CPAC: Giuliani Speaks  —  Rudy Giuliani is speaking now at the CPAC conference, and he is drawing huge crowds — not only in the Regency Ballroom where he is appearing, but also around every monitor in the exhibition hall.  He's keeping the CPAC attendees riveted, and the place is otherwise …

Army Secretary Resigns in Scandal's Wake  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The Right's Second Look At McCain  —  With his non-announcement announcement of candidacy on Letterman Wednesday night, John McCain's getting some fresh media attention today, most notably Peggy Noonan's typically frothy take in the (subscription-only) Wall Street Journal.

YouTube Oppo Of The Day  —  1. Sen. Barack Obama, speaking in a fairly impoverished Cleveland, saying he wants "everybody here to pony up five dollars, ten dollars for this campaign.  I don't care how poor you are, you've got five dollars."  —  2. An anti-Giuliani video, just in time for CPAC.

Reading Hillary Rodham's hidden thesis  —  Clinton White House asked Wellesley College to close off access  —  Hillary Rodham, in a 1965 freshman photo when she was president of Wellesley College's Young Republicans, with the cover page of her senior thesis from 1969 on radical organizer Saul D. Alinsky.

Plame film in works at Warner Bros.  —  Studio sets movie about CIA leak scandal  —  Warner Bros. is developing a feature on the lives of Valerie Plame and Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the married couple drawn into a D.C. firestorm.  —  Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed …

I HATE TO BE A DOWNER, BUT...:  —  It would seem like there is some good news — indeed, some very good news — for those of us who support universal health care.  —  According to the latest New York Times/CBS poll, large majorities of Americans favor universal coverage.

A new twist to an intriguing family history … WASHINGTON // Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.  —  But an intriguing sliver of his family history has received almost no attention until now …

Honey, I'm Dead!  —  HOW GOD REWARDS A FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER.  —  A female suicide bomber detonated a vest filled with explosives at a university in Baghdad Sunday, killing more than 40 people.  If male martyrs can expect to find 72 virgin maidens in paradise when they die, what rewards can female suicide bombers expect?

Self-Referential Feedback Loop  —  Let me respond to Ezra Klein's response to Justin Fox's delightful bit about us mainstream sorts trying to be bloggers.  —  Now, I like Ezra.  He's a smart guy.  We have the same last name and all...But he's wrong about this: … To which I can only say, what security?

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Speaks  —  Justice Thomas talks about the lasting influence of the man who guided him through his years at Holy Cross and why he's not a beneficiary of affirmative action  —  Of all the influences in the life of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas …

Wilkes' prosecutor seeks limits on intelligence secrets  —  Concern is damage to national security  —  DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO - Prosecutors in the corruption case against Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo asked a judge yesterday to limit dissemination …

When Dick Cheney Talks, Pakistan Listens  —  Brian Ross and Habibullah Khan Report:  —  Pakistan intelligence sources say a second high-ranking Taliban leader has been taken into custody, as the country appeared to be responding to Vice President Dick Cheney's showdown meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Rightosphere Temperature Check: Polling Right-Of-Center Bloggers On Key Issues (1st Quarter, 2007)  —  Right Wing News emailed more than 240 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to answer 8 questions.  The following 63 blogs responded,  —  Aaron's CC, The Absurd Report, David All Group …

Saudi Arabian oil declines 8% in 2006  —  Saudi Arabian oil production, Jan 2006-Jan 2007, from four different sources.  Linear trends fitted to each series.  Graph is not zero-scaled to better show changes.  Click to enlarge.  Source: US EIA International Petroleum Monthly Table 1.1 …