From the Los Angeles Times: The Justice Department's criminal case against officials of the largest U.S.-based Islamic charity relies more heavily than previously known on Israeli intelligence, court records show. This brings up the question of whether the evidence will be admissable. The government lawyer said it would be "difficult" to quantify, but she acknowledged that "an abundance of intelligence" came from the Israeli government. Such reliance on a foreign intelligence agency poses other obstacles in U.S. criminal court proceedings.

In all the talk about the deficit and Social Security one rarely hears of the heroic role that Social Security plays in masking a $170 billion in budget shortfalls.

House Republicans are moving quickly on a proposal to roll back the estate tax so much that it almost amounts to a repeal. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) introduced a bill Wednesday that more or less matches the bill proposed by Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ). A floor vote is expected for Thursday. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the Thomas bill would cost the Treasury $602 billion between 2012-2021, or 75 percent of a full repeal. You can find more details on how the Thomas bill would change the estate tax in this Washington Post article.

From Roll Call: [Reform] groups are set to rally around a bill expected this week from Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) that will include reform provisions that were dropped or blocked from the leadership-approved overhaul measures. The bill would create an Office of Public Integrity to oversee compliance with new lobbying rules; require more frequent and fuller disclosures by lobbyists of their activities; ban gifts to lawmakers; and force them to pay fair market value for rides they catch on private planes.