Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit  —  World leaders arriving in Washington for President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit must have felt for a moment that they had instead been transported to Soviet-era Moscow.  —  They entered a capital that had become a military encampment …

Hoyer Admits: Tea Party Spurs Members To Consider Retiring  —  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters today that the Tea Party movement is making some members of Congress mull retirement.  —  “Do I think the negative atmosphere that has been created by the Tea Party …

Source: State Dems scrambling to deploy tea party ‘crashers’  —  New Hampshire Democrats are engaged in a statewide search for liberal activists willing to attend so-called tea parties on Thursday and carry signs expressing racist or fringe sentiments, a Democratic source with knowledge of the effort tells NowHampshire.com.

U.S.: Syria Gave Scuds to Hezbollah  —  JERUSALEM—Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Israeli and U.S. officials alleged, in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East's military balance and sets back a major diplomatic outreach effort …

Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes.  Look Closer.  —  Forty-seven percent.  —  That's the portion of American households that owe no income tax for 2009.  The number is up from 38 percent in 2007, and it has become a popular talking point on cable television and talk radio.

Crist Advisers Push Independent Bid  —  Florida Governor Insists Independent Bid Isn't in the Cards Despite Conservative Primary Opponent's Big Lead in Polls  —  Gov. Charlie Crist, right, listens to teacher Scott Whittle's views on a merit-pay bill Tuesday in Tallahassee.

Democrat wins Fla. US House special election  —  BOCA RATON, Fla. — Republican backlash over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul had little effect in the nation's first U.S. House race of 2010.  —  Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch handily won Tuesday's special election …

The Curious Cook: Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap, for Some  —  FOOD partisanship doesn't usually reach the same heights of animosity as the political variety, except in the case of the anti-cilantro party.  The green parts of the plant that gives us coriander seeds seem to inspire …

First moonwalker blasts Obama's space plan  —  NBC News: Neil Armstrong says rocket cancellation is ‘devastating’  —  The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama's decision to cancel NASA's back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday, saying that the move is “devastating” to America's space effort.

Breitbart peddles misleading video, again  —  His “proof” that black congressmen lied about being called “nigger” is as useless as his ACORN clips  —  Andrew Breitbart isn't fit to spit-shine the shoes of civil rights hero and Congressman John Lewis.  It's ludicrous to think that the right …

U.S. News Rankings Leaked?  This Happens Every Year.  —  We anticipated that the new U.S. News Law School Rankings would come out this week.  That means we anticipated that the new rankings would be leaked beforehand.  It happened last year; apparently U.S. News has more moles than Jack Bauer's office at CTU.

The Price of Assassination  —  I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me 20 years ago that America would someday be routinely firing missiles into countries it's not at war with.  For that matter, I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me a few months ago that America would soon …

CNN Poll: Who wins an Obama vs. Palin matchup?  —  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that President Barack Obama would top the former Alaska governor by double digits in a possible 2012 general election showdown.  —  Washington (CNN) - She may be the best …

A cautionary note about the beating in New Orleans; Update: No Palin pins involved  —  Scroll for updates...  I'm getting bombarded with angry e-mails about the terrible assault on Louisiana GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal's campaign fundraising chief, Allee Bautsch, and her boyfriend in the French Quarter of New Orleans over the weekend.

Maryland enacts law to count incarcerated people at their home addresses  —  First-in-nation law will improve fairness and accuracy of the Census data used for redistricting  —  Contact: Peter Wagner, PPI, (413) 527-0845  —  Brenda Wright, Demos, 617 232 5885 ext. 13

Banks Fight to Block Derivatives Rules  —  Democrats Push Restrictions on Derivatives Trading; Showdown Looms in Senate  —  WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats, resisting a last-ditch lobbying push from big Wall Street firms, are moving toward a sweeping revamp of financial regulation …

76 Senators sign on to Israel letter  —  More than three quarters of the U.S. Senate, including 38 Democrats, have signed on to a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rebuking the Obama Administration for its confrontational stance toward Israel.

Obama: Makin' Friends!  —  Obama wags his finger in the face of Canadian PM Harper  —  When people wag a finger in my face, I reach out and cover their hand and say some variation of “don't say another word to me until you put that finger away.”  The variations are not always courtly, but they get the point across.

Obama Puts His Own Mark on Foreign Policy Issues  —  WASHINGTON — When he took office last year, President Obama told his foreign policy advisers that he had two baskets of issues to deal with.  The first would be the legacy issues left from his predecessor, like Iraq, Afghanistan and America's image in the world.

Pataki Declines to Join New York Senate Race  —  Former New York Republican Gov. George E. Pataki has decided not to mount an election challenge against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand this fall.  —  Instead, he said in an interview Tuesday that he would create a new national organization aimed …

Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution  —  AS the Senate awaits the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, a frank discussion is needed on the proper role of judges in our constitutional system.  For 30 years, conservative commentators have persuaded the public that conservative judges apply the law …

Peaceful Revolution: Motherhood and the $13 Billion Guilt  —  Since this month's publication of my paper “The Burden of Suboptimal Breastfeeding in the United States” in Pediatrics with Arnold Reinhold, I'm often asked by reporters what the US can do better to improve our breastfeeding rates.