U.S. death toll in Iraq hits 4,000  —  Grim milestone reached when IED kills 4 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad  —  Smoke rises from the U.S.-protected Green Zone in central Baghdad on Sunday after it was targeted by a series of rockets or mortars.  —  BAGHDAD - Four U.S. soldiers were killed …

EASTER THOUGHTS, from InstaPunk.  —  UPDATE: Jeez, get a clue, Greenwald.  I don't know why you felt you had to bring me into this — well, actually, I think I do — but the post you're bitching about is by a different blogger than the post linked above.  I know it's hard to get your mind around …

EASTER MASS ATTACK!!  Protesters Scream & Spray Fake Blood at Churchgoers  —  NOT JUST ANTIWAR...  Leftist Protesters Attack Catholic Worshippers at Easter Mass in Chicago  —  The Leftists squirted fake blood around on the Catholics attending Easter Mass this morning.!!

Taming the Beast  —  We're now in the midst of an epic financial crisis, which ought to be at the center of the election debate.  But it isn't.  —  Now, I don't expect presidential campaigns to have all the answers to our current crisis — even financial experts are scrambling to keep up with events.

Obama's promise of a new majority, and the question it prompts  —  WASHINGTON: At the core of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign is a promise that he can transcend the starkly red-and-blue politics of the last 15 years, end the partisan and ideological wars, and build a new governing majority.

Richardson: ‘I am very loyal to the Clintons’  —  (CNN) — Facing fire from some fellow Democrats for his decision to endorse Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday he still considers himself loyal to the family that helped make his political career.  —  “I am very loyal to the Clintons.

We Don't Know This Sen. Joe  —  Sen. Lieberman has been too busy burning bridges to build any.  —  When The Day endorsed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for re-election in November 2006 it was supporting a candidate who demonstrated a history of pragmatic leadership and a willingness to seek bipartisan solutions.

Endorsing Obama  —  Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States.  I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will.  I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States …

Obama: ‘This is not a crackpot church’  —  Carrie Budoff Brown sends over the transcript from Obama's appearance, airing tomorrow, on the Michael Smerconish Show on 1210 AM WPHT in Philadelphia, from audio the show provided.  —  In the interview, Obama says he's talked to Wright in the past about …

L.A. Times Has Hit Piece on McCain — Which Resurrects the Old Canards About Ties Between Saddam and Al Qaeda  —  The L.A. Times saves space on its Sunday front page for a hit piece on John McCain.  The main thrust of the piece is to say, in essence, “Nyaah, nyaah, John McCain said that Iraq would be a cakewalk, but it wasn't.”

In Easter Sermon, New Obama Pastor Charges Rev. Wright Victim of ‘Lynching’  —  CHICAGO — The new pastor of Barack Obama's church delivered a defiant defense of its retiring reverend Sunday, comparing media coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to a modern-day lynching that resembles Jesus' death at the hands of the Romans.

Politics = Torture  —  McCain says the Keating Five ordeal was like torture in North Vietnam.  Only different: … I can see that.  Though I think I'd take being called a crook in the media over being dangled from a hook in the ceiling for five years any day.  And that's something I like about John McCain.