Rush to the President: Debate Me  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: It is on the record — thanks to Politico.com — since last fall, the White House, led by Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff to Barack Obama, has been targeting me, your host, your harmless, lovable little fuzzball.

Cap-and-trade plan will sink Michigan  —  President Barack Obama's proposed cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is a giant economic dagger aimed at the nation's heartland — particularly Michigan.  It is a multibillion-dollar tax hike on everything that Michigan does, including making things, driving cars and burning coal.

More on Rush  —  All these highbrow conservative attacks on Limbaugh keep missing the point.  —  1) There is a certain sort of genius there that can do 15 hours of talk per week, ad hoc, and hold an audience of 20 million plus for over 20 years.  There are about one or two others out of some 300 million who can do it.

McCain, Dowd Substitute Mockery for Understanding  —  You understand why politics might get up to dumb gimmicks.  They're trying to get press, they're trying to get elected, whatever.  But even though lots of people do it, I genuinely don't understand why someone would go into political journalism despite …

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 …

Thomas Friedman's Five Worst Predictions  —  In this morning's New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman makes a grave prediction regarding Obama and the ongoing financial crisis: “I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch …

President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain.  Don't call us in future.  —  Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests?  He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered.  —  Gordon Brown and Barack Obama  —  Number 10 may be content …

Islam bus ads sponsored by CAIR and ICNA roll into San Francisco  —  San Franciscans have recently been finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of riding around on public buses plastered with the words “ISLAM - Submission to God.”  I say “uncomfortable” because San Francisco …

Rove, Miers to testify in prosecutor firings  —  Agreement on testimony of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers ends lawsuit  —  WASHINGTON - Former top aides to President George W. Bush agreed Wednesday to testify before Congress under oath about the firings of U.S. attorneys …

Steele won't back down on moderates  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Wednesday refused to retreat on his pledge to back primary challengers against the three GOP senators who voted in favor of President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus.

What Obama Could Learn from Watchmen  —  Ana Marie Cox does a webchat for The Washington Post: … I like the idea of the Ozymandias reference, but I'm not sure that I actually get it.  By contrast, though you shouldn't click the links unless you want an implicit Watchmen spoler …

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 …

US Treasury secretary attacks oil, gas tax breaks  —  U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.

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 …

FIRST THOUGHTS: A TALE OF TWO PARTIES  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** A tale of two parties: To paraphrase Dickens, the last six weeks have been the best of times for Obama and the Democrats, and the worst of times for the Republicans.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages  —  President Hugo Chavez is tightening state control over Venezuela's food supply, setting quotas for food staples which are to be sold at government-imposed prices.

Krauthammer's Take  —  From last night's All Stars.  —  On President Obama's secret letter to Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev proposing a deal on missile defense: … On the president's proposed cap-and-trade plan:

Whitehouse: ‘Blanket immunity’ that prevents prosecution of Bush officials is a ‘mistake.’  —  Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the creation of a “truth commission” to investigate Bush administration wrongdoings.  Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) has suggested that the commission may grant …

Atlas raised his eyebrows  —  Perhaps predictibly, Ayn Rand is making a comeback on the right, with Congressmen handing out her books, and loose talk of rich people “Going Galt”.  —  I don't think that we will see a mass exodus of productive people to secret hideouts.

Walter Williams and Bryan D. Jones: Preventing Great Depression II  —  Chicken Little may be right this time.  “The sky is falling.”  As America's economy plunges rapidly toward Great Depression II, consumer and investor confidence rush downward at an even faster rate.

Voter's Remorse  —  I should have known better.  —  For those of you who have been following me, most of you know that I grudingly voted for Obama last November.  It was a ticket-splitting vote: voted for Obama and then voted GOP down the line.  I noted that I was going to cast my vote with some trepidation:

Marriage rally draws 1,000  —  Aim is to stir support for an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage  —  RALEIGH — More than 1,000 people, many from Baptist churches across the state, stood on the ice-covered lawn outside the Legislative Building on Tuesday to demand that state legislators give …

Miami abortion clinic owner threw live baby away, prosecutors say  —  MIAMI - An abortion clinic owner is accused of delivering a live baby during a botched procedure and then throwing the infant away.  —  Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without …

Gore applies for web domain  —  Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has joined a group applying for the “.eco” World Wide Web, I'm told.  —  Gore's alliance has formed a partnership with the environmentalists heading Dot Eco Ltd, which is applying to the Internet Corporation …

El Rushbo Invites Obama on Air  —  On his Wednesday show, the conservative radio host asks the president to join him for “an intelligent, open discussion” on their policy differences.  —  Says since he's been declared the GOP's leader and the administration wants bipartisanship, Obama has no reason not to accept.

Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout  —  The Chicago Transit Authority retirement plan had a $1.5 billion hole in its stash of assets in 2007.  At the height of a four-year bull market, it didn't have enough cash on hand to pay its retirees through 2013, meaning it was underfunded to the tune of 62 percent.

Recession Deepening Across Regions, Industries, Fed Says  —  The U.S. recession is dragging down almost every industry in almost every part of the country and businesses do not expect conditions to improve until late this year at the earliest, according to a Federal Reserve report released yesterday.