Wonkette Editor Comments on Reprehensible Birthday Greeting to Trig Palin  —  Update: Wonkette's editor responds later in the post, but also, a reader hilariously bought the domain name JackStuef.com, which now redirects to the National Down Syndrome Society donation page.  Lemons into lemonade.

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.

How to Beat Trump  —  This post by Ed Kilgore about Donald Trump seems to me very astute. … Here's the thing Republican leaders and pundits need to understand.  (I said it yesterday, but let's say it again today.)  America has not had a mass conversion to ideological libertarianism.

‘Restrepo’ Director and a Photographer Are Killed in Libya  —  BENGHAZI, Libya — Tim Hetherington, a conflict photographer who was a director and producer of the Afghan war documentary “Restrepo,” was killed in the besieged city of Misurata, Libya, on Wednesday, and three photographers working beside …

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.

Dems needn't negotiate  —  Shudders went through the Beltway on Monday on the news that Standard & Poor's had lowered its outlook for U.S. debt because of its “fears” that the Democrats and Republicans wouldn't be able to come together to eliminate the deficit.

University of Iowa Professor Tells College Republicans to “F” Off  —  A University of Iowa professor felt the need to reply to a blast email by the College Republicans on Monday morning.  Ellen Lewin, a professor of Anthropology and Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies in the Department of Gender …

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.

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 …

Gay Marriage Opponents Now in Minority  —  A poll from CNN this week is the latest to show a majority of Americans in favor of same-sex marriage, with 51 percent saying that marriages between gay and lesbian couples “should be recognized by the law as valid” and 47 percent opposed.

Kloppenburg requests recount in Supreme Court race  —  By Patrick Marley and Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg requested Wednesday a statewide recount - the first in 22 years - to check the results in the April 5 election …

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.”

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.

Obama Officials Tried to Convince S&P Not to Issue Credit Warning  —  Even though the White House has publicly downplayed the credit warning issued Monday from a leading agency, Obama administration officials were privately trying in recent weeks to convince Standard & Poor's not to lower …

Government Cash Handouts Now Top Tax Revenues  —  U.S. households are now getting more in cash handouts from the government than they are paying in taxes for the first time since the Great Depression.  —  Households received $2.3 trillion in some kind of government support in 2010.

8 accused of writing protest excuses now under investigation  —  By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison - The state Department of Regulation and Licensing and the Medical Examining Board said Wednesday that they had opened investigations into eight individuals …

Under Protest  —  Have you noticed all the huge antiwar demonstrations in the last twelve months?  Yeah, me neither.  It turns out that a lot of the energy for the movement seems to have been provided by Democrats who are a lot less worried about wars conducted by Democratic presidents.

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.