An obscene insult  —  The star hosts of CNN and MSNBC news shows have notoriously derided the tea party demonstrations around the country with reference to the practice of teabagging (which I had never heard of before they brought it up).  As John noted, both networks' “journalists” …

Minnesota's Missing Votes  —  Some Senate absentee ballots are more equal than others.  —  Meanwhile, back in the Minnesota Senate recount, the three-judge panel reviewing the race has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner.  Republican Norm Coleman intends to appeal to the state's Supreme Court …

Chavez Gifts Obama With Book That Assails U.S. for Exploiting Latin America  —  At President Obama's meeting with the heads of South American countries this morning, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stood, walked over to him, and presented him with a copy of “Open Veins of Latin America …

Iran Sentences American Journalist to 8 Years in Prison  —  A revolutionary court has sentenced an Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, to eight years in prison after convicting her of spying for the United States, her lawyer said Saturday.  —  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Counting Mexico's Guns  —  President Obama says 90 percent of Mexico's recovered crime guns come the U.S. Not true.  —  There's no dispute that thousands of handguns, military style rifles and other firearms are purchased in the U.S. and end up in the hands of Mexican criminals each year.

NATO frees pirate hostages, Belgian ship seized  —  MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail a “mother ship” attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said.

Barrett booed at Greenville Tea Party  —  CONGRESSMAN, GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, SUFFERS WRATH OF ANGRY CROWD FOR VOTING FOR BAILOUT, SUPPORTING STIMULUS  —  The message from folks in Greenville to Congressman Gresham Barrett was clear Friday evening: Voters are mad about the $700 billion bailout …

Politico's understanding of journalistic anonymity  —  (updated below)  —  In a Politico article discussing Obama's decision to release the OLC torture memos, Mike Allen granted anonymity to “a former top official in the administration of President George W. Bush” to enable that official …

Jobless Rate Climbs in 46 States, With California at 11.2%  —  California and North Carolina in March posted their highest jobless rates in at least three decades, as unemployment increased in all but a handful of states during the month, the Labor Department said Friday.

UN expert criticizes US torture decision  —  VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian newspaper quotes the U.N.'s top torture investigator as saying President Barack Obama's decision not to prosecute CIA operatives who used questionable interrogation practices violates international law.

O'Reilly: My Threat To Boycott Spain Deserves ‘Full Credit’ For Spanish Torture Investigation Being Dropped  —  Last month, torture advocate Bill O'Reilly launched a “boycott” of Spain after Spanish prosecutors were considering a probe of Bush administration officials who gave legal cover for torture.

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming ‘Religious Party’  —  Steve Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil unions and gay rights.  —  FOXNews.com  —  John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm …

More Things That Are Missing  —  A couple of other things that are missing from the torture memos:  —  First, the memos cite various legal precedents for the definition of torture.  They are particularly fond of Mehinovic v. Vuckovic, which involved “a course of conduct that included severe beatings …

Obama Administration Now has More Czars than the Romanov Dynasty: Over some 300 years, Russia was ruled by a total of 18 czars of the Romanov dynasty.  However, as David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy points out, the Obama administration has now appointed more czars than that in just three months: