Union law published despite restraining order  —  Fitzgerald, Barca disagree on whether law goes into effect Saturday  —  By Patrick Marley and Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — In a stunning twist, Gov. Scott Walker's legislation limiting collective bargaining …

Obama's Unconstitutional War  —  By unilaterally going to war against Libya, Obama is bringing America closer to the imperial presidency than Bush ever did.  —  In taking the country into a war with Libya, Barack Obama's administration is breaking new ground in its construction of an imperial presidency …

Bob Herbert to Leave The Times  —  Bob Herbert, a columnist for The New York Times Op-Ed page, is leaving the paper after nearly 20 years.  —  Mr. Herbert's resignation was announced in a memo to Times staff members on Friday.  His last column will appear in the paper on Saturday.

Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links  —  Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.  —  Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought …

Harper government falls in historic Commons showdown  —  The second minority government of Stephen Harper has fallen.  —  Early Friday afternoon, 156 opposition MPs - all of the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloquistes present in the House of Commons - rose to support a motion of no-confidence.

Pawlenty shut down Islam-friendly mortgage program  —  Adam Serwer wrote today about a Minnesota program that offered mortgages compliant with Islamic law, structured to avoid interest payments.  The program was a response to then-Governor Tim Pawlenty's push to increase minority home-ownership …

Florida looks to curtail union dues  —  The latest in the public sector union fight, this time in Florida:  —  After a largely party-line vote, the Florida House delivered a major blow to public employee unions, approving a bill that would ban automatic dues deduction and require members …

Academic Intimidation  —  Regular readers may recall my praise for William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, a great book that had a big influence on my work in economic geography.  Cronon has inspired many other people; Josh Marshall was deeply influenced by his environmental history of New England.

Barack Obama to lawmakers: We won't kill Qadhafi  —  President Barack Obama told congressional leaders there are no plans to use the U.S. military to assassinate Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi — despite the administration's policy of seeking regime change in the North African country …

Katie Couric Plots CBS Exit  —  The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June, and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her—but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports.  Plus, behind the CBS News shakeup.  —  The search is on for Katie Couric's successor.

Newt Gingrich's Libya Shift, Issue by Issue  —  One important factor in evaluating Newt Gingrich's endlessly confusing explanation of his position on Libya is that it's not just one issue that he's apparently flipped on.  While his direct demand for a no-fly zone and subsequent criticism …

Haley Barbour On Global Warming: ‘We Should Proceed’ As If It ‘Is Actually Happening’  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone reports:  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Potential presidential candidate Haley Barbour appears to be staking out a moderate position on global warming than some of his possible rivals …

In Prison for Taking a Liar Loan  —  A few weeks ago, when the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide, I wrote a column lamenting the fact that none of the big fish were likely to go to prison for their roles in the financial crisis.

Budget Impasse Increasing Risk of U.S. Shutdown  —  WASHINGTON — With time running short and budget negotiations this week having reached an angry impasse, Congressional leaders are growing increasingly pessimistic about reaching a bipartisan deal that would avert a government shutdown in early April.

Michigan Drastically Cutting Unemployment Insurance And Fox's Stuart Varney is Simply Giddy Over Real ‘Austerity’  —  Michigan voted to extend unemployment initially, but has now become the first state to cut the number of weeks a person can have unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 20 starting in 2012.

Energized Muslim Brotherhood in Libya eyes a prize  —  (CNN) — Dr. Abdulmonem Hresha knows first hand how Moammar Gadhafi's regime works.  He says the seeds of his opposition were sown when he was age 10.  —  He and classmates were taken to witness the public execution of a political opponent of Gadhafi.

Latest update  —  The latest update of the OED, published on 24 March 2011, revises more than 1,900 entries and adds new words from across the dictionary.  The OED's chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revisions in this update, while Graeme Diamond and Katherine Martin comment …

Deaths as Syrian forces fire on protesters  —  At least 20 killed near Daraa, a witness tells Al Jazeera, as anti-government protesters defy security crackdown.  —  Syrian security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the city of Sanamin near Daraa, killing at least 20 people, according to one witness.

Vt. House passes single-payer health care bill  —  MONTPELIER, Vt.—Every Vermonter could sign up for state-financed health insurance under a bill passed by the House on Thursday that would put the state on a path to a single-payer health care system by the middle of this decade.

Ex-Rep. Dan Maffei ‘strongly considering’ another bid in 2012  —  Former Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.), who lost by a razor thin margin to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle last cycle, told supporters in an email that he's “strongly considering” another run in 2012.  —  “I have been asked many times …

F.B.I. Memorandum  —  Below is the text of an unsigned, internal F.B.I. memorandum, obtained by The New York Times, that provides guidance to agents about when, in the course of interrogating a terrorism suspect, they should advise the suspect of his so-called Miranda rights to remain silent …

On The Huffington Post, Cowardice, And The Ad Hominem Attack  —  After a brief but apparently loud “protest” of sorts, The Huffington Post caved to the extortionist tactics of Van Jones' Color of Change organization.  It seems the organization had people make 43,000 phone calls to HuffPo headquarters.