No longer wallowing in the diplomatic slop, the United States and Russia have reached an agreement that will fully reopen Russian markets to U.S. pork and pork products. (more)

Brown's voting for cloture on the $140 billion spending bill earlier this week, although he voted against the bill on the merits, also was worrisome (although Brown may be on to something, since one left wing blog is worried that that spending bill may doom the ability to pass Obamacare because the spending bill uses revenue offsets which are needed for the health care bill). (more)

Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) is taking his first big political punches from Democrats, a sign that the rising GOP star has graduated to the heavyweight division. The 40-year-old Ryan, with barely a speck of gray in his jet-black hair, has emerged as a talking point for President Barack Obama and a potential presidential contender for Republicans. His plan to balance the federal budget with a mix of proposals to partially privatize Medicare and Social Security has become Democrats’ piñata. (more)

Here is video of Sen. Arlen Specter calling on his Democratic Primary rival Rep. Joe Sestak to "name names, name dates, name places" if he truly was offered a job by the Obama White House in order to drop out of the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary race. Specter said if it actually happened, it is a serious federal crime: "There is a specific federal statute which makes it a bribe to make an offer for a public office and when I was a district attorney if somebody came and told me that, I would say, ‘name... (more)

A new Democracy Corps/Third Way poll bills itself as a “wake-up call” for Democrats on national security. Last May, Democracy Corps found that Obama’s election had erased the Republicans’ traditional public opinion advantage on national security. What they’ve now found is that Obama maintains significant public support for his policies on foreign policy and national security, but the Democrats don’t. (more)

Air traffic controller Glen Duffy worked at JFK and Newark International airports, until a recent recording of his kids directing planes was made public and he was placed on administrative leave. If Duffy was a heart surgeon and had handed his kids a scalpel, appropriateness and questions about potential danger might be more cut and dried. (more)

I think they’re talking about financial regulatory reform, but honestly, no one’s going to pay attention to the substance of this long enough to know or care. You’re watching purely for the gags and the warm-and-fuzzy nostalgia of Carvey revisiting his Bush 41 impression. Darrell Hammond as Clinton is, as always, pitch perfect, but Carrey as Reagan was the only one to get an honest-to-goodness chuckle out of me. The Gipper talking about his balls? Gold, my friends. Pure gold. (more)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has just launched PreventLoanScams.org, a Web site dedicated to helping Americans recognize the many warning signs of home loan modification scams before being taken by one of this growing herd of bottom-feeders. (more)

President Obama voiced support Monday for the mass firings of educators at a failing Rhode Island school, drawing an immediate rebuke from teachers union officials whose members have chafed at some of his education policies. Speaking at an event intended to highlight his strategy for turning around struggling schools by offering an increase in federal funding for local districts that shake up their lowest-achieving campuses, Obama called the controversial firings justified. (more)

WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Wednesday to extend for a year key provisions of the nation's counterterrorism surveillance law that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. In agreeing to pass the bill, Senate Democrats retreated from adding new privacy protections to the USA Patriot Act. The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote with no debate. It now goes to the House. (more)