Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations  —  This is the first in a Daily Caller investigative series on Media Matters For America.  Daily Caller reporters Alex Pappas and Will Rahn contributed to this report.

WH Chief of Staff Errs on Senate Budget Rules  —  As President Obama prepares to unveil his FY2013 budget Monday, White House chief of staff Jack Lew this morning was asked by CNN to defend the Senate's refusal to pass a budget in more than 1,000 days.  —  “You can't pass a budget in the Senate …

Severe Conservative Syndrome  —  Mitt Romney has a gift for words — self-destructive words.  On Friday he did it again, telling the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was a “severely conservative governor.”  —  As Molly Ball of The Atlantic pointed out, Mr. Romney “described conservatism as if it were a disease.”

Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Plan as Riots Rage  —  ATHENS — After violent protests left dozens of buildings aflame in Athens, the Greek Parliament voted early on Monday to approve a package of harsh austerity measures demanded by the country's foreign lenders in exchange for new loans to keep Greece from defaulting on its debt.

Cronyism 101  —  I wrote about my participation in the Koch brothers' semi-annual seminar in Palm Springs two weekends ago here.  Along with Peter Schweizer, I did a presentation on cronyism.  My speech focused on corporate cronyism, while Peter's centered on the sort of political cronyism …

Israeli missions in India, Georgia targeted  —  Explosion heard near Israeli Embassy in New Delhi; diplomat's wife injured.  Explosives found near Israeli embassy building in Tbilisi neutralized safely.  Lieberman: Israel knows how to identity those responsible

Contraception and the cost of culture wars  —  Politicized culture wars are debilitating because they almost always require partisans to denigrate the moral legitimacy of their opponents, and sometimes to deny their very humanity.  It's often not enough to defeat a foe.

Gingrich Money Hunt Faces Obstacles  —  Newt Gingrich recently joined Gov. Rick Perry of Texas on a conference call with more than 50 “bundlers” who had powered Mr. Perry's formidable campaign-cash machine.  —  Mr. Perry asked his top financial rainmakers to raise money for Mr. Gingrich …

Fox News Commenters Respond to Whitney Houston's Death With Deluge of Hatred and Racism  —  I don't even know what to say about this any more.  There's a real sickness running rampant in the right wing; the Fox News comment thread on Whitney Houston's death is yet another disgusting deluge …