Natural Born Drillers  —  To be a modern Republican in good standing, you have to believe — or pretend to believe — in two miracle cures for whatever ails the economy: more tax cuts for the rich and more drilling for oil.  And with prices at the pump on the rise, so is the chant of “Drill, baby, drill.”

Mitt Romney Leads Rick Santorum by Six Points in Exclusive Illinois Poll  —  Chicago - The Republican race for president looks like a two-man contest in Illinois Thursday night.  —  Mitt Romney is ahead of Rick Santorum among Illinois Republicans, even after Santorum's big victories in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday.

BREITBART IS HERE  —  There is a new street art poster that's being emailed around and will no doubt eventually be spotted on a street corner near you.  It's a gritty black and white image of Andrew Breitbart looking both battle-worn and ever vigilant with the caption: “BREITBART IS HERE.”

Texas Loses Entire Women's Health Program Over Planned Parenthood Law … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Video, Hhs Texas Family Planning Program, Hhs Texas Medicaid, Rick Perry Planned Parenthood, Rick Perry Women's Health Program, Texas Women's Health Program, Texas-Planned-Parenthood, Politics News

Obama shifts healthcare defense  —  The Obama administration has shifted its legal arguments as it prepares to defend the president's healthcare law before the Supreme Court.  —  Written briefs in the landmark case increasingly have focused on a part of the Constitution that didn't get much attention in lower courts.

Hundreds march against same-sex marriage amendment  —  TAKAAKI IWABU - TIWABU@NEWSOBSERVER.COM  —  Demonstrators voice their opposition to the North Carolina Same-Sex Marriage Amendment on Thursday, March 15, 2012, at a rally behind the legislative building on Halifax mall in Raleigh.  —  marriage |

Santorum Promises Broad War on Porn  —  You had better not be watching what Rick Santorum thinks you're watching.  (Image via Wikipedia)  —  The Daily Caller flags a little-discussed position paper on Rick Santorum's campaign website—his pledge to aggressively prosecute those who produce and distribute pornography.

Suspect in Afghan Attack ‘Snapped,’ U.S. Official Says  —  WASHINGTON — The American staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers had been drinking alcohol — a violation of military rules in combat zones — and suffering from the stress related to his fourth combat tour and tensions …

Orrin Hatch is no conservative  —  “What do you call a senator who's served in office for 18 years?”  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), asked about his opponent in the first of his many Senate campaigns.  “You call him home.”  —  I have a similar question: What do you call a senator who claims to be …

Bigot Chris Matthews' War On Catholics And Mormons  —  Bias: Having lost that tingly feeling up his leg, MSNBC's Chris Matthews savages GOP presidential candidates as belonging to cults.  Well, at least they didn't spend two decades listening to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

After Giving Limbaugh a Bye, Romney Blasts Maher  —  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney  —  The battle over potty-mouthed talk show hosts is getting partisan indeed.  —  After taking a pass on criticizing conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for calling a Georgetown University student …

Ackerman Won't Seek Re-Election to Congress  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a longtime member of Congress from Queens and Long Island, announced on Thursday that he would not seek re-election, an unexpected development that brings an end to a colorful political career.

Top Iran official: All options on the table if nuclear facilities attacked  —  In interview to CNN, top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei plays down Ahmadinejad's remark on wiping Israel ‘off the map,’ saying the Iranian President did not mean it in a military sense.  —  Get Haaretz on iPhone

Durbin: US buying weapons from same Russian manufacturer that is enabling massacre in Syria  —  Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday decried the fact that the U.S. military is apparently buying tens of millions of dollars' worth of helicopters for the Afghan national army …

Male Fruit Flies, Spurned by Females, Turn to Alcohol  —  They were young males on the make, and they struck out not once, not twice, but a dozen times with a group of attractive females hovering nearby.  So they did what so many men do after being repeatedly rejected: they got drunk, using alcohol as a balm for unfulfilled desire.

Marine killed by Afghan soldier last month, officials say  —  WASHINGTON - An Afghan soldier shot to death a 22-year-old Marine at an outpost in southwestern Afghanistan last month in a previously undisclosed case of apparent Afghan treachery that marked at least the seventh killing …

Dismissal of gun-rights suit upheld by 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel  —  A federal judge correctly dismissed a lawsuit against the city of New Orleans by a man who claimed that local law-enforcement authorities violated his constitutional right to bear arms, a divided panel …

Stronger, but Not Secure  —  President Obama's approval rating among key groups is approaching his actual share of the 2008 vote.  —  Boosted by growing optimism about the economy, President Obama is showing signs of reassembling the coalition of support that powered him to his 2008 presidential victory.

The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)  —  The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze.  Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah's Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west.