A Top GOP Conservative Defends Pelosi, Slams Fox  —  Tom Coburn fiercely opposed Nancy Pelosi on the Health Bill but praised her as a “nice person.”  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Oklahoma town hall meeting with colorful characters and a lot of populist anger brought out an often glossed over side …

Court Rules Against F.C.C. in ‘Net Neutrality’ Case  —  WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday dealt a sharp blow to the efforts of the Federal Communications Commission to set the rules of the road for the Internet, ruling that the agency lacks the authority to require broadband providers …

Wash. man charged with threatening Sen. Murray  —  SEATTLE — A Washington state man has been charged with threatening to kill Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray over her support for health care reform.  —  Court documents say federal agents arrested Charles Alan Wilson in Yakima on Tuesday.

What Does Palinspeak Mean?  —  Why does Sarah Palin talk the way she does?  Just what is this sort of thing below? … Just forty years ago people would be shocked to read something like this as a public statement from someone even pretending, as Palin pretty much had to have been by the time of this quote …

Despite previous governors' refusals, McDonnell issues Confederate history month proclamation  —  Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do.

Massey Energy & Don Blankenship: Million-dollar Tea Party sponsors  —  Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company.  Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce.  In this speech above, he denies climate change, derisively refers to Speaker Pelosi …

Case Closed: Weapons Clearly Seen on Video of Reuters Reporters Killed in Iraq (UPDATED & Bumped Yet Again)  —  ***************Scroll down for newer posts**************  —  If the vidcaps showing weapons at the scene of the alleged “murder” of “civilians” in Iraq weren't enough to convince you …

Rudy Giuliani and Joe Scarborough Humiliate Arianna Huffington  —  Arianna Huffington stuck her foot in her mouth during Tuesday's “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, and ended up being totally humiliated by host Joe Scarborough and guests Rudy Giuliani and Mort Zuckerman.

RNC Committeeman Quits, Slams Steele  —  NH RNC member Sean Mahoney resigned his post today, taking aim at chairman Michael Steele in a strongly-worded protest letter over the committee's profligate spending.  —  “Not only has the out-of-touch, free-spending culture of Washington come …

Kirk moves ahead  —  The last two months have not been good for Alexi Giannoulias, and Mark Kirk now leads him 37-33 in his bid to be the next Senator from Illinois.  —  A PPP survey taken a week and a half before the primary found Giannoulias up 42-34 on Kirk.

Yes, Larry Summers is Leaving  —  One angle in my recent profile of Tim Geithner concerned his relationship with Larry Summers, his former mentor and the director of the National Economic Council.  I contend that Geithner, not Summers, has emerged as Obama's key adviser on financial matters, and that Summers isn't happy about it.

STORMY DANIELS SWITCHES TEAMS  —  Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who has been debating whether to run for Senate in Louisiana for what seems like decades, says she'll make her decision April 15.  More important, she announced Tuesday that if she does run — because apparently …

IRS chief: Buy health insurance or lose your tax refund  —  Individuals who don't purchase health insurance may lose their tax refunds according to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.  After acknowledging the recently passed health-care bill limits the agency's options for enforcing the individual mandate …

Reid: I'm Doing ‘Fine’ in Polls, Country's Skepticism Over Health Care Bill Has Changed  —  This is a rush transcript from “On the Record,” April 5, 2010.  This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.  —  GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Now, the most powerful United States senator goes …

NY-29: Dems Pick Zeller as Candidate  —  Multiple Democratic sources now confirm that party chairs decided Monday night that Matthew Zeller is their candidate should a special election to replace Rep. Eric Massa take place.  —  The other leading Democrat remaining in the conversation was David Nachbar of Pittsford.

Ex-U.N. envoy: Karzai may have drug problem  —  Peter Galbraith questions Afghan leader's mental stability  —  NEW YORK - A former U.N envoy to Afghanistan on Tuesday questioned the “mental stability” of Hamid Karzai and suggested the Afghan president may be using drugs.

Relax, We'll Be Fine  —  According to recent polls, 60 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction.  The same percentage believe that the U.S. is in long-term decline.  The political system is dysfunctional.  A fiscal crisis looks unavoidable.  There are plenty of reasons to be gloomy.

The National Housing Survey and the real estate bear market  —  There's a huge amount of information in Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey; I'd recommend downloading the full 117-page presentation here.  It confirms what I've been hearing anecdotally: that people still believe in housing as an investment …

White House helps keep GOP chairman Michael Steele in the spotlight  —  Michael Steele found himself back in the spotlight Monday after linking criticism of his work to his race.  —  The White House played a role, too.  —  Steele earned headlines after stating that black political leaders …

No points for guessing which game has some controversial new rules  —  The rules of word game Scrabble are being changed for the first time in its history to allow the use of proper nouns, games company Mattel has said.  —  Place names, people's names and company names or brands will now count.

ExxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009.  (Updated)  —  Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year.  “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam.

The Pope and the New York Times  —  Cardinal Ratzinger did more than anyone to hold abusers accountable.  —  Unlike the Roman papacy, in certain circles the New York Times still enjoys the presumption of authority.  So when the front page carries a story headlined “Vatican Declined …