Stolen Cessna Pursued by Jet Fighters Lands on Highway  —  Pilot Took Off Running After Landing Plane, Officials Say  —  A Cessna stolen from a Canadian flight school landed on a Missouri highway late today, after being pursued for hours across the Midwest by fighter jets ready to shoot it down if it was determined to be a threat.

Report Calls CIA Detainee Treatment ‘Inhuman’  —  Medical officers who oversaw interrogations of terrorism suspects in CIA secret prisons committed gross violations of medical ethics and in some cases essentially participated in torture, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded …

Poll: Obama Approval Hits New High - 66%  —  CBS/NY Times Survey Finds Most Believe World Leaders Respect President, Though They Maintain U.S. Is Not Respected Overall  —  (CBS) As President Obama concludes his well-publicized trip to Europe, Americans are more positive about the respect accorded …

Official: Man freed amid Obama murder ‘hoax’  —  Anonymous e-mail sparked arrest of ‘mentally disturbed’ suspect in Turkey  —  ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish police detained a man after receiving a hoax tip that he was plotting to kill President Barack Obama but quickly released him without charge, a government official said Tuesday.

Focus on the Family narrator arrested for luring teenage girl for sex on Net  —  A Colorado Springs man who narrates the Bible in Spanish on CDs and works in the Spanish broadcasting department of Focus on the Family appeared in court Monday in Golden on two felony counts of using the Internet …

Frank 'I'm A Member Of Dick Cheney's Fan Club' Gaffney: Obama's ‘Respect’ For Muslims Is Code For Submission  —  The right wing has been apoplectic over President Obama's words and actions while in Europe.  A large amount of their outrage has been over the fact that Obama briefly bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Administration defends Bush wire-taps  —  (04-06) 15:26 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The Obama administration is again invoking government secrecy in defending the Bush administration's wiretapping program, this time against a lawsuit by AT&T customers who claim federal agents illegally intercepted …

Lieberman-Obama honeymoon stops at missile defense  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has tried to mend his relationship with President Obama in recent months but their reconciliation hit a snag Monday over ballistic missile defense.  —  Lieberman, the self-described independent Democrat …

BEAT SWEETENERS.  —  Matt Yglesias pulls the curtain back a bit on the “beat sweeteners:” … I'm not sure this is quite as calculated as Matt implies.  New administrations tend to spark a lot of positive profiles because new administrations usher in new players whose power merits attention …

Reality hits Obama Express  —  President Barack Obama, after a lightning-quick start for his agenda on Capitol Hill, is bracing for a much slower pace and big changes in his proposals as early urgency and excitement give way to the more languid rhythms that are the norm for Congress.

Fun With Phosphates  —  The blogosphere had a few laughs last week at the expense of RedState head honcho Eric Erickson, who warned that revolution was coming and told residents of Washington state, “I'd be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots …

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 he is enjoying some success in his critical task of rebuilding the nation's confidence …

Web campaign to save bankrupt Minneapolis paper  —  WASHINGTON (AFP) — Employees of the Minneapolis Star Tribune launched an online campaign on Monday in a bid to save the Minnesota newspaper, which declared bankruptcy nearly three months ago.  —  “With the Star Tribune in bankruptcy …

When it comes to healthcare, the U.S., Britain and Canada are hurting  —  Healthcare in all three countries has the same problem.  They just feel it in different places.  —  When asked by the New England Journal of Medicine to detail his healthcare vision during the campaign …

Inhofe says Obama Defense Cuts will  —  Responds in a YouTube Video from Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a You Tube video today from Afghanistan, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, blasted an announcement by the Obama administration …

Iowa Senate leader rules out gay marriage debate  —  DES MOINES, Iowa - A key lawmaker Monday ruled out any move to overturn an Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, even as backers of that effort promised to step up pressure on the Legislature.

Political Spines of Steel  —  Earlier, in his guest column, Don't Blame The Republicans For Having Principles, Dalitso Njolinjo raised some interesting points about the difference between obstructionism and principle in the political arena.  Upon reading one of his conclusions, though, I found myself a bit too cynical to get on board.

Taleban-style law for women in Afghanistan is dropped after outcry  —  A controversial law condoning marital rape and reintroducing Taleban-era rules for Afghan women has been shelved after an outcry in the West.  —  The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that the law had not been enacted …

A MESSAGE TO THE RICH  —  The Washington Post ran a column a few days ago, in which a Mr. Joel Berg applauds the Obama Administration for reducing the amount of charitable deduction that The Rich are allowed to take when they write a check to charity.  —  Mr. Berg - who runs a charitable foundation …