For those who misunderstood my joke today, here's my quest for forgiveness...  Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention.  Today on Andrea Mitchell's show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn't recognize it as a joke but thought …

Blacklisted, But Not Beaten  —  My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end.  —  After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul Friendly Amid the Rivalry  —  LAKE JACKSON, Tex. — Once there was a challenge of a softball game from the Ron Paul clan to the Mitt Romney clan.  “They didn't show up,” Mr. Paul says.  “We didn't schedule it.  We really razz them about that, ‘You guys chickened out!’ ”

A Syllabus for the ‘Occupy’ Movement  —  Conservatives are wrong to deride college courses on the anti-Wall Street protests.  Here's a lesson plan and possible reading list.  —  Schools from New York's Columbia to Chicago's Roosevelt University are offering courses on the “Occupy” movement.

Is birth control fight a Terri Schiavo moment?  —  The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year's elections.  —  The firm's poll finds that one of the most …

Over-regulated America  —  The home of laissez-faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation  —  AMERICANS love to laugh at ridiculous regulations.  A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.

At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies  —  Anthony Shadid, a prize-winning newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack …

Virginia's Proposed Ultrasound Law Is an Abomination  —  Under the new legislation, women who want an abortion will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason.  Where's the outrage?  —  This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion.

What are women for?  —  In a simpler time Sigmund Freud struggled to understand what women want.  Today the significant battle is over what women are for.  None of our culture warriors are anywhere close to settling the matter.  The prevailing answer is the non-answer …

Americans Give Record-High Ratings to Several U.S. Allies  —  Iran has the lowest favorable rating; China's declines  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are feeling more favorably toward several of the United States' major allies in 2012 than they have in the past.

Pot-laden plane blows into Obama's air space  —  WASHINGTON - Two Air Force F-16 fighters intercepted a privately owned Cessna airplane that entered the same Los Angeles airspace as Marine One on Thursday as the helicopter was ferrying President Barack Obama.

Newt Gingrich's bus breaks down in West Hollywood; locals show little sympathy  —  The presidential hopeful who recently called gay marriage a “perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism,” set off a Boystown brouhaha last night when his Newt 2012 campaign bus broke down in West Hollywood.

Business groups launch legal, Capitol Hill attacks on EPA mercury rule  —  Major industry groups have stepped up efforts to scuttle new EPA rules that require curbs on emissions of mercury and other air toxics from coal-fired power plants.  —  The rule's formal publication Thursday …

US taxpayers to subsidise $40bn housing settlement  —  US taxpayers are expected to subsidise the $40bn settlement owed by five leading banks over allegations that they systematically abused borrowers in pursuit of improper home seizures, the Financial Times has learnt.

AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson: Mitt Romney's Auto Bailout Op-Ed is Reckless and Dishonest  —  Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's latest blast against the auto bailout has one auto exec seeing red.  —  CNBC has learned Romney's anti-automaker bailout op-ed in the Detroit News compelled Mike Jackson …

CNN Poll: Half oppose Obama birth control insurance plan  —  Washington (CNN) - Half of all Americans say they oppose the Obama administration's new policy concerning employer-provided health insurance plans and their coverage of contraceptive services for female employees including …

Google's iPhone Tracking  —  Web Giant, Others Bypassed Apple Browser Settings for Guarding Privacy  —  Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers …

The Jeremy Lin Problem  —  Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways.  He's a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports.  But we shouldn't neglect the biggest anomaly.  He's a religious person in professional sports.  —  We've become accustomed …