The hard choices: President Obama's 2012 budget  —  Long on tough choices, short on final answers, President Barack Obama's new 2012 budget goes to Congress on Monday in what many hope is only an opening bid before he and Republicans come to the table on a bipartisan deficit reduction plan.

Flake to announce Senate run  —  Rep. Jeff Flake will announce on Monday that he is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl, who said last week that he is retiring and will not seek reelection in 2012.  —  Flake, who like Kyl is a Republican, is expected to make his announcement …

Word and Lyric, Giffords Labors to Speak Again  —  PHOENIX — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an eloquent speaker before she was shot in the head last month, is relearning the skill — progressing from mouthing words and lip syncing songs to talking briefly by telephone to her brother-in-law in space.

Eat The Future  —  On Friday, House Republicans unveiled their proposal for immediate cuts in federal spending.  Uncharacteristically, they failed to accompany the release with a catchy slogan.  So I'd like to propose one: Eat the Future.  —  I'll explain in a minute.

At Media Companies, a Nation of Serfs  —  Some of the fizz, if not a great big bubble, seems to have returned to media, depending on how you define “media.”  —  There have been reports in The New York Times and elsewhere that Facebook is now valued at $50 billion, and The Wall Street Journal reported …

Journalists angry over the commission of journalism  —  Over the weekend, The Los Angeles' Times James Rainey mocked CNN's Anderson Cooper for repeatedly using the word “lie” to describe the factually false statements of Egyptian leaders.  Though Rainey ultimately concluded that …

Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable  —  SEATTLE — Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse.  Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping.  —  The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress …

Would Women Support Newt Gingrich for President? … It's November 2012 and voters have a choice between President Barack Obama and former Speaker Newt Gingrich.  Given the gulf between their personal lives, what's a social conservative to do?  More to the point, what would moderate and independent women do?

China Surges in Americans' Views of Top World Economy  —  Leads the U.S. by smaller margin in predictions for global economic leader in 20 years  —  PRINCETON, NJ - By 52% to 32%, Americans are more likely to name China than the United States as the leading economic power in the world today, with Japan a distant third at 7%.

Democrats claim political victory from CPAC  —  Democrats and President Obama gathered the most momentum from this past weekend's gathering of conservative activists, the party claimed Monday.  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sought to spin the now-concluded Conservative Political …

All hail the ‘Blog-Father’: Waiting for trial in 6 murders, ‘Tommy Shots’ takes to Web  —  Call him the blogging crime boss: Reputed Colombo kingpin Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli has set up a behind-bars blog to portray himself as a good guy - not a wiseguy - and rant about everything …

Supreme Court watchers: Roberts, Alito no sure bets against health-care mandate  —  If you are handicapping whether the Supreme Court is going to find the nation's health-care law constitutional, you have a few options.  —  You can go old school, citing the great arc of decisions that began …

Security Forces Deploy to Block Tehran March  —  TEHRAN — Hundreds of black-clad riot police officers, some in bullet-proof vests, deployed in key locations in central Tehran on Monday to thwart an opposition march in solidarity with the uprising in Egypt — an event Iranian leaders cheered …

‘A weapon of mass destruction was found in the U.S.’: Shock confession of Customs officer  —  A port official has admitted that a ‘weapon of mass effect’ has been found by ‘partner agencies’ in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.

Boehner on birthers: 'It's not my job to tell the American people what to think'  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that while he believes President Obama is an American citizen and a Christian, Americans have a right to think otherwise if they so choose.