Karl Rove accosted by ex-GOP chief of staff  —  Former Bush adviser Karl Rove was verbally accosted Thursday evening by an ex-chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.).  —  Rove was quietly having dinner at the tony restaurant Charlie Palmer Steak on Capitol Hill when he was aggressively approached …

EXCLUSIVE PIC: Clinton and Obama, in the Sandbox Again  —  Another busy day at the White House: First Lady Michelle Obama hosted students from Bancroft High School in Washington, who helped her plant and water the brand-new White House garden.  She and Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack spoke …

It's Your Country Too, Mr. President  —  In his major foreign policy address in Prague committing the United States to a world without nuclear weapons, President Obama took note of North Korea's missile launch just hours earlier and then grandiloquently proclaimed:  —  “Rules must be binding.

Both U.S. and Pirates Sending More Ships to Standoff  —  MOGADISHU, Somalia — American naval reinforcements moved toward the scene of a pirate hostage standoff in the Indian Ocean on Friday, and there were reports that the Somali pirates, desperate to get back to shore with their American captive …

GOP govs get dose of stimulus reality  —  The list of governors threatening to decline federal stimulus money last month read like a list of Republicans considering running for president in 2012: Governors Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin led the anti-stimulus charge.

Barack Obama: President Pantywaist - new surrender monkey on the block  —  President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.  You name it, he blew it.  What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit?

PETA asks Pet Shop Boys to change name  —  LONDON, England (CNN) — Just because they named their new CD “Yes,” does not mean that British electro-pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys, will agree to just about anything.  —  The band has turned down a request from an animal rights group to rename itself the Rescue Shelter Boys.

Glenn Beck — “I'm President Obama” — douses actor with gas-can contents, holds up lit match  —  You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!  —  DOWNLOAD  —  PLAY  —  Barack Obama wants to burn Joe Q. Public alive — and all because he wants to fix the immigration mess.

Breeder regrets dog sale to Biden  —  EAST COVENTRY — It was a proud moment for Linda Brown when then-Vice President-elect Joe Biden selected her kennel to purchase his new German shepherd puppy.  —  That was in mid-December.  —  For Brown, that proud moment was short-lived.

Under tyranny of everyday hypocrisy  —  The fatal flaw in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged schemes of pay-to-play politics could come down to the quid being too close to the quo.  Had the separation been wider, it would have been business as usual among politicians in Springfield or Washington.

Faith Groups Increasingly Losing Legal Battles Over Gay Rights  —  Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom.

Gov't. commits a crime against you — the taxpayers  —  I'd like to report a crime.  —  A young man was robbed on Tuesday night inside a hospital while federal security guards watched.  The victim was surrounded by seven men and women, and most of them had guns.

Media Insiders Say Internet Hurts Journalism  —  In a poll of prominent members of the national news media, nearly two-thirds say the Internet is hurting journalism more than it is helping.  The poll, conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal, asked 43 media insiders whether, on balance …

Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results  —  The U.S. Federal Reserve has told Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other banks to keep mum on the results of “stress tests” that will gauge their ability to weather the recession, people familiar with the matter said.

Socialism has failed.  Now capitalism is bankrupt.  So what comes next?  —  Whatever ideological logo we adopt, the shift from free market to public action needs to be bigger than politicians grasp  —  The 20th century is well behind us, but we have not yet learned to live in the 21st, or at least to think in a way that fits it.

More Squatters Are Calling Foreclosures Home  —  MIAMI — When the woman who calls herself Queen Omega moved into a three-bedroom house here last December, she introduced herself to the neighbors, signed contracts for electricity and water and ordered an Internet connection.

McCain's former economic adviser flips on Bush tax cuts.  —  Throughout the presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) top economic adviser and former CBO director, Douglas Holtz Eakin, argued passionately for McCain's proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts (and cut some more taxes for the wealthy on top of it).

Making Banking Boring  —  Thirty-plus years ago, when I was a graduate student in economics, only the least ambitious of my classmates sought careers in the financial world.  Even then, investment banks paid more than teaching or public service — but not that much more, and anyway, everyone knew that banking was, well, boring.

TPM: “Obama Mimics Bush on State Secrets”  —  [Updated below - Update II - Update III (Sen. Feingold's statement) - Update IV]  —  I wasn't able to post today, but TalkingPointsMemo has done an excellent job in advancing the story of the Obama DOJ's inexcusable embrace of some of the most radical Bush/Cheney secrecy doctrines.

Dissenter on Warming Expands His Campaign  —  WASHINGTON — Marc Morano does not think global warming is anything to worry about, and he brags about his confrontations with those who do.  —  For example, Mr. Morano said he once spotted former Vice President Al Gore on an airplane returning from a climate conference in Bali.