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.

Acting Freddie Mac CFO commits suicide  —  VIENNA, Va. — David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, committed suicide in his Hunter Mill Estates home Wednesday morning.  He hanged himself.  —  Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings tells WTOP police responded …

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 …

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 …

‘Deeper’ recession ahead says IMF  —  The global economy is set to decline by 1.3% in 2009, in the first global recession since World War II, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.  —  In January, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 0.5% in 2009.

A Pentagon Cyber-Command Is in the Works  —  The Obama administration is finalizing plans for a new Pentagon command to coordinate the security of military computer networks and to develop new offensive cyber-weapons, sources said last night.  —  Planning for the reorganization of Defense Department …

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 …

$%^&*!!: Civility and tolerance in the Age of Obama  —  My syndicated column today looks at the outbreak of Obama-esque discourse across the country.  Couldn't even mention some of the misogynist sleaze prompted by the Tea Party movement because newspapers wouln't print it.  And they call us an “unhinged mob?”

Quadrangle Facing Questions Over Pension Funds  —  Two months after Steven Rattner left Wall Street for Washington, his private investment company is facing a widening investigation into corruption in public pension funds — and fighting for its future.  —  As state and federal authorities examine …

Fuzzy Math  —  According to an MIT study, cap and trade could cost the average household more than $3,900 per year.  —  It's just another inconvenient truth: If Americans want any of the government remedies that would supposedly save a planet allegedly imperiled by global warming, it's going to cost them.

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 …

Getting It Right  —  Trade: Hugo Chavez may have gotten a grinning handshake from President Obama in Trinidad.  But it was our authentic friend and ally, Colombia, that got substance.  The president got one right.  —  Read More: Budget & Tax Policy  —  There was quite a media din …

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 …

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.