How Long?  —  Jake Tapper appears to be one of the few (only?) mainstream reporters keeping current on the Chas Freeman story.  You would think it would be hard to ignore the growing tidal wave of protest and controversy.  The latest is a letter signed by the Republican members …

Rush whacks Newt  —  Rush Limbaugh responded to Newt Gingrich's shot at him with a broadside at the former speaker on today's show.  —  “I'm frankly getting tired of talking about Newt.  I mean, it's a pointless exercise,” Limbaugh said of Gingrich's dismissal of him on “Meet the Press.”

Beck: Stem-cell research will lead directly to the search for a new ‘master race.’  —  On his radio show today, conservative talker Glenn Beck commented on President Obama overturning the ban on federally funded stem-cell research.  Beck argued that funding stem-cell research would lead directly …

Charlie Gasparino Talks to Fallen Wall Street Titan Jimmy Cayne  —  Blogs and Stories  —  As the pundit begins a series of national debates this week, Meghan McCain says that having her as the face of the Republican Party is a recipe for disaster.  —  It is no secret that being a Republican …

Don't Rely on Bush's Signing Statements, Obama Orders  —  WASHINGTON — Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Obama on Monday ordered executive officials to consult with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr …

Cramer Takes on the White House, Frank Rich and Jon Stewart  —  Suddenly, bloggers, opinion people, columnists and, yes, pundits who haven't paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me.  Suddenly, I find myself in the center of a firestorm …

CNBC's Kernen: ‘You Might Not Have Fixed Global Warming’ After D-Day  —  ‘Oracle of Omaha’ Warren Buffett agrees, says job 1, 2 and 3 must be the ‘economic war.’  —  Business & Media Institute  —  The U.S. is at war with the failing economy, according to Warren Buffett, who told CNBC viewers that it had “fallen off a cliff.”

GOP Rep: “Our Goal Is To Bring Down Approval Numbers” For Dems  —  GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, a key player in helping craft the Republican message, has offered an unusually blunt description of the Republican strategy right now.  —  McHenry's description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

WHAT'S BEHIND BARACK'S BRIT SNIT  —  PRESIDENT Obama's first hosting of a foreign leader, the UK's Gordon Brown, was a diplomatic disaster.  —  Obama failed to hold a joint Rose Garden press conference, the usual protocol when a US president and a British prime minister first meet …

The 10 Major Newspapers That Will Either Fold or Go Digital Next  —  A San Francisco Chronicle newspaper vendor  —  Over the past few weeks, the U.S. newspaper industry has entered a new period of decline.  The parent of the papers in Philadelphia declared bankruptcy, as did the Journal Register chain.

Wikipedia Scrubs Dear Leader's Page Clean of Critical Entries  —  Wikipedia scrubs Obama's entry clean of any critical information that may taint your view of Dear Leader.  —  Communist tyrany Joseph Stalin routinely air-brushed his enemies out of photographs.

How I learned to stop worrying and love the f-bomb  —  Let me begin by noting that this post is not about Rush Limbaugh.  —  You're welcome.  —  Now, just to be clear, Mr Limbaugh will appear in the post — and as a character he will be prominently featured — but this post is no more about Rush than …

Democrats Stung by Dissenters  —  Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda.  But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

How much of Citigroup could the FDIC actually take over?  —  FDIC chairman Sheila Bair doesn't think a full government takeover of Citigroup and other multinational financial institutions is practical or even possible.  Here are her reasons, as summarized by Pete Davis:

Specter Says Nation on ‘Brink of a Depression’  —  Specter sees ‘reasonable chance’ stimulus law can help  —  The nation is on the “brink of a depression,” but there's a “reasonable chance” that the $787 billion economic stimulus package will help ease the situation, Sen. Arlen Specter said Monday.

AIG Warned of ‘Crisis’ if Government Didn't Help  —  Draft, Obtained by ABC News, Dated Four Days Before Bailout  —  An AIG report to the Treasury Department last month warned that if the government didn't come to its rescue again, its collapse would trigger a “chain reaction of enormous proportion” …

US Recession Could Last Up to 36 Months: Roubini  —  The man who predicted the current financial crisis said the US recession could drag on for years without drastic action.  —  Among his solutions: fix the housing market by breaking “every mortgage contract.”

America Is Becoming Less Christian, Less Religious  —  American Religious Identification Survey Finds Major Denominations Losing Members  —  America is still a predominantly Christian nation, but it's becoming both less Christian and less religious, according to the results of the new American Religious Identification Survey.

Connecticut moving to regulate the Catholic Church?  —  According to the First Amendment and the Establishment Clause, the government has no business dictating to religious organizations how they should structure themselves.  In Connecticut, though, some lawmakers seem to have skipped over the Constitution.

Some Myths About Banks  —  Nationalization would undermine confidence in the financial system.  —  The story of our economic crisis mirrors every great market bubble in history.  Clearly, banks were key participants, but they were not alone.  Mortgage lenders, borrowers, regulators …

The Report: Gay unions won't be in census  —  No matter the legal fate of Proposition 8, the 2010 Census will not count same-sex marriages or ask respondents about their sexual orientation.  —  The federal Defense of Marriage Act signed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton does not recognize gay unions sanctioned by states.

Co2 emissions creating acidic oceans  —  Chemical change placing ‘unprecedented’ pressure on marine life and could cause widespread extinctions, warn scientists  —  Human pollution is turning the seas into acid so quickly that the coming decades will recreate conditions not seen on Earth since …