Helen Thomas retires ‘effective immediately’ after Israel remarks  —  Helen Thomas announced Monday that “she is retiring, effective immediately,” according to a statement from Hearst newspapers.  —  Her decision comes after her controversial remarks about Israel hit the blogosphere.

U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe  —  Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.

Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it.  —  Not just for a day or two, but 12 days.  He finally saw it while sifting through old messages …

Can the astonishing popularity of Indiana's penny-pinching governor carry him to the White House in 2012?  —  When Mitch Daniels ran for governor of Indiana in 2004, a friend and videographer got the idea of filming the candidate in vidéo vérité style as he traveled around the state in his Indiana-made RV.

49% Say Pro-Palestinian Activists To Blame in Gaza Ship Incident  —  Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters believe pro-Palestinian activists on the Gaza-bound aid ships raided by Israeli forces are to blame for the deaths that resulted in the high-profile incident.

The Citizens United Effect  —  Some of the first exploiters of the campaign finance free-for-all aren't corporations, but labor unions.  —  Post Comment  —  After the Supreme Court handed down its now-infamous Citizens United decision in January, many legal and political observers warned …

Bernie Madoff, Free at Last  —  In prison he doesn't have to hide his lack of conscience.  In fact, he's a hero for it.  —  Last August, shortly after his arrival at the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina, Bernard L. Madoff was waiting on the evening pill line …

The No-Stimulus Economy  —  If fiscal stimulus is so great, then why hasn't the Obama administration's massive stimulus program helped improve the economy?  Well, via Mark Thoma, the answer is that there hasn't been any net fiscal stimulus, all the Obama administration's efforts plus …

Democrats Skip Town Halls to Avoid Voter Rage  —  BEL AIR, Md. — The reception that Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., a Democrat, received here one night last week as he faced a small group of constituents was far more pleasant than his encounters during a Congressional recess last summer.

More Obama change to believe in: Americans now see him as a partisan Democrat  —  One of the 2007-08 Obama presidential campaign's changes that Americans believed in by the many millions was his oft-repeated promise to work with all sides no matter what and change the harsh political tone of Washington.

It's useful to have geniuses around  —  A neat anecdote from inside the administration's response to the oil spill: … Graphic credit: XKCD  —  Environment - Xkcd - Energy - Oil spill - United States

Poll: BP Oil Spill Response Rated Worse than Katrina  —  Most Favor Criminal Charges Against BP and Others Involved in the Gulf of Mexico Spill  —  By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans support the pursuit of criminal charges in the nation's worst oil spill, with increasing numbers calling it a major environmental disaster.

Hot Men 2010: The Hottest Conservative Men  —  Well, it's that time of year.  —  Primaries, you ask?  Uh, no.  —  Priorities people!  Today is the day when we focus, laser-like, on the hottest conservative men for 2010.  Unlike last year, the judges this year are out and proud and gorgeous in their own right.

Howard Kurtz on Newsweek bidders, Helen Thomas gaffe, Gore breakup coverage  —  While journalists get into the business for various reasons — vicarious thrills, investigative zeal, outsize ego — ultimately they're at the mercy of the marketplace.  And that marketplace seems to have sent a very discouraging message to Newsweek.