John Bolton jokes about nuking Chicago, entire CPAC audience erupts in laughter.  —  This morning, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton spoke to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  He tried to up the fear quotient in the room by raising the prospect of an Iranian-sent nuclear attack on an American city.

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.

Pelosi butts heads with Obama  —  Nancy Pelosi repeatedly stood to applaud Barack Obama when he addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.  But in the days since, the speaker of the House has been standing up for herself —distancing herself from the president on Iraq …

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.

Obama Plans to End Combat Mission in Iraq by August 2010  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama heads to one of the nation's most storied military bases Friday morning to unveil plans to pull most troops out of Iraq by August 2010 and he has support from an unlikely quarter — Senator John McCain …

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” …

DUSTBOWL DAYS?  —  The Democrats are delirious at the idea that we've gone back to the future—a return to the 1930s.  I'm not sure their joy is shared by many of those who actually lived through that era, but from the Dems' perspective the unprecedented transfer of wealth and power …

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.

Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism  —  Zuckerman, Lawmakers, Local Jews Say Secretary Of State Not The Hillary Clinton They Used To Know  —  Hillary Pressuring Israel To Speed Up Aid To Gaza  —  NEW YORK (CBS) ― In a swift about face from her views as New York's senator …

More entertaining Sen. Burris news, this time on son Burris II  —  Not an all-around awful day for Democratic Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois.  —  Just terrible this time.  —  As you may have heard, the legally-embattled junior Illinois senator replacement for Barack Obama …

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.

San Francisco welcomes William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn  —  Former Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn made an appearance at San Francisco's Modern Times Bookstore on February 21 to promote their new book Race Course Against White Supremacy.

Arsonists Torch Berlin Porsches, BMWs on Economic Woe  —  Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) — When Berlin resident Simone Klostermann returned from vacation and couldn't find her Mercedes SLK, she thought it had been towed.  Police told her the 35,000- euro ($45,000) car had been torched.

$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.