Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and GM’s top executives have all been ousted—should Citigroup and Bank of America’s CEOs be worried, too? The FDIC chairman is saying that last week’s stress test results will have more consequences than the $74.6 billion in capital needed to prop up the ailing bank industry. “Management needs to be evaluated,” said chairman Sheila Bair Friday on a Bloomberg television show to be broadcast this weekend. “Have they been doing a good job? Are there people who can do a better job?” The FDIC immediately released a statement qualifying Bair’s remarks, stating, “She did not refer to CEOs specifically,” and added, “Bair also did not suggest the federal government will remove the bank CEOs.” In a briefing on Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “Those regulators also will make determinations about not just the suitability of those plans going forward, but whether or not the corporate leadership of those institutions is right in instituting what has to happen in those plans.”

One Democrat who’s not taking Nancy Pelosi’s side? The new CIA director, Leon Panetta. In a memo to agency employees, Panetta said disputed Pelosi’s claim that the CIA had misled her, though said "ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened." Panetta said that, after reviewing the records, "CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing 'the enhanced techniques that had been employed.’” Then, offering a boost to employees, he wrote, “Our task is to tell it like it is — even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.”

The pomp and circumstance is finally taking place Sunday but abortion rights protestors at the University of Notre Dame haven’t slowed down. On Friday, 20 protestors, including former presidential hopeful Alan Keyes and a 78-year-old priest, were arrested while demonstrating against the decision to award President Obama with an honorary degree. He will also make the commencement address at the Catholic university where some conservatives are saying his invitation violates a 2004 order by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that states Roman Catholic institutions should not “honor figures whose public stances violate church teachings.” Obama can count on one vocal supporter: former New York governor Mario Cuomo, whose invitation to the university 25 years ago was met with similar protests calling him a “baby killer.” Cuomo said the invite is “saying he's a good man and a good president and we wish him well and we're gratified the president of the United States would come to this university and honor us with” his presence.

Battle of the elder statesmen? In an interview on CNN, Al Gore said “I waited two years after I left office to make statements that were critical,” and pointed out that his critiques were limited to “policy.” “Talk about somebody that shouldn't be talking about making the country less safe, invading a country that did not attack us and posed no serious threat to us at all,” Gore continued, before identifying Cheney as “the leading spokesman for his party.” “I have a feeling that members of his own party wish that he would not do that,” Gore said. “But I'll let that be an argument between him and them.”

Following yesterday's announcement by Chrysler, General Motors is planning to close 1,100 dealerships in the U.S. in yet another attempt to cut costs and scale back its business to a point of sustainability. The move will leave $2.5 billion in unsold vehicles—120,000 cars and trucks of various GM brands—in their inventories. "GM is working to pare U.S. dealers by 42 percent, to 3,600, by the end of next year as it faces a probable bankruptcy by a June 1 government-set deadline," according to Bloomberg. "With competition reduced among retail outlets, the remaining dealers each may be able to sell more cars at higher prices, boosting profit."

President Obama won’t be happy about this: Photos of the detainee abuse that he is trying to block have surfaced elsewhere. The Telegraph prints one picture of a detainee hung upside down and naked, while another apparently “showed a naked man smeared in excrement standing in a corridor with a guard standing menacingly in front of him.” In another, a “prisoner is handcuffed to the window frame of his cell with underpants pulled over his head.” The images emerged in Australia, where the channel SBS obtained them in 2006 after Abu Ghraib. They did not circulate the world at the time, but they are believed to be among the same photos that President Obama is trying to block.

Nancy Pelosi’s press conference yesterday, in which she said the CIA lied to her and Congress about waterboarding, seems to have only energized her attackers: In an interview with ABC News, Newt Gingrich said Pelosi was engaging in "despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort" (a field in which he has some experience). "She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowest of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior," Gingrich said, and he called for an investigation. Senator Kip Bond of Missouri, meanwhile, said "It's outrageous that a member of Congress would call our terror-fighters liars." Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, however, also said that the CIA lied to him about the interrogations, bolstering Pelosi’s accusation.

What will the tabloids do now? California health regulators fined a Bellflower hospital $250,000 for not preventing employees from leaking medical information about octomom Nadya Suleman to tabloids. A state medical privacy law was enacted at the beginning of this year after violations of Farrah Fawcett, Britney Spears, Maria Shriver and other celebrities’ medical records were widely publicized. This fine is the first instance of enforcement of the law. Eight workers were implicated for snooping in Suleman’s medical files. “It's the hospital's job to prevent these breaches from occurring, not just crack down after the fact," said the state's Secretary of Health.

First, the Obama administration announced that it would withhold photos of detainees. Now, it will unveil another policy decision that will hearten Bush-era officials: it will officially renew military tribunals for prosecuting terrorism suspects, a move that has outraged human rights groups who see the military commissions as tainted relics of Bush policy. The administration has included revisions on the tribunals: it will ban any information gained from coercion, and says it will give detainees more freedom to choose lawyers. A group of retired military officers have warned Obama that the renewed commissions could result in an "erosion of international confidence" in the American justice system.

