Should Michelle Cover Up?  —  Journalists are never supposed to start a piece with a scene in a taxi because it signals either laziness about gathering facts or a tendency to embroider facts.  —  Nonetheless, I'm going to.  David Brooks and I were sharing a cab to the British Embassy the other day to meet with Gordon Brown.

David Frum Does Not Speak for Me Any More Than Rush Limbaugh Does  —  I recently risked being labeled one of the “oddballs” at Hot Air when I said that, while I believe Rush Limbaugh is a very talented salesman for conservative values, I think it would be counterproductive to set him up as the head of the conservative movement.

A Pardon For A Friend, A Good Deal For Dodd  —  It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department.  Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe …

Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court liberal?  —  In a decision last week against the drug company Wyeth, it was the court's most conservative justice who most harshly criticized a Bush administration legal policy.  —  Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court opinion that drew the most praise …

The Inflection Is Near?  —  Sometimes the satirical newspaper The Onion is so right on, I can't resist quoting from it.  Consider this faux article from June 2005 about America's addiction to Chinese exports: … Let's today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis …

Recession on track to be longest in postwar period  —  WASHINGTON - Factory jobs disappeared.  Inflation soared.  Unemployment climbed to alarming levels.  The hungry lined up at soup kitchens.  —  It wasn't the Great Depression.  It was the 1981-82 recession, widely considered America's worst since the depression.

The Next Hit: Quick Defaults  —  More FHA-Backed Mortgages Go Bad Without a Single Payment  —  The last time the housing market was this bad, Congress set up the Federal Housing Administration to insure Depression-era mortgages that lenders wouldn't otherwise make.

Obama to bring Cuba in from the cold  —  US companies are queuing up as the president moves to ease restrictions on travel and trade, raising hopes of warmer relations and an end to the embargo  —  President Barack Obama is poised to offer an olive branch to Cuba in an effort to repair the US's tattered reputation in Latin America.

Thousands join talk show hosts in tax protest  —  Officials estimate more than 8,000 people showed up in downtown Fullerton to protest tax hikes in budget deal.  —  Recommend  —  FULLERTON - They're revolting.  Families with children, bikers, seniors, pirates - by the thousands descended …

Brooks: Boehner's spending freeze would be ‘insane,’ GOP is ‘stuck with Reagan.’  —  This morning on ABC's This Week, conservative columnist David Brooks addressed House Minority Leader John Boehner's recent call for a “freeze on government spending” in response to the quickly worsening economic conditions.

Real IRA ‘behind army shootings’  —  A Dublin-based newspaper has received a call supposedly from the Real IRA which claimed responsibility for the attack at Masserene army base.  —  Using a recognised codename, it claimed responsibility for the attack in which two soldiers were killed.

Mixed Opinions of a Judge Accused of Misconduct  —  DALLAS — If Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of Texas' highest criminal court, has ever doubted her judgment, she has not shown it.  —  In 1998, Judge Keller wrote the opinion rejecting a new trial for Roy Criner, a mentally retarded man convicted …

New Chairman Boos G.O.P. When He's Not Cheerleading  —  None of the guests seemed to be complaining, yet Michael Steele stood at a Fifth Avenue fund-raiser in New York on Wednesday evening and defended his month-old tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

U.S. Troops Face a Tangle Of Goals in Afghanistan  —  BARAKI BARAK, Afghanistan — It started out as a mission of diplomatic outreach, a get-acquainted visit to a village school principal.  It ended with a far less comfortable encounter, as U.S. soldiers and Afghan police poked through haylofts …

Dreaming of Splitting the Taliban  —  FRIENDS?  FOES?  —  WASHINGTON  —  HERE is a proposition that is bound to cut deep into the national psyche: Should the United States seek to negotiate with some of the same people who gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden prior to the Sept. 11 attacks?

British Muslim leader urged to quit over Gaza  —  Abdullah advocates attack on foreign navies if they halt arms smuggling  —  One of the UK's most influential Islamic leaders, who has helped counter extremism in the country's mosques, is accused of advocating attacks on the Royal Navy …

Pentagon's Unwanted Projects in Earmarks  —  When President Obama promised Wednesday to attack defense spending that he considers wasteful and inefficient, he opened a fight with key lawmakers from his own party.  —  It was Democrats who stuffed an estimated $524 million in defense earmarks …