President of Poland Killed in Plane Crash in Russia  —  MOSCOW - A plane carrying the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and dozens of the country's top political and military leaders crashed in a heavy fog in western Russia on Saturday morning, killing everyone aboard.

Haley Barbour's growing influence  —  A self-described “fat redneck” is the most influential Republican in the country in our latest Friday Line.  —  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is that rare combination of effective politician and savvy strategist, popular in his home state and revered among …

Junior Florida Republican Party staffer had $1.3 million charged to party credit card  —  She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.  —  Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister's AmEx …

Huckabee Rips Steele, Romney, LGBT Activists  —  Calls Romney's Healthcare Plan “Dismal Failure,” Compares Same-Sex Marriage to Incest  —  In an interview Wednesday, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee weighed in on embattled Republican National …

The “Kennedy Court,” only more so  —  Analysis  —  If it has been so that the Supreme Court could properly be called the “Kennedy Court,” because of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's grip on a tie-breaking vote much of the time, that may well be even more so when the Justices open a new Term next October.

Dawn Johnsen, Key Obama Justice Nominee, Withdraws Her Nomination  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Dawn Johnsen, the president's appointment to the Office of Legal Counsel whose nomination has lingered in Congressional limbo for more than a year, has officially withdrawn her candidacy for the post …

15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America  —  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  Cliché, sure, but it's also more true than at any time since the Gilded Age.  —  The poor are getting poorer, wages are falling behind inflation, and social mobility is at an all-time low.

Tax day: $160-billion relief, and counting  —  More than $160 billion in tax relief has been granted to families and businesses under the American Recovery and Reinvetment Act signed into law last year, Presdent Barack Obama announced today with a radio address near the eve of Tax Day.

MSNBC Colleagues Laugh at Dimwit Norah O'Donnell  —  MSNBC laughingstock Norah O'Donnell broke out the racial radar this morning by making some lame assertions that Newt Gingrich's criticism of Barack Obama was somehow racist.  Yes, it's come to this in America.

Grayson crashes local GOP meeting, tells Orange mayoral critic “take a walk”  —  U.S. Rep Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, walked in on an Orange County Republican Executive Committee meeting Thursday night at a Perkins restaurant and got into a confrontation with county mayoral candidate Matthew Falconer …

Afghanistan and the Decline of American Power  —  President Karzai's anti-American shift is a statement about the standing of the Obama administration in the region.  —  President Obama's “war of necessity” in Afghanistan increasingly has to it the mark of a military campaign disconnected from a bigger political strategy.

URGENT: Stop CNN From Airing Deficit Propaganda  —  This weekend, CNN is giving four hours of free airtime to the leading propagandist fanning the flames of deficit hysteria, Pete Peterson, along with his lackeys.  Bloggers and online activists are joining today to promote this action: