VIDEO: Paul Ryan Booed At Town Hall For Defending Tax Breaks For The Wealthy  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from a town hall meeting in Milton, WI.  —  Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) embarked on a series of town halls across his southern Wisconsin congressional district.

Bachmann Says Obama's Certificate ‘Settles’ Birther Issue  —  For the first time, Rep. Michele Bachmann - who is actively considering a run for the White House in 2012 — has said that the birth certificate President Obama has released to the public puts an end to the “birther” issue.

The Right Bailing The Left Out On Spending  —  I wrote about this earlier in the specific context of Grover Norquist, but Elise Foley's account of the Obama administration's rapidly unraveling deficit reduction initiative is another illustration of the fact that at the moment the right is big government's best friend:

Obama's Young Mother Abroad  —  The photograph showed the son, but my eye gravitated toward the mother.  That first glimpse was surprising — the stout, pale-skinned woman in sturdy sandals, standing squarely a half-step ahead of the lithe, darker-skinned figure to her left.

‘Restrepo’ Director Is Killed in Libya  —  BENGHAZI, Libya — Tim Hetherington, the Oscar-nominated film director and conflict photographer who produced the film “Restrepo,” was killed in the besieged city of Misurata on Wednesday, and three photographers working beside him were wounded.

The Death of Roe v. Wade  —  Supporters and opponents of abortion seem to agree: It's no longer the law of the land.  —  Supporters and opponents of abortion agree on nothing.  One side says this is a conversation about fertilized eggs; the other says it's about fetuses.

iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go  —  Privacy fears raised as researchers reveal file on iPhone that stores location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements  —  Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go - and saves every detail …

Obama Panel to Curb Medicare Finds Foes in Both Parties  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans are joining to oppose one of the most important features of President Obama's new deficit reduction plan, a powerful independent board that could make sweeping cuts in the growth of Medicare spending.

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Liberals attack Paul Ryan because his father died young, resulting in survivor benefits  —  At the age of 16, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., suffered the death of his 55-year-old father.  Because of his father's early death, the government made survivor payments for a few years …

Obama administration officials tried to keep S&P rating at ‘stable’  —  The Obama administration privately urged Standard & Poor's in recent weeks not to lower its outlook on the United States — a suggestion the ratings agency ignored Monday, two people familiar with the matter said.

Poll: Obama at 46 percent to Romney's 45  —  President Obama would face a statistical tie against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) if the 2012 election were held today, a new poll found Wednesday.  —  A Marist/McClatchy News Poll released this morning suggested that the race between Obama …

Sarah Palin: Don't pick on Donald Trump  —  Even though Donald Trump has wholeheartedly embraced the wall-to-wall media coverage that's come with his promotion of the widely discredited “birther” issue, Sarah Palin argued Tuesday that the press is treating him “unfairly” …

Trump Most Visible Among Possible GOP Contenders  —  Most View News about Deficit as Unchanging  —  SUMMARY OF FINDINGS  —  Donald Trump has drawn a lot of attention in a slow-starting race for the GOP nomination.  Roughly a quarter of all Americans (26%) name Trump as the possible …

New Jersey voters label Christie a ‘bully’?  —  (CNN) - He says he's not, but if Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey runs for the White House, he will face some stiff competition from President Barack Obama, according to a new poll of Garden State voters.

‘I wanted to be free’: Muslim model upsets family by posing nude for Playboy cover  —  Sila Sahin, a 25-year-old Turkish German living in Berlin, had until now been regarded as a glowing example of how a modern Muslim girl should behave in a multicultural society.

Mitch Daniels Was Once Caught With 2 Shoeboxes Full of Weed?  —  When it comes to pot, we've come a long way from the days of “I did not inhale.”  Fifteen states (plus the District of Columbia) currently permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and according to a recent Pew survey …

Big Brothers: Thought Control at Koch  —  On the eve of the November midterm elections, Koch Industries sent an urgent letter to most of its 50,000 employees advising them on whom to vote for and warning them about the dire consequences to their families, their jobs and their country should they choose to vote otherwise.

Newt Gingrich struggles to raise hard money  —  Newt Gingrich raised a meager $53,000 into his political action committee in the first three months of the year, highlighting potential fundraising difficulties as the former House Speaker girds for a campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

Why Was PFC Manning Moved to Fort Leavenworth?  —  Like many others, the defense first learned of PFC Manning's move to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas by reading that a government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, leaked the information to the Associated Press.

Sarah Palin's Version Of Trig's Birth May Be More Troubling Than The Hoax  —  This past week, the draft of an academic paper that focuses on the 2008 birth of Sarah Palin's son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, and the various theories that surround his birth, was made public prior to publication through …

The $4 trillion gap: Obama vs. Ryan, an apples-to-apples budget comparison  —  OK, let's try and actually compare the new Obama budget plan — “The Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility” — with Rep. Paul Ryan's “Path to Prosperity.”