Wisconsin Poll: Support for Budget Cutting, Not for Weakening Collective Bargaining Rights  —  Most Wisconsin voters oppose efforts to weaken collective bargaining rights for union workers but a plurality are supportive of significant pay cuts for state workers.

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.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN RAISES SPECTER OF IMPEACHMENT.... Late last week, disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who knows a little something about the practice, raised the prospect of presidential impeachment.  The Republican, perhaps best known for leading the crusade against President Clinton …

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 …

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.

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.

Government e-mails reveal plot to stall budget repair bill  —  Madison mayor tried to get bill stalled while he signed new contracts  —  Before protesters stormed the capitol, the mayor of the city of Madison tried to pull a fast one.  The governor's budget repair bill was on the fast track …

Judge Roger Vinson issues stay of own ruling  —  U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday that implementation of the health law can proceed — but he gave the Obama administration just seven days to file an appeal.  —  Vinson issued a stay of his own Jan. 31 ruling that declared …

Less Drama in White House After Staff Changes  —  WASHINGTON — When Rahm Emanuel was White House chief of staff, the decision about what President Obama would say in the short address he delivers via radio and the Internet each Saturday changed so often that speechwriters would wait until Friday to write.

How the Edwards Affair Ended Up in the Enquirer  —  Lisa Druck was trouble.  You'd run into her at Nell's where we all tended to hang out and she'd be in a panic.  Some guy would be running from her, taxiing quickly to another club.  She'd storm the bathrooms and you could hear her voice …

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 …

Fewer Are Angry at Government, But Discontent Remains High  —  Republicans, Tea Party Supporters More Mellow  —  The public remains deeply frustrated with the federal government, but fewer Americans say they are angry at government than did so last fall.  Overall, the percentage saying …

Soldier Faces 22 New WikiLeaks Charges  —  WASHINGTON — The Army announced 22 additional charges on Wednesday against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the military intelligence analyst who is accused of leaking a trove of government files to WikiLeaks a year ago.  —  The new charges included …

Senate Republicans threaten missing Democrats with contempt  —  By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — Republicans in the state Senate ordered Democrats to return to the chamber by 4 p.m. or be found in contempt of the Senate.  —  If they do not return by then …

Libya: Obama orders humanitarian aid, says Gadhafi ‘must leave’  —  President Obama on Thursday repeated his call that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is no longer a legitimate leader and should leave power.  —  “Moammar Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to lead, and he must leave,” Obama said.

Corbett's clueless new DEP commissioner  —  OK, here's something that might even be scarier than the latest report about the dumping of “mystery liquids” in Pennsylvania's water supply.  The man that Gov. Tom Corbett is tasking to deal with the problem is utterly clueless.

To Surly, With Love: Are Teachers Overpaid?  —  Public school teachers are at the forefront of protests against state budget cuts and restrictions on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and elsewhere.  —  Teachers have a lot to lose.

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 …

Gaddafi bombs oil areas, faces crimes probe  —  AL-UQAYLA, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day Thursday but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces.

Huckabee again attacks Obama worldview, evokes madrassas  —  Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that President Obama has “a different worldview” that is in part “molded out of a very different experience.”

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!”