Most back stricter financial reform, advantage Obama  —  About two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.  —  Majorities also back two main components …

Anti-Defamation League: National Security Adviser Jones Told “Inappropriate, Stereotypic” Joke About Jewish Merchant  —  As first noted by the Jewish newspaper The Forward, at an event last week at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy - a pro-Israel think tank …

Dem: Ariz. law like ‘Nazi Germany’  —  A Colorado Democrat says Arizona is on its way to becoming a “police state” and its new immigration law is “reminiscent” of Nazi Germany.  —  “It is absolutely reminiscent of second class status of Jews in Germany prior to World War II …

Obama seeks to ‘reconnect...young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women’ for 2010  —  The Democratic National Committee this morning released this clip of the president rallying the troops, if rather coolly, for 2010.  Obama's express goal: “reconnecting” with the voters who voted …

You wouldn't like Lindsey Graham when he's angry  —  If the policy inside the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham climate change bill seem to have finally come together, it looks like the politics are about to come apart.  In a move that's surprised pretty much everybody, Harry Reid and the White House …

Creators of ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ drop gag after everybody gets angry  —  “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day?”  —  As South Park's Sheila Broflovski would say: “What, What, WHAT?”  —  The outcry from Comedy Central's decision to censor an episode of South Park with depictions of Muhammad …

1 in 3 San Francisco employees earned $100,000  —  More than 1 in 3 of San Francisco's nearly 27,000 city workers earned $100,000 or more last year - a number that has been growing steadily for the past decade.  —  The number of city workers paid at least $100,000 in base salary totaled 6,449 last year.

Op-Ed Columnist: Berating the Rating Agencies  —  Let's hear it for the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.  Its work on the financial crisis is increasingly looking like the 21st-century version of the Pecora hearings, which helped usher in New Deal-era financial regulation.

“In Palinworld, Palin, By Definition, Speaks The Truth.”  —  New York's cover story convinces Josh Green that Palin isn't running: … This is the conventional view in Washington.  I think it's completely wrong, dangerously complacent, and out of touch with profound shifts in media, fundraising and politics.

Texas lawmaker: Obama is 'God's punishment on us.'  —  On Saturday, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and several other elected officials boosted Fox News host Glenn Beck at an event at the Oil Palace in Tyler, TX.  The day was full of right-wing flame-throwing, including Perry saying that he was …

What to Make of ‘Boobquake’?  —  Today, women gathered in Washington's Dupont Circle for a protest.  There weren't typo-ridden signs or rallying cries to pass legislation.  Instead, there were just a lot of low-cut shirts.  —  Jen McCreight came up with the idea for the protest and proposed …

Economists: The stimulus didn't help  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government's stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with the rebound, according to a survey released Monday.

Remember that ash cloud?  It didn't exist, says new evidence  —  Britain's airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country.  —  Skies fell quiet for six days, leaving as many as 500,000 Britons stranded overseas …

Obama Ahead of Election 2010: The Secrets of His Success  —  Barack Obama's right-wing opponents cast him as a socialist failure.  His left-wing hecklers see him as an overcautious hedger.  But, critics notwithstanding, the President is on a path to be a huge success by the time of November's midterm elections.

Democrats to Kill Derivatives Provision Pushed by Berkshire  —  Senate Democrats agreed Monday to kill a provision from their derivatives bill pushed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a change one analyst predicted could force the Nebraska company to set aside up to $8 billion.

Does Conservatism Need Fox News?  —  Amid a long commentary on last week's Jim Manzi-Mark Levin dust-up (and related matters), Jonah Goldberg made the following observation: … I suppose that it depends on what you mean by “success.”  In a sense, the last eighteen months have been enormously successful …