Jindal's Katrina Story: A Tall Tale?  —  The evidence continues to grow that the story Bobby Jindal told Tuesday night — about how he backed a tough-talking sheriff's efforts to rescue Katrina victims, government red-tape be damed — was, how to put it ... made up.

BURRIS' SON GOT STATE JOB FROM BLAGO  —  The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.  —  Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II …

Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday  —  Executives from E.W. Scripps Co., announce their decision on the future of the Rocky Mountain News in the 150-year-old newspaper's newsroom on 2/26/09 in Denver.  In December 2008, the Rocky's parent company put the paper up for sale …

Obama Budget Sees $1.75 Trillion Deficit  —  President Obama's budget proposal for 2010 projects a stunning deficit of $1.75 trillion for the current fiscal year, which began five months ago, reflecting a shortfall of more than $1 trillion as the fiscal year began, plus the costs of bank bailouts …

Judges reverse ruling tossing Minn. Senate witness  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  ST. PAUL, Minn. - Republican Norm Coleman caught a break Thursday in his Minnesota Senate election trial when the three judges in the case reversed their ruling from a day earlier …

Gates: Media photos of war dead need families' OK  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Families of America's war dead will decide whether the flag-draped caskets of their loved ones can be photographed by news organizations when the fallen return to U.S. soil …

Freeman's in  —  The Obama administration has notified Congress that Chas Freeman has been appointed chairman of the National Intelligence Council, demonstrating a willingness to rebuff pro-Israel activists and an embrace of a more realist foreign policy line.

Pelosi throws cold water on assault-weapon ban  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed cold water on the prospect of reinstating the assault weapons ban, highlighting Democrats' reluctance to take on gun issues.  —  Attorney General Eric Holder raised the prospect Wednesday that the administration would push to bring back the ban.

President and His Inner Circle Have Earmarks in Omnibus  —  Funny how items show up in spending bills without any notice — like an earmark for a president who promised not to seek any.  —  President Obama, who took a no-earmark pledge on the campaign trail, is listed as one of dozens …

Joe the Author, Plumbing New Lows in Interest  —  Joe the Plumber (no longer a plumber; first name actually Samuel) popped into our town yesterday evening to sell his new book and to remind people that he's still a plain and simple guy.  Mission accomplished, on at least one of his missions.

Holder Vows To End Raids On Medical Marijuana Clubs  —  Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference Wednesday that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that are established legally under state law.  His declaration is a fulfillment of a campaign promise …

Right, and Left Out  —  Young Conservatives Can't Get With the Program  —  It's early February, and the happy hour at the Union Pub on Capitol Hill is jammed with an unlikely slice of young Washington strivers: conservatives, libertarians, free-market/small-government types, anyone right of center.

OMB boots lobbyist off press call  —  Maybe President Obama really is serious about making his White House inhospitable to lobbyists.  One of them even got scolded by name for trying to spy on an administration conference call with reporters Thursday.  —  The call was set up for the press but …

The 2% Illusion  —  Take everything they earn, and it still won't be enough.  —  President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it.  On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end …

Log Cabin under Democratic control?  —  Sources say Tim Gill, a prominent Dem donor, is dictating GOP group's direction  —  The amount of money that the Gill Action Fund has contributed to the Log Cabin Republicans — about one-third of its total budget in some years …

Bloggers and Unions Join Forces to Push Democrats to Left  —  WASHINGTON — A group of liberal bloggers said it was teaming up with organized labor and MoveOn.org to form a political action committee that would seek to push the Democratic Party further to the left.

Christopher Hitchens and the Battle of Beirut  —  Last week Christopher Hitchens and I were attacked in Beirut.  Less than 24 hours after we landed at the international airport, a half dozen members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party jumped us on Hamra Street when he defaced one of their signs.

Feelings of despair  —  There's so much to like about where Obama is going — health care, transparency in government, ending the war in Iraq.  And the stimulus bill is OK, though not big enough.  —  But on the question of fixing the banks, many of us are feeling a growing sense of despair.

Obama's Budget: Almost $1 Trillion in New Taxes Over Next 10 yrs, Starting 2011  —  President Obama's budget proposes $989 billion in new taxes over the course of the next 10 years, starting fiscal year 2011, most of which are tax increases on individuals.  —  1) On people making more than $250,000.

Prosecutors Prepare Charges Against Final ‘Enemy Combatant’ in U.S.  —  Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with providing material support to al-Qaeda terrorists in a groundbreaking move that would put the alleged sleeper agent under the jurisdiction …

Reality check for Vice President Joe Biden  —  Updated:  —  SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Giving the republican response to President Obama's speech Tuesday night, Governor Bobby Jindal pointed out fundamental differences in how republicans and democrats see the economy.

CPAC audience roars with applause when speaker suggests Obama wasn't born in U.S.  —  ThinkProgress is attending the right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference today.  Earlier this afternoon, Cliff Kincaid, head of a conservative group Accuracy in Media, introduced Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN).

Gillibrand Prefers Soliloquy to Sound Bite  —  When Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand visited Nazareth Regional High School in Brooklyn recently to talk with students, the school's principal, Barbara Gil, received unusual instructions from the senator's staff.  —  “They said, 'She's great …

Limbaugh Responds To Sanford: The 'Hell We Don't' Want Obama To Fail!  Just Need ‘The Guts’ To Say So  —  Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that in an interview with the Real Clear Politics, Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) was asked about the “view that perhaps Republicans are rooting for President Obama to fail. ”

Senate Backs Amendment to Prevent ‘Fairness Doctrine’ Revival  —  The South Carolina senator attached his amendment, called the Broadcaster Freedom Act, to a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House.  —  FOXNews.com  —  The Senate approved an amendment Thursday …

Geithner's Recipe for Zombie Banks  —  My Wonk Room colleague Pat Garofalo says almost everything that needs to be said about the latest twist in Tim Geithner's bank thinking, but I thought I could add a picture of a zombie and a little bit of real talk.  Geithner says: … That bolded part is quite right.

GOP at risk of becoming party in the no  —  Another day, another no vote.  —  After near-unanimous Republican congressional opposition to President Barack Obama's stimulus package and a week dominated by headlines of GOP governors poised to reject stimulus funding, House Republicans followed …