If you can’t beat Congress, go around it: President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, announced on Monday afternoon that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to the public’s health and welfare—a move that makes possible an economy-wide carbon cap, even if Congress fails to pass cap-and-trade legislation. The announcement coincided with the opening day of international climate-change talks at Copenhagen.

The health-care debate just got more heated—and Republicans are crying foul. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid likened GOP threats to filibuster reform to those who "dug in their heels and said, 'Slow down, it's too early. Let's wait. Things are bad enough,' about slavery. When women wanted to vote: 'Slow down, there will be a better day to do that.'" Republicans like Sen. Saxby Chambliss (GA) and Tom Coburn (OK) are speaking out: "I think it's beneath the dignity of the majority leaders, for one. I think it's beneath the dignity of the Senate... to make any kind of outlandish claim similar to [Reid's]," said Coburn. "They are so desperate that it is unbelievable," said Chambliss, who also characterized Reid's statement as "outlandish." Politico points out that Reid isn't the only one with "outlandish" rhetoric: On Sunday, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) characterized reform as "a health-care gulag."

It's been joked about, and now it could become a reality: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has unveiled legislation to send $3 billion of the $700 billion financial bailout to homeowners in the form of emergency mortgage aid. Frank's amendment is attached to a wide-ranging financial overhaul that will meet a House vote on Friday. The amendment would redirect $3 billion from the Treasury to the Housing and Urban Development agency.

Some show their disdain for politicians by throwing shoes, but a Minnesota man went the way of old-school theater heckling by throwing tomatoes at Sarah Palin. During a book-signing event at the Mall of America in Minnesota, the man threw two tomatoes at the former Alaska governor and missed; he may, however, face charges for assaulting the police officer whom he hit. Palin supporters were said to have lined up for the event Black Friday-style, waiting outside in freezing temperatures several hours before the event began. The former 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee showed up wearing her signature red to promote Going Rogue, and luckily didn't end up with a stained blouse, or stained ego.

Tehran police used batons, tear gas, and live rounds in clashes with student protesters Monday, according to unconfirmed witness reports cited by BBC News. (State-controlled media acknowledged the confrontations, but details are tough to verify because of Iran’s ban on foreign media.) Opposition supporters wore green scarves and chanted “Death to the Dictator,” to which security forces responded with arrests and beatings and tried to prevent students from leaving their campuses, according to a reformist student Web site. The protests took place on the anniversary of the killing of three students in 1953; Iranian security forces had said they would block any attempts by the opposition movement to use the day for demonstrations.

Cover your eyes, kids: Daniel Radcliffe will go nude in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, director David Yates told The Telegraph Monday. Harry’s naked image will appear when a monster uses magic to evoke jealously from best friend Ron Weasley by showing images of Potter with Hermione Granger, Ron’s crush and both boys’ best friend. “We'll create something that feels very sexy and very intriguing," says Yates. While many Harry Potter fans are children, the movie also attracts an older crowd, and Yates has been pushing the envelope in each film. (He showcased a romantic relationship in The Half-Blood Prince.) Harry nude may be shocking for the audience, but for Radcliffe, it’s nothing new: He also appeared nude on stage in Equus.

Another twist in L’Affair Woods: RadarOnline reports that Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, has moved from their $2.6 million Windermere home. Nordegren’s alleged decision to leave is likely due to several women publicly claiming affairs with the pro golfer, and the nonstop drama following the Thanksgiving car crash. Neither Woods nor Nordegren have confirmed the story.

Despite heavy bets that artist Roger Hiorns would nab the prestigious Turner Prize this year, the Tate Britain announced Richard Wright as the winner during a live broadcast Monday evening. Other nominees included Enrico David and Lucy Skaers, but Hiorns' installation piece Seizure gained the most attention, and according to the Associated Press, was the odds-on favorite to win. It is not uncommon for the winner of the Turner Prize to be disputed, but Wright's jewel-colored wall paintings (said to be inspired by medieval manuscripts) was far from expected.

When asked if she would adopt again, Madonna said "Never say never." The 51-year-old pop icon has two children from Malawi—son David Banda and daughter Mercy—and two children from previous marriages—Rocco and Lourdes—but is not opposed to expanding her family further. "I have four children now and I'd like to think I am a good mother," said Madonna. No concrete adoption plans are in the works, but the singer's continuation of charity work in Malawi may inspire her to take another orphan into her own family.

With Barack Obama and Al Gore meeting in the West Wing on Tuesday, perhaps the GOP wanted to stage a meeting of its own minds? Sarah Palin and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann are set to meet for the first time on Tuesday night at a private fundraiser in Minnesota. “I hope I can get a book and maybe get it signed,” Bachmann said.

