Americans are upset and angry at the state of the economy and the mismanagement by some financial firms that have contributed to their economic woes. They should be. But Congress has had a role in that mismanagement, and it is furiously trying to deflect attention from that fact with its outrage at bonuses paid to some employees of insurance giant AIG. Seeing a mob with pitchforks coming its way, some members of Congress are pointing ... [full story]

Sen. Evan Bayh could provide an invaluable service to the nation if he's serious about his desire to temper the Obama administration and congressional Democrats' more radical inclinations. Bayh garnered national headlines this week with his announcement that he and 14 other Democratic senators had begun weekly meetings to discuss ways to ensure that the White House hears from the party's moderates. Another sign of Bayh's willingness to buck the power structure: Only one other ... [full story]

Enacting a carbon cap-and-trade system is too transformational to allow it to be jammed through Congress without the full give-and-take of the legislative process and with the votes of just one party counting. Credit Michigan Sen. Carl Levin for stepping in front of his own party's bulldozer to shout, "Slow down!" Senate Democratic leaders know that cap-and-trade is an extremely divisive issue, pitting manufacturing states like Michigan against coastal states that have lost their minds ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Patients of a La Plata, Md., medical office are among 250 people whose health insurance information was posted online by the U.S. District Court of Maryland. Attorney Bruce Marcus says the information was erroneously included in documents placed on the federal court system's online database in a case involving investigation of insurance fraud, The Washington Post reported Friday. Marcus's client and another physician are subjects of the federal probe. Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy boosting troop levels and funding and setting expectations for the countries' leaders. He said 4,000 U.S. troops would be deployed to Afghanistan during the spring to train Afghan security forces, a move that "will fully resource our effort to train and support the Afghan army and police," Obama said Friday before an audience that included military personnel, civilians and diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition, ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Taliban leaders in Pakistan have united with their Afghan comrades to launch a new offensive in Afghanistan, Taliban fighters say. Word of the move comes as the United States prepares to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this year, The New York Times reported Friday. The newspaper says it learned through interviews with several Taliban fighters that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar pressed for unity by sending his emissaries to persuade Pakistani Taliban leaders ... [full story]

DALLAS -- A Dallas woman told police she blacked out the night she left her 7-month-old son alone in her car until morning when he was found dead. Laheather Wilson said she had downed prescription painkillers and wine shortly before picking the boy up at day care, then failed to summon help for some 15 minutes the next morning after she found him unresponsive in the car. The child, Christian Wilson, was declared dead at the scene. Wilson ... [full story]

BATMAN, Turkey -- Turkish government statistics show an emerging trend of "honor suicides" in which women are forced to kill themselves for disgracing their family's reputation. The phenomenon is becoming an increasingly popular means for family leaders to avoid the risk of prison by killing female relatives themselves, the British newspaper The Independent reported Friday. "I think most of these suicide cases are forced. There are just too many of them, it's too suspicious. But they're ... [full story]

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Japan's defense minister Friday ordered troops to destroy a North Korean rocket or its debris if a planned launch fails and it falls into Japanese territory. The order by Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada comes a week before North Korea's planned launch of what it says is a communications satellite but what Western leaders fear may be a long-range ballistic missile test-firing, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported. ''It's important to deal with and ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate passed a bill that would expand national community service, creating new groups of volunteers for education, energy, healthcare and veterans. Senators voted 78-20 to pass the measure, named the Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act to honor the Massachusetts Democrat and a key architect of the legislation, The New York Times reported Friday. The legislation would designate Sept. 11, the day in 2001 that terrorists attacked the United States, as a ... [full story]