U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms  —  Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy  —  The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers …

Go back into hiding, GOP begs Dick Cheney  —  Congressional Republicans are telling Dick Cheney to go back to his undisclosed location and leave them alone to rebuild the Republican Party without his input.  —  Displeased with the former vice-president's recent media appearances …

Culture Shock  —  What happened when one conservative Web site ventured outside the movement bubble.  —  Last May, Conor Friedersdorf, a twenty-eight-year-old recent graduate of NYU's Journalism School, decided he was going to save conservative journalism.

House bonus bill is buried by the Senate  —  President Obama and Senate Democrats have buried a bill passed last week by the House that would have heavily taxed executive bonuses at bailed-out firms.  —  Despite the public outcry over $165 million in bonuses awarded at troubled insurer AIG …

AIG, Congress, Geithner Target of Bonus Backlash  —  No consensus on best way to recover bonus money  — USA - Credit Crisis - Financial Services - Government and Politics - Americas - Northern America  —  PRINCETON, NJ — For the most part, the central players in the AIG bonus controversy …

Reines storm: Clinton conflict brews  —  Hillary Clinton's departure for the State Department was meant to end the era of Clinton drama, and to leave the turmoil of her campaign behind.  But one former Clinton aide, now a senior adviser to Secretary Clinton, has brought at least some of that drama along with him.

Strip-Search of Girl Tests Limit of School Policy  —  SAFFORD, Ariz. — Savana Redding still remembers the clothes she had on — black stretch pants with butterfly patches and a pink T-shirt — the day school officials here forced her to strip six years ago.  She was 13 and in eighth grade.

The Worst Pollster in the World Strikes Again  —  Dirty little secret: I sometimes write material in the late evening that will be posted the following morning.  This is one of those instances.  The early word, however, is that a Zogby poll to be released today will show Barack Obama's presidential approval numbers at around 50-50.

Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers: Stiglitz  —  The U.S. government plan to rid banks of toxic assets will rob American taxpayers by exposing them to too much risk and is unlikely to work as long as the economy remains weak, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Tuesday.

Obama seeks filter-free news  —  At a time when his Washington honeymoon is turning into a hazing, President Barack Obama and his team are launched on a strategy to sail above the traditional White House press corps by reaching out to liberal commentators, local reporters and ethnic media.

Pro-life group calls on Notre Dame to rescind Obama invite  —  (CNN) — The National Right to Life Committee is calling on the University of Notre Dame to rescind its invitation to President Obama to speak at the university's May commencement.  —  In a letter sent to Notre Dame's president …

Will Obama Listen to Iran's Bloggers?  —  Barack Obama extended the olive branch to Iran's leaders last Friday in a videotaped message praising a “great civilization” for “accomplishments” that “have earned the respect of the United States and the world.”  The death of Iranian blogger Omid-Reza Mirsayafi …

Norquist: Specter Will Vote No On Card Check  —  I'm attending the Capitol Research Center's Summit on 2009 Labor Issues, where Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform Vigilante, announced that Sen. Arlen Specter's office had just called him with news that the Senator will vote against card check legislation.

Larry, Larry  —  From The Hill: … I'm fine with this.  Larry is a first-rate economist with a job to do, and I wish him luck in it.  He understands what I'm saying, of course, but he's doing his best to support the official line.  —  That line now goes like this: first …

Wars, Guns, and Votes  —  The subtitle is Democracy in Dangerous Places and the author is Paul Collier.  Here are three bits:  —  Anke and I have estimated the proportion of Africa's private wealth that is held outside the region.  By 2004 it had reached the astounding figure of 36 percent …

Analysis: Campaign films may get OK  —  Analysis  —  Because a government lawyer pushed his argument as far as logic would carry it, an alarmed Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed poised to create a new exception to federal power to regulate what advocacy groups can say during national political campaigns.

Public-public partnerships  —  Matt Yglesias wants the public to be able to participate in these sweetheart deals we're handing banks.  A couple of problems I see with this:  — It's only a sweetheart deal if you at least kind of know what you're doing.

Consider This: NPR Achieves Record Ratings  —  At a time when newspapers, magazines and TV news continue to lose readers and viewers, at least one part of the traditional media has continued to grow robustly: National Public Radio.  —  The audience for NPR's daily news programs, including …

Commentary: Time for another tea party?  —  Editor's note: Jack Cafferty is the author of a new book, “Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream.”  He provides commentary on CNN's “The Situation Room” daily from 4 to 7 p.m. ET.  You can also visit Jack's Cafferty File blog.

A major difference between conservatives and progressives  —  (updated below)  —  One of the linchpins of the Bush presidency, especially during the first term (and well into the second, until he became a major political liability), was the lock-step uncritical reverence …

A time for global action  —  WASHINGTON — We are living through a time of global economic challenges that cannot be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation.  Now, the leaders of the G-20 have a responsibility to take bold, comprehensive and coordinated action …