The State of the Union drinking game(s)

To get to the place where they like George W. Bush more than any other place in America, you fly west for a long time from Washington, then you drive north for a long time from Salt Lake City, and then you pull into Gator's Drive Inn, where the customer at the front of the line is ordering a patty melt. "I don't think there's anything he could say that would make me dislike him."

Coretta Scott King (wife of Martin Luther King Jr.) has died at age 78.

Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. became the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, confirmed with one of the most partisan victories in modern history after a fierce battle over the future direction of the high court.

Senator John F. Kerry issued a call for a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito... from a five-star ski resort in the Swiss Alps. "He just cinched this whole nomination. With Senator Kerry, it is Christmas every day."

Losing the abortion battle -- The pro-choice groups find themselves facing a virtual avalanche of state legislation that ranges from laws banning abortions in almost all circumstances to laws limiting the disbursement of birth control and restricting sex education.

Apparently God is a registered Republican in Pennsylvania.

The staff of U.S. Rep Marty Meehan wiped out references to his broken term-limits pledge as well as information about his huge campaign war chest in an independent biography of the Lowell Democrat on the Wikipedia web site.

Republican lawmakers said Sunday that President Bush should publicly disclose White House contacts with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to felony charges in an influence-peddling case.

Senator Cindy Sheehan?

The disparity between rich and poor is growing in America as the federal minimum wage has remained flat for years, union membership has declined and industries have faced global competition, according to a recent study.

Army officials are investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography web site. "We define homosexual conduct as homosexual acts or verbal or nonverbal communication that a member is homosexual."

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken last weekend and interviews across the country this week found most Americans pessimistic about the economy, divided on the war and doubtful that Bush has the best plan to address the issues that matter most to them -- among them health care and corruption.

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito enjoys sufficient bipartisan support to surmount any Senate filibuster attempt by minority Democrats, members of both parties indicated Friday.

From Texas, where all bad ideas come from: A violent video game tax?

When someone calling himself "John Kerry" posted a diary on the popular liberal community blog DailyKos last week, its members reacted with both suspicion and amazement.

"The program's legal, it's designed to protect civil liberties, and it's necessary." -- President George W. Bush

Hundreds of officers and health care professionals have been discharged in the past 10 years under the Pentagon's policy on gays, a loss that while relatively small in numbers involves troops who are expensive for the military to educate and train.

Were photos of President Bush with Jack Abramoff coming from Abramoff himself?

Unfortunate Attorney General Photo of the Day

White House officials have acknowledged that pictures of President George Bush and the disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff do exist, but say they will not release them on the grounds they are not relevant to the money-for-favours investigation.

Straying away from scripted questions, President Bush (speaking at Kansas State University) was asked:

"You're a rancher, a lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers -- I just wanted to get your opinion on Brokeback Mountain, if you'd seen it yet?"

Supreme Court hopeful Samuel Alito moved toward a Senate committee victory Tuesday on a party-line vote as majority Republicans called him "one of the most qualified" nominees ever and Democrats warned that he could swing the court to the right.

In the next six weeks, South Dakota lawmakers will decide whether to make abortion a crime.

An adviser to President Bush said Monday that Bush's photographs in the company of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff amount to a coincidence and shouldn't be interpreted any more seriously than that.

Bush has been taking questions from audience members in recent speeches, and the White House says none has been prescreened even though the sessions are limted to invited groups. It's a throwback to the folksy style on the campaign trail that helped him win re-election and a departure from the heavily scripted speeches that were the norm last year.

When George Met Jack -- White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff, but unpublished photos shown to TIME suggest there's more to the story.

A growing number of Republican voters are frustrated by congressional spending and scandal, according to GOP leaders from across the country who worry that an "enthusiasm deficit" could cost the party control of Congress in November.

Republicans... or the Mafia? "Helping you make sense of today's GOP."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Republican Party activists on Friday night that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was the "worst nightmare of liberal Democrats."

Angered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sided with a Connecticut city that wanted to seize homes for economic development, a group of activists is trying to get one of the justices who voted for the decision (Justice David Souter) evicted from his own home.

The U.S. Congress Votes Database -- "a deep database of every vote in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). It lets you browse votes in a variety of ways -- both in aggregate and for individual members of Congress."

Ohio's Republican leader wants Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hackett to apologize for calling some conservative Republicans religious fanatics and comparing them to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein.

Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden, who says al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce "with fair conditions."

President Bush's State of the Union address will attempt to shift focus from the polarizing war in Iraq to a more popular domestic priority: taming health care costs.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced his opposition to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

After more than a decade of legal battles over assisted suicide, a Supreme Court ruling affirming that states have the authority to regulate medical treatment of the terminally ill may help turn an Oregon law into a national model.

