Americans as racist, anti-immigrant Islamophobes was a favorite media theme in 2010, as documented by the Media Research Center's year-end Best Notable Quotables of 2010. Polls showed most Americans supported Arizona's effort to curb illegal immigration and opposed building an Islamic center near the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers — but on both scores the…

Ed Schultz, liberal radio host and MSNBC action hero, has a pronounced aversion to Republicans/conservatives/right wingers coming on his cable show. Why? Depends on when Schultz explains the reason. Here he was on his radio show this past Monday (audio) --

For general discussion about politics, the economy, the holidays, sports, or whatever else tickles your fancy.

Newspaper readers probably had raised eyebrows on Christmas Day if they saw Doonesbury's comic strip for this sacred day. A female social worker is chatting with a female soldier and asking her if she gets support out in the field. They have this exchange: SOLDIER: Yes, ma'am, I talk to our chaplain. SOCIAL WORKER: Good. A chaplain can be a good resource. SOLDIER: Mine yells at God a lot…

I've received a number of requests for the video and text of Linus explaining the true meaning of Christmas to Charlie Brown. So, without further ado:

Joy Behar, ever the comedienne, sent family and friends a Christmas card this year featuring a Photoshopped picture of her hugging Fox News's Bill O'Reilly. The Huffington Post appears to be the first to publish its contents which included tidings to "Muslims and Jews and Catholics and Atheists (not agnostics - too wishy washy) and Mama Grizzlies and Democrats and Republicans and Tea Partiers…