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Updated: 29 min 52 sec ago
Conservative Federalist Society Can Expect Its Status to Shrink
Last year, there was a candlelight dinner at sold-out, shut-down Union Station to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Federalist Society, with President Bush on stage and three Supreme Court justices in the audience.
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Attorney General Mukasey Collapses During Address in Washington; Hospitalized Overnight
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey collapsed last evening while delivering a speech to a prominent legal group and was rushed to George Washington University Hospital.
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If Clinton's the Pick, Where Does That Leave Richardson?
As Hillary Rodham Clinton inches toward becoming secretary of state, Latino advocates are asking: Whither Bill Richardson ?
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Obama's Once-Disciplined Team Springs Leaks During Transition
Barack Obama was famously able to impose discipline and control over his presidential campaign, but it didn't take long for him to discover that running a transition is something quite different.
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CIA Withheld Details On Downing, IG Says
An internal CIA probe has concluded that agency officials deliberately misled Congress, the White House and federal prosecutors about key details of the 2001 downing of an airplane carrying U.S. missionaries in Peru, according to a senior lawmaker who called yesterday for a new criminal inquiry i...
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Homeland Security Pick Napolitano Praised by Left and Right Alike
President-elect Barack Obama's pending selection of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) as secretary of homeland security was greeted yesterday as a sign that the new Democratic administration will fundamentally change the tone of the nation's post-Sept. 11 approach to domestic security.
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Death by Questionnaire
On the notion that a bad appointment hurts an administration more than a good appointment helps, Barack Obama's presidential transition recently rolled out its 63-item questionnaire for prospective nominees.
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The Bush Administration Is Close to Changing the Endangered Species Act So That an Agency Can Decide Whether It Will Impair a Protected Species' Environment
The Bush administration is "close" to finalizing a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be harmed by agency projects, according to the Interior Department.
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Obama Inherits a Neglected Housing Department
The Obama administration will soon inherit a $35 billion federal housing agency that was a weak backbencher during the housing crisis and moved too late to do much to keep millions of families from going into foreclosure.
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Thomas Daschle to Be Nominated as Secretary of Health and Human Services
Thomas A. Daschle, a former Senate majority leader and a confidant of President-elect Barack Obama, will be nominated as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and will take on a broader role as the administration's health policy chief, said several sources close to the transition...
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USDA Panel Approves First Rules For Labeling Farmed Fish 'Organic'
For the first time, a federal advisory board has approved criteria that clear the way for farmed fish to be labeled "organic," a move that pleased aquaculture producers even as it angered environmentalists and consumer advocates.
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Obama Reserves the Right to Change His Mind on Clinton and Holder
Loop Fans might want to watch for an intriguing pattern emerging in the way President-elect Barack Obama handles some of his potentially controversial nominations. Call it the Best Buy, or contingency, pick. Obama used it to great effect in his handling of the secretary of state's job for Sen. Hi...
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Republicans Point to Attorney General Candidate Holder's Role in Clinton Pardons
The Republican National Committee yesterday highlighted the role of attorney general candidate Eric H. Holder Jr. in controversial 2001 pardons, but GOP senators avoided direct attacks on Barack Obama's leading choice to lead the Justice Department.
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Obama Could Reverse Erosion of Federal Service by Restoring Funding and Reducing Political Appointees
As The Washington Post reported this week, President-elect Barack Obama wrote American Federation of Government Employees in October promising that he would do everything in his power to rebuild the federal service. He also promised to protect collective bargaining rights and to restore funding c...
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What You Need to Know: Retirement Benefits
If you're looking into government employment or have been hired only recently, possibly the last thing on your mind is retirement.
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Rescuer Plans Retirement Ranch for Captive Wild Horses
Madeleine Pickens, the wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who this week offered to rescue more than 30,000 wild horses kept in federal holding pens, said yesterday that she wants to create a permanent retirement ranch for the horses and burros that could be open to the public.
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EPA Proposal Would Ease Clean-Air Rules for National Parks
The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the...
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As Investment Banking Keeps Changing, SEC Regulators Keep Moving
The usual bureaucratic response to adversity is to rearrange the deck chairs as the ship goes down. But the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose task had been to regulate the now-defunct -- okay, transformed -- investment banking industry has come up with a creative variant.
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Report on Threat From Nuclear Bombs Cites Urgent Need for Global Security
When armed men attacked South Africa's most closely guarded nuclear facility a year ago, they penetrated the detection systems at the perimeter, cut through an electrified fence and broke into the emergency control center, shooting one worker there in the chest before escaping.
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Democrats Dingell and Waxman in Even-Money Showdown for House Oversight Post
The intraparty "Clash of the Titans" between veteran Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and his challenger for that position, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), is taking on the trappings of a traditional political battle, complete with letter-writing and...
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Did You Know?
The wealthiest 10 percent of the U.S. population - 12 million Upper Middle Class, Affluent, Super Affluent and Wealthy households (35% of the estimated 105,480,101 American households in 2000) – generate fully 50 percent of all U.S. retail spending, and account for $4.1 trillion in annual consumption.
Source: The Annual Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America 2007
By The Way...
Secret Service Code Names:
Barack Obama - Renegade
Michelle Obama - Renaissance
John McCain Accepts the Republican Party Nomination
Watch the historic speech...
Watch the historic speech...