Fire Erupts at Troubled Reactor; Helicopters May Be Used at Plant  —  TOKYO — The Japanese government reported early Wednesday that a fire was burning at the No. 4 reactor of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.  —  Utility officials said the fire erupted because a blaze …

Rick Scott, John Kasich, Scott Walker, and a GOP Problem for 2012  —  I was talking the other day to a Democrat who'd been battle-scarred by the 2010 Florida campaign, in which Democrats lost everything.  Everything.  Alan Grayson's career died quickly.  Kendrick Meek became a trivia question.

Huckabee, Bachmann Have Most Intense Following in GOP Field  —  Sarah Palin is best known, but her Positive Intensity Score trails  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leads the field of possible GOP presidential candidates in “positive intensity” among Republicans nationwide …

House committee moves again to defund NPR  —  Meredith Shiner reports from the Hill that the House Rules committee will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday at 3 p.m. on H.R. 1076, the measure “to prohibit funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content.”

Confidence Falls in U.S. System of Government  —  Confidence in the U.S. System of Government Drops to a 35-Year Low  —  Confidence in the U.S. system of government has dropped to a new low in more than 35 years, with public attitudes burdened by continued economic discontent …

Wisconsin recall: 3 GOP state senators trail Generic Dem, more at risk  —  We asked our pollster, Public Policy Polling, to test the waters in all eight Republican-held state Senate districts in Wisconsin which are currently the target of recall efforts.  PPP went into the field over the weekend …

Senate Republicans to drop contempt finding against Democrats  —  By Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — The top GOP leader in the state Senate backtracked Tuesday, saying Republicans would lift fines and a contempt finding against Democrats …

Clinton: No U.S. support for Libya no-fly zone  —  From Cairo, NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on the ongoing negotiations over a no-fly zone in Libya.  —  Carrie Dann writes:We wrote this morning that lawmakers - and the public - are split about whether the United States should implement …

Bachmann plays the victim  —  Michele Bachmann fired back at the media Tuesday, saying her Revolutionary War gaffe was only reported because she is a conservative politician.  —  “We all know there's a double standard in the media ... as we know all 3,400 members of the mainstream media …

Snake dies from silicone poisoning after biting model's breast during photoshoot  —  It should have been an alluring photoshoot between two of nature's beautiful creatures as a model wrapped herself in a snake.  —  But surgically enhanced Israeli model Orit Fox got more than she bargained …

CNN Poll: Most say govt. shutdown bad; Tea Party disagrees  —  Washington (CNN) - Most Americans say that a federal government shutdown would be bad for the country, according to a new national poll.  —  But a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also indicates that Democrats and Republicans …

The Abuse of Private Manning  —  Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been imprisoned for nine months on charges of handing government files to WikiLeaks, has not even been tried let alone convicted.  Yet the military has been treating him abusively, in a way that conjures creepy memories …

Cain: Planned Parenthood's mission is ‘planned genocide’ of black babies  —  Washington (CNN) - Using unusually harsh words, a potential presidential candidate echoed some previous comments: claiming that Planned Parenthood's original mission was to “help kill black babies before they came into the world.”

Trump Unplugged  —  [Editor's note: These are uncut excerpts from HUMAN EVENTS's exclusive interview with Donald Trump on culture, politics, and his potential run for the presidency.  To read the cover story, “Can Donald Trump Save America?” go here]  —  Trump on Charlie Sheen's debut on “Celebrity Apprentice”

House Republicans reject amendment that says climate change is occurring  —  House Republicans rejected amendments offered Tuesday by Democrats that called on Congress to accept the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, that it is caused in large part by human activity and it is a threat to human health.

Jim DeMint's Theory Of Relativity: ‘The Bigger Government Gets, The Smaller God Gets’  —  It is nothing new for conservatives to dress their political ideology in religious language.  Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) justified his opposition to controlling greenhouse gases because “you can't regulate God.”

While Japan Burns, Obama Fills Out His Bracket  —  Wow: … Via Mike Allen's newsletter, we see in the first line how the leader of the free world will spend his day during this awful crisis: … Okay, that's not all he's doing.  “Obama will tape interviews from the Map Room with KOAT Albuquerque …