Democrats' Diversionary Tactics  —  In the first two months of 2009, the Democratic Congress and the White House have spent more money than the combined cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the response to Hurricane Katrina.  After they doled out taxpayer dollars at such a blistering pace …

For GOP: all pain, no gain  —  Four months after John McCain's sweeping defeat, senior Republicans are coming to grips with the fact that the party is still - in stock market terms - looking for the bottom.  —  Republicans this week are processing two sobering new polls that found …

Obama Taps Clinton Ideas but Not Clinton Herself  —  WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has not participated in any of the White House's planning sessions on health care, the issue that defined her public persona during the 1990s.  Intent on establishing herself as a powerful secretary of state …

Freeman NOW Gets Vetted?  —  Eli Lake reports that Chas Freeman is indeed to be investigated by the Inspector General.  At issue are his ties the to China National Offshore Oil Corp, in which the Chinese government has a majority stake, and his role as president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), which is in part Saudi-funded.

Jerusalem: Bulldozer plows into police vehicle; terrorist killed  —  Tractor hammers into police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in the capital; misses nearby bus.  Two officers injured, attacker neutralized  —  Ronen Medzini  —  A tractor plowed into a police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Jerusalem on Thursday.

For Young President, Flecks of Gray  —  WASHINGTON — Well, that didn't take long.  Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray.  —  It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later …

GM: ‘Substantial doubt’ about survival  —  Automaker's annual report says it hopes to get $7.7 billion from the government to remain viable.  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors Corp. said in a government filing Thursday that its accounting firm has found there is “substantial doubt” about the automaker's ability to survive.

White House Rethinks Tax Hikes  —  Obama Open to Revising Plan to Cap Breaks on Mortgage Interest and Donations  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is meeting strong Democratic Party resistance to his proposal to reduce tax deductions enjoyed by upper-income Americans and could be forced to drop or modify the idea.

Congressman: We're Living in ‘Atlas Shrugged’  —  Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), who gives his departing interns copies of Ayn Rand's novel “Atlas Shrugged,” told me today that the response to President Obama's economic policies reminded him of what happened in the 51-year-old novel.

Ex-First Lady Barbara Bush Has Heart Surgery  —  Bush Aide Says the Former First Lady Was ‘Alert and Funny’ After Surgery  —  Former first lady Barbara Bush had open-heart surgery Wednesday and is resting comfortably at a Houston hospital with her husband, former President George H.W. Bush …

US schools chief wants DC kids to keep vouchers  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there, putting the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program.

Matters of Principal  —  TO stanch the hemorrhage of foreclosures, we don't need another bailout.  What we need is a fix — and the wisdom to see what is in our own self-interest.  —  An avalanche of foreclosures is coming — as many as eight million in the next several years.

Applauding That We Once Despised  —  Bob Somerby has been documenting how we on the Democratic side have come to applaud that we once claimed to despise - unthinking stupidity in the Media.  While my feeling on what Keith Olbermann has become (in essence an O'Reilly for the Left) …

Professor Takes Heat for Calling Cops on Student Who Discussed Guns in Class  —  A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.

Challengers to Gillibrand Emerging  —  ALBANY — In a sign that Kirsten E. Gillibrand, the newly appointed United States senator, has yet to win over her party's base downstate, the Manhattan borough president said Wednesday that he was considering challenging her in the Democratic primary next year.

A Global Retreat As Economies Dry Up  —  As World Trade Plummets, Bustling Ports Stand Idle And Foreign Workers Track Back Home  —  SINGAPORE This shimmering city-state was the house globalization built.  When world trade boomed, Singapore's seaport at the crossroads of East and West became …

When Will Voters Blame Obama?  —  Buried in the latest NBC/WSJ survey (.pdf) is a question asking voters who they blame for the country's economic problems.  Currently, 8 percent of voters say that Obama's policies are “mostly responsible” for the poor economy and another 6 percent blame him in part.

Mission Accomplished!  Did Obama intentionally nuke the economy?  —  Is President Obama intentionally attempting to bring the stock market to its knees?  Some argue that, indeed, he is.  “The free market has failed,” he could say, “just as it failed the housing market!”