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.

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.”

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.”

Romney, Santorum Stir Less Enthusiasm Than McCain Did  —  Romney generates same level of enthusiasm now as in early 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A little more than one-third of Republicans say they would vote “enthusiastically” for either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum if either candidate were to win their party's nomination for president.

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

Consumer Prices in U.S. Rose in February as Gasoline Jumped  —  U.S. Consumer Prices Rose in February on Gasoline  —  The cost of living in the U.S. rose in February by the most in 10 months, reflecting a jump in gasoline that failed to spread to other goods and services.

Hatch cheered by initial GOP caucus reports  —  Politics » Many say the U.S. Senate election in Utah will be decided by what happens in these neighborhood meetings.  —  | The Salt Lake Tribune  —  About 150 Republicans met in the gymnasium of Washington Elementary Thursday night …

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 |

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 …

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 …

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.

U.S. Rebukes Afghan Jail Over Searches of Female Visitors  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Women visiting relatives at a notorious men's prison on the edge of Kabul have in recent weeks been subjected to invasive body-cavity searches at the order of the prison's commandant, who has told guards …

State Sen. Galloway to resign, leaving Senate split  —  By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison - State Sen. Pam Galloway, who faces a recall election this summer, plans to resign from the Senate shortly, leaving an even split between Republicans and Democrats.

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.

GOP freshmen, big-bucks donors hobnob at resort  —  PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO  —  (CBS News) There are 468 congressional campaigns going on right now.  —  That means a lot of serious fundraising.  —  Much of it is behind closed doors, except on a recent weekend at a South Florida resort …

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.

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.

Obama's 2012 campaign is watching you  —  President Barack Obama wants companies such as Google and Facebook to reform their privacy practices.  —  But that's not stopping his re-election campaign from tapping the rich data Internet companies hold on millions of potential voters.

Dick Lugar vows to appeal ruling  —  For the moment, Dick Lugar can't even vote to save himself.  —  A local election board ruled Thursday that the six-term senator has abandoned his Indiana home and cannot cast a ballot in the state he represents.  The Indiana Republican is up for re-election …

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 …

House G.O.P. Hesitates on Birth Control Fight  —  WASHINGTON — House Republicans, unsure how to proceed, have slowed their efforts to overturn a federal rule requiring employers, including religious institutions, to provide female employees with free health insurance coverage for contraceptives.