GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups  —  Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away …

‘US special squad killed Benazir’  —  NEW YORK (Online) - Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GREEN MILE  —  *** The Green Mile: In covering this young Obama administration, the news never seems to stop, does it?  A day after President Obama discussed Iran and Middle East peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he today will unveil new regulations on auto emissions …

Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers  —  Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full.  Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards …

CNN Poll: Pelosi facing Gingrich-like approval ratings  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Nancy Pelosi continues to face a firestorm over what she may have known about aggressive government interrogation techniques, and when, a new survey has more unpleasant news for the House Speaker.

MPs' expenses: Michael Martin ‘to stand down’  —  Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, will this afternoon announce that he is to stand down over the MPs' expenses scandal.  —  Mr Martin is expected to inform MPs of his departure in a statement to the Commons at 2.30pm …

Netanyahu stands firm against demands from Obama  —  Israel stood firm against demands from Barack Obama on Monday to cease the construction of Jewish settlements and embrace the “two-state solution” to achieving peace in the Middle East.  —  Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister …

Palin camp eyed Clinton alliance  —  In an unusual attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent families in American politics, John Coale, a Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee …

CIA Officials Fear That New Rules May Hinder Interrogations  —  Intelligence Officials Privately Warn That New Rules May Hinder Their Interrogations  —  Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself …

Obama Avoids Test on Gays in Military  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to accept an appeals-court ruling that could undermine the military's ban on service members found to be gay.  —  A federal appeals court in San Francisco last year ruled that the government must justify …

Poll: Reid's re-election numbers don't add up  —  CARSON CITY — Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.  —  About a third of the state's voters …

Talk of insurance mandate growing  —  Health care could soon go the way of the automobile, with users having no choice but to buy insurance coverage.  —  Within four years, every American could be required to own health insurance or pay their way through tax penalties.

LEARNING THE WRONG LESSONS.... I don't want to dwell on the controversy surrounding Maureen Dowd using content from TPM without attribution, but some on the right are using the incident to draw the wrong conclusion.  A prominent conservative site called Hot Air, a project created by Michelle Malkin …

U.S. airstrikes in Pakistan called ‘very effective’  —  LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — U.S. airstrikes aimed at al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been “very effective,” with few civilian deaths as a result, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Monday in a rare public acknowledgment of the raids.