In Israel, Obama draws race parallel  —  JERUSALEM—On his stops in the Holy Land Thursday, President Barack Obama turned again and again to a subject not obviously connected to the current troubles in the mideast: the struggles of African Americans in the United States.

Banks Are Too Big to Fail Say ... Conservatives?  —  Members of the Federal Reserve don't usually make the rounds at partisan gatherings.  But amid the tri-cornered hats and “#StandWithRand” buttons of last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—the largest annual gathering …

Reid to bring gun bill to floor with expanded background checks  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will bring gun control legislation to the floor that includes a controversial expansion of background checks for private firearm sales.  —  Reid said he would on Thursday evening begin …

Where is today's Jack Kemp?  —  The important question isn't so much establishment or grass roots as who and where?  Mike Lee isn't Christine O'Donnell and Utah isn't Delaware, and that makes all the difference.  —  Consider Ted Cruz, whose smarts and fearlessness are quickly making him the most dangerous man in the U.S. Senate.

Behold the Hatred, Resentment, and Mockery Aimed at Anti-Iraq War Protesters  —  Reflecting on the apologetic Iraq War retrospectives many writers have published in recent days, Freddie deBoer observes that “one of the most obvious and salient aspects of the run up to the war” is being ignored …

Cyprus: The Sum of All FUBAR  —  At this point the Cyprus situation is pretty clear — and clarity does not bring reassurance.  In fact, it looks as if Cyprus has managed to combine in one place everything that has gone wrong elsewhere.  —  1. Runaway banking.

Ohio's Republican Governor Endorses Civil Unions, Then Takes It Back  —  John Kasich's office says he was using the term “loosely” when he said he supported civil unions.  —  Image by Rick Osentoski / AP  —  Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich said he favored civil unions …

All signs point to no lethal chemical weapons attack in Syria  —  As the Syrian regime and rebels trade accusations of an alleged lethal chemical weapons attack yesterday, chemical weapons experts say there is no evidence that attack occurred.  —  BEIRUT  —  An alleged chemical weapons …

West Virginia paper's anti-LGBT column wants death for ‘n*ggers, spics, kikes and wops’  —  A newspaper in West Virginia is defending its decision to publish a reader's racist and homophobic comments, which called for “queers” to be put to death along with “n*ggers, spics, kikes and wops.”

House Passes Plan to Avert Federal Shutdown  —  WASHINGTON - The House gave final approval Thursday to legislation to avert a federal shutdown and keep the government funded through September, and passed a Republican budget blueprint that enshrined the party's vision of a balanced budget …

Battle Brews Over Labor Demands As Immigration Talks Enter Home Stretch  —  “Every time you make progress... the unions come in the next day and throw something else on the table.  They keep moving the goal posts,” says a lobbyist.  —  WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 21: Members of the group Casa …

How the Secret Service Almost Shot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  —  The intelligence brief on the apparent accident was three sentences long, and it scared the hell out of White House officials.  —  One morning in September 2006, during the United Nations General Assembly, President George W. Bush's …

Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses  —  Yoko Ono joined the U.S. gun debate when she tweeted a picture of the blood-stained glasses her husband, John Lennon, was wearing when he died.  Lennon, one of the Beatles, died in 1980 after being shot in the back four times at the couple's New York City apartment by a crazed stalker.

Girls complicit in Steubenville  —  Editor's note: Rachel Simmons is the co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute and the author of “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls.”  Follow her on Twitter @racheljsimmons  —  (CNN) — Is anyone else wondering why the Steubenville …

Starbucks CEO: If You Don't Like Marriage Equality, Feel Free To Sell Your Starbucks Stock  —  Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz continued to defend his company's support for marriage equality at a shareholders meeting Wednesday, pointing out that “not every decision is an economic decision.”

Lululemon Sheer Yoga Pants Undetected Until Bend-Over Test  —  Wall Street analysts from Robert W. Baird & Co. to Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. peppered Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) executives today with questions about how the yoga-wear retailer is handling a recall of women's pants for being too transparent.

Romney campaign chief to lead new GOP research group  —  (CNN) - Post-mortems written after the 2012 campaign focused on a variety of Republican shortcomings: underwhelming television ads, an outdated voter contact model, and a message that was out-of-step with the changing face of America.

Major terror attack on scale of 7/7 foiled every year in UK, police reveal  —  Police and MI5 are foiling a plot as big as the July 7 attacks every year, the country's second most senior terror officer has revealed.  —  Officers also fear a hybrid of terrorist and criminal gangs could bring a new threat on the UK.

Congress to force Postal Service to keep Saturday delivery  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress foiled the financially beleaguered U.S. Postal Service's plan to end Saturday delivery of first-class mail on Thursday when it passed legislation requiring six-day delivery.

Rick Perry: The Presidential Candidate Ahead of His Time  —  The Texas governor ran an awful campaign in 2012.  But his platform is now belatedly being embraced by party leaders.  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign was a slow-motion train wreck, capped off …