Obama ‘amused’ by Tea Party rallies  —  President Barack Obama struck a hyperpartisan note Thursday, telling Democrats that he was “amused” by the Tax Day Tea Party rallies.  —  Obama, addressing a Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser in Miami, did little to endear himself …

Obama orders hospitals to grant same-sex couples visitation rights  —  President Obama on Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney.  —  The president ordered the Department …

Fox News yanks Sean Hannity from Cincinnati Tea Party rally he was set to star in  —  Angry Fox News executives ordered host Sean Hannity to abandon plans to broadcast his nightly show as part of a Tea Party rally in Cincinnati on Thursday after top executives learned that he was set to headline the event …

Former Sen. Mack withdraws as Crist campaign chair  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Charlie Crist's political mentor, former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, resigned Thursday as Crist's campaign chairman in his race for the U.S. Senate.  —  Mack wrote a terse, two-paragraph letter to his one-time protege …

Dueling Columnists  —  A surprising disagreement has broken out between two Times columnists, with Paul Krugman demanding an apology from Andrew Ross Sorkin and Sorkin so far refusing to back down.  —  The argument is over what approach Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who writes …

McConnell lacks support to block Wall Street reform bill  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) does not have enough solid commitments from GOP lawmakers to block consideration of a Democratic Wall Street reform bill.  —  McConnell has circulated a letter within the GOP conference …

President Obama and Vice President Biden's Tax Returns  —  Today, the President released his 2009 federal income and gift tax returns.  He and the First Lady filed their income tax return jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $ 5,505,409.  The vast majority of the family's 2009 income …

C.I.A. Document Details Destruction of Tapes  —  WASHINGTON — Porter J. Goss, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in 2005 approved of the decision by one of his top aides to destroy dozens of videotapes documenting the brutal interrogation of two detainees, according to an internal C.I.A. document released Thursday.

Steve King Blows Up, Physically Grabs TP Blogger When Asked About His Justification Of IRS Attack  —  In February, a software engineer named Joseph Stack flew a small aircraft into an IRS building in Texas, killing two people and leaving another two hospitalized.

Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images  —  The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats …

Former NSA executive charged with leaking information to newspaper  —  A former senior executive with the National Security Agency has been indicted on 10 felony charges related to the alleged leaking of classified information to a national newspaper in 2006 and 2007, the Justice Department announced Thursday morning.

Dobbs-Mania Explodes Over Manhattan  —  TPM's Versha Sharma was minding her own business walking down 8th Avenue when she stumbled upon a Manhattan Tea Party event featuring Lou Dobbs.  —  Versha reports in by iPhone: “Lou dobbs was just introduced as the brave man who left CNN when it got too liberal.

Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky  —  (CNN) — Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said.  —  The fireball was visible for about 15 minutes beginning about 10 p.m. …

Obama Sees Manned Missions to Mars  —  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama predicted Thursday his new space exploration plans would lead American astronauts to Mars and back in his lifetime, a bold forecast relying on rockets and propulsion still to be imagined and built.

Merrill Lynch's $50 billion feud … (Fortune) — For Stan O'Neal, late August 2007 was a period of great anxiety.  The chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch was vacationing at his home on Martha's Vineyard and, as the world would later learn, playing a lot of golf.

What Tea Party Backers Want  —  The latest New York Times/CBS News poll focusing on Tea Party supporters found most of them very angry, generally well-educated, financially secure and deeply pessimistic about the direction of the country.  We asked political analysts and historians what they found …

Recalling '95 Bombing, Clinton Sees Parallels  —  WASHINGTON — With the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approaching, former President Bill Clinton on Thursday drew parallels between the antigovernment tone that preceded that devastating attack and the political tumult of today …

Socialists weigh in on Obama  —  (CNN) — Billy Wharton should be happy.  —  “Socialized health care” is on its way.  The “socialist agenda” is taking over America.  And best of all, Barack Obama, a “committed socialist ideologue,” is in the Oval Office.

The Madison, Wisconsin, Tax Day Tea Party  —  More pictures coming soon.  I'd put them all up right away, but I had to work late and my wife made barbeque pork chops for dinner.  I have my priorities.  —  And anyway, this is the one you're all waiting for.  The crowd shot: