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  —  Federal prosecutors expanded their case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich today in an indictment that drew more of his closest aides into the scandal and adds new schemes to the list of charges against him: Pocketing money funneled through his wife through a phony real estate job.

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).

House Passes Obama's Budget  —  Democrats Make Some Changes to $3.6 Trillion Plan but Maintain President's Priorities on Health Care, Energy  —  WASHINGTON — The House Thursday approved a 2010 budget that includes President Barack Obama's biggest priorities, giving the president …

Hysterical: Sully denies nihilism, accuses conservatives of psychopathology  —  Quoted by Ta-Nehesi Coates: … Sullivan's finger-pointing j'accuse is enthusiastically endorsed by Coates, of course.  Amazing how these “intellectuals” — including Sullivan, who pretends to the humlity of Oakeshott — just know these things, eh?

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 …

Queen and Michelle Obama - the story behind a touching moment  —  G20: live blog |  Analysis: summit brinkmanship|  Interactive map and G20 background |  How G20 works |  Blog: who's missing from the family photo?  Video: The Queen meets her 11th President

The Mark-to-Market Myth  —  Today the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted - by one vote - to relax accounting standards for certain types of securities, giving banks greater discretion in determining what price to carry them at on their balance sheets.

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.

Jury Says Professor Was Wrongly Fired  —  DENVER — A jury ruled Thursday that Ward L. Churchill, a former University of Colorado professor who drew national attention for an essay in which he called some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “little Eichmanns,” was wrongfully terminated.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Too Absurd to Be Real?  —  PJ O'Rourke, The Weekly Standard, Febuary 9, 2009: The next great government crusade will be against soap.  The president will appoint a Blue Ribbon Commission, which will determine that soap releases polluting grime into the ecosystem, leads to aquifer depletion …

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.”

Shea-Porter Staff Seeks “Refuge” from Tea Bag  —  Taxpayer tea parties have rattled some politicians in Washington, as thousands have gathered in cities across America to object to President Obama's spending policies.  But no politician was rattled as severely as the staff of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) was yesterday.

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 …

Video: radicals beat girl, 17, in Islamic stronghold of Swat, Pakistan  —  This grainy footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten by Islamic radicals in Pakistan's northwestern region of Swat, where Sharia law was introduced after the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February.

New signs emerge that recession may be near bottom  —  WASHINGTON - New signs that the recession could be nearing a bottom emerged Thursday, as factory orders were far better than expected and the Dow industrials surged over 8,000 for the first time in two months.

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 …

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