Word and Lyric, Giffords Labors to Speak Again  —  PHOENIX — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an eloquent speaker before she was shot in the head last month, is relearning the skill — progressing from mouthing words and lip syncing songs to talking briefly by telephone to her brother-in-law in space.

Obama Budget Pivots From Stimulus to Deficit Cuts  —  WASHINGTON - President Obama, pivoting at midterm from costly economic stimulus measures to deficit reduction, on Monday released a fiscal year 2012 budget that projects an annual deficit of more than $1 trillion before government shortfalls decline to …

Flake to announce Senate run  —  Rep. Jeff Flake will announce on Monday that he is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Jon Kyl, who said last week that he is retiring and will not seek reelection in 2012.  —  Flake, who like Kyl is a Republican, is expected to make his announcement …

Eat The Future  —  On Friday, House Republicans unveiled their proposal for immediate cuts in federal spending.  Uncharacteristically, they failed to accompany the release with a catchy slogan.  So I'd like to propose one: Eat the Future.  —  I'll explain in a minute.

Would Women Support Newt Gingrich for President? … It's November 2012 and voters have a choice between President Barack Obama and former Speaker Newt Gingrich.  Given the gulf between their personal lives, what's a social conservative to do?  More to the point, what would moderate and independent women do?

At Media Companies, a Nation of Serfs  —  Some of the fizz, if not a great big bubble, seems to have returned to media, depending on how you define “media.”  —  There have been reports in The New York Times and elsewhere that Facebook is now valued at $50 billion, and The Wall Street Journal reported …

Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable  —  SEATTLE — Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse.  Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping.  —  The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress …

All hail the ‘Blog-Father’: Waiting for trial in 6 murders, ‘Tommy Shots’ takes to Web  —  Call him the blogging crime boss: Reputed Colombo kingpin Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli has set up a behind-bars blog to portray himself as a good guy - not a wiseguy - and rant about everything …

MAYBE MCCAIN FIGURED OUT WHO'S ON THE ‘RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY’.... I really have retired my ongoing count of John McCain's Sunday show appearances.  I'm sure folks have gotten the point — Sunday show bookers continue to be obsessed with McCain, and they shouldn't be.

Democrats claim political victory from CPAC  —  Democrats and President Obama gathered the most momentum from this past weekend's gathering of conservative activists, the party claimed Monday.  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sought to spin the now-concluded Conservative Political …

The hard choices: President Obama's 2012 budget  —  Long on tough choices, short on final answers, President Barack Obama's new 2012 budget goes to Congress on Monday in what many hope is only an opening bid before he and Republicans come to the table on a bipartisan deficit reduction plan.

Who's Unemployed?  —  Larry Mishel emails me to second my concern about Charles Plosser's blithe assertion that unemployment is about shifting workers out of construction.  As Larry points out, the BLS provides data on the previous employment of the unemployed.

Journalists angry over the commission of journalism  —  Over the weekend, The Los Angeles' Times James Rainey mocked CNN's Anderson Cooper for repeatedly using the word “lie” to describe the factually false statements of Egyptian leaders.  Though Rainey ultimately concluded that …

How to win the podium  —  After two years as Vice President Joe Biden's low-profile communications director, Jay Carney steps into the klieg lights this week in the White House briefing room as President Barack Obama's press secretary.  It's a job fraught with risk — a misplaced word can spark an international crisis.

Boehner on birthers: 'It's not my job to tell the American people what to think'  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that while he believes President Obama is an American citizen and a Christian, Americans have a right to think otherwise if they so choose.

Egyptian Military Dissolves Parliament  —  CAIRO — The Egyptian military consolidated its control on Sunday over what it has called a democratic transition from nearly three decades of President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule, dissolving the feeble Parliament, suspending the Constitution …