FACT CHECK: There Is No Precedent Barring White House Aides From Testifying To Congress  —  Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has called on Karl Rove and other top White House aides to testify under oath in front of Congress concerning their role in the U.S. attorney purge.

Congress Job Approval Back Down Again This Month  —  January and February uptick appears to have dissipated  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The modest uptick in approval of the job being done by Congress has dissipated for the most part after only two months.  Congress job approval had risen …

Far From Iraq, A Demonstration Of a War Zone  —  There's a lot of weirdness every day in the capital city, but this one pushed the envelope: 13 Iraq war veterans in full desert camo going on "patrol" from Union Station to Arlington National Cemetery.  They carried imaginary assault rifles …

'We want this baby polar bear dead' say animal rights lobby  —  Tiny, fluffy and adorable, Knut the baby polar bear became an animal superstar after he was abandoned by his mother.  —  He rapidly became the symbol of Berlin Zoo, whose staff bottle-fed him and handed out cuddles in between

Mitt's Commie phrase sparks rage  —  Cubans in Miami are steaming mad at former Gov. Mitt Romney for shooting his mouth off in stumbling Spanish, mispronouncing names and erroneously associating a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters.

Soldier's dad tells Bush, `This war is wrong'  —  The two-page letter is signed from the "proud father of a fallen soldier."  —  A little more than six weeks ago, his soul a cauldron of grief and rage, Richard Landeck, 56, of Wheaton addressed and mailed it to President Bush.

War Bill Includes Tempting Projects  —  Democrats' Tactic Poses Dilemma for Some Lawmakers  —  House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.

Iraq Supplemental Update  —  The whip operation is currently underway for the Iraq supplemental funding bill.  While I do not know for certain exactly how many votes are currently secured in favor, I am pretty sure that it is somewhere between 210 and 221.  At this point, there are very few Republicans who will vote in favor.

John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies  —  John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 82.

Blanco: 'I will not seek re-election'; see photo gallery of the governor in action  —  BATON ROUGE — Gov. Kathleen Blanco has made it official: she will not run for re-election.  —  "I am choosing to do what I believe to be what is best for the state," the governor said in a statewide television broadcast.

Bush at Claycomo: Hybrids one of the avenues to energy independence  —  President Bush continued his drumming for less reliance on foreign oil Tuesday, using two Kansas City-area auto assembly plants as his backdrop.  —  Speaking at Ford's Claycomo facility, he offered it and GM's Fairfax operation …