South Dakota Moves To Legalize Killing Abortion Providers  —  A bill under consideration in the Mount Rushmore State would make preventing harm to a fetus a “justifiable homicide” in many cases.  —  Post Comment  —  A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of …

Boehner: ‘So Be It’ If Federal Workers Are Laid Off  —  House Speaker John Boehner expressed little sympathy Tuesday for federal workers who lose their jobs as the result of Republican budget cutting.  —  “In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 …

Romney and the Birthers  —  Birtherism is alive and well within the GOP ranks, and their 2012 nominee preferences tell a story about the difficulty Mitt Romney faces in trying to appeal to an electorate that's a whole lot further out there than he is.  —  Birthers make a majority among …

Chances up for federal shutdown  —  The chances of a government shutdown are on the rise.  —  With less than three weeks to strike a deal before government funding for the year is scheduled to expire, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are moving in opposite directions.

‘I lied about WMD to topple Saddam’  —  • Man codenamed Curveball ‘invented’ tales of bioweapons  —  • Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime  —  • Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion  —  Read the full story of how the US was duped

CBS News' Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests  —  CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Separated From Her Crew And Brutally Assaulted on Day Mubarak Stepped Down  —  On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering …

How penicillin fooled us  —  Perhaps it's the mark of a good book that after you read it, you begin seeing evidence for its thesis in lots of different areas.  Since reading Tyler Cowen's “The Great Stagnation,” I've been seeing a lot of support for a claim that I'd initially resisted …

Obama Defends Budget: Not Going to Run Up the Credit Card Anymore  —  In First News Conference of the Year, President Tackles Criticism of his 2012 Budget  —  President Obama today defended his 2012 budget proposal amid criticism from Republicans that it does too little to rein …

Closed captioning of: Prosecutors gear up to charge Edwards in criminal case  —  >> for two years a federal grand jury has been in fact investigating john edwards and whether he break campaign finance laws to try to cover up an affair with rielle hunter.  now the investigation reached a decisive point.

Should Republicans Fret Over Their Presidential Field?  —  Republican insiders, reports the Washington Post's plugged-in Jennifer Rubin, are worried about the quality of their slate of presidential candidates for 2012.  Indeed, it has become the conventional wisdom to assert that the Republican field is a fairly weak one.

KS GOP Rep. Connie O'Brien Says She Can Tell Who Is ‘Illegal’ Because They Have ‘The Olive Complexion’  —  One week ago, the Kansas House Federal and State Committee held a hearing about in-state tuition being granted to the children of undocumented immigrants, which has been the policy in the state since 2004.

More Racism on the Left  —  On Friday, AlterNet—you know, the organization that “confront[s] the failures of corporate media, as well as the vitriol and disinformation of right wing media, especially ‘hate talk’ media”—published a vile attack on conservative businessman Herman Cain, who was the last speaker at CPAC:

NPR STATEMENT ON THE PRESIDENT'S FY 2012 BUDGET  —  Public broadcasting received a vote of confidence today from the Obama Administration.  The President's FY 2012 budget submission to Congress included $451 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the two year advance appropriation …

Liberals launch anti-Darrell Issa crusade  —  Democrats are understandably obsessed with Darrell Issa — he's built himself up as a one-man investigative machine aimed straight at the Obama presidency.  —  But a handful of liberal political operatives in California — including …

Truth or Consequences  —  What if Justice Scalia sued the New York Times for libel?  —  The following letter to the editor appeared in the New York Times Friday: … If this is true, Scalia's misconduct is even worse than Fein suggests.  Not only has Congress considered legislation to repeal ObamaCare …

Obama's Media Machine: State Run Media 2.0?  —  White House Hones Online Messaging Operation Ahead of 2012 Campaign  —  As the 2012 presidential campaign kicks into gear, President Obama's White House media operation is demonstrating an unprecedented ability to broadcast its message through social media …

Asteroid defense and libertarianism  —  I agree with Jonathan below that the Constitution (through the spending power) allows Congress to spend tax money to protect the Earth from an asteroid.  —  On the other hand — and at the risk of confirming Mark Kleiman in his belief that libertarians are loopy …

Huckabee: Abortion issue trumps all  —  (CNN) - Several likely GOP presidential candidates have spent the bulk of their time stressing fiscal and economic issues, but Mike Huckabee said Monday that for him the issue of abortion still trumps all other pressing concerns facing the country.

Michele Bachmann swipes at Michelle Obama  —  Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann ripped Michelle Obama on Tuesday, speculating that the first lady might one day run for office, and accusing her of trying to implement a “nanny state” based on her newest push to get mothers to breastfeed their children …

Common Cause Asks Court About Thomas Speech  —  WASHINGTON — Discrepancies in reports about an appearance by Justice Clarence Thomas at a political retreat for wealthy conservatives three years ago have prompted new questions to the Supreme Court from a group that advocates changing campaign finance laws.

The Base and Bloggers  —  One of the most important facts about present-day American politics is that poor people have essentially no political “voice” in Washington.  They do, however, vote.  And they're also human beings with moral worth and interests who count.

Vanishing Act: ‘Advisers’ Distance Themselves From a Report  —  Correction Appended  —  A new study backed by pro-business groups takes a harsh stance on rules intended to bring transparency to the $600 trillion derivatives market.  The report, published on Monday, claims that proposed regulation …

Lucky Duckies  —  I don't think we should cut Social Security benefits.  But if we are going to cut Social Security benefits, I think it doesn't make sense to do what the Obama administration has done and make “No current beneficiaries should see their basic benefits reduced” one of the bargaining points.