Freeman speaks out on his exit  —  Retired Amb.  Chas Freeman, who said today that he no longer accepts an offer to chair the National Intelligence Council, has just sent this message: … More to come.

Heads should roll  —  President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him — and resurrecting a deflated GOP!  Plus: Lay off Rush!  And a Brazilian diva, up close and electric  —  View a slide show of Daniela Mercury at the 2009 carnival in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.  —  Free Barack!

A Turning Tide?  —  Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes.  —  Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one.  The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics …

No quit: the campaign to boost Bush  —  The defense never rests.  When President Barack Obama released his own policy this week on former President George W. Bush's practice of attaching controversial signing statements to legislation, a reporter quickly got a tip from a Bush loyalist …

ZOMBIE LIES THAT WILL NOT DIE.  —  We're not even going to talk about the tendentious Matrix analogy laced into this column Amity Shlaes wrote for Bloomberg.  Not.  Even.  Going.  To.  Talk.  About.  It.  I already read the thing for you.  I refuse to relive it.

S.C. gov wants to use some stimulus funds to pay down debt  —  (CNN) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford plans to ask President Obama for permission to use part of his state's stimulus money to pay down its debt, not on new spending, according to a letter he sent state legislators Tuesday.

Judicial Watch Uncovers Documents Detailing Pelosi's Repeated Requests for Military Travel  —  House Speaker Issued Unprecedented Demands for Military Aircraft and Wasted Taxpayer Resources with Last Minute Cancellations  —  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates …

The Fed Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble  —  Any new regulations should help direct savings toward productive investments.  —  We are in the midst of a global crisis that will unquestionably rank as the most virulent since the 1930s.  It will eventually subside and pass into history.

Putting Obama on the Couch  —  “So, like, do you think Obama is just mean or something?”  That is how a twentysomething television booker recently responded to my critique to her of the president's stimulus package and banking bailout plans.  Actually, I think Team Obama is filled with dedicated …

US Congress eases curbs on Cuba  —  The US Congress has voted to lift restrictions on relations with Cuba imposed by the Bush administration.  —  Cuban-Americans will be allowed to travel to the island once a year and send more money to relatives there.  —  Curbs on sending medicines and food have also been eased.

Inside Murtha's ‘earmark factory’  —  Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided …

IN MEMORIAM, 5 YEARS AFTER  —  Eva Belén Abad Quijada, Spain, 30 years old  —  Óscar Abril Alegre, Spain, 19 years old  —  Liliana Guillermina Acero Ushiña, Ecuador, 26 years old  —  Florencio Aguado Rojano, Spain, 60 years old  —  Juan Alberto Alonso Rodríguez, Spain, 38 years old

Arrests Draw New Attention to Assisted Suicide  —  ATLANTA — An undercover state investigator told a right-to-die network that he wanted to kill himself.  In response, he later testified, officials of the network planned to have him asphyxiate himself with a helium-filled face mask while holding down his arms.