Will Folks: Letting The Chips Fall  —  Since I founded FITSNews three-and-a-half years ago, I've made more than my fair share of powerful enemies in this state.  —  One reason for that?  I call it like I see it - whether you like it or not, agree with it or not, or even believe it or not.

Dem lawmaker urges White House to release details on Sestak job  —  Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) called on the White House on Monday to detail its conversations it had with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) to have allegedly tried to convince him to drop a Senate bid.

BP Kept Using Toxic Chemical in Gulf After E.P.A. Deadline  —  The effort to stanch the vast Gulf of Mexico oil spill was mired by setbacks on Monday as state and federal officials feuded with BP over its failure to meet deadlines and its refusal to stop spraying a toxic dispersant in the Gulf.

Eric Massa's Secret  —  Long before the Eric Massa scandal broke, the congressman carried the lonely burden of another secret that, if revealed, would turn his world upside down.  An extraordinary look inside the mind of a man in the crisis of his lifetime.

The Principles of Rand Paul  —  No ideology survives the collision with real-world politics perfectly intact.  General principles have to bend to accommodate the complexities of history, and justice is sometimes better served by compromise than by zealous intellectual consistency.

Hispanics swing to Democrats in West  —  Public Policy Polling reports:  —  When we polled Colorado in early March Michael Bennet and Jane Norton were tied.  Last week we found Bennet with a 3 point lead.  One of the biggest reasons for that shift?  Bennet went from leading Norton …

Patrick says Obama critics are ‘almost at the level of sedition’  —  Governor Deval Patrick, even as he decried partisanship in Washington, said today that Republican opposition to President Obama's agenda has become so obstinate that it “is almost at the level of sedition.”

“It's BP's Oil”  —  Running the corporate blockade at Louisiana's crude-covered beaches.  —  Post Comment  —  Elmer's Island, even after all the warnings, looks worse than I imagined.  Pools of oil black and deep stretch down the beach; when cleanup workers drag their rakes along …

Joe Biden: Brussels Has Legitimate Claim to ‘Capital of the Free World’ Title  —  On May 6, Vice President Joe Biden addressed the European Parliament in Brussels in which he encouraged the EU to support Washington's global agenda and approach to threats such as climate change and terrorism.

This Stuff Is Not Supposed to Happen in America  —  “When it becomes fair game to attack and intimidate private citizens and their families to advance a public policy, we cross over from an orderly civil democracy to something decidedly third world.”  —  I would like to be gloating this morning …

Perry Up by 9 in New UT/TT Poll  —  Republican Rick Perry leads Democrat Bill White by nine percentage points — 44 percent to 35 percent — in the 2010 race for governor, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.  —  Those numbers are identical to the results of a …

FHA Home-Financing Volume Sign of ‘Very Sick System’  —  Loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S.-owned mortgage insurer, may be involved in more home-purchase transactions than borrowing financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  —  FHA lending last quarter may have topped …

For Roaming Palin, Home Base Is Still in Alaska  —  WASILLA, Alaska — Stepping quickly toward his big black Dodge Ram truck, Todd Palin offered a few highlights of the weekend ahead.  —  His youngest daughter, Piper, had a dance rehearsal.  His oldest son, Track, would be helping …

Ward remarks close to Obama speech  —  Idaho Republican Vaughn Ward has already come under fire for mimicking other candidates' policy language on his website, but now the congressional candidate is facing accusations of plagiarizing from another source: President Barack Obama.

Op-Ed Columnist: Obama Versus the Corporations  —  So here's how it is: They're as mad as hell, and they're not going to take this anymore.  Am I talking about the Tea Partiers?  No, I'm talking about the corporations.  —  Much reporting on opposition to the Obama administration portrays it as a sort of populist uprising.

Report: Healthcare law tax credits encourage small businesses to stay small, not hire  —  A study by the National Center for Policy Analysis shows that tax credits in the new healthcare law could negatively impact small-business hiring decisions.  —  The new law provides a 50 percent tax credit …

After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all  —  The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death, which is now  —  Exactly a century after rumours of his death turned out to be entirely accurate …

Clinton to DoD?  —  As DiMascio, Rozen and I report this morning, some of Clinton's allies are talking her up as the next Secretary of Defense:  —  Gates, for his part, has saved Clinton from a different kind of marginalization by a powerful White House staff, which has a sometimes-rocky relationship …