Welcome to another celebrity feud! Jonah Hill, the star of Judd Apatow’s new film Funny People, mocks former classmate and reality TV fameball Spencer Pratt in a new series of photos for Harper’s Bazaar. Hill poses as Pratt while model (and Elvis’ granddaughter) Riley Keough impersonates Pratt’s wife Heidi, as the pair shops, eats lunch, and goes to clubs together (because what else is there to do in life?). "This is where I feel most at home. Great friends, great conversation, and meaningful experiences," says Hill while at a club surrounded by blond babes. "Shopping is my life. My life is shopping. If Kitson became a country, I would pack up my belongings, move there, and apply for citizenship," said Hill, poking fun at The Hills. Pratt seemed to be taking it well, according to his Twitter: “jonah hill just spoofed me in the new harpers baazar! I went to highschool with Jonah from 6th to 12th grade and now hes spoofing me! love!” Ready yourself for a spoof of the spoof.

Bizarre details are emerging about the unwelcome American visitor who swam a mile to meet Nobel-prize-winning Burmese activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and caused her arrest. William Yettaw used homemade flippers and plastic containers attached to his arms in order to swim the mile across a lake to reach his hero's compound. The military junta seized upon his unannounced visit, using it as an excuse to arrest opposition leader Suu Kyi before elections, claiming she violated house arrest. But supporters say the activist couldn't turn away the man-described as a "nutter" and "stalker"-when he showed up completely exhausted and begged for shelter. Yettaw's wife said her husband had made the swim last summer but was turned away by Suu Kyi's staff. "I would like people to know that he has no ill intention, that he was not trying to cause harm," his daughter said.

Mexico: Come for the swine flu, stay for the murders? “The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in [Tijuana], two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs,” reports the Associated Press. The victims, aged 19 to 23, were found tied up on Saturday, but the deaths were not reported until now because of the investigation. “Their deaths are the latest in a string of violence in Tijuana that authorities blame on a bloody turf war between drug cartels.”

She may have graduated with her class, but Bristol Palin has other things on her mind. When she got on stage at the Wasilla Sports Complex on Thursday night, the abstinence advocate mouthed to the audience, "Where's my baby?" She searched around until she found Tripp in the back of the room, in her aunt Heather's arms. After news of Bristol's pregnancy broke earlier this year, her mom, Gov. Sarah Palin, admitted in an interview, "Oh, there goes her education... And that's why I'm so proud of her... really relieved." But apparently Palin had nothing to worry about: Bristol graduated with a 3.497 G.P.A., and regretted only that she was "point zero-zero-something" away from graduating with honors.

"Stupid TV!" Homer Simpson once said, "Be more funny!" Now it's the show's creators saying those words. Simpsons ratings are sliding, with 6.7 million viewers watching this season - about half as many as a decade ago. As a result, Fox is feeling an increased push to capitalize on the show's franchise. There's also pressure to keep the jokes coming and the show fresh, which will allow creators to launch an aggressive new marketing strategy to boost revenues. They're expanding the franchise to stay abreast of trends, by launching Simpsons postage stamps, Hallmark cards, limited edition guitars, and theme park rides. "There were times years ago when we probably would not have done some of the products we're doing today," said a Fox executive. "But society, culture and the marketplace evolve. The sensibilities of the show evolve."

Next and final stop, Rhode Island. The governor of New Hampshire is set to sign a bill legalizing gay marriage pending a few revisions that the state Congress is expected to approve, advancing gay-rights advocates' goal of legalizing gay marriage in all of New England. The adjustments, which the governor requested, strengthen the rights of individuals not to participate in gay marriage ceremonies should they have religious objections. The Associated Press reports that Connecticut has similar language in its gay marriage law. Barring any surprises or changes of heart, New Hampshire will be the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. The governor said that he personally opposes gay marriage, but that he decided to consider the issue "through a broader lens."

It seems America has finally found the solution to stopping illegal immigration: a crippling recession. According to new census data from the Mexican government, emigration from Mexico dropped by 226,000 people between 2007 and 2008, reversing a longtime trend in the opposite direction. The numbers corroborate similar findings by researchers on both sides of the border, such as a recent decline in the number of border arrests. Demographers attribute the plunge in border crossings to the weak American economy, which is making jobs for migrant laborers increasingly rare.

As Broadway undergoes its annual spring boom and nimbly sidesteps the recession, the Great White Way just filled its hosting duties for theater’s biggest night. How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris will host the 2009 Tony Awards on June 7. Harris’ theater credits in Rent and Cabaret make him more than qualified—or at least more qualified than James Gandolfini, who was the rumored host earlier this week. A number of TV and film stars have taken to the theater stage this year—Gandolfini, Geoffrey Rush, Jeff Daniels, Jane Fonda, and Hope Davis are all nominated in the leading actor and actress categories—and with Elton John and Dolly Parton nominated for Billy Elliot: The Musical and 9 to 5: The Musical, the night will presumably be an A-list affair.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting in touch with his old character, the Terminator, as he prepares to cut 5000 state workers in order to rein in California’s $15.4 billion budget shortfall. The governor’s most drastic plan includes cutting 225,000 children from state health-care rolls, turning out thousands of undocumented immigrants from state prisons and handing them over to federal authorities, and borrowing $6 billion to pay bills. Schwarzenegger also plans to cut $3 billion from schools, and to sell the Los Angeles Coliseum and Sports Arena. Ouch.

