Hillary Clinton Questions Dick Cheney's Credibility  —  ABC News' David Chalian Reports: Hillary Clinton stepped directly into the middle of this week's political fray when she questioned former Vice President Dick Cheney's credibility on the torture memos recently released by the Obama administration.

Report: Abusive tactics were used to find Iraq-al Qaida link  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime …

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 …

Levi Johnston's shockingly candid answers to CNN's Larry King  —  Well, once again Larry King's bookers have got the big get — Levi Johnston is scheduled to be on the CNN show tonight, unless his pickup breaks down in Saskatchewan.  —  It's billed as an “exclusive” — at least for this week.

Earth Day Philly Style  —  Environmentalist Loved Planet, Murdered Girlfriend  —  Today is Earth Day, a holiday created to honor the planet and to raise the consciousness of man's effect on the environment.  Philadelphia has a very strong tie to this day.

The border for dummies  —  Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job?  She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.  —  In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC …

Obama misread Cuban offer, Castro says  —  HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — President Obama misinterpreted Cuban President Raúl Castro's offer to start talks with the United States, Castro's brother Fidel said Wednesday, appearing to dismiss the U.S. leader's call for Cuba to release political prisoners.

First Movers  —  Bronnenberg, Dhar and Dube report on first mover advantage in consumer packaged goods brands: … Tyler Cowen remarks: … This reminds me of Andrew Gelman's map of Starbucks vs Wal-Mart.  Here's Starbucks:  —  And here's Wal-Mart:  —  You see some of the stereotype …

Who's More Popular Than Republicans These Days?  —  Yes, stealing this blatantly off of a liberal website, but it explains why the White House is so confident and has so much breathing room: As Chris Bowers writes: “A new CNN poll has found that Venezuela — an anti-American, socialist-block forming …

Democrats Consider Bypassing G.O.P. on Health Care Plan  —  WASHINGTON — With solid majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats are tempted to use their political muscle to speed passage of health care legislation with minimal concessions to the Republican minority.

$%^&*!!: 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?”

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 …

New Guinea Tribe Sues The ‘New Yorker’ For $10 Million  —  They challenge a story depicting them as rapists, murderers and pig thieves.  —  In an April 21, 2008, New Yorker story, “Vengeance Is Ours,” Pulitzer Prize-winning geography scholar Jared Diamond describes blood feuds that rage …

EXPLAINING THE LACK OF OUTRAGE.... Jonathan Martin has a fairly long, 1,600-word piece today, exploring why President Obama is largely unaffected by the controversies the right has tried to gin up. … Martin, trying to get to the bottom of this, considers a few angles, including the lack …

Leahy Will Defy Obama to Pursue Bush-Era Torture Inquiry  —  ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: Sen. Patrick Leahy pledged today that if he cannot get the votes to create a bipartisan commission to investigate U.S. torture policy under former President George W. Bush …

Dozens of Prisoners Held by CIA Still Missing, Fates Unknown  —  Last week, we pointed out that one of the newly released Bush-era memos inadvertently confirmed that the CIA held an al-Qaeda suspect named Hassan Ghul in a secret prison and subjected him to what Bush administration lawyers called “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Matt Drudge — Nowhere Man?  —  (Photo by Jenny Zeiner for Washington Post)  —  Loyal Fix readers know that we follow the movements of one Matt Drudge — and his eponymous Web site — quite closely.  —  Why?  Because, despite any number of critics across the media sphere …

ABC News Exclusive: Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh  —  Police in Uniform Join In as Victim Is Whipped, Beaten, Electrocuted, Run Over by SUV  —  A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips …

Will The Tea Parties Matter?  —  The elite media tried to ignore us.  —  The government labeled us “extremists.”  —  But on April 15, more than one million Americans came together, spontaneously, to defend fairness and freedom.  —  I know because Callista and I were there.  Here is our story.

When Hope is the Enemy of Change  —  The environment is having a rough go of things in the polls.  —  A Pew survey in January showed a precipitous 15-point decline in the number of American adults who describe global warming as a ‘top priority’.  Meanwhile, a Gallup poll released …