Governor Signs LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom  —  AUGUSTA - Governor John E. Baldacci today signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom.  —  “I have followed closely the debate on this issue.

Meltdown: Specter stands alone  —  Arlen Specter infuriated Senate Republicans when he bolted from their party last week.  Now he's alienated just about everybody in the Senate Democratic caucus, too.  —  Since declaring himself a Democrat last Tuesday, Specter has defied Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Colin Powell Bashes Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and GOP  —  Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has once again bashed conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as well as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin while going a step further this time by piling on the GOP.

A Complicated Question  —  I had dinner once with John and Elizabeth Edwards, when he first burst onto the national scene.  —  Looking across the booth at her grinning, boyish husband, she told me that it was irritating to be married to someone so comely who looked so much younger.

Obama's Brave Burger Run; Even Takes Biden Along (And You Know How Risky That Can Be)  —  All D.C. is a-twitter with yesterday's big burger run by the White House's answer to the Venture Bros.  —  President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden jaunted off to an Arlington …

EXCLUSIVE: Secret U.S.-Israel nuclear accord in jeopardy  —  President Obama's efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons threaten to expose and derail a 40-year-old secret U.S. agreement to shield Israel's nuclear weapons from international scrutiny, former and current U.S. and Israeli officials and nuclear specialists say.

The GOP's new point man  —  By elevating Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to their top spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans have selected their chief inquisitor for President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee: a Southern, white conservative man who has drawn fire for racially insensitive comments in the past.

Tortured Logic  —  Hit me Bybee, one more time.  —  Remember the Rule of Law?  In the late 1990s, it was all the rage in conservative circles.  Having maneuvered Bill Clinton into a position where he could either lie under oath or suffer massive personal and political embarrassment …

The Confederate Legacy  —  Ed Kilgore has a very interesting post on a new trend sweeping conservative politics in Dixie—"sovereignty resolutions" that appear to assert states' rights to unilaterally invalidate federal action, a doctrine last seen in the hands of John C. Calhoun, the great antebellum theorist of white supremacy.

U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Consultations II  —  Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari  —  Benjamin Franklin Room  —  Washington, DC  —  SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, and welcome to the State Department.  This is what's called the Benjamin Franklin Room …

Bank Of America's Stress Test Now Being Spun As Good News  —  Weird.  So late last night, when initial wire reports surfaced saying Bank of America (BAC) would need to rasie an additional $34 billion, it certainly sounded like the bank would need to raise a lot of new cash.

Chrysler + FIAT = Chooch!  —  Dan Gross, in a defense of the Chrysler deal's treatment of bondholders, writes … But Gross argues it's permissable in this case, if I understand him, because thanks to government bailout money the complaining “secured” lenders are doing better than they would have anyway.

A Justice Who Is Gay  —  Two of the most qualified center-left jurists in the country are gay, and they've got friends in high places.  —  Channeling our inner Joy Behars: “Who cares?”  —  Sexual orientation won't matter to President Obama — this I do believe, based on several years of reporting on the guy.

White House puts UAW ahead of property rights  —  Last Friday, the day after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, I drove past the company's headquarters on Interstate 75 in Auburn Hills, Mich.  —  As I glanced at the pentagram logo I felt myself tearing up a little bit.

DOING NOTHING ON CLIMATE CHANGE IS EXPENSIVE.  —  My new employers sure seem to spend a lot of time publishing columnists who are critical of climate science and then publishing op-eds and arguments that essentially trash the take of the original columns.  The latest example comes in response …

EXCLUSIVE: Steele yields powers to foes in RNC  —  Accepts limits on spending  —  Capitulating to critics on the Republican National Committee, embattled Republican Party Chairman Michael S. Steele has signed a secret pact agreeing to controls and restraints on how he spends hundreds …

Eco-sailors rescued by oil tanker  —  An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker.  —  Raoul Surcouf, Richard Spink and skipper Ben Stoddart sent a mayday because they feared for their safety amid winds of 68mph (109km/h).

Elena Kagan, Radical?  —  Earlier this week, President Obama called Republican Senator Orrin Hatch to discuss the vacancy on the Court left by Justice Souter.  According to Hatch's office, the president “assured Hatch...that he would appoint a pragmatist, not a radical, to this important position.”

Old duds, Michelle still fab  —  Now that's how to dress in New York during a recession.  —  For her first visit here as First Lady, Michelle Obama recycled a wardrobe staple.  She shopped her closet and picked a Tracy Feith dress that she's worn before for a meet-and-greet at the U.S. mission to the UN Tuesday afternoon.

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Limbaugh Mocks Recession During Speech To Wealthy Right-Wing Donors  —  Last night, Rush Limbaugh came to Washington, D.C. to address the President's Club Dinner, a meeting of wealthy donors and supporters of the Heritage Foundation.  The audience included Supreme Court …

Luntz to GOP: Health reform is popular  —  Dr. Frank Luntz, a top Republican consultant on the language of politics, is warning the GOP that the American people want health-care reform and that lawmakers need to try to avoid directly opposing President Barack Obama.