Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project  —  The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta …

Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter  —  WASHINGTON — Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling.  —  On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing …

Gov. Ritter Steered Stimulus Money To Ex-Employer  —  DENVER (AP) ― Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has awarded some of the state's first stimulus money to his former employer in a no-bid contract.  —  Ritter hired his former law firm, the Washington-based Hogan & Hartson …

Freshman Rep. Grayson Taken to Cleaners in Ponzi Scheme  —  Freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) lost $3 million in a stock swindle between 2000 and 2005, a Florida television station reported this week.  —  According to Orlando's Local 6, Grayson was an investor in a Ponzi scheme run by the company Derivium Capital.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT  —  Accra International Conference Center  —  Accra, Ghana  —  THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.)  I like this.  Thank you.  Thank you.  I think Congress needs one of those horns.  (Laughter.)  That sounds pretty good.  Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there.

EXCLUSIVE: Palin plans to stay in politics  —  Brushing aside the criticisms of pundits and politicos, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she plans to jump immediately back into the national political fray — stumping for conservative issues and even Democrats — after she prematurely vacates her elected post at month's end.

The Post's Editorial Writers Know Zero Economics  —  That wouldn't be a problem except that they feel so much need to expound on it.  Today, they tell readers that: “those calling for an additional stimulus package must explain why this is not enough.”  —  Wow, haven't they heard?

Obama Delivers Call for Change to a Rapt Africa  —  CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father's often-troubled home continent on Saturday as a potent symbol of a new political era but also as a messenger with a tough-love theme: American aid must be matched by Africa's responsibility for its own problems.

Congress Suddenly Remembers It Can Cut Off Funds  —  Every once in a while, Congress remembers things it can do when an administration tries to ignore laws Congress has written.  But it must be weird for President Obama, the former constitutional law professor, to see it happening on his watch.

David Brooks' Strange Tale  —  I don't know if David Brooks had a couple of drinks at lunch or not, but he went on MSNBC this afternoon and claimed that he had once sat through an entire dinner with a Republican U.S. Senator's hand in his lap.  BROOKS: You know, all three of us spend a lot …

The new Report on illegal spying is not a real investigation  —  The Bush-era torture regime might have been that administration's most flamboyant act of criminality, but its illegal NSA warrantless eavesdropping program (and other still-unknown surveillance programs) has always been the clearest.

House Health Bill Relies on Wealth Tax  —  WASHINGTON — House Democrats plan to pay for their health-care legislation with a big tax increase on wealthy households, aiming to raise $540 billion over the next decade with a package of surtaxes on families making $350,000 or more.