Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck lead survey

(NEWSER) - The website ConservativeHome polled about 1,500 folks defined as Republican activists to find their favorite pundits. Here's the top 10:

1. Rush Limbaugh, 41%
2. Glenn Beck, 33%
3. Charles Krauthammer, 29%
4. Bill O'Reilly, 24%
5. Sean Hannity, 21%

He's sought for a vague lesser crime of 'sex by surprise'

(NEWSER) - By now, you’ve probably heard that Julian Assange is wanted for “rape” in Sweden. Heck, you probably read it here on Newser . You can hardly blame us; sources from CNN to the New York Times have said that Assange is charged with “rape, sexual molestation, and unlawful coercion.” There’s just one problem: It’s not true. Assange’s lawyers tell Aol News that prosecutors have told them he’s wanted not for rape but for “sex by surprise,” a minor crime punishable only be a fine. More»

Krauthammer: 'Passive' response makes US look weak

(NEWSER) - Don't believe this stuff about the WikiLeaks cables dealing in harmless gossip, writes Charles Krauthammer, who maintains that the damage is real and far-reaching. Which has him carping about the "torpid and passive" response by the US and wondering why Julian Assange is still a free man. "It's time to show a little steel," he writes in the Washington Post . "To show that such miscreants don't get to walk away." More»

Naming a US intelligence source would be federal crime

(NEWSER) - Joe Lieberman and a number of other senators have introduced legislation that would make it a crime to publish the name of a US intelligence source, in an explicit attack on WikiLeaks. The recent release of State Department cables “is just the latest example of how our national security interests … are jeopardized by the illegal release of classified and sensitive information,” Lieberman said in a statement. “This legislation will help hold people criminally accountable who endanger these sources of information.” More»

WikiLeaks' cables paint hopeless picture

(NEWSER) - WikiLeaks’ State Department cable dump paints an almost comically bleak picture of Afghan corruption. How bad is it? So bad that in January, the American Embassy noted that the agriculture minister “appears to be the only minister … about whom no allegations of bribery exist,” according to the New York Times . So bad that one of the few guys busted and jailed for corruption—Kabul mayor Abdul Ahad Sahibi—was actually, according to one diplomat, a victim of “kangaroo court justice,” who’d been trying to stop a corrupt land deal. More»