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PERMALINK Republican governors back Walker By: CNN's Gabriella Schwarz (CNN) - The Republican Governors Association is showing its support for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with a new website amid extensive protests in the state. The website, StandWithScott.com that launched Tuesday provides a forum for individuals to watch the governor's televised chat Tuesday and offer their support through links to his Facebook page and twitter account. In a statement, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, the association's vice chairman, thanked Walker for his leadership. "Governor Scott Walker is taking the tough, but necessary, steps to balance the books in Wisconsin and get the state's fiscal house in order, and I applaud him for it," McDonnell said. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the group's policy chairman, said "It's good to know Governor Walker is watching out for the whole state, especially the people stuc...

chigan's new Republican governor is earning enemies and friends with his sweeping budget proposal, a plan that would slash corporate tax bills by applying a limited flat tax while making up the difference with new taxes on seniors and other groups.  AARP Michigan has been one of the most vocal critics of Gov. Rick Snyder's plan, calling it "the biggest tax increase in the history of our state." The group held a rally last week under the banner, "It's Not Fair."  Unions and Democratic officials have also come out against it, while business types claim the plan will spur growth.  Snyder's budget gambit, which came after a bill that would give him the power to intervene in local government affairs during a fiscal emergency and cancel union obligations, is setting up another Midwestern battle in the same vein as the showdown in Wisconsin over union rights. It's unclear whether he'll have the momentum to push the tax plan through, with...

Alerts have been issued on radiation levels in Japanese milk, spinach, leeks and tap water. Food shipments from four prefectures around the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been suspended . So how hazardous are the radiation levels found, and should people panic about what they're eating? Which goods have been contaminated? Today the Japanese government ordered four prefectures to stop selling spinach and leeks after levels of radiation above the legal limit were picked up in them. The affected prefectures were Fukushima, where the nuclear plant damaged by the tsunami is based, and the nearby Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures. Traces of radioactive iodine-131 were discovered in Tokyo tap water on Sunday . In Iiate, a village in Fukushima prefecture, there was so much in the water that the health ministry advised the village's 3700 residents not to drink it. The water here contained 965 becquerels of radiation per kilogram – treble the "safe" legal ...

I'm speechless. This little rant by Kate O'Beirne at a Republican strategy session is so evil, so incredibly cold-hearted, and so predictably right-wing that it makes me want to shove a big bowl of cereal and a big banana right down her chicken-hearted little gullet. Ebenezer Scrooge would be proud of his progeny. O’BEIRNE: And then the title of our gathering is so crucial; “Less of Washington and More of Ourselves”. The federal school lunch program and now breakfast program and I guess in Washington DC, dinner program are pretty close to being sacred cows… broad bipartisan support. And if we’re going to ask more of ourselves, my question is what poor excuse for a parent can’t rustle up a bowl of cereal and a banana? I just don’t get why millions of school children qualify for school breakfasts unless we have a major wide spread problem with child neglect. You know, I mean if that’s how many parents are incapable of pulling together a bowl of cereal and a banana,...

FreedomWorks, a right-wing group bankrolling the Tea Party , has a new advertisement it is planning to run in Ohio supporting Gov. John Kasich’s union-busting efforts. The advertisement tries to paint union protesters in Ohio as violent thugs. One problem: the ad uses footage from an old union protest in California. How do we know? This is the same footage from California, which features palm trees, that was used by Bill O’Reilly just days ago. He used it to argue that the protesters in Wisconsin were violent thugs. Here’s the video evidence produced by TP’s Jeff Spross: Freedom Works Doen't Have Their Facts Rights

 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and Sperling’s deputy, Jason Furman — leading figures in the president’s economic team — are pressing Obama to cut Social Security benefits if necessary, say sources familiar with their positions. But Obama’s political team, led by David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Jim Messina, are urging the president to understand that backing benefit cuts could prove disastrous to his 2012 reelection hopes, sources say. The GOP wants to genecide the seniors and the disabled

In January, EPA went ahead with regulations aimed at large polluters by requiring them to obtain permits for emitting carbon and other greenhouse gases. Still to come this year are proposed rules that would limit emissions from power plants and oil refineries. The GOP wants to destroy the earth and all living things

Scientists warn of risks from spent-fuel cooling pools and plutonium-rich, mixed-oxide fuel inside one nuclear reactor, even as the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors appear to be coming under control. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0314/Japanese-nuclear-reactor-update-Amid-signs-of-progress-new-problems

As we’ve noted, the United States last month imposed unilateral sanctions on Libya, including a suspension of “all existing licenses and other approvals for the export of defense articles and services to Libya [1] .” The State Department had described the U.S. defense trade with Libya as “ very limited [2] .” Still, The Associated Press reported yesterday that in the months before Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi began a brutal crackdown [3] on anti-government protesters, the State Department had approved a $77 million deal to provide armored troop carriers that were highly sought after by the Qaddafi regime [4] : The Gadhafi regime's desire to upgrade its troop carriers was so intense that a Libyan official told U.S. diplomats in Tripoli in 2009 that the dictator's sons, Khamis and Saif, both were demanding swift action. Khamis, a commander whose army brigade reportedly attacked the opposition-held town of Zawiya with armored units and pickup trucks, expressed a...

A top union and a top liberal blog announced Tuesday that they'll team up to sponsor polling through the 2012 elections. Daily Kos and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said they will join forces to conduct issue and campaign polling in key states and races over the next two years. The joint poll continues an effort by Daily Kos, a premiere liberal blog founded in 2002 by Markos Moulitsas, a contributor to The Hill, to take its advocacy a step further, and provide raw political information to readers, especially on races and issues of importance to that online community. "Rather than sit around and have know-nothing pundits and politicians in DC tell us what the American people think, we prefer to ask them directly," Moulitsas said in a statement. "And this partnership will allow us to conduct significantly more polling than any other media organization in the country.” http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/148037-union-p...

ThinkProgress » Fox News Sees ‘Violent’ ‘Union Thugs’ Attacking State Senator, But Senator Saw ‘A Lot Of Courteous People’ "Fox has been breathlessly hyping a video from Madison, WI supposedly showing “union thugs” attacking GOP state Sen. Glenn Grothman outside the Statehouse. In the video, protesters yell “shame” at Grothman as he enters the building, aided by Democratic State Rep. Brett Hulsey, who escorts Grothman through the crowd and reminds the protesters to be respectful of political opponents. The video is dramatic, but to Fox News, it’s downright terrifying. Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade saw a “violent” “angry mob,” while fellow Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy found the footage “absolutely scary.” Fox host Sean Hannity said while watching the “frightening” video that he was “concerned for this guy’s safety.” And contributor Michelle Malkin agreed, viewing the video as proof that “the rule of law has been supplanted by the rule of the mob.” But one key player ...