Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials  —  LONDON — A high-level Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal investigation against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales …

Do New Bulbs Save Energy if They Don't Work?  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It sounds like such a simple thing to do: buy some new light bulbs, screw them in, save the planet.  —  But a lot of people these days are finding the new compact fluorescent bulbs anything but simple.

Obama order worries speech groups  —  Free speech advocates from across the political spectrum are accusing President Barack Obama of impinging on First Amendment rights and are gearing up to take their case public.  —  At issue is an unprecedented directive that Obama …

Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers  —  President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft — though far from planted …

Krugman: the left's new anti-Obama  —  A stark image of Paul Krugman, the bearded New York Times op-ed columnist and Princeton economist, appears on the cover of next week's Newsweek, with the headline “OBAMA IS WRONG: The Loyal Opposition of Paul Krugman.”  —  Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize …

CNN in third place in prime time for first time  —  NEW YORK - CNN is poised to finish March third in the prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago.

White House Debate Led to Plan to Widen Afghan Effort  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan came after an internal debate in which Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. warned against getting into a political and military quagmire …

We Did It!  —  The good guys win!  Ayers is out!  Because you spoke out, got on the phones and sent the emails, Boston College did the right thing and told unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to take a hike.  —  Here's how the Boston Herald reports it today:

Biden: U.S. ready for ‘collaboration’  —  Vice President Joe Biden and Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner at the Progressive Governance Leaders' Summit today in Vina del Mar, Chile.  (Photo by Martin Bernett / AFP / Getty Images.)  —  by Mark Silva

Bernanke to meet with Black Caucus  —  Fed Chief Ben Bernanke continues his Capitol Hill charm offensive on Monday, meeting behind closed doors with the Congressional Black Caucus, according to a Hill aide.  —  TARP czar Neel Kashkari was expected to appear, but may have to pull out, the staffer said.

In Exposing the Identity of Mudflats, Rep. Mike Doogan Exposes Himself.  —  Anonymity is an interesting thing.  Anyone who has read my “About” page knows that Mudflats popped out of my head and on to my keyboard last May.  I, like many of you, get frustrated with my government.

OMINOUS CANARY SONGS.... Count me among the skeptical of Obama's new Afghanistan strategy.  What really worries me is what I'll call the “reverse canary” problem.  Simply put, the wrong people are too happy.  —  You're all familiar with the phrase “canary in the coal mine.”

White House finalizing plan for more auto aid  —  WASHINGTON - The Obama administration was finishing work on a plan to give more financial aid to two Detroit automakers in return for tough cost-cutting measures that will ensure the companies' survival.  —  President Barack Obama's auto …

Obama's Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60  —  WASHINGTON — At 6 in the morning, Peter R. Orszag is racing: across wet pavement for a 35-minute run, into a shower and a suit, and through a living room that looks rather like an office, the walls painted presidential gold and hung with pictures of federal monuments.

Cape “tea party” canceled; City fears too many attendees  —  CAPE CORAL, Fla. - A tea party to protest government spending and taxing is canceled.  Canceled by the government.  —  Why?  They feel too many people could show-up.  —  Lynn Rosko planned to hold a tax payer tea party at Jaycee Park in Cape Coral on April 1st.

Weekly Address: Crisis and Service  —  This week the President dedicates his address to the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota as they face down disastrous flooding.  He speaks of what the government is doing, but also stresses that times of crisis like this are reminders …