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).

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.

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.

Immigration Agency's Revised List of Deaths in Custody  —  The document that follows, “List of Detainee Deaths since October 2003,” is the government's latest account of deaths in immigration detention, through Feb. 7, 2009.  Compiled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and obtained …

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 …

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.

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.”

Bailed-out banks eye toxic asset buys  —  By Francesco Guerrera in New York and Krishna Guha in Washington  —  US banks that have received government aid, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, are considering buying toxic assets to be sold by rivals under …

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 …

A little bit of careful thinking - and why Krugman's despair is misplaced  —  I am not an economics academic.  I gave that game away for the lure of lucre and funds management.  But this job throws up more than a few ideas for publishable economics papers - whereas when I was a student I was desperately short good ideas.

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.

Dignitas founder plans assisted suicide of healthy woman  —  The founder of the Swiss assistedsuicide clinic Dignitas was criticised yesterday after revealing plans to help a healthy woman to die alongside her terminally ill husband.  —  Ludwig Minelli described suicide as a “marvellous opportunity” …

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.