CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul  —  President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.  —  CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation …

Husband of Rep. Solis, Labor nominee, settles tax liens  —  WASHINGTON — The husband of President Obama's Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon.

White House to Bypass Commerce on Census  —  The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.  —  The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary …

Ginsburg is hospitalized with pancreatic cancer … WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery Thursday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the court said.  —  Ginsburg, 75, had the surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Raccoons Invade White House Grounds  —  A small band of masked intruders has broken into the secure White House grounds and has evaded capture by agents of the new Obama administration, officials said today.  —  The National Park Service is in pursuit of one very large raccoon …

Sessions: GOP Insurgency “May Be Required”  —  Frustrated by a lack of bipartisan outreach from House Democratic leaders, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Republicans — who voted unanimously last week against the economic plan pushed …

Sen. Harkin Backs Dean For HHS Secretary  —  The idea of nominating Howard Dean to head up the Department of Health and Human Services has the backing of at least one prominent national Democrat.  —  Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who endorsed Dean's presidential campaign in 2004 and is rumored …

Fla. doctor investigated in badly botched abortion  —  Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.  —  Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair …

Rope jumping reporter ID'd  —  A reporter who was escorted out of a White House event by Secret Service agents on Wednesday afternoon after he approached . . .  . . . President Obama to seek an autograph has been identified, officials and witnesses said.  —  At the end of an East Room signing ceremony …

'There's no reason only poor people should get malaria': The moment Bill Gates released jar of mosquitoes at packed conference … It was a show-stopping move by any standards.  —  Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft and a renowned philanthropist, let loose a swarm of mosquitoes …

ABC: Obama Is Hypocritical For Limiting Wall Street Pay While Having A ‘Lavish Lifestyle’  —  Yesterday, President Obama instituted a pay cap on bailed out businesses after it was revealed that Wall Street doled out an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year.

Sunni electoral disaster, part 2: Baghdad  —  Preliminary results from the Baghdad provincial council election have begun to filter out into the Iraqi press.  The lead story will probably be that Maliki's Rule of Law list won more than half the seats.  But the more important story …

Resignations at the RNC  —  A Republican source says newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has requested the resignations of the entire RNC staff and signaled a dramatic turnover at the party organization.  —  Some aides may be retained, though Republicans …

Military Commission Charges Dropped Against Terrorist Suspect Al-Nashiri  —  As President Obama prepared to order the Department of Defense's Military Commission to withdraw charges against terrorist suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri on Friday afternoon, the convening authority for the Commission …

Senators Go Wild!, Approve House Flipping Subsidy, Media Don't Notice  —  The reporters covering the stimulus have been so busy editorializing against it that they haven't had time to pay attention to what Congress is doing.  Tonight Congress approved the Isakson amendment which gives $15,000 …

Sen. Stabenow wants hearings on radio ‘accountability’; talks fairness doctrine  —  This morning, radio host Bill Press brought up the recent closing of liberal station Obama 1260 when speaking with Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and talked about whether there needs to be a balance to right-wing talk on the radio dial.

How Village Voice Media Uses Digg to Game Their Traffic Numbers  —  This is the story about a girl that's actually a dude who's brought in 3.8 - 19.4 million visitors* to Village Voice Media websites by gaming Digg.  —  Village Voice Media appears to be running an organized reciprocal Digg …

Why Shovel-Ready Infrastructure is Wrong (Right Now)  —  The term “shovel-ready”—as in, infrastructure projects that are ready or almost ready to begin—has become a favorite of policy makers in recent weeks.  As the Senate gets ready to vote on a stimulus bill, it looks like the idea has stuck …

GM's Volt to Debut in Washington, Bay Area  —  General Motors' new plug-in electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, will go on sale in Washington and San Francisco first, the automaker announced this week, as it began laying plans to work with area government and power companies to ease the car's introduction.

Hamas negotiators stopped with suitcases of cash  —  CAIRO - Hamas negotiators left Egypt without a long-term cease-fire with Israel on Thursday — but not before some members of the militant group's delegation were stopped at the Gaza border carrying millions in cash.

Vote for the Snuggie Stimulus!  —  After all, what better to fix the ailing economy than a giant, cumbersome product of questionable value and exorbitant expense?  —  Update: A slightly more risque, great stimulus parody from Reason.tv.  Click the pic to watch:

Nelson Backing Off Proposed Stimulus Cuts  —  Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, is backing off of cuts he recently proposed to the economic stimulus package.  —  A discussion draft prepared by Nelson's staff has been circulating and became public Thursday.

Dallas hardware store wants George W. Bush to be its door greeter  —  Former presidents get a pretty good retirement package, but there's nothing wrong with getting out of the house and earning a little extra scratch.  If George W. Bush wants some useful occupation for those long …

Unhappy voters jam Capitol Hill lines  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The recent debate over the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan and revelations of tax problems by three Obama administration appointees have voters angrily jamming phone lines on Capitol Hill to air their frustrations to their elected representatives.

Blue Dogs push back against stimulus  —  Conservative Democrats in the House are pushing back against their leaders' economic stimulus plan even as President Obama steps up his push for the spending package.  —  The leadership of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats concerned …

50 De-Stimulating Facts  —  Senate Democrats acknowledged Wednesday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill in its current form.  This is unexpected good news.  The House passed the stimulus package with zero Republican votes (and even a few Democratic defections) …

“A False Premise”  —  E.D. Kain sums up neoconservatism: … But not in Egypt or Saudi Arabia or Gaza (where an actual free election that gave Hamas power was rewarded by a blockade!).  And then we patiently listened as neocons told us that the Palestinians are too dysfunctional a people ever …

The Senate discovers women  —  The U.S. Senate is taking a welcome step: empowering a subcommittee specifically charged with global women's issues.  It's the first time a subcommittee has had that mandate, and it will be led by Barbara Boxer of California, who will surely use her voice and spotlight to do some good on these issues.