On a Senate Call, a Glimpse of Marching Orders  —  Um, Senators, ever heard of the mute button?  —  Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, apparently unaware that many of the reporters were already on the line, Charles Schumer of New York …

Judge again blocks implementation of collective bargaining law  —  By Patrick Marley and Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison - A Dane County judge Tuesday blocked the state from implementing Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining measure.  —  “Further implementation …

CRUISE SHIP CONFESSION: Top Fox News Executive Admits Lying On-Air About Obama  —  In newly uncovered audio, a Fox News executive boasts that he lied repeatedly during the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air “about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism.”

CAN'T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME?.... At face value, congressional Republicans went into budget talks playing a strikingly weak hand.  They're an unpopular party, pushing unpopular spending cuts, going up against a more popular president.  Of the three main players — the House, the Senate …

Sarah Palin Exaggerates Cost of Libya Intervention By 700%  —  Last night on Fox News, Greta van Susteren hosted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to discuss what Palin termed the “squirmish” in Libya.  True to form, the former governor was reckless with basic facts and casually septupled the cost of U.S. intervention.

Bill Maher at the Winspear on Sunday night: 'Your new theater isn't gonna be clean for long'  —  I've seen Kathy Griffin perform live, and Joan Rivers and Lisa Lampanelli and Chris Rock — and they are all hilarious and edgy and daring comics who say outrageous things and go places that scare …

Huckabee Continues to Lead in GOP Positive Intensity Tracking  —  Little-known Herman Cain generates strong enthusiasm among those who recognize him  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Mike Huckabee continues to generate the strongest favorable reactions from Republicans who recognize him, with a Positive Intensity Score of 26.

Take Two: Donald Trump Releases Official Birth Certificate  —  ABC News Michael Falcone reports:  —  Donald Trump learned the hard way this week that if you're going to call on the president to release his official birth certificate, you'd better do the same.

Japan ‘has lost race’ to halt meltdown  —  Fukushima meltdown fears rise after radioactive core melts through vessel - but ‘no danger of Chernobyl-style catastrophe’  —  • In pictures: Fukushima nuclear emergency - week three  —  • Interactive: Japan earthquake: Ian Sample on efforts to contain the nuclear accident

Obama: Qaddafi regime's “days are numbered”  —  President tells CBS News “the noose has tightened” around Muammar Qaddafi, and Libyan ruler knows how to put end to attacks  —  NEW YORK - A day after President Obama laid out his case for intervention in Libya by saying that he authorized …

Calling BULLS**T on Rolling Stone  —  Seldom do I waste time with rebutting articles, and especially not from publications like Rolling Stone.  Today, numerous people sent links to the latest Rolling Stone tripe.  The story is titled “THE KILL TEAM, THE FULL STORY.”  It should be titled: “BULLS**T, from Rolling Stone.”

Scott incredibly unpopular  —  You could say Rick Scott's honeymoon is over...but that would suggest he had one in the first place.  A December PPP poll shortly before Scott took office found that only 33% of Florida voters had a favorable opinion of their new Governor to 43% who viewed him negatively.

NATO Chief Opens The Door to Libya Ground Troops  —  The mantra, from President Obama on down, is that ground forces are totally ruled out for Libya.  After all, the United Nations Security Council Resolution authorizing the war explicitly rules out any “occupation” forces.

Tom Tomorrow:  —  A period of transition  —  I don't really remember the exact date, but at some point in late 1994 or early 1995, I met my editor from the SF Examiner, David Talbot, for lunch at the Rincon Center food court in San Francisco.  Over some cheap take-out …

Howard Dean: Democrats Should Be ‘Quietly Rooting’ for Shutdown  —  Speaking at the National Journal Insiders Conference on March 29, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that a government shutdown would be bad for the country but good for Democrats.

Have We Got Arab Politics All Wrong?  —  We've long tended to assume that foreign policy drives Arab public opinion, but the uprisings in Egypt and Syria may show us otherwise  —  On January 31, in one of his few public interviews, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Wall Street Journal, “Syria is stable.

Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit  —  Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending.  The time to start is now.  —  Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human history.  But America's exceptionalism was not preordained.  Every generation has had to confront …

Conservative Think Tank Seeks Michigan Profs' Emails About Wisconsin Union Battle ... And Maddow  —  A free enterprise think tank in Michigan — backed by some of the biggest names in national conservative donor circles — has made a broad public records request to at least three in-state universities …

House votes to end HAMP  —  The House Tuesday voted to eliminate the last of four Obama administration housing programs, in an effectively symbolic vote to end the controversial Home Affordable Modification Program 218 to 109.  —  The loan program launched at the beginning …

Why Obama had to act in Libya  —  “We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi - a city nearly the size of Charlotte - could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.  It was not in our national interest to let that happen.

Levin takes on Ron Paul supporters: ‘I promise you his followers are the biggest a-holes of them all’  —  There's no doubt that 2008 Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has some dedicated followers, and they're especially ambitious in using the Internet to spread their message.

3-Month Nightmare Emerges in Rape Inquiry  —  CLEVELAND, Tex. — A year ago, the 11-year-old girl who the police say was the victim of repeated gang rapes in this East Texas town was an outgoing honor roll student, brimming with enthusiasm, who went on hikes and planted trees with a youth group here.

Cash for Clunkers 2: The Return of Government Motors  —  Ready for another cash for clunkers program?  It looks like General Motors is attempting to replace it's own consumer incentives with tax payer money.  The car company, bailed out of bankruptcy in 2009 by the American tax payer …

Justice Lawyers Cleared in Voting Case  —  The Justice Department's internal ethics watchdog on Tuesday told Congress that it had cleared all department lawyers of wrongdoing in relation to a much-disputed voter-intimidation case involving the New Black Panther Party, a black-nationalist fringe group.

Gingrich fears ‘atheist country ... dominated by radical Islamists’  —  Newt Gingrich at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas.  —  Hours after declaring Sunday that he expects to be running for president within a month, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he's worried the United States could be …

Voting With Their Feet  —  The latest published data from the 2010 census show how people are moving from place to place within the United States.  In general, people are voting with their feet against places where the liberal, welfare-state policies favored by the intelligentsia are most deeply entrenched.