If the public-option debate doesn’t kill health-care reform, this could: Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) unveiled his amendment on Monday to ban federal money in the Senate’s health-reform bill from being used for abortion services. Based on language from the Stupak amendment, the controversial measure added to the House bill, Nelson’s amendment is not expected to pass the Senate; but Nelson is saying he will filibuster any legislation that does not include it.

Infamous social conservative and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) says that while Sarah Palin has “done a lot to draw attention to herself that’s positive,” if she ran for the White House, she’d “have to do some explaining.” Santorum allows that Palin is “having an impact” on the country, despite not holding public office. Santorum, who lost his reelection race to current Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), told Politico that he’s weighing his own 2012 bid.

Al Gore’s SNL guest spot apparently worked on President Obama, who will meet with the former vice president in the Oval Office Monday afternoon. The 4:40 p.m. meeting comes as the president prepares for his scheduled December 18 visit to Copenhagen for the international climate-change conference. Gore has long been an advocate for global-warming awareness, urging world leaders to enforce emissions-reduction laws at the conference, which began Monday in hopes of reaching a global consensus to combat global warming.

As details and alleged adulteresses continue to emerge in the Tiger Woods scandal, TMZ.com claims the golfer told Rachel Uchitel that he wanted to be with her—even after the National Enquirer had exposed their purported affair. In the aftermath of the Thanksgiving car crash, according to TMZ’s sources, Woods sent multiple texts to Uchitel, reportedly saying he wanted to try to meet up. According to previous reports, Woods’ wife Elin Nordegren saw her husband sending texts to the suspected adulteress, confronted him about the messages, confiscated his phone, and even called Uchitel. Uchitel reportedly says she and Woods were involved for two months, but that he pursued her four months prior. One of Uchitel’s friends added, as TMZ reports, that Woods even said he loved her.

Amanda Knox, the 22-year-old American student convicted on Friday of killing roommate Meredith Kercher during a drug-fueled sex game in an Italian flat two years ago, spent the weekend after her conviction weeping, the Telegraph reports. Knox's lawyer said that she spent the night after the verdict crying in her cell and being comforted by her cell mates. Knox's lawyer added that she is "depressed and disappointed" as well as "worried about the impact the sentence will have on her parents and sisters." Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, who was also implicated in the murder, have been placed on suicide watch. Meanwhile, it was reported on Sunday that Knox won a prison essay competition with a piece about a young woman who was physically abused during a drug-fueled sex party.

The U.S. will reveal its inaugural version of an unmanned maritime aircraft to search for smugglers next week, according to the Customs and Border Protection’s office of air and marine operations. Though the agency already uses drones for surveillance on land borders with Canada and Mexico, this is the first that will patrol the ocean with radar technology as opposed to the visual tools of the land planes. “This one has the capacity of detecting vessels in the water,” a spokesman for the agency said of the new Predator B. The drones will be tested in the eastern Caribbean and are expected to be completely operational later in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

Multiple outlets reported that the engine of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum's Jeep exploded on Saturday as she drove through a suburb of Warsaw—but now Applebaum's taken to Slate to come clean: She says the event was neither a mafia hit nor a murder plot, but a case of an engine fire. Applebaum, who is married to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and who writes for The Washington Post and other papers, says she heard a strange noise in her car as she was driving, and got out to investigate. Shortly afterward, smoke and fire poured out. Thankfully Applebaum was not harmed. The police said they considered the problem technical in nature, but, The Times of London reports, assigned bodyguards to Applebaum at least until the car had been thoroughly examined. Applebaum and Sikorski have been critics of the Kremlin.

This weekend, a surprise list of star performers celebrated Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, director Mel Brooks, jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, and opera singer Grace Bumbry at the Kennedy Center Honors. Three hundred guests, including Jack Black, Edward Norton, Sting, and Martin Scorsese, attended a reception in the East Room of the White House to celebrate the occasion. "I think when all my awards go to eBay, it will be the last," Brooks said of his Kennedy Center medal. President Obama quipped that "I think I had a fake ID" when he went to see Blazing Saddles at age 10, but luckily, "the statute of limitations has passed." Former president and saxophone player Bill Clinton offered a heartfelt toast to Brubeck, whose music "utterly captivated" him from the first time he heard it in concert at age 15.

One woman is talking to Tiger Woods who isn’t saying she slept with him: Oprah. The queen of talk has “personally reached out,” according to the New York Daily News. Over the weekend, the number of women claiming to have slept with Tiger since his marriage grew to seven, including a porn star and a waitress at a Perkins eatery, who claims the golf star liked to spank her.

