U.S. Urges Deeper Caution in Japan, Signaling Split on Radiation Threat  —  WASHINGTON — The chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a far bleaker appraisal on Wednesday of the threat posed by Japan's nuclear crisis than the Japanese government had offered.

Clinton says no to second term  —  (CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer she does not want to serve a second term as secretary of state or run for president of the United States.  —  Blitzer sat down with the former 2008 presidential candidate in Cairo.  —  Full transcript:

Four New York Times Journalists Are Missing in Libya  —  6:19 p.m. |  Updated The New York Times said Wednesday that four of its journalists reporting on the conflict in Libya were missing.  —  Editors said they were last in contact with the journalists, who were reporting from the northern port city …

Some in GOP grow tired of right wing  —  Some veteran Republican House members are pushing back against conservative deficit hawks who are pushing for endlessly deep spending cuts, saying the right wing of the party is creating unnecessary divisions for the GOP majority.

The Washington Post 's Liberal-Bashing, Pro-Torture “Left-Leaning” Columnist  —  As I've frequently pointed out, the fact that columnist Richard Cohen is what passes for a “liberal” at the Washington Post pretty thoroughly undermines the idea that the paper's opinion pages lean to the left.

Obama flaunts openness award … No comments yet.  Be the first!

Newt Gingrich Secretly Funneled $350,000 To Anti-Gay Hate Groups Last Year  —  Last year, former Speaker Newt Gingrich offered his vocal support for the ultimately successful campaign to oust three of the nine Iowa Supreme Court justices who had unanimously ruled in favor of marriage equality.

Qaddafi Forces Attack Rebel Stronghold in West  —  TRIPOLI, Libya — A day after routing a ragtag army in an eastern town near the rebel capital of Benghazi, forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi launched attacks Wednesday on the city of Misurata, the last rebel stronghold in western Libya.

Conservatives: We Are Being Outworked And Out-Organized In Wisconsin Recall Campaigns … WASHINGTON — Both national and Wisconsin-based Republican operatives tell the Huffington Post the party is being dramatically outworked and out-organized by Democrats in the recall campaigns being launched against state Senators.

Washington Post apologizes for plagiarized articles  —  The Washington Post apologized Wednesday for publishing two articles in March that “contained substantial material that was borrowed and duplicated, without attribution, from The Arizona Republic newspaper.”

GOP leaders, mainline caucus fume at conservative ‘no’ votes on three-week CR  —  GOP leaders and much of the mainline party caucus that voted for a three-week continuing resolution Tuesday are fuming at the 54 conservative Republicans who voted no — and the right-wing activists who cheered them on.

Abortion Foes in Congress Run Into Tax Obstacle in Attempt to Curb Funding  —  House Republicans' efforts to limit government funding for abortion are colliding with their emphasis on tax cuts, underscoring potential conflicts between the party's social and fiscal agendas.

Stuff White People Like: Republicans  —  A good series of charts by Lee Drutman shows that one of the best predictors of declining Democratic partisan ID between 2008 and 2010 is the number of white people:  —  I used to hold to the view that the growing non-white share of the electorate would, over time, tip elections to Democrats.

Cut Pentagon's budget, reduce Afghan forces  —  DAVENPORT, Iowa — America should slash defense spending — and consider shrinking its presence in Afghanistan, Haley Barbour said Monday night.  —  Barbour, a likely candidate for president in 2012, told Iowa county leaders and activists …

Petraeus accused of ‘Charlie Sheen strategy’ on Afghanistan war  —  Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) on Wednesday sharply criticized David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and signaled agreement with an assessment from a Rolling Stone editor who likened the commander's performance to that of Charlie Sheen.

‘Sagging pants’ bill passes House committee  —  Seems the best way to sell legislation these days is that it'll be good for the economy.  That's how Rep. Hazelle Rogers (D-Lauderhill) pitched her so-called “sagging pants” bill to members of the House's K-20 education innovation subcommittee today.

GOP wants to overhaul the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  —  House Republicans are targeting the Wall Street reform law's consumer protection bureau for major changes.  —  Under a GOP-backed bill introduced Wednesday, the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) …

President main attraction at fourth party event this month  —  Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama headlines a Democratic party event Wednesday night, the second time this week and fourth time this month he's been the main attraction at a party gathering.

More New York  —  Kevin Drum has an email conversation with someone who thinks I've got this all wrong.  I think he or she has mostly missed my point.  Let's take this a bit at a time. … The first point to make is that New York isn't just attractive because of the way it was built.

Roemer looks back on 2008, forward to 2012: Palin “worthy opponent”  —  Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer tells CBS News Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes that Sarah Palin was not his choice as John McCain's running mate in 2008, but that she's a “worthy opponent.”

GOP 2012: Return of the neo-cons  —  When George W. Bush left office in 2009, liberal Democrats and a fair number of moderate, traditional Republicans proclaimed the good news: the GOP neo-cons were dead, chased from Washington in disgrace.  —  But as Republican presidential hopefuls begin …

What The Frack: Ohio Gov. John Kasich Wants To Open Up State Parks For Oil And Gas Exploration  —  At the behest of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, an exemption was inserted into a 2005 energy bill — dubbed the “Haliburton loophole” — which stripped the EPA of its power to regulate …

Joy Behar: 'I'm Sure People In Concentration Camps Made Jokes About Each Other and The Nazis'  —  Joy Behar on Wednesday made a staggeringly stupid comment on “The View” that is so inane it requires no additional setup.  —  “I'm sure people in concentration camps made jokes about each other, about the Nazis, about their situation.

Birthright Citizenship for the Children of Visitors: A National Security Problem in the Making?  —  W.D. Reasoner (a pseudonym) is a retired government employee with many years of experience in immigration administration, law enforcement, and national security matters.

House Ag Committee: Cut Food Stamps, not Farm Aid  —  There has long been rare left-right agreement in Washington that multi-billion dollar federal farm subsidies are generally wasteful, mostly benefit agribusinesses, and should be slashed or eliminated.  You'd think this would represent low-hanging fruit …

Rubio and Senate GOP: Obama, when are you going to lead?  —  Senator Marco Rubio, along with 23 Republican senators, are calling for President Obama to actually show some leadership and become engaged in the debate over the debt crisis this country is facing, and reforming and saving entitlement programs.

Motivating Density  —  Phoenix is largely a stereotypical sunbelt “no there there” sprawling auto-oriented city.  But it does feature a smallish, but very nice, walkable urban downtown core.  And it also has a new light rail line, with more lines to come.  These developments are …