Vt. legalizes gay marriage with veto override  —  FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT  —  VIDEO: House vote passes gay mariage bill .  —  MONTPELIER — Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature's vote.  —  The Legislature voted Tuesday …

‘House’ exclusive: The shocking story behind last night's big death  —  DEFCON 1 spoiler alert!  If you haven't seen last night's House, stop reading now.  Everyone else, onward and downward!  —  Here are the six things you need to know up-front about last night's House:

Franken extends lead over Coleman  —  The Democrat made a net gain today in a count of formerly rejected absentee ballots that pushed his advantage to more than 300 votes in the U.S. Senate race.  —  Democrat Al Franken today extended his lead over Republican Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate election …

Washington Post reporter calls out George Will for lying in Washington Post  — TWITTER - NEWSVINE - GOOGLE BOOKMARKS - STUMBLEUPON  —  Today, Washington Post reporters Juliet Eilperin and Mary Beth Sheridan have a piece on the alarming decline of Arctic sea ice.

The End of Philosophy  —  Socrates talked.  The assumption behind his approach to philosophy, and the approaches of millions of people since, is that moral thinking is mostly a matter of reason and deliberation: Think through moral problems.  Find a just principle.  Apply it.

Stevens Prosecutors to Be Investigated  —  WASHINGTON — A furious federal judge on Tuesday took the extraordinary step of ordering that the prosecutors who bungled the case of former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska be investigated for possible criminal wrongdoing.

Right Wing Hysterical Over Obama's ‘Not At War With Islam’ Remarks: ‘We Have Nothing To Apologize For’  —  President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world has been a welcome development after eight years of President Bush's “us vs. them” approach.  “Let me say this as clearly as I can,” he told the Turkish parliament yesterday.

In Baghdad, Obama Presses Iraqi Leader to Unite Factions  —  BAGHDAD — President Obama made an unannounced trip Tuesday to Baghdad, punctuating his week-long overseas trip with a stop to talk to American troops and Iraqi leaders.  —  Addressing hundreds of troops gathered at a military base here …

At Gun Show, Conservatives Panic About Obama  —  Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, Spring 2009 (Photo by: David Weigel)  —  WEST POINT, Ky. - The sound of gunfire rumbles and echoes from half a mile away, long before anyone can see the entrance.  The walk up to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot starts …

Bennet talks with skeptical Democrats in Fort Collins  —  Sen. Michael Bennet met with about 100 Larimer County Democrats on Monday night at New Belgium Brewing and frequently wound up giving them answers they didn't come to hear.  —  Facing a respectful but clearly skeptical audience of party activists …

Americans More Optimistic; Still Hate GOP  —  The latest New York Times poll is loaded with good news for the Obama administration and news that would be devastating for the GOP if it were ever able to penetrate the conservative-media echo chamber.  While the public is still pretty pessimistic …

Media Reports Major Defense Budget Cuts As Obama Proposes Increase In Defense Budget  —  The big news from yesterday (still settling in across Washington) is that President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates teamed up to propose a sweeping overhaul of the defense budget …

Scarborough Lies About Obama: ‘We Have A President Who Has Never Received A Paycheck’  —  This morning on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough ranted about President Obama's economic plans (even though 56 percent of Americans approve).  His latest talking point: that Obama “has never received a paycheck” in his entire life:

Savage complains that “the hemorrhoid with eyes,” presumably Beck, rips off his show, but nonetheless questions Beck's sanity  —  I love how all these cons pretend they hate eachother , maybe they do .  But all of them are the same.  Preaching hate toward our country and President.

Times Editor: Lack Of Disclosure On Merkin Op-Ed Is No Big Deal  —  Here's another one to add to the growing list of “newspapers acting badly”...  Late last month, the New York Times published an op-ed by Daphne Merkin, a contributing writer to the Times Magazine, on the Bernie Madoff mess.

Who Keeps Inviting the Bush-bots?  —  Just over four years ago, after George W. Bush was re-elected by the smallest margin for an incumbent since Woodrow Wilson held off Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, a palpable sense somehow took hold in much of the media that Karl Rove's concept of a “permanent Republican majority” had been realized.

Trouble at UCSD: We Have To Help These Kids  —  Anyone who has immersed themselves in political life knows that the toughest and dirtiest battles are not fought at the top of the food chain, but the bottom.  The watchful eyes of the media largely keep our elected officials in check …

Toxic debts could reach $4 trillion, IMF to warn  —  Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4 trillion (£2.7 trillion), new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to suggest.  —  The IMF said in January that it expected the deterioration …

Race and the Drug War  —  Last Friday, Jonah Goldberg wrote a post at The Corner arguing that there is something “unlibertarian” about opponents of drug prohibition who use claims about the drug war's disproportionate effects on blacks in an attempt to demonstrate its injustice.

Outlines of an Obama Grand Strategy Emerge  —  VIENNA — In eight days in Europe, President Obama has started down the road to remaking the global financial system, reinvigorating the NATO commitment to Afghanistan and Pakistan, reinventing nuclear strategy and restoring relations to the Muslim world.

Bunning Loses to Any Democrat  —  Political Wire got an advance look at a new Public Policy Polling survey in Kentucky that shows Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) with a 28% favorable rating as he attempts to run for a third term.  —  Bunning loses head-to-head match ups with all four Democrats considering …

Iraq shoe thrower's jail term cut  —  The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former US President George W Bush has had his sentence cut from three years to one year on appeal.  —  Muntadar al-Zaidi's lawyer argued that the sentence should be changed from assault to insulting a foreign leader.