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed on Thursday that the CIA lied to her about the use and nature of controversial enhanced interrogation techniques—the same techniques that could implicate the Bush Six as war criminals—opponents rolled their eyes at the excuse. But now former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (D-FL) says the CIA hid details from him, too. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Graham said the agency misled him on the number of times they waterboarded and when they briefed him on it. Graham explains that, when the issue "started to resurface," he asked agency officials to confirm how many times they briefed him on torture. They gave him four dates, but after Graham went through his personal records and disproved three of those dates, he said the agency admitted their mistake and confirmed that he had, in fact, received only one briefing. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has also disputed the accuracy of the CIA's briefings records. The CIA has, so far, declined to respond to other publications' questions on the matter.

Chrysler's bankruptcy may have made national news, but as it trims its dealer network, its closings have become painfully local. Because bankruptcy court frees state franchise laws, Chrysler has shuttered some 789 dealerships, and businesses that have been passed through families for generations are closing shop. Chysler said that it has tried to trim its dealer network for a while to create less competition for customers, but that doesn't ease the blow for affected businesses. Said the owner of one ill-fated Jeep dealership: "It's a sad day for America when, with the stroke of a pen, dealers that have been in the community hiring local employees and paying taxes are suddenly wiped out."

"Buy American" measures are coming back in style in Congress, most notably in the $787 billion stimulus plan, but critics warn that the provisions are launching destructive trade wars and backfiring on American-based companies. In addition to retaliation from other countries with their own trade restrictions, the measures are causing some U.S. companies to suffer directly as many of their products are only partially produced in America and thus deemed ineligible for stimulus funds. Said the owner of one Swiss-Russian business in Pittsburgh of the broad new provisions: "I've got 600 United Steel Workers out there who are going to lose their jobs because of this. And you tell me this is good for America?"

With 80 years of history in the old venue, the pressure on the Steinbrenner clan to get the new Yankee Stadium right was enormous. $1.5 billion later and the new venue's inaugural year is off to a rocky start. A mysterious wind tunnel is wreaking havoc on pitchers, with a league leading 3.62 home runs per game at the park and a 22-run inning against the Yankees in just their third game. Meanwhile ticket sales are suffering under the recession, even for games against heated rivals like the Boston Red Sox. According to Yankees president Randy Levine, early criticisms of the new stadium are premature. "We believe this stadium will have its own great life and great memories," he told The Wall Street Journal. It's already produced plenty of great memories for opposing teams' hitters at least.

Dick Cheney has been saying that President Obama’s banning of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” will endanger American lives. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was secretary of state, calls his bluff: “My investigations have revealed to me—vividly and clearly—that once the Abu Ghraib photographs were made public in the Spring of 2004, the CIA, its contractors, and everyone else involved in administering ‘the Cheney methods of interrogation’, simply shut down. … What I am saying is that no torture or harsh interrogation techniques were employed by any U.S. interrogator for the entire second term of Cheney-Bush, 2005-2009. So, if we are to believe the protestations of Dick Cheney, that Obama's having shut down the ‘Cheney interrogation methods’ will endanger the nation, what are we to say to Dick Cheney for having endangered the nation for the last four years of his vice presidency?” Wilkerson adds that the harsh interrogations were “not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa'ida.”

President Obama is finally ready to appoint the CDC chief. Today he'll announce that Thomas Frieden, New York City's health commissioner, will inherit the spot from Richard Bresser in June. Frieden, who worked at the CDC for 12 years before coming to New York, is thought to already be on the forefront of the fight against swine flu. "This is a tremendously exciting time for public health," Bresser said of his successor. "Frieden is one of the nation's leading public health experts and a consummate innovator."

Survivors of a series of American bombing raids on Farah Province in southwest Afghanistan are still unsure how many civilians were killed in their villages, as some bombs were so powerful that the dead were rendered all but indistinguishable. Human rights groups and Afghan officials put the number at at least 117, a number American officials dispute. Regardless of the final count, the bombings have created a public relations disaster in Afghanistan, where winning the civilian population's favor is crucial to defeating the Taliban. "Why do they target the Taliban inside the village?" one Afghan man whose daughter narrowly survived a bombing that killed seven members of a family told The New York Times. "Why don't they bomb them when they are outside the village?"

You may not have to pay to read articles online yet, but you will have to pay to watch Martha Stewart's "vast library of online video content." As revenues of her company slide, Stewart explains that she's looking to shift to a "paid download model" for viewers to watch clips on her site. "It has to happen," said the media maven, who also extolled the virtues of Twitter, "We will see monetization on the Web."