US pressures allies to command Libya mission  —  WASHINGTON — Anxious to reduce its front-line air combat role in Libya, the Obama administration pressed Thursday for allies who first pushed for the campaign to come up with a workable alternative.  —  U.S. officials said the leadership handoff …

Gaddafi's entourage sends out secret peace feelers  —  (Reuters) - Members of Muammar Gaddafi's entourage are putting out feelers to seek a ceasefire or safe passage from Libya, according to U.S. and European officials and a businessman close to the Libyan leadership.

Donald Trump Wants to See Barack Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate  —  I keep trying to get out... they keep pulling me back in.  I'm not a regular watcher of the View, so I originally missed the lengthy, mind-boggling discussion that its hosts had with Donald Trump over Trump's belief …

Bachmann 2012: Good for the Media, Bad for the GOP  —  Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann is now threatening us with the idea of exploring a Presidential race, it was announced today.  Well first, enough with the exploratory committees.  They are a tired gimmick in Presidential races.

Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email  —  Initially denied encouraging Wisconsin violence  —  Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism  —  This is an updated version.  Read the Center's original version here.  —  An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday …

The stupid saga of Andrew Breitbart and the Huffington Post  —  So!  Arianna Huffington — recently put in charge of all the “content” at AOL following the dial-up ISP's acquisition of her former “liberal Drudge” Internet newspaper — gave a blog to her old friend Andrew Breitbart.

G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether  —  General Electric, the nation's largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.  —  The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.  —  Its American tax bill?

Urgent leak investigation needed  —  A serious leak of classified information has just taken place — which, as we all know, is a dastardly crime for which the harshest punishment is merited.  To make matters even more grave, this time the unauthorized disclosure has taken place during A Time of War …

High radiation leak suggests damage to No. 3 reactor vessel: agency  —  A high-level radiation leak detected Thursday at one of six troubled reactors at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant indicates possible damage to the reactor's vessel, pipes or valves, the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday.

The Austerity Delusion  —  Portugal's government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals.  Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time.  And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up.  —  What do these events have in common?

‘Have You No Sense of Decency?’  The Wm.  Cronon Story  —  BEIJING, China.  I don't mean to keep butting in and have just a minute to type this out, but I think it's important to direct attention to a new abuse of power underway in Wisconsin.  —  William Cronon (right), whom I know very slightly …

CBO: Taxing mileage a ‘practical option’ for revenue enhancement  —  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs …

Appeals panel sends collective bargaining law to state Supreme Court  —  Open meetings dispute keeps Wisconsin law from going into effect  —  By Patrick Marley and Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — The fight over a new collective bargaining law now sits squarely …

The Real Death Panel: If ‘Obamacare’ Repealed, Some Patients Can't Go Back  —  If the health care reform law were to disappear tomorrow, Dallas Wiens would be in trouble.  —  Earlier this week, in a 15-hour procedure, Boston surgeons grafted a donor's face onto Wiens' skull.

Impending decision by D.C. judge has implications for voter ID in Texas  —  Though Republican lawmakers remain unswayed by Texas Democrats' arguments that disenfranchising minority voters should outweigh unsubstantiated fears of polling place voter impersonation — the U.S. Department of Justice …

CNN Contributor Accuses Obama Of “Manufacturing” Libya Crisis To Help Re-Election; Blames “Women Drivers”  —  I wonder how long someone who claimed in March of 2003 that President Bush had manufactured the Iraq war in order to win re-election would have remained employed as a CNN contributor?

Krauthammer: Obama's “Working On Language That Will Disguise A Failure” In Libya  —  Obama may be the first American President who has refused the title, “Leader of the Free World.”  He is not interested in being Commander in Chief.  These traditional presidential roles are all a distraction for him.

Mitt Romney's path: Victory by ‘slog’  —  Mitt Romney is sketching a path to the GOP nomination that looks nothing like the one blazed by Republicans before him.  —  Romney's plan, by necessity, more closely resembles the outline of the epic 2008 Democratic presidential primary than the GOP's recent victory-by-early-knockout design.

John Lott's Mysteriously Changing Blog Post  —  John Lott has taken to his website to respond to a recent post of mine pointing out two misleading claims he made about the Obama Administration.  Lott now accuses me of misquoting what he wrote in a March 18 Big Government post.

China sentences democracy activist to 10 years  —  BEIJING - A longtime Chinese democracy activist was sentenced Friday to a heavy penalty of 10 years in prison for advocating government change in online articles that authorities say slandered Communist Party leadership as autocratic.

Missing: Newt Gingrich's Tweets Before July 2010  —  Newt Gingrich—presidential contender, friend of polar bears, opponent/supporter of the invasion in Libya—is a simple man drawn to simple pleasures.  Long before launching his exploratory committee, he frequently chronicled his life's joys on his Twitter feed.