Arab Spring Spurs Israel to Ice Peace Plan Before Obama Meeting  —  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been preparing to greet President Barack Obama at the White House tomorrow with a proposal to resurrect Middle East peace talks, advisers said.  —  That was until Palestinian …

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Resigns From I.M.F.  —  Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive allegations that he had sexually attacked a cleaning lady in a midtown Manhattan hotel room.  —  “It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today …

Sen. Grassley Accuses Asian-American Judicial Nominee Of Holding ‘Communist’ Chinese Worldview  —  Six years ago, Ninth Circuit judicial nominee Goodwin Liu published an op-ed in which he made the utterly banal point that a conservative interest group used the terms “free enterprise,"' …

Romney stepping up South Carolina presence  —  (CNN) - He hasn't been spotted in South Carolina since the summer of 2010, but Mitt Romney, the presumptive frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, is making his campaign debut in the pivotal early primary state this weekend.

REPORT: Jon Huntsman's Secret Life As A Progressive  —  Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) left his post as President Obama's ambassador to China last month in order to pursue a potential bid for the presidency.  During his ambassadorship, Huntsman penned multiple letters to Obama in which he praised …

Cornel West on Obama is no better than a birther  —  Anyone who knows me, and knows me well, knows that I have little patience for the “Blacker than thou” crowd.  These are the self-appointed guardians of what it means to be black — a decidedly limited and ignorant perspective …

Rogue tweet by Secret Service!  —  How embarrassing, Secret Service!  (Gawker image)  —  Courtesy  —  Oh, the dangers of social media!  Those instant, regrettable outbursts of unvarnished truth and scantily clad photos.  Today's victim: the Secret Service!

McConnell leaves House GOP budget twisting in the wind  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is leaving Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget plan to its own fate in the Senate by not whipping his GOP colleagues on the vote.  —  Republican senators say McConnell has made it clear …

Maria Shriver Hires a Divorce Attorney  —  Maria Shriver, who has split from husband Arnold Schwarzenegger amid a love-child scandal, has hired a divorce lawyer, sources tell PEOPLE.  —  Prominent Los Angeles family law attorney Laura Wasser is now representing California's former first lady, according to sources close to Shriver.

Private Prisons Found to Offer Little in Savings  —  PHOENIX — The conviction that private prisons save money helped drive more than 30 states to turn to them for housing inmates.  But Arizona shows that popular wisdom might be wrong: Data there suggest that privately operated prisons …

Stephen Colbert's Free Speech Problem  —  The comedian runs up against campaign-finance law in an attempt to lampoon the Supreme Court.  —  Comedy Central funnyman Stephen Colbert, like most of his friends and allies on the left, thinks that last year's Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC is, literally, ridiculous.

Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling  —  The individual stories are familiar.  The chemistry major tending bar.  The classics major answering phones.  The Italian studies major sweeping aisles at Wal-Mart.  —  Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought …

Pawlenty gets cash haul at Minn. ‘kickoff’ fundraiser  —  Hundreds of people attended a “kickoff” fundraiser for likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty in his home state of Minnesota Wednesday night, designed to give his bank account a jolt before he makes his bid official.

Gary Johnson's rough start  —  There's sometimes a cheerful lightness to the low expectations that come with being a no-hope minor candidate, but Gary Johnson appears not even to be meeting those.  First Ron Paul, whose space he was primed to take refused to leave.

How more stimulus could reduce the deficit, and vice versa  —  “Mentions of unemployment have been dwindling since they spiked to 154 in the month ending August 15, 2010; over the month ending Sunday, there were 63,” reports Clifford Marks.  “Deficit mentions, meanwhile …

The Debt Ceiling Fiasco  —  Fights over the budget are normal and proper in a democracy.  But threatening to default could have dire consequences for the dollar, interest rates and the economy.  —  The debt ceiling “crisis” started on Monday when the U.S. government reached the legal limit …

Disability-Claim Judge Has Trouble Saying ‘No’  —  Near-Perfect Approval Record; Social-Security Program Strained  —  HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—Americans seeking Social Security disability benefits will often appeal to one of 1,500 judges who help administer the program, where the odds of winning are slightly better than even.

GOP Donors Deserting Newt Gingrich … WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich's catastrophic first week as an official Republican primary candidate may knock him out of the race before it even gets started.  And if he stays in, fundraising will now be much more difficult, and that could hasten his exit, Republican sources said.