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 …

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.

Black conservative tea party backers take heat  —  ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values.  Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement …

Volcker: Taxes likely to rise eventually to tame deficit  —  (Reuters) - The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.

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.

Yakima County man charged with threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray  —  A 64-year-old Yakima County man has been charged with threatening to kill U.S. Sen. Patty Murray over her support of the National Health Care Reform Act.  —  The FBI and local police arrested Charles Alan Wilson at his Selah home early Tuesday.

Muslim cleric Aulaqi is 1st U.S. citizen on list of those CIA is allowed to kill  —  A Muslim cleric tied to the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner has become the first U.S. citizen added to a list of suspected terrorists the CIA is authorized to kill, a U.S. official said 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 …

The 9/14 Presidency  —  Barack Obama is operating with the war powers granted George W. Bush three days after the 9/11 attacks.  —  If you believe the president's Republican critics, Barack Obama takes a law enforcement approach to terrorism.  His FBI came under fire for reading Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab …

Economic Scene: To Cut Health Costs, U.S. Needs to Learn to Say No  —  How can we learn to say no?  —  The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs.  There will be a group to compare the effectiveness …

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake  —  The U.S. Geological Survey is blaming day-to-day seismological changes for Sunday's 7.2 earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border.  But Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-medicine practitioner and transcendental meditation guru, is pretty sure he knows what really happened.

Obama Bans Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document  —  The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war.

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.

‘Riot Is the Voice of the Unheard’  —  Tea-party foe Maxine Waters once made excuses for real political violence.  —  “The Tea Party emerges as not only outrageous, but they have turned up the volume in ways that even Code Pink have not been able to do,” Rep. Maxine Waters said the other day on MSNBC.

Alan Simpson Blasts Antitax Critics  —  Former Sen. Alan Simpson is none too pleased with conservatives who say he lacks sufficient antitax fervor.  —  “I got the best damn record on no taxes of any son-of-a-bitch in the Senate,” says the blunt-speaking Wyoming Republican …

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.

Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller Dies  —  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, one of the nation's most visible American Indian leaders and one of the few women to lead a major tribe, died Tuesday after suffering from cancer and other health problems.

Palestinians Try Less Violent Path to Resistance  —  RAMALLAH, West Bank — Senior Palestinian leaders — men who once commanded militias — are joining unarmed protest marches against Israeli policies and are being arrested.  Goods produced in Israeli settlements have been burned in public demonstrations.