Top Items:


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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Hot Air, The Politico, National Review, Salon, Confederate Yankee, New York Times, democracyarsenal.org, Newshoggers.com, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway, Democracy in America, Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story, AOL News, Swampland, New York Magazine, Projo 7 to 7 News Blog, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Online, Gawker, Politics, WPRI.com Blogs, Dependable Renegade and Oliver Willis
RELATED:


U.S. Fears Tripoli May Deploy Gas As Chaos Mounts — WASHINGTON—The government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi hasn't destroyed significant stockpiles of mustard gas and other chemical-weapons agents, raising fears in Washington about what could happen to them—and whether they may be used—as Libya slides further into chaos.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The Lonely Conservative, Maggie's Notebook, Babalú Blog and Sweetness & Light
RELATED:


Qaddafi Strikes Back as Rebels Close In on Libyan Capital — BENGHAZI, Libya — Thousands of mercenary and irregular forces struck back at a tightening circle of rebellions around the capital, Tripoli, on Thursday, trying to fend off an uprising against the 40-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Ben Smith's Blog, Bloomberg, Mish's Global Economic …, Pajamas Media, AOL News, FP Passport, FrumForum and The Daily Caller


Tripoli: a city in the shadow of death
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Guardian, Aljazeera, Al Jazeera Blogs, The Daily Dish, Shanghaiist, The Field on the Narcosphere, Libya February 17th and The Lede

Report: Libyan capital deserted; opposition seizes major city
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE, This Just In, Parker Spitzer and Little Green Footballs

Rough Waters Strand Americans in Libya
Discussion:
CNN, msnbc.com and The Greenroom

Gadhafi blames violence on young people, drugs, al Qaeda
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications and Weasel Zippers

Obama's mystery links to Gadhafi uncovered
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Michelle Malkin, Maggie's Notebook, Moonbattery, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Fox Nation and The Gateway Pundit


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 …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, USA Today, Sunlight Foundation Blog, Wall Street Journal, Pajamas Media, Top of the Ticket, YID With LID, Maggie's Notebook, The Foundry, Sister Toldjah, Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, The Lonely Conservative, RedState, Pundit Press, Betsy's Page, iOwnTheWorld.com and Verum Serum
RELATED:

Amid budget battles, Obama to huddle with Democratic governors
Discussion:
The Politico, The Daily Caller and The Hill


Records Say Fox News Chief Told Employee to Lie — It was an incendiary allegation — and a mystery of great intrigue in the media world: After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation …


Video: Rhode Island union supporter to cameraman - “I'll f**k you in the ass, you faggot” — The hits keep on coming. Here's another fine specimen of Big Labor civility: — At AFSCME's “solidarity” rally in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday, a cameraman was accosted by a fuming pro-union protester.

Texas Resident Arrested on Charge of Attempted Use of Weapon of Mass Destruction … WASHINGTON - Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon …
Discussion:
National Review, NO QUARTER, Weasel Zippers, USA Today, Jihad Watch, Oliver Willis, The Foundry, Emptywheel, The Gateway Pundit, msnbc.com, Atlas Shrugs and Pajamas Media

Report: GOP budget cuts would hit U.S. economy — Goldman Sachs analysis says Republicans' $61 billion in cuts would trim U.S. economic growth by half this year. Rep. John Boehner and others reject the report. — Reporting from Washington — Spending cuts approved by House Republicans …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Free exchange and Mother Jones
RELATED:


Policy Paralysis — How John Boehner made a government shutdown inevitable.
Discussion:
New York Times, Ezra Klein, Open Congress, A plain blog about politics and The Maddow Blog

House spending cuts hurt U.S growth -Goldman Sachs
Discussion:
The New Republic and National Review

Poll: Slash spending but avoid shutdown
Discussion:
Associated Press, Swampland, The Hill, Washington Post, National Review, Washington Monthly and Boehner


Nebraska Resurrects “Justifiable Homicide” Abortion Bill — A state legislator pushes a bill that's even more sweeping than the South Dakota proposal that sparked a national controversy. — Post Comment — Just when abortion rights supporters thought they had beaten a controversial bill …
Discussion:
Yglesias, Mother Jones, Sky Dancing, Pharyngula, The Raw Story, Indecision Forever, Outside the Beltway, Iowa Independent and FrumForum
RELATED:

Iowa bills open door for use of deadly force to protect the unborn
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Shakesville and Joe. My. God.


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 …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12, Politics, The Atlantic Online, The Page and Felix Salmon

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — February 2011 — In the wake of the health reform repeal vote in the U.S. House and the ongoing legal challenges over the individual mandate, nearly half the country either believes that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) …
RELATED:

67% Disapprove of Legislators Fleeing Wisconsin to Avoid Vote — Half of America's voters favor public sector unions for government workers, but they strongly oppose the tactic by Wisconsin state senators to flee their state to prevent a vote that would limit the rights of such unions.

The Most Disturbing Personality on Cable Television — In the past few weeks Glenn Beck has spoken about the coming caliphate that he believes is about to envelope most of the world. He then dilated on the anti-Christ with a man who says he has “new prophetic understanding into the end times.”
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and FrumForum


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 …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Salon, The Caucus, Indecision Forever, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online and New York Magazine

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,” …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, USA Today, Cincinnati.com, Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico and CNN


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 …
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel and Wonkette

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.
Discussion:
Corrente, naked capitalism, Felix Salmon, Sweetness & Light, Mish's Global Economic …, Emptywheel, UNCOVERAGE.net, The Page and Calculated Risk


UFT spends millions on dinners, parties, parking, coffee as thousands of teachers face layoffs — As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned. — Free-spending United Federation …
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, JammieWearingFool and POWIP


Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who ‘Contributes’ to Public Workers' Pensions? — When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state employees' fight over collective bargaining.
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com