Donald Trump is clearly suggesting here that Barack Obama got into Harvard (and Columbia before that) because of his skin color:

Several sources are reporting that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend her husband’s Endeavour space shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral on Friday—a launch that President Obama and the first family are also expected to attend. This would be the first time that Giffords is allowed to travel since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover from her injuries sustained in Tucson. An...

Embattled and relatively corrupt (in Nevada corrupt can be a relative term) Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) has announced that he will resign his seat effective May 3rd. Governor Brian Sandoval (R) is expected to name Congressman Dean Heller to the seat which will allow Heller to run as an incumbent in the 2012 election. Heller is already running for the seat against Congresswoman Shelly Berkley (D). This will...

I have consistently supported the enforcement of the UN-established no-fly zone in Libya and have defended it against those who would try to compare it to the disaster that was the invasion and occupation of Iraq—as I did here. At times, things have not gone too well, and even those who supported the enforcement have begun to waver. There has just been an important announcement regarding the coalition...

Several kindergarten students were injured by a handgun that accidentally discharged when it fell out of the pocket of the six-year-old who brought it to school.

The Standard & Poor (S&P) cautious downgrade of US debt may cascade into real peril if world trade challenges add to the troubles policymakers already face in cutting the devastating budget deficit and national debt. In principle, US policymakers have up to 2013 to find credible bipartisan ways to reduce the deficit. But to get there they will also have to break the budget deadlock and create a path...

They did it. House Republicans passed a budget plan that eliminates Medicare and Medicaid while giving the military a pass and handing huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Brian Beutler reports on an amazing political coup that House Democrats came within a hair’s breadth of pulling off:

Arizona has become the first state in the Union to pass a birther bill requiring presidential candidates to prove natural born citizenship in order to appear on the state’s ballot. HB 2177 now goes to Governor Jan Brewer who has not indicated whether she will sign or veto the measure. She also has the option of letting it sit for five days and become law without her signature. According to the Arizona Republic,...

There is a new poll out from Public Policy Polling that is bad news for Republicans:

From Think Progress:

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a major system glitch the first versions of this appeared with the wrong byline. The system has not taken editing codes. We regret the error and are taking steps to resolve this. WASHINGTON — President Obama has finally decided to take his own side in the philosophical struggle that is the true engine of this nation’s budget debate. After months of mixed signals...

You can watch President Obama deliver his speech on fiscal policy here: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Here are some initial reports and comment on his speech (writing on this is starting as he is delivering it). –The Washington Post: President Obama unveiled a framework Wednesday to reduce borrowing over the next 12 years by $4 trillion — a goal that falls...

Over 250 legal professionals have signed an open letter protesting the “degrading and inhumane” treatment to which Pfc. Bradley Manning has been subjected for the past year. Titled “Private Manning’s Humiliation,” the letter is published in the New York Review of Books. I think it’s important enough to quote here in full:

In a windup worthy of the WWF, Washington budget wrestlers bounce off the canvas to take bows and hug one another for the cheering crowds. In the Senate, Harry Reid is so carried away that, hours after calling the GOP “shameful,” he praises every Republican in sight including John Boehner’s chief of staff and, most of all, Mitch McConnell, who gushes back that Congress has made history, instead...

Pres. Obama is speaking as I type. And CBS’s Chip Reid is now saying that the rider eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood is OUT of the bill. Thank God! EDITOR’s NOTE: My earlier post was mistakenly deleted. I am adding it here since it will provide some context. This is copied off of Google since it still appears on search engines. JOE GANDELMAN National Journal: White House Is Reviewing...

I do not insert myself in the community forum after I post articles on TMV for a variety of reasons. The last time I participated in the forum was in August 2009 when I got into a needlessly nasty tussle with former conservative TMV contributor Jazz Shaw over healthcare reform. Disgusted with myself I even stopped writing anything for TMV for several months as a result of it. I believe TMV readers have a...

Brian Beutler reports at TPMDC that Republicans have said privately that they will drop the rider defunding Planned Parenthood in exchange for more spending cuts. But as Pat Garofalo of Think Progress points out (and shows, graphically), the Democrats have gone more than halfway to meet Republicans’ spending cut demands:

The current budget impasse threatening a government shutdown appears to revolve around highly controversial federal funding for Planned Parenthood and its ancillary provision of legal abortions. Republicans want to eliminate all Federal Funds of around $360 million per year and Democrats are fighting to keep the funding. I support the Republican position in this fight. This position might surprise some TMV...

You know when things are really bad when Tom Coburn is the voice of restraint, moderation, and common sense:

Jacob Weisberg calls Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget plan “brave, radical, and smart.”

Actually, Paul Ryan calls his plan “The Path to Prosperity,” but I think my name for it is more accurate. Here he is in the Wall Street Journal, spinning madly:

If we don’t eliminate it soon, it’s going to destroy us. There are so many places in our human budget where we can cut some of this wasteful callous indifference and begin to close that hole in our hearts:

UPDATE: April 9 Legislation that would legalize concealed handguns on Texas college campuses for students 21 years and older has suffered a temporary setback, falling short of votes in its first attempt at passage by the Texas Senate. However, the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, intends to bring it up for consideration again Monday. According to the Austin American-Statesman: …even though the...

That’s Paul Ryan’s budget proposal: