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.

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 …

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 …

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

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.

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).

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.

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 …

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.

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.”

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 …

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.

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

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.

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 …

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 …

Sources: Obama Plays Peacemaker in French-Chinese Smackdown Over Tax Havens  —  According to sources inside the room, President Obama just played peacemaker in a spat between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China.

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 …

Steele urged to target stimulus  —  Conservatives call for RNC session  —  Conservatives on the 168-member Republican National Committee are pressing a reluctant RNC Chairman Michael S. Steele to call a party meeting that would focus criticism on President Obama's stimulus package and its backers …

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.”

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 …

New Friends  —  This morning, Big Guy was really excited when he saw that his campaign slogan was resonating with young people over here in London.  Having that kind of affect on the his fellow youthful citizens of the world is the main reason Big O is holding town hall meetings with young people over here.

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.

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.

Eric Cantor Predicts GOP House Takeover in 2010  —  Heee-larious. … Keep praising super unpopular public figures, Eric.  Electoral gold. … Exactly.  —  What we really need right now are forward-thinking, out-of-the-box, truly untried and innovative policies, like tax cuts.

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,

Study: Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected  —  WASHINGTON - Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years.  A new analysis of changing conditions in the region, using complex computer models of weather and climate, says conditions that had been forecast by the end of the century could occur much sooner.