For Lawmaker Examining Terror, a Pro-I.R.A. Past  —  WASHINGTON — For Representative Peter T. King, as he seizes the national spotlight this week with a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims, it is the most awkward of résumé entries.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns  —  This follows yesterday's news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotapped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization …

White House moving to repair troubled relationship with Cabinet  —  News this week of the first departure of a Cabinet secretary from the Obama administration comes amid a wide-ranging effort under the new chief of staff, William M. Daley, to repair badly frayed relations between the White House and the Cabinet.

DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE $7.5 MILLION CLEAN-UP?.... Late last week, Republicans in Wisconsin raised a new concern about the pro-labor protests at the state capitol: they're making an expensive mess.  —  Specifically, the Walker administration said the repair and clean-up costs associated …

Newt Gingrich Tells Brody File He “felt compelled to seek God's forgiveness”  —  Newt Gingrich, who is expected to run for President tells The Brody File that he “felt compelled to seek God's forgiveness” over his past marital infidelity and now that he's at the grandfather stage he is …

Obama and Bush  —  The announcement that military show trials are to recommence at Guantanamo Bay, combined with the brutal and vindictive treatment of Bradley Manning, make it clear that, as regards willing to suppress basic human and civil rights in the name of security …

Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages  —  Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn't taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.

TRENDING: ‘Birther’ debate alive and well in New Hampshire  —  (CNN) - The New Hampshire state legislature is attempting to take politics out of the equation when a House committee considers an amendment that would require presidential candidates to present birth certificates when filing …

Americans Oppose Republican Attack on Unions in Poll  —  Americans reject Republican efforts to curb bargaining rights of unions whose power they say is dwarfed by corporations, a Bloomberg National Poll finds.  —  As battles rage between state workers and Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio …

Joe Manchin goes rogue  —  Several weeks ago, freshman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) strolled through the Hart Senate Office Building and ended up in what should be enemy territory: a face-to-face meeting with the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Charlie Sheen is not filial  —  Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.  —  Ignoring public pleas from his father, Sheen has continued a weeklong media blitz, exhibiting obvious signs of mania.  With no firm hand to guide them …

In a Wealthy Suburb, Concern Over School Taxes  —  BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — This wealthy New York suburb prides itself on its public schools.  Class sizes are small.  Students can choose from an array of subjects not offered everywhere.  Teacher pay ranks among the nation's highest.

Blagojevich wants trial called off  —  Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking a federal judge to cancel his upcoming retrial and to sentence him on his one conviction from his previous trial.  —  In a motion filed early Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago …

Why are Prisoners Building Patriot Missiles?  —  Right now, federal prison inmates in correctional institutions across America are making Patriot missile components.  Alarming?  Sure.  But it could also inform a larger debate currently underway in Washington.

BofA Segregates Almost Half of its Mortgages Into ‘Bad Bank’  —  Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest U.S. lender by assets, is segregating almost half its 13.9 million mortgages into a “bad” bank comprised of its riskiest and worst-performing “legacy” loans, said Terry Laughlin, who is running the new unit.

On Libya, too many questions  —  In September 1941, Japan's leaders had a question for Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto: Could he cripple the U.S. fleet in Hawaii?  Yes, he said.  Then he had a question for the leaders: But then what?  —  Following an attack, he said, “I shall run wild considerably …

Crossroads GPS airs anti-union ad  —  An arm of American Crossroads, the well-financed Republican super PAC, is going up on the air Wednesday with an ad taking aim at public employee unions and highlighting the aid President Obama got in his campaign from organized labor.

Battle of the Bike Lanes  —  At the risk of incurring the wrath of the bicycle lobby, a constituency that pursues its agenda with about as much modesty and humor as the Jacobins pursued theirs, and which has found its heroine in transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan …

House spending cuts go to Senate  —  Republicans will bring their House-passed spending cuts to the Senate floor Wednesday amid rank-and-file grumbling inside the GOP and with no sign of capturing the Democratic defections needed to command a simple majority — let alone the 60 votes for passage.