Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels  —  (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

House Republican leaders turn to moderate Democrats for budget deal  —  Having difficulty finding consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on several key fiscal issues, including a deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of next week.

Obama Gets Lowest Approval, Reelect Score Ever, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Voters Oppose U.S. Involvement In Libya  —  American voters disapprove 48 - 42 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing and say 50 - 41 percent he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012 …

Setting the Record Straight on State's Film Production Tax Credit  —  Goodness, cleaning up the sloppiness of reporters could be a full time job.  In response to The Daily Caller's online inquiry, I gave them a statement that the writer buried on his story's second page …

Planned Parenthood CEO's False Mammogram Claim Exposed  —  Contact: Amy Kim, 323.454.3304, media@liveaction.org  —  WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30-A series of new undercover phone calls reveals that contrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and other supporters …

GOPers Demand Sean Duffy Salary Tape Be Pulled From The Internet (VIDEO)  —  First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website.  Now they want it gone from the whole Internet.

Supreme Court rejects damages for innocent man who spent 14 years on death row  —  In a 5-4 ruling, justices overturn a jury verdict awarding $14 million to John Thompson, who had sued then-New Orleans Dist.  Atty. Harry Connick Sr. because prosecutors hid a blood test that would have proved his innocence in a murder case.

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl charged with adultery was lashed to death  —  Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN) — Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence.  But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl.  —  Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her.

Bench Brawl in Wisconsin  —  The Left long ago stopped pretending that court proceedings were anything other than exercises in raw-power politics, and so they've taken their fight against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to the state supreme court — not in the form of a lawsuit …

Poll: Americans cooling on tea party  —  The tea party might be running out of steam.  —  The approval rating for the 2-year-old movement fell to 32 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research corporation poll released Wednesday, the lowest it's been since CNN first polled on the tea party in January 2010.

On NBC, the missing story about parent company General Electric  —  Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press - The story that General Electric did not pay federal taxes last year was widely reported everywhere but NBC.  —  It's the kind of accountability journalism that makes readers raise an eyebrow …

Dems: Calling it a ‘slowdown’ won't help  —  Conservatives are turning to a new message in the escalating budget fight: A government shutdown is not actually a shutdown.  —  It's a “slowdown,” according to the new refrain from Tea Party leader Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

Obama's jaw-dropping hypocrisy on energy  —  The Post reports: … It's nice that he's discovered the importance of domestic energy development, but his rhetoric overlooks his own policies over the past two years.  Yesterday on the Senate floor Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …

“With Notably Rare Exceptions”  —  Alan Greenspan is back as free market evangelist, and it's rather wonderful. … It's best not to interpret this as an empirical claim, but a carefully-thought-out bid for Internet immortality.  It has the sublime combination of supreme self-confidence …

Threats Claim Nuclear Bombs Hidden All Over U.S.  —  CHICAGO (CBS 2) - The threats came in the mail and to date, there have been 25 letters that warn of nuclear bombs destroying America.  —  People who got them called the FBI and CBS 2′s Kristyn Hartman learned, the Bureau's Chicago office is leading the investigation.

House passes Boehner's DC school voucher bill over Dem objections  —  Over fierce Democratic opposition, the House on Wednesday approved a bill to re-establish a school choice voucher system for Washington, D.C., residents.  —  The vote came a day after the White House said it opposed …

Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee Dates Politician, Lives Her Own Life  —  I'm not a big fan of Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee as recipe writer, cook, or TV personality.  But as a political spouse, she's the best we have.  —  First of all, she's not actually a political spouse: She and her sometime housemate …

Limiting Abortion Under the Guise of Anti-Racism  —  Reuters reports that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill yesterday that makes it illegal for doctors to provide abortions for parents seeking to terminate pregnancies on the basis of race or gender.  As Planned Parenthood officials …

Where the Bailout Went Wrong  —  TWO and a half years ago, Congress passed the legislation that bailed out the country's banks.  The government has declared its mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective “by any objective measure.”  On my last day as the special inspector general …

Why the Christian right is backing a brutal despot  —  The west African nation of Ivory Coast has been in turmoil ever since incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after losing an internationally certified election in late November.  As forces loyal to Gbagbo have killed civilians …

Feingold wants resignation of GE head from Obama's jobs council  —  Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) called Wednesday for the ouster of General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt from President Obama's jobs council.  —  Feingold, citing GE's ability to escape paying taxes on its $14.2 billion profit last year …