RNC “census” mailer offers phone sex number  —  A new entrant in the when-it-rains-it-pours category.  —  The Republican National Committee sent a fundraising mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone-sex line offering “live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl …

McCain: GOP hopes to sidestep veto in repeal efforts  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday backed a plan that he says would allow the Republicans to avoid a presidential veto while negating the effects of a new healthcare law.  —  The 2008 GOP presidential nominee backed a plan …

Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson worries loading too many people onto Guam could capsize the island  —  First, before you watch this short but remarkable video, a little background on Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson.  —  He's from Georgia's Fourth District.  A Washington, D.C. native …

Three Congressmen Defy GOP Earmark Ban, Face Losing Committee Seats  —  Three Republican congressmen have defied their party's decision to ban all earmarks for one year, a move that could cost them their committee posts.  —  According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Reps. Anh “Joseph” …

Liberal group march meets pushback  —  A handful of liberal groups - but only a few dozen protesters — marched on the Republican National Committee offices Thursday to denounce the threats against members of Congress during the health care vote.  —  But in an oddly Washington moment …

Returning the Census is Our Constitutional Duty  —  I'm worried about this year's census.  —  I'm not worried about ACORN rigging the count - we already succeeded in kicking them out of the census.  I'm not worried about the President's attempt to run the census out of the White House - we beat that power grab back last year.

Anarchists Plan War On April 15th Tea Parties  —  WARNING: Be on the lookout-  —  Bring your cameras.  —  Violent anarchists are planning on infilitrating and sabotaging the Tea Party Protests on April 15th.  —  The Jawa Report posted this call to arms from the violent anarchists at Infowars today:

The Professor of War  —  At 57, General David Petraeus has revolutionized the way America fights its wars, starting with the surge in Iraq and continuing into his current command, with responsibility for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Yemen.  Charting Petraeus's relentless challenge …

Barack isn't my Daddy  —  And Congress can't just rewrite the facts  —  In 1897, a bill was introduced in the Indiana General Assembly that attempted to legally redefine the value of pi (the mathematical ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter).  The Indiana Pi Bill stands …

Study Claiming Link Between Stimulus Funding and Partisanship is Manifestly Flawed  —  A study purporting to find a connection between stimulus spending and the partisanship of a district suffers from an obvious flaw.  But in so doing, it provides an example of why it's important to retain …

Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer?  Pretty Close  —  For the past week or so, I have been testing a sleek, light, silver-and-black tablet computer called an iPad.  After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential …

Pope has immunity in abuse trials: Vatican  —  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, accused by victims' lawyers of being ultimately responsible for a cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests, cannot be called to testify at any trial because he has immunity as a head of state, a top Vatican legal official said on Thursday.

A different kind of company name  —  Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google.  We've been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture.  Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM …

Republicans Move Ahead in 2010 Vote for Congress  —  Hold 47% to 44% advantage in registered voters' preferences  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters now say they prefer the Republican to the Democratic candidate in their district by 47% to 44% in the midterm congressional elections …

Investigation Shows Ensign Appealed to Company  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John Ensign sought financial backing for a troubled Nevada energy company in 2008, and at the same time he urged the company to hire his mistress's husband, according to people involved in the matter.

Debt disaster dead ahead  —  When the credit rating agency Moody's announced recently that the United States had moved “substantially” closer to losing its AAA bond rating, it largely ran as a wire brief, buried in newspaper business sections.  —  But this obscure announcement may one day be regarded …

DNC sells out first shipment of Biden healthcare shirts  —  Democrats say t-shirts that riff on Vice President Joe Biden's well-known take on the healthcare law are selling like hotcakes.  —  Organizing for America, the grassroots arm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) …

Why political science matters, ‘independents’ edition  —  David Broder thinks “independent voters” are sick of partisanship: … This is actually a great illustration of the uses of political science for political journalists.  Despite Broder's protestations to the contrary, most independents are, in practice, partisans.

The criminal NSA eavesdropping program  —  While torture and aggressive war may have been the most serious crimes which the Bush administration committed, its warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens was its clearest and most undeniable lawbreaking.  Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker …

The Evangelical “Mainstream” Insanity Behind the Michigan “End Times” Militia  —  A federal prosecutor in Michigan says authorities decided to arrest members of the Hutaree Christian militia after learning “they were prepared to kill.”  —  When I first learned of the news I went …

New ProgressiveSpeak: Denial On Obama's Triangulation  —  Booman just can not accept that he is endorsing triangulation.  So he invents a new definition - triangulation is NOT what Barack Obama does, even though it is exactly like triangulation: … All of this is a prelude to Booman tying himself …

The War on Terror-Bush Without the Stetson — By: Victor Davis Hanson  —  There is much to criticize about President Obama on foreign policy, but increasingly, despite all the “reset button” rhetoric and the obligatory nods to the Left, his anti-terrorism policies are becoming near identical extensions …

Hoarding, Not Hiring: Corps.  Stockpile Cash  —  Reluctant to Spend or Expand, U.S. Companies Are Sitting on a Record $1.6 Trillion  —  Hopes are running high that Friday's jobs data will bring happy news.  —  Economists predict the Labor Department will announce that 190,000 jobs were added in March, according to a Reuters poll.

Full results (pdf)  —  According to the poll, Democrats have some ground on health care, but not as much as on the economy.  In August, 51 percent thought that Democrats would do a better job with health care reform than the GOP.  That's now down to 48 percent, but it's still slightly higher …

The Best-Covered News Story, Ever  —  This week's On the Media laments the low quality of press coverage in health care reform.  It's certainly easy to find examples of shoddy journalism and public ignorance to bolster this charge.  Every night, one could watch cable TV screamers trafficking …

Those Ignorant, Racist Tea-Baggers; Meredith Shakes Her Broomstick  —  Those Ignorant, Racist Tea-Baggers  —  “The collective IQ of Searchlight, Nevada plunged over the weekend as the Tea Party Tart, Sarah Palin, brought her flannel-and-flapjacks followers to Harry Reid's hometown.