Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says  —  WASHINGTON - President Obama's national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.

Freddie Mac Official Dead in Apparent Suicide  —  The acting chief financial officer of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead in his Fairfax County home early this morning after apparently committing suicide, Fairfax police said.  —  David Kellermann, 41, was a longtime Freddie Mac executive …

How they lie: a case study  —  Did an Obama judicial nominee really express a preference for Allah over Jesus?  No, not by a long shot  —  From the second I read the sentence, I knew there was something fishy about it.  Many years' experience in reading and then looking into rightwing canards set off …

Muslim who called for engagement with Muslim Brotherhood to advise White House  —  Mogahed, along with John Esposito, cooked the results of a Gallup survey of Muslims to increase the number of “moderates.”  —  Mogahed was also a member of U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, which called for engagement with Muslim Brotherhood.

Court Debates Strip Search of Student  —  WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court spent an hour on Tuesday debating what middle school students are apt to put in their underwear and what should be done about it.  —  Justice Stephen G. Breyer, for instance, said it struck him as …

Fidel Castro says Obama misinterpreted his brother's remarks  —  The former Cuban president rejects suggestions that the island should free political prisoners or cut taxes on remittances from the U.S.  —  HAVANA — Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said President Obama misinterpreted remarks …

Shirtless Obama to appear on magazine cover  —  (CNN) - It's not every day a President of the United States lands shirtless on a magazine cover.  —  But the May issue of Washingtonian Magazine, to hit newsstands Wednesday, is causing a bit of a sizzle inside the beltway.

THE POLIITICAL LEFT: UNITED IN HATE WITH AMERICA'S FOES  —  Cliff May reminds us that there is a reason why the political left in this country has made common cause with Militant Islamists: … In the few short months that the dedicated leftist Barack Obama has been in the White House …

RFK Jr. Blasts Obama as ‘Indentured Servant’ to Coal Industry  —  Critics Say Clean Coal Is a Boondoggle; ‘Clean Coal Is a Dirty Lie’  —  “Clean coal is a dirty lie,” says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it …

Israel Puts Iran Issue Ahead of Palestinians  —  JERUSALEM — The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehran's rising influence in the region …

To Tweet or Not to Tweet  —  Alfred Hitchcock would have loved the Twitter headquarters here.  Birds gathering everywhere, painted on the wall in flocks, perched on the coffee table, stitched on pillows and framed on the wall with a thought bubble asking employees to please tidy up after themselves.

The Re-Education of Tim Geithner  —  In his worst moments, when the camera lights are ­burning and the doubt, the contempt, in the Capitol Hill hearing rooms become palpable, Tim Geithner has a look in his eye—at once wary and alarmed, even as he speaks quickly, sometimes interrupting, sometimes repeating his talking points.

Fertility expert: ‘I can clone a human being’  —  Controversial doctor filmed creating embryos before injecting them into wombs of women wanting cloned babies  —  A controversial fertility doctor claimed yesterday to have cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs …

White House Cheat Sheet: The Gore-acle's Influence  —  Former vice president Al Gore has emerged as a key behind-the-scenes counselor to the White House and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate on a variety of issues including his trademark push to curb global warming.

Obama Blames America  —  Demonizing Harry Truman may not play well with voters.  —  The president of the United States has completed another outing abroad in his now standard form: as the un-Bush.  At one stop after another — the latest in Latin America, where Hugo Chávez expressed wishes …

Stopping Dem 60 ‘real hard,’ Cornyn fears  —  The man in charge of electing more Republicans to the Senate said it will be difficult to stop the Democrats from winning a 60-seat majority in 2010.  —  Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the new head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee …

Democrats Hysterical Over Tea Party Republicans  —  By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog  —  Why is the left so angry?  It's a question posed by columnist Byron York today, and he's got a great point.  With control of House, Senate, and White House, you'd think they'd be sitting on top of the world.

Matt Drudge Goes Into Hiding  —  Days after Matt Drudge popped up to tell New York magazine about how he doesn't enjoy having sex with men, The New Republic looks into his descent into Howard Hughes-like isolation.  —  As Gabriel Sherman puts it, Drudge fears the media …

For Housing Crisis, the End Probably Isn't Near  —  The closest thing to a real estate crystal ball in the last few years has been the house auctions that are regularly held around the country.  —  In 2006 and early 2007, the official housing statistics were still showing that house prices were holding up.

Somali pirate's smile turns to tears; could face life  —  Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, right, cries as the judge asks his lawyer, Phillip Weinstein, about Muse's age in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday.  The judge ruled he could be tried as an adult.  —  A Somali sea bandit wept as he was hit …

Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet  —  HATFIELD, England - In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in Tuesday on two places that look awfully familiar to home.  One is close to the right size.  The other is in the right place.