Fiscal Showdown Looms in Capitol  —  The White House and Democratic lawmakers, with less than two weeks left to avoid a government shutdown, are assembling a proposal for roughly $20 billion in additional spending cuts that could soon be offered to Republicans, according to people close to the budget talks.

Ayers affirms he wrote Dreams from my Father  —  Last Thursday evening at Montclair State University, with a video camera rolling, Bill Ayers volunteered that yes indeed he had written the acclaimed Barack Obama memoir, Dreams from My Father.  —  Unprompted, Ayers also noted that while Dreams deserves …

Trump is now ‘really concerned’ about Obama's birthplace  —  (CNN) - He off-handedly questioned President Obama's birthplace last week - a comment that drew strong rebukes from some quarters - but now business mogul Donald Trump says he's more concerned than ever that the president was, in fact, not born in the United States.

How my wait in a closet almost brought down the White House  —  I was kidnapped.  —  That was news to me.  —  My paper and I conspired to cover this up, to protect Vice President Joe Biden and his staff from charges they had imprisoned me at a fundraiser last week.  —  That was news to me too.

Under Allied Air Cover, Libyan Rebels Push West  —  BIN JAWWAD, Libya — Rebel forces' westward charge was repulsed on Monday by a barrage of tank and artillery fire from forces guarding one of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's most crucial bastions of support, while the American military warned …

Facebook May Hire Robert Gibbs, Former Obama Aide  —  Facebook is in talks to hire Robert Gibbs, President Obama's former White House press secretary, for a senior role in helping to manage the company's communications, people briefed on the negotiations said.

Wisconsin Fight Goes to Court  —  As the dust settles in Madison, Wisconsin Republicans face a troubling coda: Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill is being tripped up in the courts.  Union heavies smell blood.  And the unruly parade of lefty activists and hulking Teamsters that occupied …

When standardized test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?  —  WASHINGTON — In just two years, Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus went from a school deemed in need of improvement to a place that the District of Columbia Public Schools called one of its “shining stars.”

Haley Barbour, slavery and the Civil War  —  Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor and likely 2012 Republican presidential aspirant, has recently made a series of missteps involving race and the Civil Rights Movement.  He seemed unclear about basic historical points.

Maine governor removes labor mural  —  A mural depicting vignettes of state and national labor history was removed over the weekend from Maine's Labor Department headquarters in Augusta, Gov. Paul LePage's office said Monday morning.  —  The 11-panel mural that includes images of worker strikes and …

The Kill Team  —  How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses - and how their officers failed to stop them.  Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon  —  By  —  Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan …

After Paying Zero Income Taxes, GE Plans To Ask Its Union Workers To Make Wage And Benefits Concessions  —  Our guest blogger is Mike Elk, a freelance labor journalist and third generation union organizer based in Washington, D.C. You can follow him for more updates on Wisconsin on twitter at @MikeElk.

QUOTE OF THE DAY.... That disgraced former House Speaker sure does say strange things. … Yeah, just think about it.  Unless we all become conservative Christians, the next thing you know, prominent leaders might start cheating on multiple wives.  —  Oh wait.  —  Everything about Gingrich's little tirade is bizarre.

American Thought Police  —  Recently William Cronon, a historian who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, decided to weigh in on his state's political turmoil.  He started a blog, “Scholar as Citizen,” devoting his first post to the role of the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council …

Tom Toles on Gentrification  —  Much respect to Richard Layman for remembering and preserving this 1998 Tom Toles cartoon:  —  Funny.  —  Anonymous  —  Mass immigration from Latin America will not lead to the multiracial paradise liberals imagine.  Rather, it will lead to a stratified society …

A Strange Man Is Following You  —  Shouting about mind-control assassins, the 9/11 conspiracy, and the Bilderberg Group, radio host Alex Jones has cornered the bipartisan paranoia market.  —  A shadowy group of elites—mainly international bankers but also George W. Bush, Barack Obama …

EXCLUSIVE: DeMint Tells ThinkProgress He Wants To Strip All Federal Employees Of Collective Bargaining Rights  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from the Conservative Principles Conference in Des Moines, IA.  —  The defining political story three months into 2011 is the spread of anti-union legislation in the states.