Should climate-change activists fight conspiracy theories with a conspiracy theory of their own? Here’s one: Did the Russian secret service engineer the computer hack that produced emails that deniers claim show scientists fudging climate data? The leaked emails originally appeared on a server in the Siberian city of Tomsk, which the Russian secret service has praised before for its hacks of anti-Russian voices. Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, is suspicious: "It's very common for hackers in Russia to be paid for their services. It's a carefully made selection of emails and documents that's not random. This is 13 years of data, and it's not a job of amateurs." The Independent theorizes, “if it was indeed the [secret service] behind the leak, it could be part of a ploy to delay negotiations or win further concessions for Moscow.”

Well, at least they haven't become self-aware: This year's holiday toy sensation, the Zhu Zhu robotic hampster, may contain toxic levels of tin and antimony. Consumer health Web site GoodGuide released a report Friday that found that the stuffed toy hamster contains 93 parts per million of antimony, above the 60 ppm limit enacted by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Though there are no toy industry standards for tin, GoodGuide also deemed that the toy had potentially unsafe levels of the metal. Cepia LLC, the company that manufactures the line of Zhu Zhu pets, said it is confident that its products are completely safe and compliant with consumer health safety standards.

Antiabortion senators planned to introduce an amendment as soon as Monday to restrict abortion coverage in the Senate health-care bill. Both sides agree that the amendment lacks the votes to pass, but Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska insists on tough language in the bill—and, as a potential 60th vote, has the sway to block it. As it is, the Senate bill would create a public option that covers abortion services and also allow women who receive subsidies to purchase plans that cover abortion services while preventing those funds from directly paying for abortions. Nelson wants language in the Senate bill similar to the Stupak amendment in the House bill, and has said he’ll vote against any package without it.

Diplomats from 192 nations are attending the U.N. climate-change conference in Copenhagen, which opened on Monday, in what may be the world's last, best chance to protect the world from a global-warming calamity. The conference is the culmination of two years of negotiations, and the first week of the two-week gathering will focus on refining the text of a draft treaty. According to conference president Connie Hedegaard, the key will be finding a way to funnel public and private funds to poor countries for years to come to help them combat climate change. President Obama will be one of the 110 heads of state to attend the last few days of the conference. His trip suggests that an agreement is closer.

Hope you hadn’t marked it on your calendar: President Obama's advisers have been working to downplay the significance of the July 2011 withdrawal date for Afghanistan that the president set in his speech last week. Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton have emphasized that that date will only be the start of a transfer of power to Afghan troops, and that any such transfer will be slow. “Some handful, or some small number, or whatever the conditions permit, will begin to withdraw at that time,” Gates said Sunday, while National Security Adviser James Jones said “We have strategic interests in South Asia that should not be measured in terms of finite times. We’re going to be in the region for a long time.”

In the wake of the Abramoff scandal, Congress passed new ethics rules that prevent lobbyists from paying for lawmakers' travel, but according to The New York Times, these rules are rife with loopholes that have allowed lobbyist-funded nonprofits to pay for trips such as Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.'s (R-WI) junket to Liechtenstein, where he toured a prince's castle, and the Congressional Black Caucus' four-day conference at a casino resort in Tunica, Miss. The new ethics rules, intended to prevent lobbyists from funding posh congressional junkets, are rife with loopholes. For example, although lobbyists can't pay for travel, their corporate clients are allowed to. Lobbyists and companies have gotten around the spirit of the rules by giving money to nonprofits, which in turn fund trips. Far clarifying just who is paying for what in Washington, the unintended effect of the rules may be to obfuscate just who is paying to fly lawmakers to the likes of the Alps, China, and Jerusalem.

Though an Italian jury has handed down Amanda Knox's conviction, the case that has captured international attention is far from over, and is headed next for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state appealed to Clinton, who has agreed to a meeting but has not commented on the case. Cantwell said there were "serious questions about the Italian justice system" and expressed concerns about anti-American sentiment at the trial. Knox, a 22-year-old from Washington, was sentenced to 26 years in Italian prison for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Knox's Italian lawyer reacted to the news by saying, "That's all we need, Hillary Clinton involved. I have the same political sympathies as Hillary but this sort of thing does not help us in any way."

The Obama administration is planning to cut the projected long-term cost of its financial bailout program, TARP, by more than $200 billion—freeing up funds, perhaps, for a jobs-creation program. Lifted by Wall Street gains, the Treasury now estimates that the 10-year cost of the $700-billion package will be $141 billion. Citigroup, The Financial Times notes, is racing to pay back its $20 billion in TARP funds: If it fails to do so in the next 10 days, it will have to wait at least another month.