Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising  —  The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.  —  Protesters and army on the streets of Cairo

Dennis Kucinich Settles Olive Pit Case  —  Not sure if this qualifies as a Friday news dump, but we now know more than I, for one, ever expected to about what went on in Dennis Kucinich's mouth.  In announcing today he was settling the lawsuit he launched against the operators …

The House GOP's Plan to Redefine Rape  —  Drugged, raped, and pregnant?  Too bad.  Republicans are pushing to limit rape and incest cases eligible for government abortion funding.  —  Post Comment  —  Rape is only really rape if it involves force.  So says the new House Republican majority as it now moves to change abortion law.

On Sputnik vs. Spudnut  —  Please read this article by the Hoover Institution's Research Fellow Peter Schweizer.  Schweizer, who has written extensively on the subject of the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, offers a Washington Post writer an important refresher on the real history of Sputnik …

VFW WILL DEFEAT BACHMANN PLAN  —  “NO WAY, NO HOW, WILL WE LET THIS PROPOSAL GET ANY TRACTION IN CONGRESS.”  —  America's oldest and largest major combat veterans' organization announced it will do everything within its power to defeat a plan introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) …

Egyptian Police Using U.S.-Made Tear Gas Against Demonstrators  —  Photographs From Cairo Document Canisters Labeled ‘Made in U.S.A.’  —  Egyptian riot police are firing tear gas canisters bearing the label “Made in U.S.A” against street demonstrations in Cairo, according to protesters …

Fla. rep failed to explain thousands in expenses  —  MIAMI (AP) — Freshman U.S. Rep. David Rivera, who is facing a state criminal investigation of his finances, paid himself more than $60,000 in unexplained campaign reimbursements over the eight years he served in the state legislature …

GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter: The Federal Government Can't Legislate Bike Paths Because They're Unconstitutional  —  As ThinkProgress has previously noted, there is a radical strain of conservativism, dubbed “tentherism,” that invokes the Tenth Amendment to claim that a whole host …

Too young not to work, too old to get a job  —  Pew's new report on long-term unemployment is sobering stuff: … The interplay between age and unemployment really worries me.  On some level, we have a rosy view of “structural unemployment”: It's a guy in Reno, Nev., who has skills better suited …

David Brock's big-money outside group gains steam  —  It looks like David Brock is getting more serious about building a powerful apparatus on the left to go head-to-head with the flood of outside money conservative groups are planning to pump into the 2012 elections.

Ayn Rand and the VIP-DIPers  —  What's Your Reaction: … Despite persistent rumors, Rand Paul was not named in honor of influential conservative thinker, Ayn Rand.  His name is Randall.  —  It's good he was not named for Ayn Rand because her real name was Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum which she changed honoring her Rand typewriter.

Iran Sees Rise of Islamic Hard-Liners  —  TEHRAN — Hopeful that the protests sweeping Arab lands may create an opening for hard-line Islamic forces, conservatives in Iran are taking deep satisfaction in the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where secular leaders have faced large-scale uprisings.

Jordanian protesters demand political reforms  —  (Reuters) - Islamists, leftists and trade unionists gathered in central Amman Friday for the latest protest to demand political change and wider freedoms.  —  A crowd of at least 3,000 chanted: “We want change.”