Michelle Obama serves food to D.C. poor and homeless, but...  First Lady Michelle Obama showed up Thursday as a surprise and welcome volunteer at Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen for homeless poor people not far from the White House.  —  She brought with her some food donated by White House staff.

A fight I didn't intend to get into: Chas Freeman  —  I have never met Chas Freeman, the man whose reported selection as head of the National Intelligence Council has drawn such criticism, including from my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg.  Not having had a chance to assess him first hand …

Birther smackdown  —  As the many lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility make their way through the courts, judges appear to be getting a little fed up, and D.C. District Judge James Robertson penned a particularly harsh memo yesterday dismissing a case called Hollister v. Soetero.

Clinton gift gaffe: ‘Overcharge’  —  GENEVA — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened her first meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by giving him a present meant to symbolize the Obama administration's vow to “press the reset button” on U.S.-Russia relations.

651,000 Jobs Reported Lost in February  —  Another 651,000 jobs were lost in February, adding to the millions of people who have been thrown out of work as the economic downturn deepens.  —  In a stark measure of the recession's toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday …

President Barack Obama dislikes Britain, but he's keen to meet the Queen  —  President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week.  His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling.  First Brown wasn't granted a press conference with flags …

When Obamatons Respond  —  On Tuesday, I wrote that the Obama budget is a liberal, big government document that should make moderates nervous.  The column generated a large positive response from moderate Obama supporters who are anxious about where the administration is headed.

Is Obama responsible for Wall Street's meltdown?  —  “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.  —  Is Obama responsible for the meltdown of the Dow?  The consistently wrongheaded Wall Street Journal's editorial page says so, as does Republican Fox News, CNN's reliably demagogic Lou Dobbs, and now CNBC …

A Heated Exchange: Al Gore Confronts His Critic(s)  —  The Goreacle has spoken-again.  —  Former Vice President Al Gore repeated his message that climate change is a planetary emergency at the WSJ's Eco:nomics conference in California.  The Nobel-prize winner declined to take any questions from reporters …

Steele pushes back; rivals gripe  —  With Republican criticism of Michael Steele intensifying following his dust up earlier this week with Rush Limbaugh, the new Republican National Committee chairman's high command is moving to rebut claims that he's not up to leading the party.

The Big Dither  —  Last month, in his big speech to Congress, President Obama argued for bold steps to fix America's dysfunctional banks.  “While the cost of action will be great,” he declared, “I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy …

Gingrich, in Ashland, ponders White House run; says Cantor will be Speaker someday  —  Newt for president?  —  Newt Gingrich, the conservative former Speaker of the House, didn't rule it out tonight in Ashland, before he was to address a packed house of 650-plus at Randolph-Macon College.

Fox News' Glenn Beck strikes ratings gold by challenging Barack Obama  —  His success comes as Fox News embraces the role of voice of opposition to the new administration.  —  Reporting from New York — Before Glenn Beck started his new show on Fox News in January, he sat down with Roger Ailes …

Obama's Radicalism Is Killing the Dow  —  A financial crisis is the worst time to change the foundations of American capitalism.  —  It's hard not to see the continued sell-off on Wall Street and the growing fear on Main Street as a product, at least in part, of the realization …

Nominee for Solicitor General Revises Her Opinion on Opinions  —  Perhaps every nominee committed a dark, regrettable act in the past that he or she hopes will never see the light, but unfortunately for Elena Kagan, hers was discovered pretty quickly after she was nominated to be solicitor general:

WEINER'S ‘NAUGHTY’ HOTTIE$  —  FOREIGN BABES GAVE ILLEGALLY  —  Talk about the wrong kind of foreign aid!  —  After he proposed to expand the visas available to foreign models so they can work in New York, Rep. Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign took contributions from some cat walkers from abroad.

My Fellow Conservatives, Let's Be Bad Guys!  —  No matter what we do, we're painted as the villains.  So let's twirl our mustaches and get to work.  —  By the numbers: since President Barack Obama was sworn in, the financial markets have dropped to ten-year lows, housing prices are off …

HOW THE RULES WERE RIGGED  —  I'm sure the knowledgeable people already know this.  But it turns out that one of the features of the 2005 Bankruptcy bill was to put derivative counter parties at the front of the line ahead of other creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.

Al-Marri detention case ended  —  The Supreme Court on Friday wiped out a lower court ruling that gave the President the authority to detain indefinitely as terrorism suspects individuals who are living legally in the United States.  The order also approved transfer of Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri …

Limbaugh: My Ratings are Way, Way Up  —  One side effect of the Democratic campaign against Rush Limbaugh has been to increase — dramatically increase — the talk show host's ratings.  This morning I asked Rush if he had any numbers he could share on just what effect the increased visibility has had on his business.

CNBC stays mum after takedown by Jon Stewart  —  NEW YORK (AP) — If you make a date to be on a late-night talk show, it's best not to back out.  —  John McCain learned that lesson the hard way with David Letterman last fall, and CNBC reporter Rick Santelli just took it on the chin from Jon Stewart.

The Great Non Sequitur  —  The Sleight of Hand Behind Obama's Agenda  —  Forget the pork.  Forget the waste.  Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks.  Forget the “2 trillion dollars in savings” that “we have already identified …

Drug Legalization Isn't the Answer  —  Countries that have experimented with a permissive approach have always turned back.  —  Since 2001 the number of young people using illegal drugs has dropped by 900,000 to about 2.7 million.  This drop is an important development for all the obvious reasons, plus one.