Obama Refuses to Dine With Jewish Leader  —  Do you remember when Jesse Jackson said that under Obama Jews would lose all of their clout?  —  He was right.  —  (Top left clockwise) Barack and Michelle Obama and radical Leftist anti-Israel Professor Edward Said at a May 1998 Arab community event …

Maddow takes full-page ad in Boston to say she's still not running  —  An ad slated for the Boston Globe.  (Click for full jpg or pdf.)  —  People in Massachusetts picking up their morning papers today may spot an open letter from Rachel Maddow.  The full-page ad explains that she's …

Frum thinks critique of GOP led to boot — 2 big bipartisan bashes — Chris Matthews, cornered — HHS Secretary is vastly more powerful — Jackie Calmes to White House beat — Kimberly Dozier to AP  —  FIRST LOOK: Valerie Jarrett is Jake Tapper's exclusive guest Sunday as he begins four months of interim-hosting of “This Week.”

Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job  —  Tea Party activists, who are becoming a force in U.S. politics, want the federal government out of their lives except when it comes to creating jobs.  —  More than 90 percent of Tea Party backers interviewed …

Going to Extreme  —  I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law.  But a few days later, it doesn't seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers.

South Korean ship sinking, North attack suspected: report  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean naval vessel with more than 100 aboard was sinking on Friday in waters near North Korea and Seoul was investigating whether it was hit in a torpedo attack by the North, South Korean media said.

Road rage, accident centers on Obama bumper sticker  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Nashville man says he and his 10-year-old daughter were victims of road rage Thursday afternoon, all because of a political bumper sticker on his car.  —  Mark Duren told News 2 the incident happened around 4:30p.m. …

Student Loan Reform  —  It's a sign of how enormous an achievement the Affordable Care Act is that the passage in last night's reconciliation fix package of the long-awaiting reform to student lending practices has become a kind of forgotten afterthought.  But this is a big deal on its own terms.

2,000 House staffers make six figures  —  Nearly 2,000 House of Representative staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income.  —  Starting salaries on Capitol Hill are still low …

Bullet that hit Cantor office was randomly fired  —  RICHMOND — A bullet that hit a window in Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's office building was fired randomly into the air, police said Thursday.  —  Cantor announced at a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday that a shot had been fired into his Richmond campaign office.

CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP  —  President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020 …

Obama hails nuclear disarmament treaty  —  The U.S. and Russia announced an agreement Friday on a treaty that will significantly reduce nuclear missiles.  —  President Barack Obama described the deal negotiated with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as the “most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades.”

In Possible Retirement, the Likelihood of an Election-Year Confrontation  —  WASHINGTON — No announcement has been made, but the widely anticipated retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens in coming weeks has the White House, Senate and lobbying groups bracing for an election-year confrontation over the future of the Supreme Court.

Beneath the Obama agenda, the Obama agenda  —  Last night, the House of Representatives passed the reconciliation fixes.  “And oh, by the way,” writes Jon Cohn, “they managed to completely revamp the student loan program along the way.  At any other time in recent memory, that would have been a huge accomplishment all its own.

Say Goodbye to Mitt Romney  —  Mitt Romney had his chance, and he blew it.  —  He was given the opportunity to establish himself as the Leader of the Republican Party on what has become the defining issue between the nation's two major political parties, and, in the process …

JPMorgan, Lehman, UBS Named as Conspirators in Muni Bid-Rigging  —  JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG were among more than a dozen Wall Street firms involved in a conspiracy to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on investments …

Harsanyi: Masters of distraction  —  The mob is furious.  And while it hollers on about “killing” bills, Republicans stoke the fury by calling on citizens to “target” races in “battleground” states.  —  Get it?  “Target.”  The violent intentions are palpable.

Justice Department Chart Shows Hundreds Of Terror Prosecutions  —  An extensive new chart compiled by the Obama Justice Department, drawing on Bush adminstration records, shows hundreds of terror suspects have been convicted in civilian courts — directly contradicting claims by Bush/Cheney officials to the contrary.

THE LIMITS OF AN EXTREME IDEOLOGY.... The Washington Post ran a profile of Mike Vanderboegh, a 57-year-old former militiaman from Alabama, who disapproves of the new Affordable Care Act.  Vanderboegh, who describes himself as a “Christian libertarian” and has been part of various clandestine militia groups …

Personal Income Drops Across U.S.  —  Personal income in 42 states fell in 2009, the Commerce Department said Thursday.  —  Nevada's 4.8% plunge was the steepest, as construction and tourism industries took a beating.  Also hit hard: Wyoming, where incomes fell 3.9%.