Team Obama apologized to Shirley Sherrod in an embarrassing about-face after a distorted video made her out to be a racist. Lloyd Grove talks to Andrew Breitbart about his sympathies for Sherrod and liberals’ double standard.

Media-circus ringmaster Andrew Breitbart, the self-styled scourge of everything liberal and politically correct, has really outdone himself this time. With the help of Fox News—and, truth be told, key members of the Obama administration—he has made the president’s minions look like clowns.

His vote for Elena Kagan’s nomination is just the latest conservative heresy from South Carolina’s senior senator. Samuel Jacobs on the Tea Party’s preferred challenger: Love Gov. Mark Sanford.

Lindsey Graham is toast—or so say conservatives nationwide and at home in South Carolina. On Tuesday, Graham cast a vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. His “aye” made him the first Republican lawmaker to back Kagan and marked the latest in a series of decisions that have made Graham the object of intense anger among Tea Party activists and others on the Republican Party’s right wing.

Roberts: Scene at State of Union `very troubling’

By JAY REEVES (AP) – 16 hours ago

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama’s State of the Union address was “very troubling” and the annual speech has “degenerated to a political pep rally.”

Obama chided the court, with the justices seated before him in their black robes, for its decision on a campaign finance case.

Responding to a University of Alabama law student’s question, Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court, and some have an obligation to do so because of their positions.

“So I have no problems with that,” he said. “On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum.

“The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court — according the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.”

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Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.

Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.

Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.

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As the controversy heats up over the DOJ lawyers who once represented, or advocated on behalf of, al Qaeda and Taliban members, it is worth taking a quick look at their body of work.

Neal Katyal is now the principal deputy solicitor general. Previously, Katyal was a law professor and represented Salim Hamdan before the Supreme Court. The finding for Hamdan: The court ended up throwing out the military commission system as it was first established by President Bush. Congress then had to reauthorize the military commissions.

Katyal’s defenders have been quick to advocate on his behalf, claiming he is talented lawyer. Maybe so, but let’s look at his handling of the Salim Hamdan case, which was a victory for his client.

Hamdan is an admitted bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. He swore allegiance to his master and faithfully served him from 1996 to 2001 — as al Qaeda was plotting multiple acts of terror, including the September 11 attacks.

Katyal has called Hamdan a “simple driver.” But Hamdan was not a “simple driver.” He was captured with two SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles in his trunk while driving to a battlefield in Afghanistan. (See below.) Moreover, only the most trusted al Qaeda personnel would be allowed to serve bin Laden for so long — protecting the terror master as he plotted to kill thousands of civilians.

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It’s a remarkable combination of psychological warfare, political roundtable and trash-talking. Afghan soldiers and Taliban fighters taunt each other, debate each other and try to persuade each other almost daily over their radios, at times while even shooting at each other.
ABC’s Miguel Marquez was just a few feet away from the explosion.

I came across the astonishing facet of the Afghan War while spending time with the 302nd kandak, or battalion, of the Afghan National Army. The foes chatter with each other over their Vietnam-era, two-way radio system. It’s such an antiquated system that the Taliban and the Afghan forces share radio frequencies, and verbal barbs, as they try to kill or capture one another.

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White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked today about criticisms several conservative groups and Republican lawmakers have launched against Justice Department officials who previously supported or represented in some way the rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

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WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – A modest job-creation bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Monday as the chamber’s newest Republican bucked his party and sided with Democrats on a $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending.

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Please make sure to pop in on his Facebook and let him know what a Benedict Brown he really is…

The Obama administration is seeking a record $708 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2011, as the U.S. military continues to wrestle with a mounting bill for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while trying to better equip itself for small-scale conflicts.

The budget request released Monday reflects Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s drive to bolster the Pentagon’s unconventional-warfare capabilities, which are in high demand in today’s operations. That means increasing funding for programs such as unmanned aerial vehicles, which are being used in Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the same time, Mr. Gates is seeking to reduce or eliminate more ambitious high-tech weapons systems that he feels are a drain on financial resources.

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“When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you’re trying to pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save on college. You prioritize, you make tough choices.” – President Obama

“This president is a real slow learner” – Mayor Goodman

This is exactly what Obama needs Democrats calling him out where he’s wrong. Shills help neither party. We need to be a country by the people FOR the people and today the Las Vegas Mayor was right.