Deficit Plan Details Emerge  —  Bipartisan Senate Group Mulls Spending Caps That Could Trigger Tax Increases  —  A bipartisan group of senators is considering legislation that would trigger new taxes and budget cuts if Congress fails to meet a set of mandatory spending targets and other fiscal goals aimed at reducing federal deficits.

Bachmann on Obama's birthplace: 'That isn't for me to state'  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Thursday it's not for her to say whether President Obama is a citizen of the United States — or a Christian.  —  “That isn't for me to state; that's for the president to state,” Bachmann …

My Puny Human Brain  —  Jeopardy! genius Ken Jennings on what it's like to play against a supercomputer.  —  When I was selected as one of the two human players to be pitted against IBM's “Watson” supercomputer in a special man-vs.-machine Jeopardy! exhibition match, I felt honored, even heroic.

In major reversal, U.S. agrees to rebuke Israel in Security Council  —  The U.S. has informed Arab governments that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,” …

Experts: His 2012 moment is now  —  With just one impressive speech, Chris Christie put three full days of CPAC speakers to shame.  —  That's the bottom line from a bipartisan panel of experts, who watched the New Jersey governor's address on Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute for POLITICO …

Unions want to overturn election result  —  Say you generally liked Gov. Scott Walker's move to rein in government labor costs but had a few doubts on his method.  The last few days should have cleared that up nicely.  —  The public-sector union tantrums, meant to make lawmakers wobble …

Colin Powell demands answers over Curveball  —  Former US secretary of state asks why CIA failed to warn him over Iraqi defector who has admitted fabricating WMD evidence  —  Colin Powell, the US secretary of state at the time of the Iraq invasion, has called on the CIA and Pentagon to explain …

Nameless Republican Ties Obama in 2012 Election Preferences  —  Young voters less supportive of his re-election than of his election in 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. registered voters are evenly split about whether they would back President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 (45%) or “the Republican Party's candidate” (45%).

Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution  —  BOSTON — Halfway around the world from Tahrir Square in Cairo, an aging American intellectual shuffles about his cluttered brick row house in a working-class neighborhood here.  His name is Gene Sharp.

Baghdad wants U.S. to pay $1 billion for damage to city  —  (Reuters) - Iraq's capital wants the United States to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done to the city not by bombs but by blast walls and Humvees since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Bahrain's Military Takes Control of Key Areas in Capital  —  MANAMA, Bahrain — The Bahrain military, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, took control of most of this capital on Thursday hours after hundreds of heavily armed riot police officers fired shotguns …

As U.S. Agencies Put More Value on a Life, Businesses Fret  —  WASHINGTON — As the players here remake the nation's vast regulatory system, they have been grappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life?

Thune: Poll won't affect campaign decision  —  S.D. senator gets only 2% of conservatives' vote  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. John Thune said his poor showing in a national straw poll of 15 potential Republican presidential candidates this past weekend won't factor into whether he runs for the White House in 2012.

How much respect did the demonstrators show for the State Capitol grounds?  —  Here are some photographs taken yesterday by Meade (my husband) at the demonstration against Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan:  —  “If I'm a GREAT worker WHY are you treating me THIS WAY?”  — an abandoned sign pleads.

The One-Man Political Machine  —  On a brutally cold morning in mid-December, Rahm Emanuel, hatless and wearing a glove on only his left hand, stood for an hour in front of the turnstiles at the Paulina el station, which sits in his old Congressional district on Chicago's North Side.

Mrs. Bush, Abstinence and Texas  —  Today, let's discuss choices, starting with Barbara Bush raising an alarm and Gov. Rick Perry's personal experience with sexual abstinence.  —  I did throw in the last one to keep you interested.  Sue me.  —  This month, The Houston Chronicle published …

Urban Planning in South Sudan  —  Southern Sudan, the world's newest country, seems to me to be off to a bad start with its urban planning concepts:  —  And:  —  I don't think you necessarily want too much “planning” of a growing city at all.  I'd like to see land used roughly as densely as market conditions warrant.

Pro-Mubarak Barbarians, Not Egyptian Muslims, Attacked Lara Logan  —  I'm glad that Aaron Goldstein has drawn attention to the unconscionable savagery and sexual violence that pro-Mubarak thugs masquerading as protesters inflicted upon 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan.

Obama budget plan shows interest owed on national debt quadrupling in next decade  —  Interest payments on the national debt will quadruple in the next decade and every man, woman and child in the United States will be paying more than $2,500 a year to cover for the nation's past profligacy …

NPR's Take on D.C. Angers Locals  —  Residents feel story misportrayed city  —  NPR aired an eight-minute feature on D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood on Tuesday morning.  The website version was titled “D.C., Long ‘Chocolate City,’ Becoming More Vanilla” — but even with the flavorful name, it left a bad taste in many locals' mouths.