SEC Said to Vote 3-2 to Sue Goldman Sachs Over CDOs  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission split 3-2 along party lines to approve an enforcement case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to two people with knowledge of the vote.  —  SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro sided …

Black Tea Party Protesters vs. Keith Olbermann  —  A couple of months back, in response to criticism about his multiple characterizations of Tea Party activists as racists, MSNBC oxygen-generator Keith Olbermann issued this agonized open letter to his antagonists:

This Is Apple's Next iPhone  —  You are looking at Apple's next iPhone.  It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS.  We got it.  We disassembled it.  It's the real thing, and here are all the details.  —  While Apple may tinker with the final packaging …

Sen. Collins pledges to block Democratic Wall Street bill  —  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced after meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday that she will vote to filibuster a Democratic Wall Street reform bill.  —  Her announcement hurts Democratic chances …

Top GOP Officials Writing Off Crist  —  Top GOP officials in DC now believe it is a virtual certainty that FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will bolt the GOP and run instead as an independent, sources tell Hotline OnCall.  —  Over the weekend, Crist pulled TV advertisements that had been running in key markets …

THE THEOCRATIC WING OF THE GOP.... A certain former half-term governor appears to be drifting even further away from the American mainstream.  Over the weekend, appearing at an evangelical Christian women's conference in Louisville, Sarah Palin rejected the very idea of separation of church and state …

An alarming outbreak of ‘regime’ amnesia  —  Time's Joe Klein got some attention over the weekend when he said, on “The Chris Matthews Show,” that statements from Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are “right up close to being seditious.”  What received less attention was the statement immediately following Klein's …

More from Eyjafjallajokull  —  As ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano continued to keep European airspace shut down over the weekend, affecting millions of travelers around the world, some government agencies and airlines clashed over the flight bans.

Lieberman, Collins serve administration subpoenas on Ft. Hood  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) on Monday issued subpoenas to the Obama administration regarding the shootings at Ft. Hood last year.  —  The two senators had threatened to subpoena the administration …

McCain tacks right on immigration  —  Sen. John McCain has endorsed a tough Arizona anti-immigration bill that will let police arrest people who aren't carrying identification, the latest move in McCain's rightward shift in advance of a tough Republican Senate primary this summer.

The Obama Effect  —  One argument many of us made in favor of the election of Barack Obama was that he would instantly help the US recover from its nadir of global reputation in the Bush-Cheney pre-emptive war-and-torture era.  No, I sure didn't argue that this would change everything overnight …

Poll: Americans' distrust of federal government is deepening  —  WASHINGTON — Already wary of the federal government, Americans have grown even more critical, less trusting and even fearful of Uncle Sam since President Barack Obama took office, according to an exhaustive new study being released Monday.

Sen. Corker Refutes Right-Wing Talking Point: The Resolution Fund Is ‘Anything But A Bailout’  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to the Senate floor today to repeat the false assertion that the pending financial reform bill will lead to further taxpayer-funded bailouts.

FBI says 66-year-old man arrested after March threat against Rep. Brown-Waite  —  A 66-year-old man was arrested Sunday for threatening Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) last month, the FBI said.  —  The man, Erik Lawrence Pidrman, was arrested by FBI and local law enforcement agents Sunday afternoon.

Romney Does Not Support the Repeal of Obamacare's Individual Mandate  —  After Obamacare passed the House on March 21st, I was heartened by the rapid response of Gov. Mitt Romney who announced his commitment to fighting the implementation of the measure tooth-and-nail in an Op-Ed for the National Review:

Mullen's Myth of Geostrategic Equivalence  —  Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told a forum at Columbia University yesterday, “Iran getting a nuclear weapon would be incredibly destabilizing.  Attacking them would also create the same kind of outcome …

Iranian cleric: Promiscuous women cause quakes  —  BEIRUT - A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.  —  Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric's unusual explanation …

The Beholden State  —  How public-sector unions broke California  —  The camera focuses on an official of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), California's largest public-employee union, sitting in a legislative chamber and speaking into a microphone.

QUOTE OF THE DAY.... Last week, the Boston Globe talked to Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) about his opposition to Wall Street reform.  He initially explained that he disapproves of the bill because it adds “an extra layer of regulation,” but that's absurd.  Asked how the legislation could be improved …

Top Qaeda Leaders in Iraq Killed in Raid  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi intelligence officers have located and killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on Monday.  —  Mr. Maliki said the intelligence team also killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi …

North Carolina Democrats' votes against health care push labor to form party  —  RALEIGH, N.C. — A political rebellion is brewing inside an old funeral home near the state Capitol here.  Frustrated liberals and labor organizers are taking aim at the Democratic Party, rushing to gather enough signatures …

Congress may get fined by its own health-care law  —  Congress may be fined tens of millions of dollars a year under its own health-care law, in part because the bill dumps members of Congress and their staffs from their current health-care plans.  —  But no one really knows for sure what the bill does, not even the experts.

It's the demand, stupid  —  Christina Romer remembers the first time she really had to walk Barack Obama through the scope of the mounting recession.  “As I was briefing the President-Elect by phone, I found myself saying, ‘I am so sorry, the numbers are horrible.’ The President-Elect replied, 'It's not your fault.

LEAVE THE 19TH AMENDMENT ALONE.... I like to think I can take a joke, and appreciate political commentary intended as humor, but this item from Thomas Mitchell, editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, wasn't amusing.  The headline read, “Time to repeal the 19th Amendment?”