Mar 16, 2012 – In case you're wondering how the Townhall office pool is going,  I'm in first place and also chose North Carolina to take it all.…

Mar 16, 2012 – President Barack Obama has tried to portray himself as a champion of the average American against a wealthy elite. However, a new Rasmussen poll found that 65 percent of union members say they believe Obama is more liberal than they are. The poll also found that 59 percent of likely voters...

Mar 16, 2012 – A Maine Democrat is pressing the Obama administration to ban "pink slime" in school cafeterias. Rep. Chellie Pingree said the product – a blend of beef scraps treated with ammonia and used as a ground-beef filler – is "gross" and unfit for consumption by schoolchildren. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary...

Mar 16, 2012 – The Obama administration has shifted its legal arguments as it prepares to defend the president’s healthcare law before the Supreme Court. Written briefs in the landmark case increasingly have focused on a part of the Constitution that didn’t get much attention in lower courts. Some legal experts say the shift could steer...

Mar 16, 2012 – Stocks were poised to open slightly higher Friday, as investors reacted to the latest reading on inflation, and continued to look for signs that the U.S. economy is on solid footing. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures rose about 0.2% ahead of the...

Mar 16, 2012 – A cache of e-mails leaked to CNN is giving extraordinary insight into the life of Syria's first family during the regime's move to crush a now-year-long civilian uprising. The e-mails were obtained by CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" from a source in the region after the e-mail accounts were hacked. They appear...

Mar 16, 2012 – Another controversial immigration bill is on the horizon in the South, a regional battleground that has seen a number of states pass reforms on illegal immigration. Mississippi's Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 70-47 Thursday to pass the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act." The bill now goes to the Senate...

Mar 16, 2012 – A university president apologized after members of a school's band yelled "where's your green card" at a Hispanic player during a NCAA basketball tournament game Thursday. The incident was captured by television cameras and occurred during the Southern Miss and Kansas State game at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As Kansas...

Mar 16, 2012 – Rick Santorum's contention that in order for Puerto Rico to become a state English must be its principal language drew criticism Thursday from the U.S. territory's sole representative in Congress. "Santorum's view is narrow and a limiting view of what America is all about," said Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat, on CNN's...

Mar 16, 2012 – Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday assumed the role of top campaign surrogate for President Barack Obama, harshly criticizing the economic policies of Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as a threat to the American middle class. "If you give any one of these guys the keys...

Mar 16, 2012 – In an attempt to educate the world at-large about the dangers of Anonymous, Rose Collins reached out to Townhall Finance and spoke…

Mar 16, 2012 – For Townhall readers we’ve published our 2012 model portfolio for Trading and Aggressive Growth.…

Mar 15, 2012 – A few clips to pass along.  First, my appearances on Megyn Kelly and FoxNews.com Live over the past two days, discussing the president's flailing on gas prices and his precarious re-election position:     Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com   Note that one of the polls my counterpart attempted...

Mar 15, 2012 – Women in Arizona may be forced to share certain private medical conditions with their employers if they want their contraception to be covered by health insurance, a bill proposes. The Arizona Senate is considering a bill that would give all businesses the option to exclude contraceptives from health insurance coverage. The...

Mar 15, 2012 – First-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week, matching the four-year low hit in February. The Labor Department reported Thursday that 351,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits in the week ended March 10, down from the previous week's revised 365,000 claims. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had predicted 355,000 new claims would...

Mar 15, 2012 – If President Obama didn't have enough big names at his last dinner honoring South Korea in October, he sure is making up for it as he honors British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday night. Actors George Clooney and Damien Lewis (the star of one of Obama's favorite shows, "Homeland") are...

Mar 15, 2012 – Virginia Tech plans to consider all its options after it reviews a jury verdict that found it was negligent in a 2007 shooting rampage that left 33 people dead, including the gunman, a university spokesman said. The move follows Wednesday's verdict by a seven-member jury in Christiansburg, Virginia, that awarded $4...

Mar 15, 2012 – Angry rants about the demise of corporate culture aren't reserved only for ex-Goldman Sachs employees. Microsoft-turned-Google engineer James Whittaker -- now once again a Microsoft employee -- fired off a scathing blast Tuesday on a Microsoft blog about why he left Google. "My last three months working for Google was a...

Mar 15, 2012 – Federal health officials are unveiling Thursday a $54 million national media campaign to get smokers to quit and prevent anyone else, especially children, from starting. The campaign, called "Tips From Former Smokers," is intended to educate Americans about the dangers of smoking through the stories and graphic pictures of ex-smokers who...

Mar 15, 2012 – Afghans took to the streets Thursday to demand a U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians be prosecuted in Afghanistan as word spread that the American military moved him out of the country. And a member of parliament accused the military of showing him and other officials "a fake video ......

Mar 14, 2012 – U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta flew into Afghanistan on Wednesday, making him the first high-ranking American official to visit the country since a U.S. soldier was detained on suspicion of killing 16 Afghan men, women and children in their homes Sunday. Also Wednesday, a huge explosion killed eight people in Helmand...

Mar 14, 2012 – At least one person was killed and at least two others were injured in a shooting Wednesday at a Texas courthouse, a judge said. The shooting occurred outside a courthouse in Jefferson County, Texas, Judge Larry Gist said. Witnesses saw an elderly woman dead on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse,...

Mar 14, 2012 – The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians during a weekend rampage has been transferred out of Afghanistan while awaiting charges, the NATO command said late Wednesday. The still-unidentified Army staff sergeant was transferred on the recommendation of advisers to Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and allied forces in...

Mar 14, 2012 – A Goldman Sachs executive has resigned in a very public manner -- calling the firm "toxic" and disrespectful of its clients in a scathing op-ed piece published in Wednesday's New York Times. "I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it,"...

Mar 14, 2012 – Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will get one last chance to speak his mind Wednesday before he heads to Colorado to start a 14-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction. Blagojevich has scheduled a news conference outside his house and will use the occasion to say goodbye, his spokesman said. His...