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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Tancredo: Send Obama ‘back’ to Kenya  —  Former congressman Tom Tancredo's speech at the National Tea Party was a misstep that gave organizers their only lasting, negative coverage.  At a Sunday afternoon tea party rally in Greenville, S.C., where he was the keynote speaker, Tancredo stepped in it again.

Justices Get Personal Over Privacy of Messages  —  WASHINGTON — The question in a case argued Monday in the Supreme Court sounded both irresistible and important: Did a California police department violate the Constitution by reading sexually explicit text messages sent by an officer on a department-issued pager?

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 …

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.

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 …

Comcast Denies Connection to RightNetwork  —  Comcast denied reports Monday that it is a partner in the RightNetwork, a red state start-up that promises “content that reflects and reinforces their perspective and worldview.”  —  Comcast, the country's largest cable provider …

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 …

Gay rights protesters heckle Obama  —  LOS ANGELES |  A group of gay rights activists disrupted President Obama's speech at a fundraiser here for Sen. Barbara Boxer Monday night, decrying what they describe as Mr. Obama's inaction on overturning the military's ban on gay service members …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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:

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 …

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.

Beaten Jindal Staffer Says Protesters are the Perpetrators  —  The mother of one of the victims of a brutal beating in New Orleans outside of a Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) event has confirmed in a new interview that the two victims assaulted outside of the high-dollar GOP …

The long, clear, inspiring record of Diane Wood  —  If one were to analogize the search for Justice Stevens' replacement to the recently concluded health care debate, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood would be the public option.  Just as the truly left-wing health care approach …

Reduction Is Theme Of President's Next Act  —  As President Obama approaches the end of his administration's opening chapter, his advisers have begun a backstage debate over Chapter 2, which will be fundamentally different in tone, aspiration and political complexity.

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.