Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant  —  TOKYO — Japanese officials and safety workers struggled to reassert control over badly damaged nuclear reactors and avert calamity on Tuesday after the situation at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant appeared …

U.S.: Wait on health care review  —  The Obama Administration told the Supreme Court Monday evening that federal appeals courts are moving rapidly to review the constitutionality of the new health care law, so there is no need for the Justices to step in to decide the issue ahead of the lower courts.

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 …

Social Security reform splits White House political, economic teams  —  Social Security reform is splitting President Obama's economic and political advisers.  —  Obama is being pulled in opposite directions by those whose priorities are fiscal and those whose No. 1 concern is electoral.

Sen. Fitzgerald: Senate Dems' committee votes will not be counted or recorded  —  Senate Majority Scott Fitzgerald has told Senate Republicans that any votes taken by Senate Democrats in standing committee public hearings and executive sessions will not be counted or recorded.

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 …

King of Bahrain Declares State of Emergency  —  MANAMA, Bahrain — The king of Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency on Tuesday as more than 10,000 protesters marched on the Saudi Arabian embassy here to denounce a military intervention by Persian Gulf countries the day before.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Manhattan mom sues $19K/yr. preschool for damaging 4-year-old daughter's Ivy League chances  —  Did a Manhattan preschool fail to adequately prepare a four-year-old girl for Harvard?  The girl's mom charges that the York Avenue Preschool hurt her child's chances in a lawsuit filed Monday.

Rush's Presidential Standard (And Palin)  —  This is a fascinating moment.  Rush Limbaugh tries to fathom just why any leading Repubican would trash Sarah Palin as the Al Sharpton of the right.  Part of this, to my mind, has to be Limbaugh's deeply ingrained racism.

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.

Glenn Beck: Japan Earthquake Might Be A ‘Message’ From God (AUDIO) … On his first day back from vacation, Glenn Beck addressed the earthquake in Japan, and said he thinks that it could be a “message [is] being sent” by God.  —  Speaking on his radio show Monday, Beck said, “I'm not saying God is …

Chávez Tries to Rally Venezuela Against a New Enemy: Breast Lifts  —  CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez is known to have expressed little patience for imported leisure pursuits like golf or Scotch whisky tippling.  Now he has reserved some ire for another practice …

Davis' comments shock GOP leaders  —  Congressional candidate Jack Davis shocked local Republican leaders in a recent interview when he suggested that Latino farmworkers be deported — and that African-Americans from the inner city be bused to farm country to pick the crops.