Nation's Mood at Lowest Level in Two Years, Poll Shows  —  Americans are more pessimistic about the nation's economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama's first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession …

Patients Are Not Consumers  —  Earlier this week, The Times reported on Congressional backlash against the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a key part of efforts to rein in health care costs.  This backlash was predictable; it is also profoundly irresponsible, as I'll explain in a minute.

Huckabee, Trump, Romney Set Pace for 2012 GOP Field  —  Trump leads among liberal and moderate Republicans  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Donald Trump debuts in a first-place tie in Gallup's latest update of Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 presidential nomination among potential contenders.

9/11 Responders To Be Warned They Will Be Screened By FBI's Terrorism Watch List (EXCLUSIVE) … WASHINGTON — A provision in the new 9/11 health bill may be adding insult to injury for people who fell sick after their service in the aftermath of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks, The Huffington Post has learned.

The Electoral Implications of Ensign's Resignation  —  Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada is expected to appoint Dean Heller, currently the Republican incumbent in the state's Second Congressional District, to replace Senator John Ensign, who is resigning.  —  Mr. Heller was already expected …

Obama makes ‘birther’ joke at fundraiser  —  President Obama on Thursday lightened up talk of high gas prices and the budget deficit on his West Coast swing with a joke about those who question his citizenship.  —  “A lot of you got involved when the prospect of electing Barack Hussein Obama to the Oval Office was slim.

Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend  —  Ira Einhorn preached against Vietnam War and violence, but had dark side  —  Below:  —  Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970.

Krauthammer: Trump is running  —  Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer says Donald Trump reached out to him after a piece he wrote that laced into the developer's potential 2012 bid — a phone call he said convinced him The Donald is running for president.

More Republican Congressmen Face Town Hall Backlash Over Tax Breaks For Wealthy And Medicare Privatization  —  Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) held town halls across his district to defend his budget's plan to end Medicare and extend tax cuts for the wealthy.

EXCLUSIVE: MEL GIBSON FINALLY TALKS  —  EXCLUSIVE: On May 6th, Mel Gibson's much-delayed comeback picture, The Beaver, will open in limited release.  It's directed by his longtime friend and co-star Jodie Foster.  The movie has already garnered reviews praising Gibson's performance as …

Bright, Careful and Sadistic: Profiling Long Island's Mystery Serial Killer  —  He is most likely a white male in his mid-20s to mid-40s.  He is married or has a girlfriend.  He is well educated and well spoken.  He is financially secure, has a job and owns an expensive car or truck.

Writing Teachers: Still Crazy After All These Years  —  After spending four depressing days this month at a meeting of 3,000 writing teachers in Atlanta, I can tell you that their parent group, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, is not really interested in teaching students to write and communicate clearly.

Birtherism: Where it all began  —  Just when it appeared that public interest was fading, celebrity developer Donald Trump has revived the theory that President Barack Obama was born overseas and helped expose the depth to which the notion has taken root—a New York Times poll Thursday found that a plurality of Republicans believe it.

Obama speaks to the stars; Tom Hanks suggests ‘five-and-a-half more years’  —  President Obama asked for support Thursday from a small Los Angeles audience dotted with Hollywood stars.  —  Speaking in a tiny room of the Italian restaurant Tavern to a an audience of 60 that included Steven Spielberg …

Jared Bernstein, Biden's Economic Adviser, to Leave  —  Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's economic adviser and one of the longest serving economists in the Obama White House, will leave the administration at the end of the month, a White House official said.

The Anniversary  —  And so the year rolls around yet again to Krauthammer Day, the day on which we all celebrate Charles Krauthammer's confident assertion eight years ago that: … Or nearly all of us celebrate it anyway.  Charles Krauthammer himself seems to prefer to mark the occasion …

Ayn Rand's adult-onset adolescence  —  The movie “Atlas Shrugged,” adapted from Ayn Rand's 1957 novel by the same name, is a triumph of cinematic irony.  A work that lectures us endlessly on the moral superiority of heroic achievement is itself a model of mediocrity.

What Is the Cost of a Law Review Article by a Top Prof?  Estimate Is $100K  —  Top law professors make big bucks—money that supports law review articles that can cost as much as $100,000 each in salaries and other costs, according to an estimate made at a conference on the future of legal education.

Allen West: It's Fair To Call Obama A ‘Low Level Socialist Agitator’ Because He Called Paul Ryan An ‘Accountant’  —  Bomb throwing tea party Rep. Allen West (R-FL) appeared on Fox News host Greta Van Susteren's show last night to defend his latest attack against President Obama …

Delaware politics: Christine O'Donnell amends campaign financing reports  —  Software blamed for 2009-10 errors  —  A lawyer for former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is blaming computer software for “inadvertent errors” in fundraising reports the Delaware Republican filed in 2009 and early 2010.

Large Tax Increases are Not A Semantic Question  —  Yesterday I argued that simply covering our medium-term fiscal problems with tax hikes was not going to be easy or relatively painless; we'd have to go back to the Clinton era tax rates, and then hike rates again by at least a third, possibly more.