Senate rejects Ryan budget  —  The Senate on Wednesday resoundingly rejected a budget sponsored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that calls for significant cuts to future Medicare benefits.  —  Five Republican senators voted against the ambitious budget plan …

Response to Ed Schultz  —  Re. the crude comments made about me by Ed Schultz on his radio program: First, I was surprised to learn that Ed Schultz actually hosted a radio show.  Is it only available online?  Second, I have to get back to recording the audio edition of my new book “Of Thee I Zing.”

Romney, Palin Lead Reduced GOP Field for 2012  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney (17%) and Sarah Palin (15%) now lead a smaller field of potential Republican presidential candidates in rank-and-file Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 nominee.  Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich …

Racism to blame for Obama's problems, key Democrat says  —  WASHINGTON — House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, on Wednesday blamed most of President Barack Obama's political problems on racism.  —  Clyburn, who's from South Carolina …

Key Jewish Donor Breaks With Obama  —  One of the most important Democratic donors in the past two decades, whose generous contributions helped pay for the DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., has indicated that he will not contribute to President Obama's reelection campaign in 2012, because of the administration's stance on Israel.

Ratko Mladic arrested: Bosnia war crimes suspect held  —  Serbian President Boris Tadic: “Today we closed one chapter of our recent history”  —  Ratko Mladic, wanted for genocide during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, has been arrested in Serbia.  —  Serbian President Boris Tadic said the process …

Facebook picks up former Bush aides  —  Facebook has friended two top former aides to former President George W. Bush, as the burgeoning social network continues to ramp up its lobbying and public policy work in Washington.  —  Former Bush deputy chief of staff Joel Kaplan will join Facebook …

Stubborn Jobless Claims Still Keep On Climbing Higher  —  New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to 424,000 last week from a revised 414,000 in the prior week, pointing to a painfully slow improvement in the nation's job markets.  —  The Labor Department on Thursday revised …

The real unemployment...  Walt Whitman famously observed to a friend in 1863 that “the real war will never get in the books.”  Whitman knew what he was talking about, so the proposition can't be discounted.  But in the case of the Civil War, if the real war hasn't gotten into the books, it's not for lack of trying.

Why Not Let the Dead Pay for Medicare?  —  So here's an idea: why not reform Medicare by means testing it?  Conservatives should love this idea.  —  Here's how it works.  Basically, we leave Medicare alone.  Oh, we can still go ahead with some of the obvious reforms.

Walt Disney Surrenders to Navy's SEAL Team 6  —  Less than a month after a daring raid on Osama bin Laden's secret hideout, the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6 notched a victory over the Magic Kingdom.  —  Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it would pull an application with the U.S. Patent …

Obama Gets Big Bump In Florida, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Nelson Leads Gop Challengers, With No Clear Leader  —  President Barack Obama's job approval rating in Florida is 51 - 43 percent approve, a jump from his negative 44 - 52 percent score April 7, before the killing of Osama bin Laden …

Vice President Biden in Nashua for fundraiser  —  NASHUA - Vice President Joe Biden, a two-time veteran of the New Hampshire primary, has seen the seasons change before in the Granite State.  And he knows it's ready to happen again, he told a gathering of state Democrats on Wednesday at the Radisson Hotel Nashua.

How America's Building the 21st-Century Mall  —  Here's a conundrum for the American capitalist: How can malls, those decades-old bastions of shoppers everywhere, compete with the shopping technology and up-to-the-minute gratification of the Internet?  —  The simple answer is that they can't—yet.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE  —  Yemen  —  The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.  The Department urges U.S. citizens not to travel to Yemen.  U.S. citizens currently in Yemen should depart while commercial transportation is available.

DSK hops to luxe lily pad  —  The Upper East Side rejected him, and he quickly wore out his welcome downtown, but yesterday, Parisian pariah Dominique Strauss-Kahn finally landed a posh pad in TriBeCa.  —  The uber-luxury, $50,000-a-month townhouse at 153 Franklin St. — replete with a home theater …

Who would you rather have lunch with - Obama, Palin or Romney?  —  A new Sachs/Mason Dixon poll gets to the heart of the presidential choices in front of us.  Who would you rather have lunch with?  More than three times as many Americans - 53 percent - would choose to have a one-on-one lunch chat …