Odd Alliance: Business Lobby and Tea Party  —  The Tea Party does not have a presence in Indonesia, where the term evokes cups of orange pekoe and sweet cakes rather than angry citizens in “Don't Tread on Me” T-shirts.  —  But a Tea Party group in the United States, the Institute for Liberty …

Clinton To Congress: Obama Would Ignore Your War Resolutions  —  Update: Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who asked Clinton about the War Powers Act during a classified briefing, said Clinton and the administration are sidestepping the measure's provisions giving Congress the ability to put a 60-day time limit on any military action.

On The Latest From Libya  —  I'm still absorbing this news and don't want to vent immediately, because there is still part of me that simply cannot believe that president Obama has already ordered covert action in Libya on one side in a civil war, and is now actively discussing whether to arm …

Judge Says Union Bargaining Bill Not In Effect  —  Sumi Amends Temporary Restraining Order  —  MADISON, Wis. — The contentious collective bargaining law that strips most public workers of nearly all collective bargaining rights and force them to contribute more to their pension and health plans …

Democrat chastized for saying ‘uterus’ on House floor  —  During last week's discussion about a bill that would prohibit governments from deducting union dues from a worker's paycheck, state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, used his time during floor debate to argue that Republicans are against regulations …

Budget deal close with $33B in cuts  —  Budget talks came to life Wednesday but not without new tension between the White House and Senate Democrats, worried that the administration is too quick to agree to $33 billion in cuts to move Speaker John Boehner toward what remains a very uncertain deal.

Democrats consider proposing tax hikes  —  Senate Democrats are discussing plans to introduce tax policy changes that they say would raise federal revenues and broaden the budget debate beyond discretionary spending cuts.  —  Democrats feel they have been boxed by Republicans into a debate …

An Arizona Senate Race Waits to See if Giffords Emerges to Run  —  TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords is still in the hospital, but some of her most ardent backers are so enamored of the idea of her running for the Senate that they describe the inevitable campaign commercials …

Iowa GOP threatens effort to strip Florida of 2012 Republican convention  —  The chairman of Iowa's Republican Party on Thursday backed an effort to possibly move the 2012 Republican National Convention out of Florida if that state sticks to its January primary date.

Jim Messina, Obama's Enforcer  —  In March 2009 the Campaign for America's Future, a top progressive group in Washington, launched a campaign called “Dog The (Blue) Dogs” to pressure conservative Blue Dog Democrats to support President Obama's budget.  When he heard about the effort …

Tapper offers Carney ‘straw men’  —  The temperature in the White House briefing jumped up Wednesday afternoon as Jake Tapper and Jay Carney vented some of their frustrations with each other publicly.  —  At one point, Tapper dissed Carney by saying he could provide a “room full of straw men” for the White House press secretary.

Rand Paul Mocks Newt Gingrich: ‘He Has More War Positions Than He Has Wives’  —  Potential GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich has been in hot water lately after ThinkProgress caught him flipping his position on the Libyan war rapidly over the span of just a few weeks …

Rubio Takes the Lead  —  Urges Congress to authorize military action, endorse regime change.  —  THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained the text of a letter freshman senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent tonight to the Senate majority and minority leaders.  In it, Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize …

The unbeatable Republican?  —  Massachusetts is a deeply Democratic state, one in which barely more than 15 percent of the seats in the state Legislature are held by Republicans and fewer than 15 percent of all registered voters belong to the GOP.  So it's hardly surprising that national Democrats …

GOP plans $1 trillion cut to Medicaid  —  House Republicans are planning to cut as much as $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, when they unveil their fiscal 2012 budget early next month, according to several GOP sources.

Shh!  Obama gets anti-secrecy award  —  The president accepted a transparency award in a closed, undisclosed meeting.  —  President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

NOT ROMNEY'S STRONGEST SUBJECT.... He can't talk about health care.  He can't talk about energy.  He can't talk about social issues.  When he tries to talk about national security, it doesn't go well.  —  So former Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is sticking to the one issue everyone else should be talking about: jobs.

Braley and Loebsack paired, King with Latham in proposed new U.S. House map  —  Congressmen Tom Latham and Steve King, both Republicans, now both live in what would be Iowa's 4th Congressional District, under a redistricting plan released by the Iowa Legislative Services Agency today.

Rep. Gohmert: Libya Goal Is To “Deplete The Military” So Obama Can Call Up Private Army  —  5 hours and 13 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein  —  Last night on the House floor, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) offered a bizarre new theory about President Obama's decision to intervene in the Libyan crisis.

Israeli map shows nearly 1,000 Hezbollah sites  —  Hezbullah & UN flags flying side by side … Judith Levy links to a PDF which shows these images from IDF: