JournoList: Inside the echo chamber  —  For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.  —  Proof of a vast liberal media conspiracy?

Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In  —  Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit.

Senate to explore taxing controversial AIG bonuses  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Democrats want to tax the controversial bonuses doled out to AIG employees who work for the division that led to the company's downfall.  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor Tuesday …

Senator suggests AIG execs should kill themselves  —  IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley suggested that AIG executives should take a Japanese approach toward accepting responsibility for the collapse of the insurance giant by resigning or killing themselves.

Moderate Is Said to Be Pick for Court  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to name his first candidate to an appeals court seat this week, officials said, choosing David F. Hamilton, a highly regarded federal trial court judge from Indiana, for the appeals court in Chicago.

WHAT IS GOING ON AT FOX NEWS?  —  What the hell is going on at Fox News?  —  On Friday evening, Fox viewers were treated to an hour-long televangelical special starring Glenn Beck.  (The opening of the show can be seen in our Watch Now window, at right.)  —  Watching Beck cry for the cameras …

Don't Blame Jim Cramer  —  What Jon Stewart needs is Jon Stewart.  He could use a droll comedian to temper his ferocity and correct him when he's wrong, as he was about the financial media, particularly CNBC and its excitable analyst Jim Cramer.  They didn't cover up the story of financial shenanigans.

The Lieberman Disaster  —  Not this Lieberman, this Lieberman.  It's not a disaster for the reasons some people think; I know Avigdor Lieberman a little bit, and he's actually a person interested in a cold compromise with the Palestinians.  It's a disaster because he's made himself into a racist.

Majority Receptive to Law Making Union Organizing Easier  —  But most Americans not closely following news about union bill in Congress  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds just over half of Americans, 53%, favoring a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers; 39% oppose it.

Gates readies big cuts in weapons  —  Battle looms with Congress  —  Aides said Defense Secretary Robert Gates's decisions will be guided by what he learns while spending time with troops.  —  WASHINGTON - As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates …

GOP eyes Bush v. Gore for Coleman  —  A state court could rule any day now on Norm Coleman's challenge to Al Franken's 225-vote lead in Minnesota, but the race may be far from over no matter what the judges say.  —  Top Republicans are encouraging Coleman to be as litigious as possible …

EXCLUSIVE: Israel's national security aide barred from U.S.  —  Former Israeli spy linked to Pentagon leak  —  Uzi Arad, who is expected to serve as national security adviser in the next Israeli government, has been barred from entering the United States for nearly two years on the grounds that he is an intelligence risk.

Santelli on AIG bonus rage: “You know, $165 million is like worrying about 16.5 cents, while $165 maybe necessitates a little more outrage”  —  From the March 17 edition of CNBC's Squawk Box:

The Commercial Republic  —  Over the centuries, the United States has been most conspicuous for one trait: manic energy.  Americans work longer hours than any other people.  We switch jobs more frequently, move more often, earn more and consume more.  —  This energy was first aroused by abundance …

Latest NPR Poll: Democrats Besting Republicans in National Debate on Key Budget Issues  —  Greenberg Quinlan Rosner National Public Radio  —  Research Categories … Executive Summary  —  NOTE: TO HEAR THE FULL NPR BROADCAST CLICK HERE.  —  The first bipartisan survey conducted for NPR …

Dems press Specter to switch sides  —  Democrats want Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in their ranks — and they've been sending in their big guns to lobby him to make the switch.  —  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said he, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) …

Why teach journalism if newspapers are dying?  —  Dear Cary,  —  I am a college journalism professor.  When I got into this field a half dozen or so years ago, after 17 years as a journalist, I was excited to enlighten young minds and inspire them.  And I have, and hope I still do.

GOP says Palin will star at dinner; she says she hasn't yet agreed  —  OR MAYBE NOT: She didn't know about keynoting, aide says.  —  Gov. Sarah Palin's spokesman said Monday that congressional Republicans were mistaken in announcing the governor would headline one of the biggest Republican gatherings …

U.S. Injecting Billions Into Foreign Central Banks  —  For more than a year, the U.S. Federal Reserve System has been increasingly acting as the world's central bank, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign government treasuries in an effort to increase liquidity in those countries.

A Hand in the Health Care Debate  —  The last thing the surgeon said to me before they rolled me into the operating room was, “You know, if you and Obama had your way with health care, it wouldn't be me doing this operation.  It would just be some guy.”  —  I tried to tell him …