The 10 punches Dick Cheney landed on Barack Obama's jaw  —  The spectacle of two duelling speeches with a mile of each other in downtown Washington was extraordinary.  I was at the Cheney event and watched Obama's address on a big screen beside the empty lectern that the former veep stepped behind barely …

Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers?  —  Kids locked out of White House; officials say they were too late  —  Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip.

RNC Launches ‘Daisy’ Web Ad  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele this week promised an aggressive new approach to opposing President Obama.  —  That starts now.  —  The RNC is launching a Web ad on Friday highlighting Democrats' divisions …

Bush: It's ‘liberating’ to be out of office  —  He gets warm welcome from group of graduating N.M. high school students  —  ARTESIA, N.M. - It was a humbling moment for the former commander in chief: President George W. Bush was walking former first dog Barney in his new Dallas neighborhood …

U.S. to Steer GM Toward Bankruptcy  —  Filing Expected as Chrysler Set to Emerge  —  The Obama administration is preparing to send General Motors into bankruptcy as early as the end of next week under a plan that would give the automaker tens of billions of dollars more in public financing …

Facts and myths about Obama's preventive detention proposal  —  [updated below - Update II (interview w/ACLU about Obama's proposals)]  —  In the wake of Obama's speech yesterday, there are vast numbers of new converts who now support indefinite “preventive detention.”

McAuliffe, LU Democrats hold call on club ban  —  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe held a conference call with reporters this morning.  —  Liberty University's Democratic party club president Brian Diaz and the club's staff adviser, Maria Childress, answered questions …

“I don't know why your husband doesn't put a gun to his temple.”  —  En route to pick up a tux for a wedding I'm attending this weekend, I flipped on the radio in my mother's car, found it tuned to the AM dial, and heard a host so petulant that he is an outlier even on talk radio.

Supermax too full for Guantanamo detainees  —  Moving any large number of terror detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Colorado's Supermax would require either shuffling current residents out of the Florence prison or expanding its capacity and resolving a long-running battle over adequate prison staffing.

McCain: Cheney Endorses Spanish Inquisition Technique  —  I stopped by to see John McCain this afternoon in his Senate office.  I haven't seen him for several months, and was glad to see that he seemed rested and ready, if not tan.  He was in high spirits, and we talked …

Blue Double Cross  —  That didn't take long.  Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform — and the double-crossing is already well under way.  Indeed, it's now clear that even as they met …

Some GOP-ers step away from Cheney  —  Dick Cheney's full-throated attack on the Obama administration has left congressional Republicans with a tricky decision: Do they embrace his critiques, even if it means aligning themselves with the most polarizing figure from the still-unpopular Bush administration?

Yossi Melman / Obama quashed Israel military option against Iran  —  Israel's military option against Iran has died.  The death warrant was issued courtesy of the new U.S. administration led by Barack Obama.  —  All the administration's senior officials, from the president to his vice president …

Citizen Spies Lift North Korea's Veil  —  With Sleuthing and Satellite Images, Mr. Melvin Fills the Blanks on a Secretive Nation's Map  —  SEOUL — In the propaganda blitz that followed North Korea's missile launch last month, the country's state media released photos of leader Kim Jong Il visiting …

Rush: Love tangle for Citigroup exec  —  It's no secret that Citigroup board Chairman Richard Parsons has been working for months to repair the financial giant.  —  But, until now, even his closest associates didn't know he also was wrestling with a personal crisis - how to tell his wife …

Creigh Deeds for Democratic Candidate for Va. Governor  —  WHO IS the best candidate for Northern Virginia?  Judge by appearances and there are two obvious possibilities in the Democratic primary for governor: Brian Moran, the former Alexandria prosecutor who served a dozen years in the House of Delegates …

Animatronic Obama Going to Disney World With High-Tech Style  —  LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama was standing on a riser inside a warehouse here, delivering an inspirational speech about the blessings of freedom, when his left index finger began to twitch uncontrollably, unnerving his aides.

Recession Turns Malls Into Ghost Towns  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Malls, those ubiquitous shopping meccas that sprang up in the 1950s, are dwindling in number, with many struggling properties reduced to largely vacant shells.  —  On the low-income east side of Charlotte, N.C. …

Outrage at Serbia ‘beating’ video  —  A young patient appears to be beaten repeatedly with a shovel (Video courtesy of Vreme magazine)  —  Officials in Serbia are investigating a rehabilitation centre affiliated to the Orthodox Church where drug addicts have allegedly been filmed being beaten.

OBAMA TO APOLOGIZE TO GERMANY FOR WWII?  —  The latest inconceivable Obamaction is yet another unbecoming apology in Europe, this time in Germany for WWII.  John Rosenthal suggests, “As bizarre as it may seem, President Obama's impending trip to Dresden suggests that German revisionists have a friend in the White House”.

Speed reader makes Hill debut  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The congressional speed reader made his committee debut Thursday — but it looks like his brief taste of the limelight may mark his Capitol Hill swan song.  —  The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce committee, Texas Rep. Joe Barton …

A Governor and His Veto Pen  —  Minnesota's illuminating budget brawl.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  'Minnesota nice" comes in two forms: the first, gracious hospitality; the second, smiling stubbornness.  Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty this week delivered his spendthrift legislature a humiliating taste of the latter.