The ten things you need to know on Thursday 18 April 2013... 1) "A PRETTY SHAMEFUL DAY FOR WASHINGTON" What the hell is wrong with the members o...

The sequester was a legislative tool designed to scare the Congress into doing its job. It clearly seems to have failed to produce this result. If it goes into effect, the sequester means across the board cuts in every agency of federal government with no ability to control what is cut and what is not.

Will it have thrills and spills of a NASCAR race? Or will it have the numbing predictability akin to watching partisan paint drying?

No one of sentient mind could argue against Khan's assertion that the Swedish women have a right to have their day in court, no matter how spurious or politically motivated some might see their complaints. Assange should indeed face his accusers in their land.

The battle over the Hagel nomination is really a 'proxy war' for control of the Republican Party.

The next fiscal crisis is set for February or March. Paul Krugman is pleading for minting a $1 trillion platinum coin to avert gloom and doom. Ideas like these help put a smile on your face in difficult times, but how will the fiscal saga really evolve?

Can Barack Obama, like Abraham Lincoln rise above the rancor and lead America into prosperity and peace and find a common ground before he leaves office, still a very young man?

A teetering world economy. An economic crises for which solutions remain unknown. The leader of the free market world potentially having a gridlocked political system. I think there's only one thing that can be said here: good luck Mr. Obama.

It seems like the election may have had a real affect on the general attitude here in Washington.

As The Obama administration continues to favour the Iranian regime of the ayatollahs, over the Iranian people, one has to question how in command of the reality of the situation, the President of the USA is. .