Unanimous ruling: Iowa marriage no longer limited to one man, one woman  —  REGISTER STAFF REPORTS  —  The Iowa Supreme Court this morning unanimously upheld gays' right to marry.  —  “The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause …

Question that flummoxed great orator  —  Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis.

‘Congressman A’: Rahm Emanuel  —  Now Obama's top aide, ‘Congressman A’ had grant held up, indictment says  —  The White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel listens as President Barack Obama delivers remarks to open the White House Forum on Health Reform in the East Room of the White House.

Congress Approves Budget  —  $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan Paves Way for Obama Goals  —  Congressional Democrats overwhelmingly embraced President Obama's ambitious and expensive agenda for the nation yesterday, endorsing a $3.5 trillion spending plan that sets the stage for the president to pursue his most far-reaching priorities.

Obama's Ultimate Agenda  —  Five minutes of explanation to James Madison, and he'll have a pretty good idea what a motorcar is (basically a steamboat on wheels; the internal combustion engine might take a few minutes more).  Then try to explain to Madison how the Constitution he fathered allows …

Jobless Rate Hits 8.5% as March Payrolls Fall by 663,000  —  The American economy shed another 663,000 jobs in March, the government reported Friday, bringing the toll of job losses during the recession to 5.1 million.  —  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate climbed …

New frontiers in sore loserdom  —  THIS may be the first case of a politician being asked to resign over something his opponent did.  On Wednesday, the Department of Justice moved to toss out charges against Ted Stevens, the 40-year senator who was convincted on seven counts of corruption a week before the November 2008 elections.

Video: No, Obama wasn't cleaning the floor when greeting Abdullah  —  While I don't post a lot on Twitter myself, I do learn a few things by monitoring my feed.  For those wondering why the media hasn't reported at all on Barack Obama's protocol-smashing deep-waisted bow to King Abdullah …

A Rare Triumph of Substance at the Summit  —  International economic summits deserve to be regarded with skepticism: The most important decision to come out of them is usually the call for yet another meeting.  —  But yesterday's G-20 meeting in London was an exception.

Russia's Medvedev hails ‘comrade’ Obama  —  LONDON (AFP) - - Russia's Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as “my new comrade” Thursday after their first face-to-face talks, saying the US president “can listen” — even if little progress was made on substance.

Little Change in Negative Images of Bush and Cheney  —  Favorable ratings for both are at or near their all-time lows  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Neither George W. Bush's deliberate silence about the Obama administration nor Dick Cheney's ready criticism of it appear to have altered U.S. public perceptions about either man.

Free-Marketeers Should Welcome Some Regulation  —  The private sector made the biggest mistakes.  —  President Barack Obama took his proposed financial regulatory reforms to London this week for the G-20 meeting, while free-market advocates objected.  While many of Mr. Obama's ideas warrant skepticism …

CASH-STARVED TIMES COMPARED TO DARFUR  —  NEW York Times Execu tive Editor Bill Keller equated the Gray Lady to a PBS pledge drive, claiming readers have offered to donate money to keep the Times alive.  —  Keller was speaking at Stanford University to dedicate a new building for the campus newspaper …

Michelle's fashion face-off with Carla  —  It was the moment the fashion world was waiting for: stylish Michelle Obama and chic Carla Bruni-Sarkozy came face-to-face in Strasbourg.  Who came out on top?  —  Last year, we avidly followed the wardrobe manoeuvres of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

As Crisis Loomed, Geithner Pressed But Fell Short  —  Before Timothy Geithner became Treasury chief, he regulated major U.S. banks.  Now he says: “We're having a major financial crisis in part because of failures of supervision.”  —  In September 2005, Timothy Geithner made one of his most visible moves …

CDC: Rocket fuel chemical found in baby formula  —  ATLANTA - Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.

I smoke pot, and I like it  —  “The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.”  President Obama said it with a chuckle last week at a town hall-style forum.  The idea was for Obama to answer some questions about the economy submitted to the White House website.

THE STRANGE CASE OF EVAN BAYH.  —  Ben Nelson genuinely is a conservative Democrat.  The Poole-Rosenthal rankings — which most consider the leading measure of a congressman's relative ideology — have, for years, ranked Nelson as the most conservative member of the Congress.  Call him Democrat #1.

Video shows girl's flogging by Taliban  —  Mobile phone movie shows that militant influence is spreading deeper into Pakistan  —  A video showing a teenage girl being flogged by Taliban fighters has emerged from the Swat Valley in Pakistan, offering a shocking glimpse of militant brutality …

CEO Pay Sinks Along With Profits  —  The robust rise of CEO pay reversed in 2008 as shrinking profits led to smaller bonuses.  —  The median salaries and bonuses for the chief executives of 200 big U.S. companies fell 8.5% to $2.24 million, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by Hay Group …