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 …

Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could ‘tip over and capsize’  —  Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.  —  Johnson expressed his worries during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget Friday.

USA fumes over politics  —  WASHINGTON — Seven months before the midterm elections, Americans seem disaffected about nearly everything political.  —  A majority disapprove of both political parties, their leaders and most members of Congress, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.

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 …

Liberal groups demand GOP apology  —  Three liberal groups will drop off a petition at the Republican National Committee's headquarters Thursday, urging conservative leaders to “take responsibility” for threats and incidents of vandalism against Democrats.  —  The event is being organized …

Obama's Census form: ‘First grandma’  —  There's a place on that Census form due today for other people, beyond the immediate family, living in the household.  —  President Barack Obama, who filled out his and turned it in this week, made sure that the First Grandma in residence at the White House was duly recorded.

Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretapping Program Illegal  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration's effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed …

Stall, Baby, Stall — By: Sarah Palin  —  Many Americans fear that President Obama's new energy proposal is once again “all talk and no real action,” this time in an effort to shore up fading support for the Democrats' job-killing cap-and-trade (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) proposals.

State of the Art: David Pogue's Review of the iPad  —  In 10 years of reviewing tech products for The New York Times, I've never seen a product as polarizing as Apple's iPad, which arrives in stores on Saturday.  —  “This device is laughably absurd,” goes a typical remark on a tech blog's comments board.

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:

Democrat Boxer warns colleagues: Don't take your seats for granted  —  Democratic incumbents must be wary of taking their seats for granted this election cycle, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursday.  —  Boxer, who's facing one of the most competitive election challenges in her own career …

SUDERMAN: Whimsical FCC encroaches on First Amendment rights  —  A doddering bureaucracy whose time has passed  —  As exercises in bureau-cratic hairsplitting go, it is tough to beat the sheer audacity of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent declaration …

Administration seeks to change pay incentives at major firms  —  When the Obama administration imposed restrictions on executive pay last year at some of the largest companies the government had bailed out, officials said they were aiming to set a new standard for compensation across corporate America …

Democratic operative Steve Hildebrand goes rogue  —  On a recent afternoon in his exposed-brick office, Steve Hildebrand coolly explains why his latest target is the woman down the hall.  —  “She voted against health care because she thought it was bad politically,” Hildebrand says …

An Electoral Majority for Obama?  —  Over the last two years, there has been a massive increase in the number of people who have no place to turn except to the government.  Enactment of the Obama administration's health care reform legislation demonstrates the growing power of this burgeoning constituency …

Democrats lie low after healthcare victory  —  (Reuters) - The week after passing landmark healthcare reform and handing President Barack Obama an important victory, members of the U.S. Congress returned to their home districts for a recess to face constituents and justify their votes after the bruising legislative battle.

Complaints about Obama drive 11 percent surge in Tiahrt's office spending  —  In a year when he was saying government needed to tighten its belt to get through the recession, Rep. Todd Tiahrt increased spending on his taxpayer-funded congressional office by 11 percent, federal records show.

ACLU program will protect Muslims in FBI questioning  —  Adil Imdad, 41, moved to the United States as a teenager from his native Pakistan in 1981.  Five years later, he became an American citizen, and in 1995, he moved to St. Louis to pursue a master's degree in environmental engineering at Washington University.

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.

Why Ban Insider Trading in Credit Default Swaps?  —  Felix Salmon has a post on insider trading in credit default swaps that prompts Kevin Drum to say … I am willing to entertain the notion that credit default swaps should certainly be banned.  But I'm not sure why we should care about insider trading in them.

Barney Frank directs his staff not to talk to aide-turned-lobbyist  —  Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Thursday barred his staff from having any contact with an aide-turned-financial lobbyist.  —  In a statement, the House Financial Services Committee chairman said the normal one-year ban …

The Affordable Care act is not a “mandate.”  It's government paying for your private insurance when your employer doesn't.  —  My post on why the ACA will become popular was too long and confusing.  Shorter me:  —  The phrase “individual mandate,” though it explained to wonks …

Administration Publicly Backtracking On Civilian Trial For KSM.  —  Anonymously sourced trial balloons are one thing, but White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs put some distractingly prominent quadriceps on the notion that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged 9/11 conspirators …

Dems squeezed by health care lawsuit  —  They played almost no role in crafting or passing the new federal health care legislation, but Democratic attorneys general have suddenly emerged as prominent actors in the post-passage drama over the constitutionality of the landmark law.

U.S.-Israel C-130J agreement now awaits ‘political decision’  —  WASHINGTON — Israel and the United States have signed an agreement for the sale of the C-130J air transport to the Jewish state.  —  Officials said the U.S. Defense Department and Israeli Defense Ministry concluded an agreement …

Paterson Won't Call Special For Massa Seat  —  NY Gov. David Paterson (D) will not call a special election to fill the vacancy created by Rep. Eric Massa's (D) resignation earlier this month, according to news reports.  —  “We have some serious concerns about the financial impact …