Poll Finds Support Lacking for Entitlement Reductions  —  WASHINGTON— Less than a quarter of Americans support making significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare to tackle the country's mounting deficit, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, illustrating the challenge facing lawmakers …

Obama Says Race a Key Component in Tea Party Protests  —  In a new book, President Obama talks candidly about race and the presidency  —  African-Americans have been an integral part of the White House since it was built in part by slaves.  In Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans …

Manning faces new charges, possible death penalty  —  ‘Aiding the enemy’ is most serious of 22 new counts filed against private in WikiLeaks case  —  Below:  —  WASHINGTON — Following an intensive seven-month investigation, the Army on Wednesday filed 22 additional charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning …

Longhorns 17, Badgers 1  —  Please pardon this brief departure from my normal folderol, but every so often a member of the chattering class issues a nugget of stupidity so egregious that no amount of mockery will suffice.  Particularly when the issuer of said stupidity holds a Nobel Prize.

Huckabee: Obama Isn't From Kenya, But He's Still Anti-American  —  Mike Huckabee now says he knows President Obama wasn't born in Kenya and that he misspoke when he made that much-maligned comment earlier this week.  But on social conservative Bryan Fischer's radio show on Wednesday …

ARE THEY SERIOUS?  ‘SHARIAH 4 AMERICA’ GROUP CALLS FOR ‘BURKHA’ ON STATUE OF LIBERTY  —  As we've reported, controversial UK Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary has called on Muslims to “rise to implement the Shari'ah in America,” starting with a planned demonstration in front of the White House on Thursday.

Oh my: Sen. Daniel Akaka won't run for reelection in 2012  —  But ... he's only in his mid-80s and has served just 21 years.  In an age of wizened congressmen who have to be dragged screaming into retirement, surely this youngster has another two or three terms in him.

Videos become a weapon in union fights  —  Stung by allegations of incendiary, racist and homophobic rhetoric at tea party rallies last year, conservative activists with flipcams and camera phones have circulated at the union protests sprouting up across the country in hopes of catching violent …

Anthony Weiner Berates, Belittles, and Insults Megyn Kelly During Interview  —  This all started off as an interview about whether or not Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any future Supreme Court cases involving obamacare.  However, after Megyn Kelly pressed Democrat Congressman Anthony Weiner …

Obama is enabling jihad  —  U.S. interests sacrificed in favor of radical Islam  —  Al Qaeda and Iran are cheering on the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, so why does the Obama administration think the Islamic extremists are losing?  —  On Tuesday at a Pentagon press briefing …

Ohio Vote Puts Curbs on Unions in Reach  —  Ohio state senators narrowly approved a bill that would prohibit public-employee unions representing 400,000 state and local workers from bargaining over health benefits and pensions, while also eliminating the right to strike.

Rahm Emanuel meets fake Twitter Rahm, says phony right on target  —  Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel admitted Wednesday that there were times, after a long day on the campaign trail, that he would read the profane diatribes of his alter-ego on @MayorEmanuel.com and think to himself, “My sentiments exactly!”

First Thoughts: Chased by a tiger  —  NBC/WSJ poll suggests GOP is caught between a cliff (independents who might not like deep budget cuts) and a charging tiger (a Tea Party that does)... What's popular and unpopular to cut... The poll on Wisconsin and the state budget battles …

Newt Gingrich's route: 2012 path paved with questions  —  Newt Gingrich appears poised to become the first major Republican to enter the race for president, a step that would give him a first-mover advantage in a slow-forming GOP field .  —  He'll need it.

Tea party leader: John Boehner should go  —  A national tea party group is in revolt against House Speaker John Boehner and wants to see him defeated in a 2012 primary, arguing that he looks “like a fool” in the debate over spending cuts and makes less sense than actor Charlie Sheen.

The Wisconsin protesters are losing their grip on reality.  —  The point of that last post — “I have professors that received doctorates...” — is that as the protest drags on and protesters are sleep-deprived and frustrated and tired of nothing happening but standing around chanting …

‘This is my favourite killer outfit’: Face of Kosovan Muslim alleged to have shot dead two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport  —  This is the face of the man suspected of killing two U.S. soldiers in Germany in an Islamist rage.  —  The photo is from Arid Uka's Facebook page …

Federalism For Some, Miniature American Flags For Others  —  Let's assume for the sake of argument that the White House knows it can't bring Republicans around on the health care law.  The GOP base doesn't really know what the law is, but they know they hate it, and until that fact changes …

Northwestern University defends after-class live sex demonstration  —  More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school's popular “Human Sexuality” class.

Rep. Giffords on list of endangered Dems  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on its list of the most vulnerable incumbents released Thursday.  —  As Giffords remains in a Houston hospital where she is recovering from the gunshot wound …

Sarah Palin's bizarre view of the First Amendment  —  Sarah Palin, who has more than once invoked the First Amendment when she or her allies faced criticism, today denounced the Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling allowing the Westboro Baptist Church to protest outside soldiers' funerals with signs reading ""God Hates Fags" and the like.

Officials Disagree on Penalties for Mortgage Mess  —  Even as state attorneys general and regulators in Washington approach the end of their investigation into abuses by the nation's biggest mortgage companies, deep disputes are emerging over how much to punish the banks as well as exactly who should benefit from a settlement.

Politics Seen to Limit E.P.A. as It Sets Rules for Natural Gas  —  When Congress considered whether to regulate more closely the handling of wastes from oil and gas drilling in the 1980s, it turned to the Environmental Protection Agency to research the matter.

Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?  —  The jabs Erin Parker has heard about her job have stunned her.  Oh you pathetic teachers, read the online comments and placards of counterdemonstrators.  You are glorified baby sitters who leave work at 3 p.m. You deserve minimum wage.

No, Fox News Did Not Lie With “Wisconsin Palm Tree” Violent Protest Video  —  The Internet is abuzz this morning with a story that Fox News has “lied” in showing a video of an angry union protester from California while claiming its from Wisconsin.  The “Palm Tree lie” (described …

‘British martyr’ in new al-Qaeda video on web heightens concern over UK attack  —  MI5 is seeking to identify a British Muslim who has appeared in an al-Qaeda suicide video, released on the internet, in the first such case since the July 7 bombings.  —  The video features a man identified only as …

Bipartisan Senate duo wants Medicare to make payments to doctors public  —  Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are collaborating on legislation to require the federal government to make public how much it pays doctors who participate in Medicare, a Senate staffer said.