Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

Big announcement coming from Hutchison  —  U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Wednesday in San Antonio and is expected to announce whether she will stay in the Senate for the rest of her term.  —  Sen. John Cornyn, her fellow Texas Republican …

Growing ‘Frustration’ With Steele Inside RNC  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele “allowed a certain climate to exist” that resulted in the committee paying for a now infamous visit to a Los Angeles strip club, a senior RNC committeeman tells Fox News.

Charles Johnson “Fairly Sure” the Tennesee State Flag is a Neo-Nazi Logo...  And I'm fairly sure the Husky Ponytailed Blogger's a washed-up has-been...  The link he provides goes to this picture:  —  Umm yeah, that's the Tennesee state flag...  FAIL.

Lady Gaga Versus Mideast Peace  —  Are settlements more offensive than pop stars?  —  Pop quiz—What does more to galvanize radical anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world: (a) Israeli settlements on the West Bank; or (b) a Lady Gaga music video?  —  If your answer is (b) …

Countdown Tops CNN Again, But Rates Better Without Olbermann  —  MSNBC continues its dominance of CNN during prime time as the 2nd place cable news outlet, while CNN remains ahead during dayside hours (with Fox News dominating in 1st place in both categories).

The Numbers Don't Lie  —  A Democratic senator I can't name, who reluctantly voted for the health-care bill out of loyalty to his party and his admiration for Barack Obama, privately complained to me that the measure was political folly, in part because of the way it goes into effect …

Corker Won't Back Financial Bill  —  WASHINGTON—Republican Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday he “absolutely cannot support” a bill written by Senate Democrats to overhaul financial regulations unless changes are made, clouding the outlook for a bipartisan measure.

EXCLUSIVE: Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA ‘Intelligence Coup’  —  Shahram Amiri Disappeared Last June in Saudi Arabia, Reportedly Now Resettled in the United States  —  An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances …

Militia Probe Included Undercover FBI Agent  —  An undercover agent was part of the federal investigation of a Michigan-based Christian militia group that allegedly planned to spark an uprising against the government by killing police officers, court documents show.

Jaime Escalante dies at 79; math teacher who challenged East L.A. students to ‘Stand and Deliver’  —  He became America's most famous teacher after a 1988 movie portrayed his success at mentoring working-class pupils at Garfield High to pass a rigorous national calculus exam.  He died of cancer.

Evan Coyne Maloney remembers  —  Evan Coyne Maloney is the documentary filmmaker and proprietor of Brain Terminal.  During the Bush administration, Evan was out in the field with his camera observing protests and interviewing protesters.  He is therefore in a good position to recall the signs …

NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits  —  NASA can put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was back then.

Barack The Good  —  The big government liberalism that Mr. Obama uses to make himself history-making also alienates him in the center-right America of today.  —  It has to be acknowledged that, in his battle for health-care reform, President Obama has shown real presidential mettle.

Democrats On Top In Ohio Senate, Governor Races, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama Bounces Back From Big Negative To A Split  —  Democrats are having a mini-surge in Ohio as two possible candidates for the open U.S. Senate seat have come from behind to pass the Republican contender …

Holding back job growth?  Workers' awesome output  —  When workers become more efficient, it's normally a good thing.  But lately, it has acted as a powerful brake on job creation.  And the question of whether the recent surge in productivity has run its course is the key to whether job growth is finally poised to take off.

Two presidents visit U.S. troops: The styles of Barack Obama and George W. Bush in photos  —  President Obama made his first trip as chief executive to Afghanistan over the weekend to, among other things, visit troops close to Kabul.  He spoke to them at Bagram Airfield and we had the full text right here.

Obama energy plan would open up Gulf drilling  —  “To set America on a path to energy independence, the president believes we must leverage our diverse domestic resources by pursuing a comprehensive energy strategy,” said a statement provided by an administration official …

Should There Be an Inquisition for the Pope?  —  It doesn't seem right that the Catholic Church is spending Holy Week practicing the unholy art of spin.  —  Complete with crown-of-thorns imagery, the church has started an Easter public relations blitz defending a pope who went along …

Helping One of Our Own  —  It may come as a surprise to many of you, but RedState writers do not get paid.  Well, I do, and I forever remain guilty that I'm the guy getting the check living off the fine writing of others in this community.  Unlike many blogs, we also don't have a regular PayPal tip jar or reader pledge drives.

Google Buzz Privacy Flaw Snags Another Victim: White House Deputy CTO Andrew McLaughlin  —  It's been several weeks now since the disastrous rollout of Google Buzz's initial social networking platform.  It was on February 9ththat Google Buzz unleashed its newest foray into social media to compete with the likes of Facebook and Twitter.