MIDDAY ROUNDUP

FROM THE BLOGS:
The 'drunk' smear - David Weigel, Washington Independent
Pawlenty pushes balanced budget amendment - desmoinesdem, MyDD
The system worked? - William Kristol, Weekly Standard
Abdulmutallab warns of 'more like me' - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
On fixing the filibuster - Joe Sudbay, AMERICAblog
Read her lips: You'll pay for abortions - Jillian Bandes, Townhall
Anti-filibuster weekend - Ezra Klein
The follies of security theater - Ross Douthat
Agreement breaks out on 2010 - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
What went wrong? - John, Powerline
Where's the outrage (and fear)? - BarbinMD, Daily Kos
Forget the democracy, there's a planet to save - J. Rubin, contentions
The Lieberman front - digby, Hullabaloo
Morning bell: The system failed - Conn Carroll, The Foundry
The language of space - Matthew Yglesias

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Obama's 'team of rivals' following 'no drama' mantra - The Hill
Security system failed, Napolitano acknowledges - New York Times
Al-Qaeda group gains prominence in Yemen - Washington Post
Iran opposition claims widespread arrests - Wall Street Journal