With No Job, Plenty of Time for Tea Party  —  SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Tom Grimes lost his job as a financial consultant 15 months ago, he called his congressman, a Democrat, for help getting government health care.  —  Then he found a new full-time occupation: Tea Party activist.

WHY HAS BARACK OBAMA TREATED NETANYAHU SO RUDELY?  “Obama would never treat the president of Equatorial Guinea that way.”  —  Possibly Obama just hates Israel and hates Jews.  That's plausible — certainly nothing in his actions suggests otherwise, really.

An Unprecedented Level of Obstruction  —  Faced with an unprecedented level of obstruction in the Senate, the President announced his intention to recess appoint fifteen nominees to fill critical administration posts.  While the President respects the critical role the Senate plays …

RNC rejects joint ‘civility’ statement  —  The Republican National Committee has rejected a proposal from its Democratic counterpart to sign a joint “civility” statement, POLITICO has learned.  —  Various members of the DNC — including Chairman Tim Kaine, Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon …

Libtalker Calls For Deaths Of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly  —  LIBTALKER: TIME TO DIE  —  Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck Targeted By Hate Rhetoric  —  While mainstream conservative talk hosts are under fire for supposedly inciting (since generally debunked) “violence” …

For Fox's ‘24,’ Terror Fight and Series Near End  —  If any one show has represented the post-9/11 era on television, it is “24,” the Fox drama that has offered counterterrorism as entertainment for nine years.  —  On “24,” torture saves lives.  On “24,” phones are tapped, plots are disrupted …

Money  —  The big obstacle to passing a new, comprehensive transportation bill is the lack of agreement over a source of financing.  The traditional source of funding for federal transportation programs is the gas tax, which, as we all know, hasn't been increased since 1993, which means its real value has fallen considerably.

‘Basically an Optimist’—Still  —  The Nobel economist says the health-care bill will cause serious damage, but that the American people can be trusted to vote for limited government in November.  —  Stanford, Calif.  —  “No, no. Not at all.”  —  So says Gary Becker when asked …

Hard Pressed, Senator Dodd Gives Ground  —  Senator Chris Dodd has good political antennae.  He knows that his financial reform bill will come under severe pressure because it has a weak heart — the provisions that deal with “too big to fail” are simply “too weak to make any sense.”