Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union  —  HuffPost has comprehensive coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party protests.  Click here for the latest photos and video.  —  AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax “tea party” Wednesday with his stance against the federal government …

DFH blogger speaks at Pensacola Tea Party ... and lives to tell the tale  —  If you were following my livetweeting today from the Pensacola Tea Party, then you already know: I gave a little speech.  Hey, I'm a sucker for Open Mic Night ... what can I say?  —  Seriously — I didn't realize …

Republicans and the Tea Parties  —  The U.S. went 15 years without a federal tax increase.  —  Yesterday was Tax Day, and it was marked by large numbers of Americans turning out for an estimated 2,000 tea parties across the country.  This movement is significant.

Officials Say U.S. Wiretaps Exceeded Law  —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

Spanish AG says no torture probe of US officials  —  MADRID - Spanish prosecutors will recommend against opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the country's attorney-general said Thursday.

Napolitano Apologizes for Offending Veterans After DHS Eyes Them for ‘Rightwing Extremism’  —  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to veterans in a FOX News interview after a DHS report labeled returning troops at risk for embracing right-wing extremism.  —  FOXNews.com

Obama's huge test today: do we believe in secret law?  —  Today is the most significant test yet determining the sincerity of Barack Obama's commitment to restore the Constitution, transparency and the rule of law.  After seeking and obtaining multiple extensions of the deadline …

CNN beclowns itself  —  Call the wah-mbulance.  —  So, the Tea Party protests are “not fit for family viewing” according to one very unhappy CNN reporter, Susan Roesgen, who also fumes over what she calls an “offensive” anti-Obama sign that compares Obama to a fascist.  (And yes, I told you this was going to happen.)

America's Bad Jeans  —  On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes.  Father and son are dressed identically — running shoes, T-shirts.

Georgetown Says It Covered Over Name of Jesus to Comply With White House Request  —  (CNSNews.com) - Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS”—symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university …

“On 9/11, I think they hit the wrong building”  —  A woman participates in a Tax Day rally in Lafayette Park in Washington Wednesday.  —  WASHINGTON — The gathering in Lafayette Square, in honor both of tax day and of a generalized fury at Barack Obama, his budget, the Federal Reserve …

For Gov. Palin, a Rough Return to the Day Job  —  JUNEAU, Alaska — Before Tina Fey and “Drill, baby, drill,” there was mud season here in the Alaskan capital.  This soggy, socked-in spring has been no exception, but it sure has been different in other ways.

Obama's High-Speed Rail Plan  —  I'm watching Barack Obama's remarks on high-speed rail, which I think are excellent, but I'm more interested in the fact sheet I've gotten in the old inbox from the White House since it sheds some light on something that I and others have been wondering about—how is this money supposed to be spent?

Hair Stylist Keeps Armed Robber as Sex Slave  —  In what is either the weirdest Russian crime story of the year so far or a new low in yellow crime journalism, a female hair stylist in the Kaluga region is suspected of holding an armed robber in captivity as a sex slave for two days …

‘The Whole Meeting Was Really Kind of Creepy’  —  Hard to believe, but an NBC outlet is actually worried someone might be mean to the Dear Leader.  —  Can't have any of that.  —  When you think about it, the endless slobbering over Obama at MSNBC should more than make up for it, no?

ED GOES UNDERCOVER TEABAGGIN'  —  So my good friend Scott pointed out that for all of my talk about Teabaggin', I was strangely ambivalent about the opportunity to see one in the flesh.  Well, my inner anthropologist and innate love of freaks won out in the end.

Pentagon Closes Office Accused of Issuing Propaganda Under Bush  —  WASHINGTON — A Pentagon office responsible for coordinating Defense Department information campaigns overseas has been abolished in an effort by the Obama administration to distance itself from past practices …

Speaking Truth to Muslim Power  —  Obama does no favors to Islam by ignoring its internal debates.  —  'The United States is not at war with Islam and will never be.  In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject.