Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators  —  The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned …

Video: CWA union thug strikes young female FreedomWorks activist; Updated  —  This is Tabitha Hale, a young conservative activist/original Tea Party organizer/blogger who works for Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks.  I know her from her great grass-roots work with Smart Girl Politics when the Tea Party movement was just emerging.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange loses round in extradition fight  —  A British judge approves Swedish prosecutors' request to extradite Julian Assange in a sexual-assault case.  His lawyers say they will appeal, and the WikiLeaks founder condemns the decision as ‘a rubber-stamping process.’

Andy Stern: ‘It may not end beautifully in Wisconsin.’  —  Last year, Andy Stern retired as the president of SEIU, the service employees union that he'd built into a 2.2 million member heavyweight.  During his tenure, Stern was known — and sometimes reviled — for his efforts to reform organized labor …

Liberals to stage Tea Party-like revolts against GOP spending cuts  —  Democratic strategists believe their Tea Party moment has arrived.  —  Working with labor unions and liberal groups, they are using the Presidents Day congressional recess to organize a public backlash against billions of dollars in cuts to federal programs.

Lobbyists: White House sends meetings off-site to hide them  —  Caught between their boss's anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the reality of governing, President Barack Obama's aides often steer meetings with lobbyists to a complex just off the White House grounds - and several of the lobbyists involved …

For Walker, cause and celebrity don't necessarily mean cause celebre  —  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, less than two months into his first term as the state's chief executive, may already be the most well-known governor in the country.  —  But even as the protests over the Republican's budget cuts rage …

U.S. Pushes Mortgage Deal  —  Obama Proposal Seeks Multibillion-Dollar Settlement of Loan-Servicing Cases  —  The Obama administration is trying to push through a settlement over mortgage-servicing breakdowns that could force America's largest banks to pay for reductions in loan principal worth billions of dollars.

Go Figure: Obama White House Can't Spell “Libya”  —  Well, I may now know why President Obama took so long to talk about the revolts in Libya: his advisors and press people simply cannot spell the country's name.  I mean, it's five whole letters!  No one can figure that out:

Lubbock man arrested: weapon of mass destruction charge  —  LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - FBI agents arrested a Lubbock man on charges of Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction.  The full text of an official statement is copied below.  —  WASHINGTON - Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20 …

Neither Party Has Edge on Federal Budget Dealings  —  Americans favor compromise over budget shutdown by 2-to-1 margin  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are closely divided over whether the Republicans in Congress (42%) or President Obama and the Democrats (39%) are doing the better job …

The Left's War on the Kochs  —  The most extraordinary story in the news these days is the all-out assault that the Left is mounting against Charles and David Koch and their company, Koch Enterprises.  A day doesn't go buy—hardly an hour goes by—without some new attack being launched against these two lonely libertarians.

McCain's Shift Makes Him Senate's Most Conservative  —  Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with seven of his colleagues, voted most often on the conservative side.  —  The politician who once best exemplified the idea of a “maverick” independent has shifted so far to the right that he is now tied …

Obama breaks silence, condemns Libya crackdown  —  (Reuters) - President Barack Obama condemned the “outrageous” crackdown by Libyan security forces on protesters and said Washington would work with international partners to hold Muammar Gaddafi's government accountable.

Daniels '71: Into the spotlight  —  After Mitch Daniels '71 was arrested, indicted and convicted on charges of drug use as an undergraduate in May 1970, he said that he thought his aspiring political career was doomed.  “Any goal I might have had for competing for public office were shot,” …

How Chris Christie Did His Homework  —  Like a stand-up comedian working out-of-the-way clubs, Chris Christie travels the townships and boroughs of New Jersey­, places like Hackettstown and Raritan and Scotch Plains, sharpening his riffs about the state's public employees …

G.M. Reports an Annual Profit, Its First Since 2004  —  DETROIT — General Motors, which nearly collapsed from the weight of its debts two years ago before reorganizing in a government-sponsored bankruptcy, said Thursday that it earned $4.7 billion in 2010, the most in more than a decade.