Is Obama overplaying sequester hand?  —  President Barack Obama's greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn't the Republican leadership in Congress — it's his confidence in his own ability to force a win.  —  He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn't open a line …

For the First Time in My Life, I Am Ashamed of My Country  —  RUSH: To be watching all of this, to be treated like this, to have our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being insulted?  It just makes me ashamed... Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection …

Why Taxes Have to Go Up  —  Democrats and Republicans remain at odds on how to avoid a round of budget cuts so deep and arbitrary that to allow them now could push the economy back into recession.  The cuts, known as a sequester, will kick in March 1 unless Republicans agree to President Obama's demand …

Papal resignation linked to inquiry into ‘Vatican gay officials’, says paper  —  Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking ‘Vatileaks’ affair and discovery of ‘blackmailed gay clergy’  —  A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI …

America's New Mandarins  —  The paths to power and success are narrowing.  So is the worldview of the powerful.  —  Yesterday, I wrote about the silliness of requiring a file clerk to have a college degree.  This morning, a friend sent me the following note about the narrowing of opportunity in modern America:

Jimmy Carter on “Argo”: “It's a great drama, and I hope it gets the Academy Award for best film because I think it deserves it”  —  Coming up tonight at 9, Piers Morgan welcomes Jimmy Carter for an engaging, and entertaining, face to face interview.  —  Seated together in San Diego …

Sequester of Fools  —  They're baaack!  Just about two years ago, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairmen of the late unlamented debt commission, warned us to expect a terrible fiscal crisis within, um, two years unless we adopted their plan.  The crisis hasn't materialized, but they're nonetheless back with a new version.

Holtz-Eakin and Roy: The Critics Are Wrong About the Future of Free-Market Health Care Reform  —  Earlier this week, the two of us—Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Avik Roy—published an op-ed for Reuters in which we outlined a market-based plan for entitlement reform and universal coverage that builds …

Magistrate Grants Bail for Pistorius  —  PRETORIA, South Africa — After four days of combative hearings, a South African magistrate on Friday granted bail for Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee track star accused of murdering his girlfriend, in a case that has horrified and fascinated the nation and much of the world.

Can Democrats Mess With Texas in 2016?  —  AUSTIN, Texas — From its modest headquarters on the first floor of a local union building about five miles from the State Capitol, the Democratic Party of Texas is trying to turn demographics into destiny.  —  With white, non-Hispanic voters …

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tells Cuyahoga County GOP it's time for new generation of leaders  —  INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a rising star in national politics, presented himself here Thursday as a fresh face for Republicans “demoralized” after last year's elections.

A BAD IDEA GETS WORSE  —  Ed Kilgore is a good man.  He's been very kind to the blog since its toddlerhood.  Which makes it something of a surprise that he's trying so very hard to kill me.  He calls attention to this horror in the New York Times and then steps back, as if to distance himself …

Noonan: Government by Freakout  —  Obama's scare tactics aren't much of a long-term strategy.  —  The president's sequester strategy is like Howard Beale in “Network”: “Woe is us. . . . And woe is us!  We're in a lot of trouble!”  —  It is always cliffs, ceilings and looming catastrophes with Barack Obama.

Soledad O'Brien to Take on New Role at CNN  —  Soledad O'Brien will leave CNN's morning show in the spring, but she won't be leaving the cable news channel altogether.  —  Ms. O'Brien, who is well-known for CNN documentaries like “Black in America,” said Thursday that she would form …

Saudi religious police arrest Ethiopian workers for practicing Christianity  —  Saudi Arabia's notorious religious police, known as the mutawa, swooped in on a private gathering of at least 53 Ethiopian Christians this month, shutting down their private prayer, and arresting the peaceful group …

Crowd Cheers After McCain Tells Aurora Victim's Mother She Needs ‘Straight Talk’ (VIDEO)  —  Constituents at a town hall hosted by Sen. John McCain Wednesday in Phoenix cheered after the Arizona Republican told the mother of an Aurora, Colo. shooting victim that an assault weapons ban could not get through Congress.

Budget hawks question Pentagon's doomsday scenarios … There's no doubt President Obama is using the so-called Washington Monument maneuver in the fight with Republicans over sequestration budget cuts.  It's a time-honored tactic of bureaucratic warfare: When faced with cuts …

DSCC Raised Millions More Than NRSC in January  —  Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised just $1.5 million in January, according to its most recent fundraising report.

European Commission Offers Grim Prediction for Economy  —  BRUSSELS — A top European Union official warned Friday that worse-than-expected growth last year and weak prospects for 2013 will lead countries like France to miss deficit-reduction targets designed to ensure the stability of the euro.

Marriage Equality Is a Conservative Cause  —  The party of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan has now lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections.  The marketplace of ideas will render us irrelevant, and soon, if we are not honest about our time and place in history.