Senate Democrats boycott Thursday vote on Walker's budget plan  —  Joint Finance Committee approves package late Wednesday  —  By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — Law enforcement officers are searching for Democratic senators boycotting a Senate vote …

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.

Rove: Confront birthers now  —  Savvy GOP strategist Karl Rove says a poll signaling that a majority of likely GOP primary voters have questions about Barack Obama's birthplace is “lousy”.  —  But last night, he urged prominent conservatives to stand up forcefully (and quickly) to kill birther talk.

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.

Chris Christie's Idea of “Doing Big Things”  —  I continue to be baffled by all the love New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie's getting among the chattering class.  Here's a typically fawning piece about his speech at AEI yesterday. … “Big things” to Christie simply means less money …

GOP escalates showdown with Obama over funding measure  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday ruled out a short-term government-funding bill that maintains “current levels” of federal spending, escalating a showdown with Democrats and President Obama.

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,” …

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 …

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.

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%).

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?

David Kato was ‘mocked’ at UN seminar  —  US embassy cable reports on Uganda's rising homophobia, even at a UN-backed human rights meeting attended by activist David Kato, who was later murdered  —  Murdered gay rights activist David Kato was mocked at a UN-backed debate on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill …

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.