How Obama turned on a dime toward war  —  At the start of this week, the consensus around Washington was that military action against Libya was not in the cards.  However, in the last several days, the White House completely altered its stance and successfully pushed for the authorization …

Dane County judge halts collective bargaining law  —  By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order Friday, barring the publication of a controversial new law that would sharply curtail collective bargaining for public employees.

GOP Bill Would Force IRS to Conduct Abortion Audits  —  Were you raped?  Was it incest?  And other questions the government's tax cops would have to ask women who've terminated pregnancies.  —  Post Comment  —  Under a GOP-backed bill expected to sail through the House of Representatives …

The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people  —  The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors …

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET FOR 2012  —  Letter to the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye  —  ABSTRACT  —  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), with contributions from the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, has analyzed the President's budget submission for fiscal year 2012.

Answering Mark Levin's Challenge  —  On his Facebook page, Mark Levin takes exception to some of us who have said critical words about Sarah Palin.  —  In his response, Mark groups Karl Rove, David Frum, and me, all of whom served in the Bush administration.

War On The Poor: Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash  —  They're not just crazy, they're evil — and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise.  If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn't last a week: … It may not be right, Angel.

The Forgotten Millions  —  More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.  —  Jobs do get mentioned now and then — and a few political figures …

Exclusive Interview With Jim Shankman, the Man Behind the Ann Althouse Threat  —  Jim Shankman, the Madison-based author of a now notorious, vile Internet screed directed at blogger Ann Althouse and her husband, returned my call late last night and we spoke for approximately 30 - 40 minutes.

Bachmann accuses Weiner of trading in ‘fiction’ on budget.  His retort: 'I don't think you want to go there'  —  There's something about Anthony Weiner that seems to really get under Sean Hannity's skin.  Maybe it's the way he makes both Hannity and his guests look like utter buffoons.

Support for Gay Marriage Reaches a Milestone  —  More Than Half of Americans Say Gay Marriage Should Be Legal  —  More than half of Americans say it should be legal for gays and lesbians to marry, a first in nearly a decade of polls by ABC News and The Washington Post.

Helen Thomas is Playboy's April Interview  —  A Candid Conversation with the Disgraced Dean of the White House Press Corps About her Rage against Israel, her Sympathy for Palestinians and Why she was Fired  —  /PRNewswire/ — “I knew exactly what I was doing - I was going for broke.

Half Would Vote Against Obama  —  Fully half of registered voters say they would definitely or probably vote for a candidate other than President Obama if the presidential election were held today, according to a new Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll.

President ‘Present’  —  Obama dodges the big decisions to keep his approval ratings up.  —  One knock on Barack Obama in the 2008 election was his record as an Illinois state senator, where he repeatedly ducked tough issues by voting “present.”  It seems old habits die hard.

First Read's Top 10 Senate takeovers  —  From The NBC Political Unit  —  With the news that DNC Chairman and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) is “increasingly likely” to run in Virginia and Rep. Dean Heller (R) getting into the Nevada race, we thought we'd bring you another Senate Top 10, our second of the year.

Washington Post reporter named Biden communications director  —  Vice President Joe Biden has hired another veteran journalist to be his communications director: Washington Post congressional correspondent Shailagh Murray.  —  Murray succeeds Jay Carney, a former reporter for Time magazine …

Sixty-four senators call on Obama to take up tax, entitlement reform  —  President Obama came under new pressure Friday to broaden talks about government spending to include tax and entitlement reform.  —  Sixty-four senators — 32 Democrats and 32 Republicans — called for the expanded talks in a letter to Obama.

One-Third of a French Fry Short of a Big Mac Meal  —  How can we put the current debate over the federal budget into a tangible perspective that anyone can understand?  This morning I read a post by Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute in which he criticized the Washington Post's characterization …

Obama cancels public speech in Rio square: embassy  —  President Barack Obama has cancelled a public speech he was scheduled to deliver Sunday in a Rio square during his upcoming visit to Brazil, the US embassy in Brasilia said.  —  The speech in the historic plaza known as Cinelandia …

US Cost of Living Hits Record, Passing Pre-Crisis High  —  One would think that after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Americans could at least catch a break for a while with deflationary forces keeping the cost of living relatively low.  That's not the case.

How to Talk to a First Panicker: 5 Rules  —  How Not to Calm People Down: Governments at all levels in the U.S. are trying to reassure Americans that they have nothing to fear from the plume of radiation heading east from Japan across the Pacfic.  I assume the officials and experts are right about this.