Heroic Name Given to Photo of President Obama  —  Soon after President Barack Obama signed an executive order lifting the ban on the use federal funding of embryonic stem cells in medical research, the wizards behind the White House web site posted the photo above.

Labor Bill Faces Threat in Senate  —  WASHINGTON — Key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support of legislation that would give more power to labor unions, dealing a setback to labor's top priority as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause.

Blair defends Freeman from Lieberman  —  National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair strongly defended Chas Freeman this morning in response to a question from Senator Joe Lieberman about statements suggesting Freeman is “inclined to lean against Israel or too much in favor of China.”

Obama Pushes Merit Pay for Teachers  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama laid out his “cradle to career” agenda for education Tuesday, including a controversial plan to boost pay for teachers who excel.  —  In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Obama said he backs …

New U.N. human rights report and America's lectures to other countries  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  The Washington Post's Fred Hiatt today condemns the Obama administration generally and Hillary Clinton specifically for “continu[ing] to devalue and undermine the U.S. diplomatic tradition of human rights advocacy.”

Taking a Depression Seriously  —  The Democratic response to the economic crisis has its problems, but let's face it, the current Republican response is totally misguided.  The House minority leader, John Boehner, has called for a federal spending freeze for the rest of the year.

The coming evangelical collapse  —  An anti-Christian chapter in Western history is about to begin.  But out of the ruins, a new vitality and integrity will rise.  —  ONEIDA, KY. -  —  We are on the verge - within 10 years - of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity.

They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street  —  Emanuel Derman expected to feel a letdown when he left particle physics for a job on Wall Street in 1985.  —  After all, for almost 20 years, as a graduate student at Columbia and a postdoctoral fellow at institutions like Oxford and the University of Colorado …

FROM A READER, an amusing parody.

Bernanke Says Financial Rules Need an Overhaul  —  The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, on Tuesday called for a broad reworking of how the government regulates the financial system to prevent future financial meltdowns.  —  In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington …

RNCdispute over $4 million  —  Republican infighting escalated Monday with allegations and denials over $4 million once destined for the party's congressional campaign committees.  —  Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele sought to placate critics by giving $1 million …

The Charity Revolt  —  Liberals oppose a tax hike on rich donors.  —  Among those shocked by President Obama's 2010 budget, the most surprising are the true-blue liberals who run most of America's nonprofits, universities and charities.  How dare he limit tax deductions for charitable giving!

The Broadband Gap: Why Is Theirs Faster?  —  This is the first in a series of three posts looking at the lessons for the United States from broadband deployment in other countries.  —  Bits readers have a serious case of broadband envy.  I've been writing about the debate …

NOT EVEN CLOSE.... The LA Times' Andrew Malcolm played a little fast and loose yesterday, commenting on President Obama's directive on Bush's signing statements.  (thanks to reader J.R. for the heads-up) … No, this wasn't written by the Republican National Committee to be read on-air by Fox News personalities; it just seems like it.

DISSING ON LYNDON.  —  Obama's speech on education this morning — on which I'll have a more specific post in a moment — began with a sharp jab at those questioning the scale of the administration's ambitions: … I get why Obama didn't liken his administration to the Johnson White House.

Flournoy's Pentagon policy shop  —  Since her confirmation as under secretary of defense for policy last month, Michèle Flournoy - the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon civilian history — has become one of the most active and influential national security figures in the Obama administration.

Tim Geithner's Black Hole  —  Pity Barack Obama's economic advisers.  The blogs are now demanding their scalps, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and his colleagues face a nasty dilemma: There are no solutions to the banking crisis without extraordinary political and financial risks.

A Key Legal Right at Risk  —  More than 45 years ago, as attorney general of Minnesota, I joined with the attorneys general of 21 states in asking the Supreme Court to ensure that counsel would be appointed for all people facing criminal charges who could not afford it.  The court answered our plea.

A Vote for Cloture is a vote against the Secret Ballot  —  The fierce debate over the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act begins in the Senate this week.  The ramifications of this bill are far reaching beyond employee privacy and voting rights.  Were the bill to pass …

Rove lunches at Texas Capitol with Katharine Armstrong  —  Karl Rove, the former senior White House adviser to George W. Bush, once routinely walked the corridors of the Texas Capitol.  Rove was back today, stopping for lunch in the cafeteria in the Capitol Extension.

Geithner Briefs Dems: “We're Doing In Weeks What Countries Did In Years”  —  At a meeting in the Capitol that stretched late into Monday night, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner briefed House Democrats on the ongoing efforts to revitalize the economy.  —  He pleaded for patience …

Possible conflict of interest surfaces for President Obama's new urban czar Adolfo Carrion  —  President Obama's new urban czar renovated his Bronx home with help from the architect on a major development that needed his approval, a Daily News investigation has found.