Summary: Conspiracy theories have long been a fixture on the political landscape, with political paranoia most virulent among politically marginalized sectors of the polity. So, with Democrats holding the reins of power, it stands to reason that the right-wing fringe has become the prime repository of collective craziness. … Conspiracy-theorist-in-chief Michele Bachmann. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, said at his trial that President Bush’s smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of “the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of the mosques and houses, the rapes of women,” and enraged him. “After more than a million Iraqis killed, after all the economic and social destruction … I felt that this person is the killer of the people, the prime murderer. I was enraged and threw my shoes at him.”

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Summary: More than two-thirds of the United States’ land mass had snow on the ground today, with snow cover in 49 of the 50 states — Hawaii being the lone exception. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 12, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that in Afghanistan, Taliban militants killed 20 people in a coordinated attack on three government buildings in Kabul, while in Iraq, 16 people were killed and 45 wounded when twin car bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market area in southwestern Baghdad.

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Summary: In a new audiotape, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden calls for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq denied North Carolina-based Blackwater Worldwide (Xe), which guards American diplomats in Iraq, an operating license because of a deadly shooting spree in Baghdad. Iraqi officials said the lingering outrage over a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead led to its decision. The shooting strained relations between Washington and Baghdad and fueled the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, where many Iraqis saw the bloodshed as a demonstration of American brutality and arrogance.

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Summary: Adapting to rising seas and higher temperatures is expected to be a big topic at the U.N. climate-change talks in Copenhagen, along with the projected cost — hundreds of billions of dollars, much of it going to countries that cannot afford to do it themselves. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Bush administration Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled a willingness to forge ahead with two key priorities for the incoming Obama administration: accelerating the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center. He also reported that President-elect Barack Obama’s national security team would include two veteran cold warriors — former NATO commander Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser and Robert M. Gates as defense secretary — and a political rival — Hillary Clinton as secretary of state — whose records are all more hawkish than the new president’s.

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Summary: Congress will begin hearings on an energy and global warming bill that could revolutionize how the United States produces and uses energy, in an effort to reduce pollution said to be responsible for heating up the planet.

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Summary: PolitiFact debunks Rep. Michele Bachmann’s claim, in an April 7, 2009 editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, that President Barack Obama’s cap and trade proposal would cost every household in America more than $3,000 in energy costs a year.

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Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann announces forums in St. Cloud and Woodbury to debunk global climate change and President Obama’s proposed carbon “cap and tax” plans, featuring Chris Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. … North Korea situation report.

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Summary: On Saturday afternoon, March 21, 2009 Rep. Michele Bachmann said on WWTC 1280 AM radio that she wants people in Minnesota “armed and dangerous” on the issue of an energy tax, “because we need to fight back” and “having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.” Eric Ostermeier reported Bachmann’s remarks on “Smart Politics,” the blog of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, where it was picked up by other media outlets.

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Summary: The message from Washington to Pakistan is clear: There is no change in U.S. policy when it comes to going after al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan’s lawless border areas. After all, Barack Obama warned during his presidential campaign that America must go after terrorist targets if Pakistan did not act first.

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