Budget Press Briefing (Arlington, VA)  —  As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Arlington, VA, Monday, April 06, 2009  —  Today, I am announcing the key decisions I will recommend to the president with respect to the fiscal year 2010 defense budget.

Bachmann fears ‘politically correct re-education camps for young people’  —  U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she fears the Obama administration will create “re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward …

New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ  —  When Congress immunized telecoms last August for their illegal participation in Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, Senate Democratic apologists for telecom immunity repeatedly justified that action by pointing …

Saudis Report Plot To Assassinate Obama  —  The Saudi Arabian newspaper al-Watan reported today that Turkish security services have arrested a man of Syrian origins Friday in connection with a plot to assassinate President Barack Obama during his current visit to Turkey.

The Geithner-Summers Plan is Even Worse Than We Thought  —  Two weeks ago, I posted an article showing how the Geithner-Summers banking plan could potentially and unnecessarily transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth from taxpayers to banks.  The same basic arithmetic was later described …

A.P. to Take On Web Aggregators  —  Taking aim at the way news is spread across the Internet, The Associated Press said on Monday that it will demand that Web sites obtain permission to use the work of The A.P. or its member newspapers, and share revenue with the news organizations, and that it will take legal action those that do not.

The Apology Tour: Will It Ever End?  —  Earlier today, President Obama addressed the Parliament of Turkey.  What made news were his positive references to Islam: … This is, of course, indistinguishable from many similar pronouncements that were made by President Bush.

Lincoln Says She Will Vote Against Employee Free Choice Act  —  Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., told a Monday meeting of the Little Rock Political Animals Club that she will oppose the Employee Free Choice Act.  —  Lincoln's office said the senator will release a statement on the legislation this afternoon.

Murphy Leads by 83; Judge Says Start Counting Paper Ballots on Wednesday, Finish Machine Recanvass ASAP  —  ALBANY—The most up-to-date figures we can muster in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress now has Democrat Scott Murphy leading by 83 votes over Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, state and county elections officials said.

Bob Dylan on Barack Obama, Ulysses Grant and American Civil War ghosts  —  Listen to an exclusive track from Bob Dylan's new album, and read his views on US politics and history, exclusively on Times Online  —  Exclusive track: Listen to Feel A Change Comin' On

Scenes From the Real America  —  I spent Saturday at the bi-annual Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, right outside of Louisville, Ky. Gun enthusiasts of all stripes were there — from the National Rifle Association and sportsmen to militia members to white supremacists and Obama birthers.

Poll Finds New Optimism on Economy Since Inauguration  —  Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country in the 11 weeks since President Obama was inaugurated, suggesting that Mr. Obama is enjoying some success in his critical task of rebuilding …

Republicans Urging Coleman To Keep Fighting Attacked Gore Over Recount  —  The Senate race in Minnesota seems no closer to resolution than it did on election night.  With Al Franken clinging to a 225 vote lead and Norm Coleman dealt a tough setback in state court last week …

Whigs, Federalists Strongly Differ on Support for Obama  —  These are highly partisan times in America.  “Bipartisanship” (or, in the Obama nomenclature, “post-partisanship") makes for a catchy campaign slogan, but is difficult to execute upon in practice.  The White House's aspirations …

A Tale of Two Depressions  —  Often cited comparisons - which look only at the US - find that today's crisis is milder than the Great Depression.  In this column, two leading economic historians show that the world economy is now plummeting as it did in the Great Depression; indeed …

Newt: U.S. at greater risk under Obama  —  The U.S. is at greater risk of terrorist attack because of the Obama administration's actions, Newt Gingrich said Monday.  —  In a chat with POLITICO readers, Gingrich also called the administration's response to the North Korean missile launch a …

When Is a Cartel Not a Cartel?  —  This seems mighty odd to me: … It seems to me that when your trade association is contemplating cartelization schemes that are so clearly illegal that you need to keep a lawyer on hand to ensure that you're avoiding illegal cartelization schemes, you're probably contemplating an illegal cartel.

Rules of Usage  —  President Obama reminded his European audience that just because he's not Bush, of non-traditional ancestry, and named “Barack Hussein Obama,” the war on terror won't just go away (you think?).  All of which brings up interesting rules of usage with the name “Hussein” …

White House Summit In Denial On Regulating Health Care Costs  —  “Prevention” was the word of morning at the White House Western forum on health care reform in downtown LA.  —  Led by Oprah's Dr. Oz, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire, the assembled …

Is the Dollar Doomed?  —  I got an unexpected lesson in the power of the U.S. dollar during a visit to Tashkent, the dreary capital of Uzbekistan, several years back.  While heading into town from the airport, my babbling taxi driver kept one hand (barely) on the steering wheel while his other shoved …

Let Obama Sleep!  —  It's a small thing but did Robert Gibbs really need to wake Obama at 4:30 am with news of the North Korean missile launch?  We knew the launch was coming and Obama had no imminent decision to make.  Waking the president to tell him things so he can return to a troubled sleep …

Voters Say 3-1 Paterson Does Not Deserve Election, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Most Say He Should Announce Now He Won't Run  —  New York State voters disapprove 60 - 28 percent of the job Gov. David Paterson is doing, the lowest approval ever for a New York Governor, and say 63 …

US Recovery Is Far Off, Banks Are ‘Basically Insolvent’: Soros  —  The U.S. economy is in for a “lasting slowdown” and could face a Japan-style period of relatively low growth coupled with high inflation, billionaire investor George Soros said on Monday.  —  Soros, speaking to Reuters …

Geithner Wrong, Crap Assets Correctly Priced, Say Harvard And Princeton Profs  —  The government's official view that toxic assets are incorrectly priced due to illiquidity “fire sales” is wrong, a new study by Harvard and Princeton finance professors suggests.

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Sweeney to troopers: I'm in big trouble  —  Ex-Rep. said he was drinking at sister's home  —  CLIFTON PARK - When ex-U.S. Rep. John Sweeney was stopped by state troopers early Sunday he refused to get out of his car for a roadside sobriety tests, according to court records.