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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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”

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 …

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.

Jimmy Carter was right  —  For 40 years, America's energy policy has been a bipartisan disaster.  Since the early 1970s America's dependence on foreign oil has threatened our economy, security and national honor as we corrupted our foreign policy to satisfy our thirst for oil.  —  Nixon failed.

How NPR Helped Empower James O'Keefe  —  So James O'Keefe's much-hyped NPR video turns out to have been misleadingly edited, just like his previous efforts.  Shocking, isn't it?  —  Actually, it might be — if you get your news from NPR.  —  Dishonesty is James O'Keefe's defining trait.

Still Waiting For The Budget Debate  —  Something frustrating both Your Humble Blogger and the Obama economic team is that the furious debating over continuing resolutions and the Fiscal Year 2011 appropriation is completely crowding out the actual debate about the federal budget deficit.

Ethics complaint filed against Claire McCaskill  —  Missouri Republicans have filed a complaint against Sen. Claire McCaskill with the Senate Ethics Committee, calling for an investigation into whether the Missouri Democrat improperly used taxpayer funding to cover the cost of at least one airplane trip to a political event.