Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire  —  · NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term.  —  The court has completed hearing oral arguments for the year and will be issuing rulings and opinions until the end of June.

Bunning poised to retire  —  Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, the most endangered Republican up for reelection in 2010, appears headed for retirement after giving his leading GOP rival the blessing to prepare to run for his seat next year.  —  Bunning's retirement would be a huge victory …

The CIA's $1,000 a Day Specialists on Waterboarding, Interrogations  —  The New Focus on Two Retired Military Psychologists Called the ‘Architects’ of the CIA's Techniques  —  As the secrets about the CIA's interrogation techniques continue to come out, there's new information about the frequency …

Tipping Point?  —  I think most of us can see that despite some painful setbacks, and likely more to come, time is definitely on the side of marriage equality in the United States.  But are we hitting some sort of tipping point under a new administration and with a rush of recent successes in several states around the country?

Donors demand refund from Specter  —  Political switch gets expensive as lawmaker's support shrinks  —  Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is prompting his campaign donors large and small to demand their money back, including several Republican senators whose political …

New GOP ad: Do you feel safer?  —  House Republicans are using images of the Pentagon burning on 9/11 and President Obama's “bow” to the Saudi leader in a video that accuses the president of making America less safe in his first 100 days.  —  But the new video has already created blowback …

Our Obligation to Investigate  —  In President Obama's inaugural address, he declared that “we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.  Our founding fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man …

Top Conservatives On Twitter FAIL  —  Ok, quick twitter post and then back to...serious...business.  Several weeks ago, those of us who (for reasons unclear) communicate with friends, colleagues, and complete strangers on Twitter, began scratching our heads when we noticed various conservatives …

Senate Rejects Bankruptcy Bailout for Troubled Homeowners  —  ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: On the same day that the White House announced that overextended Chrysler would go into a “quick” bankruptcy — its loans rewritten by a judge to emerge for life another day …

Tapper to Gibbs: Can you clarify Biden's moronic comment about subways?  —  Funny but mean in that it's a question designed simply to make Gibbs squirm.  No one can “clarify” what Greasy Joe said because what he said was perfectly clear: He's freaked out about swine flu — needlessly …

Ari Fleischer: Subpoena Me on Torture  —  Panelists Josh Rushing, Ari Fleischer, and Tina Brown, with moderator Gideon Yago.  Photo by Diane Bondareff/IFC.  —  What's the easiest way to get a roomful of media people together?  Offer them free lunch and a panel discussion on their favorite topic: themselves!

Administration Aide Suspected of Contracting Swine Flu  —  Man May Have Passed Virus to Family Members in Anne Arundel County  —  An Energy Department employee who was part of the advance team for President Obama's recent trip to Mexico is suspected of having contracted the swine flu virus …

Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild  —  Genetic data indicate this outbreak won't be as deadly as that of 1918, or even the average winter.  —  As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked …

Candidate for Georgia governorship says he'd kill his own son to secede  —  A longshot Georgia candidate for governor who's already admitted having sex with a mule before finding God says he's ready to sacrifice his own son in an effort to get his state to secede from the union.

Memo to President Obama on Torture  —  This memorandum is VIPS' first attempt to inform you on a major intelligence issue, as we did your predecessor; thus, some background might be helpful.  —  Five former CIA officers established Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) …

Petraeus: Next Two Weeks Critical to Pakistan's Survival  —  Gen. David Petraeus said he is looking for concrete action by the Pakistani government to destroy the Taliban in the next two weeks before determining the United States' next course of action.  —  FOXNews.com

A Chrysler Creditor Finds Himself Torn  —  Geoffrey Gwin is wrestling with the knowledge that the retirement plans of some 80,000 Americans may rest in his hands.  —  “I am in turmoil,” says Mr. Gwin, principal of the Group G Capital Partners LLC hedge funds in New York.

Pew: Church-Goers Like Torture More  —  They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them …

Win By Losing?  —  Via Ed Kilgore, Ed Rogers from the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations makes the point that it's basically never good to lose a Senator: … I do think it's always worth considering an alternative.  I think it's very possible that Democrats could “gain so much power” …