Brown Teases Santorum About Using ‘Protection’  —  Sen. Scott Brown joked at a St. Patrick's Day that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's secret service detail may be the first time he's ever “used protection.”  —  “I'm hopeful that all of you are actually following presidential politics.

Executive Order — National Defense Resources Preparedness  —  NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS  —  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.) …

The Collapse of Employment-Based Coverage  —  Reed Abelson at Economix points us to a startling study on the effects of the Great Recession on health insurance.  You can see similar trends in the Census data, but for whatever reason this survey — carried out by a highly reputable group — is even stronger.

SAN DIEGO TEA PARTY LEADER ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING, RAPE  —  Lemon Grove resident Michael John Kobulnicky, 50, a leader in the San Diego Tea Party and former regional director of the Southern California Conservative Party, is under arrest for allegedly kidnapping and raping a local woman on Fiesta Island.

Progressivism and the authoritarian impulse  —  Performed rather perfectly by Stanley Fish, who — because he has spent an academic career immersed in the insular logic of the linguistic turn — is able to comfortably slide into a description of benevolent “liberal” tyranny that he counsels …

The Kennedy assassination: Did Castro know in advance?  —  A new book by former CIA analyst Brian Latell details evidence that Cuban intelligence knew beforehand of JFK's assassination  —  The orders surprised the Cuban intelligence officer.  Most days in his tiny communications hut …

McCain: Stop contraception talk  —  Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the GOP needs to stop talking about contraception and that focusing on the issue is hurting voter perceptions of the party.  —  “I think we have to fix that,” the Arizona Republican said when asked by David Gregory on NBC's …

Obama's evolution: Behind the failed ‘grand bargain’ on the debt  —  P resident Obama had just arrived home, walking across Lafayette Square after attending Sunday services with his family at St. John's Church.  In the West Wing, Obama ducked into the spacious office of his chief of staff …

The Power of Plutocratic Pettiness  —  Via Rich Yeselson, Alec MacGillis has a fantastic piece in the New Republic (unfortunately paywalled) about how hedge fund managers' love for Obama has turned into blind, spitting hatred.  His main argument is that it's all about feeling disrespected:

PELOSI'S DAUGHTER: HBO UNCOMFORTABLE WITH ‘FREELOADING WELFARE QUEEN’ VIDEO  —  Alexandra Pelosi debuted a video she made for HBO's “Real Time with Bill Maher” last night.  The video shows multiple welfare recipients in New York City proclaiming they were at the welfare office to get their …