Caller criticizes Limbaugh, Hannity, etal, on torture: “It's like you're all brainwashed”  —  LIMBAUGH: We're going to go to Chicago.  This is Charles.  Charles, thank you for waiting and for calling.  Great to have you here.  Hello.  —  CALLER: Thanks, Rush.

About Glenn Beck's Extremist Rhetoric  —  Michael A. Cohen has a piece in Politico today about the over-the-top irresponsible extremism and conspiracy theories promulgated by weeping Glenn Beck: Extremist rhetoric won't rebuild GOP. … He's right.  This turn toward the extreme right …

D.C. Council Votes to Recognize Other States' Gay Marriages  —  The D.C. Council voted today to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, on the same day that Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex unions.  —  Domestic partnerships are already legal in the nation's capital …

Harvard Student Takes On Barney Frank Over Economy  —  WFXT-TV: It all started with a question: “How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?”  Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and a conservative Harvard law student debated over how Frank should have handled his role …

Pentagon Chief: Why I Tore Up the Army's ‘Future’  —  Of all the hard choices Defense Secretary Robert Gates had to make in his radical overhaul of the Pentagon's arsenal, the toughest, he tells Danger Room, was the decision to gut Future Combat Systems, the Army's $200 billion effort to design …

CBC members praise Castro  —  Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an end to U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, just hours after a meeting with former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana.  —  “The fifty-year embargo just hasn't worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee …

Quigley claims victory in race to replace Rahm Emanuel  —  Democratic Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley claimed victory tonight in the 5th District race to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress.  —  With 94 percent of the Chicago and suburban Cook precincts reporting totals …

Washington Post reporters call out George Will for lying in Washington Post 2  — TWITTER - NEWSVINE - GOOGLE BOOKMARKS - STUMBLEUPON  —  [SEE UPDATE BELOW]  —  Today, Washington Post reporters Juliet Eilperin and Mary Beth Sheridan have a piece on the alarming decline of Arctic sea ice.

Video reveals G20 police assault on man who died  —  Exclusive footage obtained by the Guardian shows Ian Tomlinson, who died during G20 protests in London, was attacked from behind by baton-wielding police officer  —  Dramatic footage obtained by the Guardian shows that the man who died …

Obama's TV diet: HBO, little news  —  President Barack Obama can't stand to be without his “Entourage.”  —  Call it a guilty pleasure, or maybe it just rings familiar to him.  The HBO series about an aspiring actor features a fast-talking agent named Ari, based on the real-life brother of Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Ethics board launches probe into Rep Jesse Jackson Jr.  —  A congressional ethics board has launched a preliminary inquiry into U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill), related to President Obama's vacant Senate seat and the corruption investigation of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The President Speaks to the Troops  —  Viewing this video requires Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher.  Download the free player.  —  On February 27th, President Obama announced his plan to bring the War in Iraq to a responsible end.  Today he addressed the troops in Iraq in a surprise visit before coming home from Europe.

Source: Bank ‘stress test’ results delayed  —  Treasury will wait until after first-quarter earnings season to release results in order to soften impact on stocks.  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Treasury Department is planning to delay the release of any completed bank “stress test” …

AIG's Bank Payments Probed by TARP Inspector General  —  The Treasury's chief watchdog for the U.S. financial rescue program is probing whether American International Group Inc. paid more than necessary to banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after the insurer's bailout.

Time for Senate fight to end  —  This newspaper endorsed Republican Norm Coleman for senator, but now it is time for him to step out of the race and let Minnesota have two senators again.  —  Coleman could learn a lesson from Washington state politician Dino Rossi.

Minnesota's Shame  —  The wholesale disenfranchisement of absentee military voters.  —  In its recent order, the three-judge election contest court in Minnesota reiterated a common theme during the Coleman versus Franken Senate recount—notwithstanding the numerous questions raised regarding …

Obama's word play  —  The administration has created a lexicon that masks reality through the gauzy world of euphemism.  To the world, it's just words.  —  President Obama had a grand time in Europe.  He wowed the press, met the queen, gave some wonderful news conferences and got virtually none …

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies  —  Robert Moran monitors an electric grid in Dallas.  Such infrastructure grids across the country are vulnerable to cyberattacks.  —  WASHINGTON — Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs …

Yankees visit West Wing  —  The New York Yankees (wearing suits, not stripes) turn up in the White House briefing room.  —  The ballplayers, who were in town to play the Orioles, got a tour of the West Wing, too.  —  Reporters and photographers in the room had no idea who the visitors …