The dishonest “Blame Dodd” scheme from Treasury officials  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  There is a major push underway — engineered by Obama's Treasury officials, enabled by a mindless media, and amplified by the right-wing press — to blame Chris Dodd for the AIG bonus payments.

President's Budget Strategy Under Fire  —  Tactic May Break Obama's Bipartisan Pledge, GOP Says  —  Senior members of the Obama administration are pressing lawmakers to use a shortcut to drive the president's signature initiatives on health care and energy through Congress without Republican votes …

Obama's Jay Leno Tonight Show Gig Will Diminish His Presidency  —  By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog  —  When I was writing speeches for President Bush #41, we'd start working every Spring on the annual “joke” dinners—the Gridiron Club, the Alfalfa Club, and the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Veterans Groups, Lawmakers Condemn Obama Idea to Bill Private Insurers for Service-Related Care  —  An Obama administration proposal to bill veterans' private insurance companies for treatment of combat-related injuries has prompted veterans groups to condemn the idea as unethical …

Guns on a plane  —  Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns  —  After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program.  No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control …

Begorra!  Irish PM trips over White House speech  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar.

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts  —  Post a Comment Printer-friendly Email this Article Reprints & Permissions  —  In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts …

It's not the bonuses.  It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full.  —  Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?

Tauscher to State  —  Word is that Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on strategic forces and a staunch superdelegate for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, is in line for a top post at the State Department …

U.S. Weighs Taliban Strike Into Pakistan  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and his national security advisers are considering expanding the American covert war in Pakistan far beyond the unruly tribal areas to strike at a different center of Taliban power in Baluchistan …

ACORN to Play Role in 2010 Census  —  The U.S. Census Bureau is working with several national organizations to help recruit 1.4 million workers to produce the country's 2010 census, including one with a history of voter fraud charges: ACORN.  —  FOXNews.com

N.Y. race first big test for GOP  —  The March 31 special election to fill the House seat left vacant by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is suddenly taking on exaggerated importance, viewed by many insiders as the first real gauge of the Obama-era electorate.

Limbaugh"s Favorable Rating: 19 Percent  —  Limbaugh's Favorable Rating: 19 Percent  —  Over the past few weeks, the White House has been casting right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the Republican Party, and based on a new CBS News poll, it appears they may be on to something.

Specter won't rule out run as an Independent  —  Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent.  —  The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans …

AIG CEO to Testify Before Congress Today  —  Edward Liddy to Testify in Wake of Bailout, Bonus Outrage  —  ABC NEWS Business Unit  —  As outrage continues to swell around bailed-out insurance giant American International Group, the company's chief executive will take the hot seat today …

Female shoppers still elusive in Swat  —  MINGORA: It has been more than a month since the government and the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) signed a peace deal in Swat but the shopkeepers at Cheena Market, once the busiest in Mingora city, are still waiting for female shoppers.

Minister won't confirm belief in evolution  —  Researchers aghast that key figure in funding controversy invokes religion in science discussion  —  Canada's science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won't say if he believes in evolution.

Deference Denounced  —  The Gumby-like self-adulator also known as Glenn Greenwald has worked himself into a multiply updated state because some media members were taken aback by White House flak Gibbs' snide remark about Cheney ... “I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy.”  —  Hyperventilating highpoints:

The Uninvited  —  Brad DeLong objects to the hed—"Inside the echo chamber"—on Michael Calderone's piece discussing the underknown leftish email cabal organized by Ezra Klein: … Fair enough.  But I think the headline-writers' worry was that an “echo chamber” is what the outside world tends …

Iran shift  —  The Obama administration is finalising its policy for engaging Iran.  —  The approach is likely to involve a combination of small steps to initiate contact between the two countries and may include an overture in the form of a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei …