Japan Faces Potential Nuclear Disaster as Radiation Levels Rise  —  By HIROKO TABUCHI, KEITH BRADSHER and MATTHEW L. WALD  —  TOKYO — Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi …

Kansas legislator suggests using hunters in helicopters to control illegal immigration, likens immigrants to feral hogs  —  TOPEKA — A legislator said Monday it might be a good idea to control illegal immigration the way the feral hog population has been controlled — with hunters shooting from helicopters.

Fox News Signs Former Senator Evan Bayh As A Contributor … UPDATE: Fox News officially announced on Monday afternoon that former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is becoming a contributor to the network.  —  Michael Clemente, the network's senior vice president for news, announced the move in a statement.

Don't donate money to Japan  —  Individuals are doing it, banks are doing it — faced with the horrific news and pictures from Japan, everybody wants to do something, and the obvious thing to do is to donate money to some relief fund or other.  —  Please don't.

USA Inc.  —  If the United States were a company, what financial shape would it be in?  And what would it make sense to do to put the company on a sounder footing?  These are the intriguing questions that a group of investment analysts from Kleiner Perkins, headed by Mary Meeker, set out to answer.

GOP House member resigns after mental illness remarks  —  CONCORD - Rep. Martin Harty, a Barrington Republican, has resigned his House seat in the wake of fire he drew for remarks on mental illness and population control.  —  Harty, who turns 92 this month, came into spotlight last week …

Japan, Reno humor in Barbour's shop  —  Every morning, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's press secretary sends to Barbour's staff and other allies a list of press clippings, along with a daily compendium of birthdays, historical notes, and jokes — which have recently included humor …

Fitzgerald: Dem senators won't be allowed to vote in committees  —  Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald wrote this afternoon in an email to his caucus that Senate Dems remain in contempt of the Senate and will not be allowed to vote in committees despite returning from their out-of-state boycott of the budget repair bill vote.

Conservative bloc leader to oppose GOP bill with ‘bite-sized’ cuts  —  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the head of the powerful conservative Republican Study Committee, will vote against the three-week House spending bill Tuesday.  —  Jordan's decision will put pressure on other conservative members …

Michele Bachmann's First Action As Pres. Candidate?  Offer Her Birth Certificate  —  Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is not afraid to continue to beat the birth certificate drum as a criticism of President Obama.  Appearing on the radio show of conservative host Jeff Katz …

Palin and the “Party of Ideas” … This wouldn't be much of a change from the intellectually empty brand of pseudo-populism that prevails right now.  What makes some of the new movement conservative anxiety about Palin so amusing is that the people cited in the article continue to perpetuate …

NPR: O'Keefe ‘Inappropriately Edited’ Video; Exec's Words Still ‘Egregious’  —  An update on our post from Sunday about the questions that have been raised regarding conservative political activist James O'Keefe's editing of his secretly recorded video of then-NPR chief fundraiser Ron Schiller slamming conservatives.

Mormon Politicians From Utah Feel Tea Party Heat  —  COALVILLE, Utah — Jacqueline Smith fits no one's stereotype of a political kingmaker.  A home-schooling Mormon mother of five, Ms. Smith lives in a modest ranch-style house here in the mountains outside Salt Lake City with her husband, Cleve, a plumbing contractor.

Steve King seeks maximum ‘leverage’ to stop reform  —  Rep. Steve King says House Republicans should stick together and vote against any long-term spending agreement that doesn't block funding for President Barack Obama's health care law — even if it leads to a government shutdown.

N.R.A. Declines to Meet With Obama on Gun Policy  —  WASHINGTON — More than two months after the Tucson shootings, the administration is calling together both the gun lobby and gun safety groups to find common ground.  But President Obama has no plans to take the lead in proposing further …

Beck: “I'm Not Not Saying” God Is Causing Earthquakes  —  Note: This has been updated from its original version to include more from Beck's rant.  —  Following a lengthy discussion involving the Japanese earthquake, bond markets, unrest in Libya, and a man who was killed trying to photograph …