Obama bows down to Saudi King (updated)  —  I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a President of the United States.  —  Update: See Miss Manners on the protocol.  Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch's power over his subjects.

Blagojevich, his brother, top aides indicted  —  Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, his brother, and a former top fundraiser were among six men indicted today on political corruption charges, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago announced.  —  In addition to Rob Blagojevich, 53 …

The media's giftgate  —  I know, my head hurts, too, reading the ‘coverage.’ (I'm waiting for some reporter to combine the gift ‘story’ with a detailed description of what Michelle Obama was wearing when she gave the Queen of England the gift.)  —  Aside from the fact that key facts …

Tedisco Now Leading By 12  —  As of 4:30 p.m. on April 2.  —  ALBANY—Now it's Tedisco by 12!  —  As voting machines are re-canvassed, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco has picked up 37 votes, evaporating Democrat Scott Murphy's lead in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress …

Palin calls for Begich's resignation  —  Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) called on Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska ) Thursday to step down from his seat and run in a special election in the wake of the Justice Department's decision to drop corruption charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

Gingrich warns of third party in 2012  —  (CNN) — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is warning of a third party mutiny in 2012 if Republicans don't figure out a way to shape up.  —  “If the Republicans can't break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would …

April Fools: Ann Coulter falls for fake Obama NASCAR story … In her April 1 column, Ann Coulter fell for a fake April Fools' Day article by Car and Driver magazine that claimed that President Obama has ordered General Motors and Chrysler to cease their participation in NASCAR because it is an “unnecessary expenditure.”

Department of awful statistics  —  Every time you find yourself saying that there must be some causal relationship between two strongly correlated variables, you should go back and look at this graph:  —  As Atlantic Business contributor Derek Lowe, from whom I stole that graph, notes,

Tobacco regulation approved by House  —  The House today voted to give the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented powers to regulate the tobacco industry, after years of crusading by anti-smoking groups for the government to exert more control.  —  The measure would allow the FDA to reject …

Detention at Afghan Base Is Subject to U.S. Courts  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that some prisoners held by the American military in Afghanistan have a constitutional right to challenge their imprisonment in United States civilian courts, delivering a rebuke to a claim …

Public Knows Basic Facts About Financial Crisis  —  More Know Unemployment Rate than Dow Average  —  The latest Pew Research Center News IQ survey finds the American public reasonably well-informed about a number of basic facts pertaining to the current economic situation.

Paterson Bids Rush Limbaugh Farewell  —  Rush Limbaugh is fed up with taxes in New York and with Gov. David A. Paterson in particular.  The radio talk-show host denounced the so-called millionaires' tax in the new state budget and then announced on the air this week that he would be packing up and leaving town.

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.  —  While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.  —  FOXNews.com

Lincoln-Kyl Estate Tax Amendment is Both Unnecessary and Unaffordable  —  Senators Blanche Lincoln and Jon Kyl will offer an amendment to the Senate budget resolution to substantially weaken the estate tax, by going well beyond President Obama's proposal to make the 2009 estate tax rules permanent.

Terry McAuliffe not laughing at Huckabee joke  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Terry McAuliffe, the jovial former chairman of the Democratic National Committee now running for governor in Virginia, is not laughing at one of Mike Huckabee's jokes.  —  During a recent appearance on behalf of Bob McDonnell …

WHO'S MISSING FROM THE G-20 PHOTO OP?  —  The male spouses, that's who.  Check out this photograph of the G-20 spouses.  Conspicuously absent are Néstor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina and husband of that nation's current leader, Cristina Kirchner, as well as Joachim Sauer …

Causes of the Oil Shock of 2007-08  —  I will be presenting my latest research paper, “Causes and Consequences of the Oil Shock of 2007-08”, at a conference today at the Brookings Institution.  Here I review some results from that paper about what caused oil prices to rise so spectacularly …

Army searches for Bat Ayin terrorist  —  Article's topics: Terror Attack, Bat Ayin, West Bank, Gideon Ezra, IDF  —  The army has “a lead” in the search for the perpetrator of the deadly terror attack in Bat Ayin in which 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ was murdered and another boy, 7, was wounded, an IDF officer said Thursday.

Nihilism And Gay Marriage  —  Sometimes you can't say it better than the people who are going through it.  From Andrew, who I will quote at length: … That last point about paranoia is key, and it really defines, not just anti-Semitism, but bigotry itself.

White House Corrects Conference Call Number After Directing Reporters to Sex Line  —  In a press release, the White House accidentally listed a phone sex number for journalists seeking an “on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones to discuss the NATO summit.”

Bricka Bracka Firecracker, Sis Boom Bah!  —  The century-old Russell Senate Office Building, a palace of marble and granite where lawmakers have examined everything from the Titanic to Watergate, is not ordinarily a spot for political rallies.  But these are not ordinary times.

Pulp Nonfiction  —  Two years in Washington have started to make me feel jaded.  I've come to expect that even nobly conceived laws will be manipulated and distorted for private ends.  But once in a while I hear a story that gives me the queasy feeling that I'm nowhere near cynical enough.

Should Norm Coleman Concede?  —  In the two days since a three judge state panel handed Norm Coleman a major setback in his election contest against entertainer Al Franken (D) the former Minnesota senator has made clear that he has no plans to declare defeat anytime soon.