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.

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!

Heard on the Hill: Vitter Goes From Hookergate to Gate-Crashing  —  Among Members of Congress, there's a long-standing, proud tradition of the Airport Freakout.  Add to the list of those who've indulged in meltdowns and temper tantrums while traveling one Sen. David Vitter …

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 …

Approval of Congress Hits Four-Year High, Fueled by Dems  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' job approval rating of Congress is up an additional 8 points this month, after a 12-point increase last month, and now stands at 39% — the most positive assessment of Congress since February 2005.

Some Banks, Citing Strings, Want to Return Federal Aid  —  WASHINGTON — The list of demands keeps getting longer.  —  Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners.

Officials: Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban's new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication …

Edwards talks about poverty, stays silent on paternity  —  PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards took another tentative step into the public spotlight tonight, speaking at Brown University about extreme poverty around the world and urging Americans to get involved in what he called a “fundamental moral issue.”

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.

The Looting of America's Coffers  —  Sixteen years ago, two economists published a research paper with a delightfully simple title: “Looting.”  —  The economists were George Akerlof, who would later win a Nobel Prize, and Paul Romer, the renowned expert on economic growth.

U.S., Israel Disagree on Iran Arms Threat  —  Senate Panel Told Tehran Has Not Made Decision to Pursue Nuclear Weapons  —  Iran has not produced the highly enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon and has not decided to do so, U.S. intelligence officials told Congress yesterday …

Top Ten Reasons For ObamaCare Are Based On False Information  —  George Bernard Shaw warned “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”  The major overhaul of American health care pursued by President Obama and his supporters is based on many false premises and is excessive and likely to do more harm than good.

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 …

Senate Approves $410 Billion Bill to Fund Federal Government  —  The Senate gave final approval last night to a $410 billion spending bill to fund most of the federal government for the remainder of the year after overcoming a resilient Republican opposition and several Democratic defections.

Dem closing in key N.Y. House race  —  Democrat Scott Murphy has slashed into the huge lead once held by Republican Jim Tedisco in the New York special House election scheduled for March 31, according to a new Democratic-sponsored poll.  —  Tedisco, the state Assembly minority leader …

Time to Call It Quits  —  ATTORNEY GENERAL Eric H. Holder Jr. should put an end to a criminal case that should never have been brought.  —  The matter involves Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former officials for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

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 …

Shut Up, She Explained  —  Free speech for TARP recipients?  Jane Hamsher thinks not.  —  Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake surely considers herself a champion of civil liberties (and an ally of Big Labor).  However, her view of legitimate dissent and free speech seems oddly cramped - apparently …

This Is Not a Test.  This Is Not a Test.  —  It's always great to see the stock market come back from the dead.  But I am deeply worried that our political system doesn't grasp how much our financial crisis can still undermine everything we want to be as a country.  Friends, this is not a test.

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

Europeans Debate Castration of Sex Offenders  —  PRAGUE — Pavel remembers the violent night sweats two days before the murder.  He went to see a family doctor, who said they would go away.  But after viewing a Bruce Lee martial arts film, he said, he felt uncontrollable sexual desires.

Barack's Too-Long Wish List  —  Obama needs to focus his agenda if he wants to avoid Jimmy Carter's fate.  —  A surprised Rudolph Penner, assistant director of President Ford's OMB and later a CBO director, offered a blunt assessment of the new president: “[He] has proposed a huge restructuring …

Renegade IRA groups ‘co-ordinated Northern Ireland attacks’  —  The Irish republican terrorist groups that murdered two soldiers and a police constable in two separate attacks over 48 hours may have co-ordinated their operations, security officials have told The Times.

What Left Turn?  —  Obama Is Doing Pretty Much What He Promised  —  The notion that President Obama has lurched to the left since his inauguration and is governing as an unreconstructed liberal is bunk.  Obama's presidential agenda mirrors his campaign platform.