There's not exactly a surplus of news cameras in Libya right now, so plenty of reports are flying around and it's not clear which of them are true. But we can say with enough confidence that it's absolute hell over there. Muammar Qaddafi is pulling out every nasty little trick to protect his regime, assuming he's even in the country. It could always be that smarmy kid of his doing the unconscionable.

Frank Bailey is a former confidante to Sarah Palin. He started off painting her gubernatorial campaign offices as a volunteer in 2005 and left as a top aide in 2009. He was inspired by, loyal to, and probably in love with Palin, based on our reading. But now he hates her! All of this according to his 465-page, tell-all manuscript that's mysteriously leaked to reporters' inboxes everywhere.

In what could be viewed as a vote of no confidence in director/creator Julie Taymor's ability to fix Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the producers of the creatively flailing Broadway musical (which is certainly not financially flailing) are bringing in a co-director to gently tap Taymor on the shoulder and send her back to the dugout for a bit.

Tiny little Belgium broke a world record last week! From Time:

Sunday Times foreign correspondent Marie Colvin—who was in Egypt during the uprising—says that she spoke with "medical sources," as well as an unnamed friend of CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan, who "suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault" in Cairo's Tahrir square. The Australian summarizes Colvin's reporting:

The AP reports today that over half the members of the Texas House have signed onto a measure requiring that universities allow students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus. What a terrible idea.

Muammar el-Qaddafi seems to being going with a scorched earth-lite policy of dealing with protesters in Libya — he's allegedly hired African mercenaries to bolster his troops, who have been wantonly killing civilians and shooting people at funerals.

After killing protesters in their sleep, Bahrain's ruling monarchy says demonstrators can stay in Pearl roundabout and they've offered to hold talks with all opposition members. Yemen is still going off, and Human Rights Watch says 84 people have been killed in Libya over the last three days. Here's a look at what's happening across the Middle East and North Africa.

This is not surprising, and yet: The House has passed an amendment to the continuing budget resolution it's finalizing that would block all federal aid to Planned Parenthood. Even though providing abortions is a small part of what Planned Parenthood does—and is isolated from federal funds within the organization's structure, by law—the amendment passed 240-185. So does this mean abortion is over forever?

Wisconsin's 14 Democratic Senators are still hiding out-of-state to stop a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's "budget repair bill," the one that goes out of its way to destroy public sector unions.

In your finally Friday media column: New York Times reporters under fire, Jack Griffin unceremoniously canned at Time Inc., Joe Conason leaves the New York Observer, and executive moves at CBS News.

When Auburn University beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl last year, something in Harvey Almorn Updyke Jr. snapped. Updyke is an Alabama fan — bitter rivals of Auburn — so the loss was especially tough. In an act of revenge, he phoned into an Auburn radio station to say that he'd sprayed a tree-killing herbicide called Spike 80DF around the school's famed 130-year-old oak trees at Toomer's Corner — where Auburn fans celebrate after wins, do keg stands and puke and make choices that they regret the next day. Updyke ended his call to the radio station with "Roll Damn Tide." Now the trees are dying and there's bascially nothing that anyone can do to save them.

Human Rights Watch yesterday reported that at least 24 demonstrators had been killed in Libya over the last two days, and some speculate that that number could be much higher. In terms of communication and the availability of reliable news, Libya closer resembles North Korea than many of its neighbors. And besides ordering riot police and special forces to crack down on protests in Benghazi and other cities, Brother Leader Muammar Qaddafi has taken a page from the Hosni Mubarak playbook, according to the HRW report:

16-year-old Iowa wrestling star Joel Northrup forfeited a match at the state tournament today because he was paired with a girl, Cassy Herkelman. He said in a statement, "As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner." According to the AP, Northrup attends a Pentecostal church that forbids men and women from touching in a "familiar way." So, uh, congratulations, Cassy Herkelman?

It's time for all the designers, models, and assorted hangers on to finally head home and get over the constant champagne buzz of New York Fashion Week. Yes, today is the final day of the festivities, and we're still bringing you the best images of the day, like this model at Elie Tahari, who does not want to be messed with. [Image via Getty]

Today's most sickening news story: onetime karate instructor Patrick Gonzalez was sentenced to death today, after being found guilty of "leading a group of men dressed like ninjas" into a Florida couple's home and killing them as their nine adopted children—all with special needs, like autism—slept or looked on in horror. The killers reportedly thought that the couple was hiding millions of dollars in their house. "The men took an unopened safe from the home that contained nothing of value, but a second safe that wasn't stolen had $164,000 in cash, court records show." [AP, photo via AP]

After reading that Justin Bieber favors Canadian-style health care, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) went boldly where no member of Congress had gone before:

All 14 of Wisconsin's Democratic Senators have fled the state to deny Republicans a vote on their union-busting budget proposal, and to hide from Wisconsin police. Gov. Scott Walker has asked to please return to work, damnit. But where are they? Some generic motel in Illinois? Yes!

Among the 400+ amendments filed earlier this week for the House Republicans' upcoming spending package was this little gem from GOP Rep. Steve Womack: cutting funding for the president's teleprompter. This machine has been the source of many hilarious Republican jokes over the last two years, like, "Did you see how Barack Obama read his speech off a teleprompter? Bwah ha ha, what an idiot."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's plan to eliminate 50 years of collective bargaining rights for public employees is supposed to come to a vote today, and Senate Republicans there have the numbers to pass it. So what are Democrats supposed to do? Flee the capital to stop the vote from happening! And far, far away from the capital, hopefully, because police are hunting them down.