Steele to CPAC: The Republican party is just fine  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Capping off a day of conservative soul-searching, strategizing and navel-gazing at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele announced Thursday …

Iraq Withdrawal Plan Gains G.O.P. Support  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama won crucial backing on Thursday for his Iraq military withdrawal plan from leading Congressional Republicans, including Senator John McCain, the party's presidential nominee, who spent much of last year debating the war with Mr. Obama.

Climate of Change  —  Elections have consequences.  President Obama's new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years.  If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.

Reid joins Pelosi in opposing weapons ban revival  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will join Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in opposing any effort to revive the 1994 assault weapons ban, putting them on the opposite side of the Obama administration.  —  Reid spokesman Jim Manley …

The “Worst Food Product Ever” May Have Been Found  —  Pork Brains In Milk Gravy.  Could it be the worst food product ever?  It does have 1170% of your daily cholesterol per serving.  Mmmm.  More »

Steep GDP Revision Puts Economic Loss at 6.2%  —  The U.S. economy contracted more sharply than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, government data showed on Friday, as exports plunged and consumers cut spending by the most in over 28 years amid a severe recession.

Insight: Time to expose those CDOs  —  Just how much should a debt vehicle backed by subprime mortgage bonds be worth these days?  Two years ago, most banks and insurance companies assumed the answer was close to 100 per cent of face value - or more.  —  Since then, however, that “price” …

Conservatives Confident Their Day Is Coming  —  Tucker Carlson closed out the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference to a chorus of boos.  His crime: informing a crowd of youngish, frustrated conservatives that if they wanted to succeed, they had to copy The New York Times.

Mayor who sent watermelon e-mail says he'll resign  —  LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”

Exclusive: Joe the Plumber suggests some members of Congress should be shot.  —  On Wednesday, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher said that if he were in Congress, he would “probably be in jail” because he'd be charged with “slapping some member.”  He added, “And that's not [bull] either.”

U.S. Agrees to Raise Its Stake in Citigroup  —  In its most daring bid yet to stabilize Citigroup, one of the nation's largest and most troubled financial institutions, the Treasury Department announced on Friday that it would vastly increase its ownership of the struggling company.

Morgenthau Won't Seek Re-election  —  Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, in December.  He will turn 90 in July.  —  Robert M. Morgenthau, the long-serving Manhattan district attorney and an institution in New York City politics, will not run for re-election this year, a person told of his decision said on Friday.

Obama administration may rescind ‘conscience rule’  —  Officials say the move seeks to clarify rules for health care workers  —  WASHINGTON — Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers …

$25 Billion to Promote Electric Cars Is Untouched  —  WASHINGTON — The future of the American auto industry is getting off to a slow start.  —  The Energy Department has $25 billion to make loans to hasten the arrival of the next generation of automotive technology — electric-powered cars.

Climate Science in A Tornado  —  Few phenomena generate as much heat as disputes about current orthodoxies concerning global warming.  This column recently reported and commented on some developments pertinent to the debate about whether global warming is occurring and what can and should be done.