In Japan, the Toyota recall saga is seen overwhelmingly as an American attack on a Japanese corporation — a perception strengthened vastly, though I don’t think accurately, by the fact that the US government is the main owner of the country’s biggest automaker.

In fact, though, there are many states and regions in the US — many in the South and border states — where Toyota is the ‘company’ in the company town just as much as GM and Ford are in Detroit. And quite a few politicians in Congress have deep ties to the company. In other words, Toyota has sunk deep roots in the USA, both economically and politically.

Check out our story on GM America vs. Toyota America.

One of the hallmarks of post-Buckley, Movement Conservatism has always been the conscious exclusion of the John Birch Society as an extremist group. But at this weekend’s CPAC conference they were finally allowed in. Here’s John Birch Society President John F. McManus, at the Society’s sponsor table.

A short while back Ann Coulter was on Rick Sanchez’s show on CNN while she was hanging out at CPAC. And Ann was going on about the pleasures of warlordism and the long twilight struggle against Islam. And suddenly Rick Sanchez brought her up short and asked her “You just compared the Iraq War to World War II. Do you think that’s an apt comparison.”

And for once, Ann was genuinely speechless. At least for a moment.

She eventually came up with, “Well, in the sense they’re both wars …” And then it pretty much went downhill from there.

See the video here.

The president of the union that represents IRS workers doesn’t see the humor that Jed Babbin does in that suicide bomber who crashed his plane into the IRS offices yesterday.

Babbin’s the editor of Human Events, who introduced Grover Norquist this morning at CPAC, joking that he’d wondered whether it might not be Grover crashing his plane into the building since he’s so hardcore an enemy of the IRS.

Meet the new freak show group that’s way too right even for Bill O’Reilly.

They’re the ‘Oath Keepers’ and they’re trying to stop Obama from imposing martial law and turning America’s cities into concentration camps. To this end they want soldiers and police officers to disobey orders that are ‘unconstitutional’.

Rep. Darrell Issa: Yep, I’m all for privatizing Social Security and abolishing Medicare, too.

Our intrepid reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro goes on a mission to find conservative rappers at CPAC. Watch.

Any pick up on this? Top GOP activist cracks joke at CPAC about suicide attack on IRS office?

What am I missing?

The FBI says it’s closing the case on the 2001 Anthrax attacks, saying a government scientist who committed suicide was the guilty party.