Democrats are trying to gain the edge in the race for lobbying ethics reform with a package of measures to bar members of Congress from accepting gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists.

Unfortunate Former Vice President Photo of the Day

Canadian Vote Selector Quiz -- "At PoliticsWatch, we hope you will make your informed vote after fully exploring each leader and party's vision, platform, policies and integrity, as well as any other values you judge to be important qualities of a Canadian Prime Minister and governing party."

"When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about..." -- Senator Hillary Clinton

The White House accused former Vice President Al Gore of hypocrisy for his assertion that President Bush broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

"If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it."

Worthless Poll of the Day: By a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

Remember Segregation

Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story.

President Bush celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday by taking in a gospel performance and viewing the Emancipation Proclamation.

"It seems fitting on Martin Luther King Day that I come and look at the Emancipation Proclamation in its original form," Bush said. "Abraham Lincoln recognized that all men are created equal. Martin Luther King lived on that admonition to call our country to a higher calling, and today we celebrate the life of an American who called Americans to account when we didn't live up to our ideals."

Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski, describing Alaska's future:

"Flippin' sweet."

Did President Bush order NSA surveillance of Americans before 9/11?

Barely one of every five of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's constituents would vote for him if the election were held now, according to a newspaper poll released Saturday.

Sell the Ranch -- "A catalogue of lies, ignorance, bigotry and failure."

First Lady Laura Bush predicted that the United States soon will have a female president -- a Republican, and maybe even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I think it will happen for sure."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is considering proposals to ban gifts and privately funded travel as part of an effort to curtail the influence of lobbyists on lawmakers.

Truthiness.

President Bush rejected a suggestion by Germany's new chancellor that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down.

Supreme Court nominees are so mum about the major legal issues at their Senate confirmation hearings that the hearings serve little purpose and should probably be abandoned, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden said Thursday.

The Great Circle of Influence.

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, who lost his leadership post because of his ties to a disgraced lobbyist and faces felony charges in his home state, now has another worry: an unprecedented four-way primary for the seat he's held comfortably for 22 years.

A majority of Americans want the Bush administration to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists, an AP-Ipsos poll shows.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Western countries were likely to seek economic sanctions against Iran after Tehran restarted its nuclear program but Iranian leaders said they would not curtail the research even in the face of sanctions.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his motorcycle illegally over the weekend when he collided with a car in his Los Angeles neighborhood.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tried to pressure the Bush administration into shutting down an Indian-owned casino that lobbyist Jack Abramoff wanted closed -- shortly after a tribal client of Abramoff's donated to a DeLay political action committee.

Unfortunate Governor of California Photo of the Day

Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

VP Hospitalized, then released: Vice President Cheney's Medical History.

President Bush urged senators on Monday to give Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito a fair vote, while Democrats told Bush on the opening day of Alito's confirmation hearings that neither Congress nor the high court should follow the president in lockstep.

Are Democrats linked to the Abramoff scandal: Dean vs Wolf

"During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land. I am fully confident time will bear this out." -- Rep. Tom DeLay

Buffeted by scandal, House Republicans are clamoring for new election-year leadership, and indicted Rep. Tom DeLay's hopes of returning to power as floor leader are dwindling.

President Bush's decision to bypass the Senate in filling posts at the State Department, Federal Election Commission and National Labor Relations Board drew protests Thursday from lawmakers and advocacy groups.

Senate Democrats are considering a plan that could delay a committee vote on Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination for at least a week.

"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive." -- Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher

Ana Marie Cox, the voice behind the racy and gossip-filled political blog Wonkette, is stepping down later this month after signing a second book deal.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fought for his life Thursday following seven hours of emergency surgery to stop widespread bleeding in his brain. The massive stroke made it unlikely that he would return to power.

Letterman on O'Reilly.

Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star and veteran football commentator for ABC Sports, is expected to declare his candidacy for Pennsylvania governor Wednesday.

A computer entrepreneur from Utah is launching a campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) next year -- in what may be the most heavily Internet-reliant campaign to date, using blogs, chats and the "Wiki" open-source model.

In Dover, Pennsylvania, "intelligent design" has moved from the science books to the history books.

Handy Chart: The Abramoff Galaxy

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to federal charges in Washington and Miami, clearing the way for him to cooperate in a massive government investigation of influence peddling involving members of Congress.

Candidate Kerry -- It's almost as if Sen. John Kerry never stopped running for president. He still jets across the country, raising millions of dollars and rallying Democrats. He still stalks the TV news show circuit, scolding President Bush at every turn.

"In other words, the enemy is calling somebody and we want to know who they're calling and why." -- President George W. Bush

The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran.