Foreign policy and the economy are on the table today. Hope everybody’s having a great Easter!

I think we can all agree that the die is cast on social safety nets. That’s why it’s more important than ever to find the most cost effective ways to implement them. So when I read the following story in the NY Times about states slashing money for these programs, I just shook my head…especially [...]

Great little piece about the ridiculousness of Fox News, Olbermann, et al… Fair warning, there’s a little bit of cursing in this. We win! *shudder* (h/t: Sully)

Come on Bobby…you’re running, aren’t you? From Times-Picayune: Although a contract has yet to be signed, Jindal said he has reached an agreement with Regnery Publishing, which has published political tomes by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, actor Chuck Norris and political commentator Ann Coulter, among others. The book is tentatively scheduled for release in [...]

I won’t say that this represents all of these parties, but some delicious crazy starts at 2 minutes in. Basically, the argument can be summed up as Obama wanted to wait until June to put in the digital TV converters in so he could brainwash people. I’m not kidding… A big thank you to Glenn [...]

And that’s just what’s projected for the first six months. From MarketWatch: The deficit is well on its way to the $1.75 trillion — or 12.3% of gross domestic product — that the White House has estimated for the full fiscal year, which ends in September. The deficit through the first six months is more [...]

Holding Wall Street accountable? What a concept! Visit the site and add your name to the list.

(Egypt’s 1973 October War Panorama Museum — NY Times photo) One of my biggest regrets during my post-college backpacking jaunt through Cairo was that the October 1973 War Panorama Museum was closed. Like a kid stretching his neck over the fence at a shut-down amusement park, I stared through the iron grates at a sculpture [...]

Next time you finish off a box of cookies or a whole pie, despite having controlled yourself all day, don’t blame yourself. Blame human nature. In the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science, the researchers taunted subjects with the story of a waiter who was surrounded by gourmet food but not allowed a taste. [...]

In the wake of the Iowa Supreme Court decision last week, combined with the subsequent Vermont legislative passage of same-sex marriage, there’s been a lot of talk, even amongst more conservative pro-same-sex marriage folks, about judicial activism and whether it’s the appropriate role of the courts to get involved in deciding social hot-button issues. There [...]

“We can only turn the page from recession to recovery if we watch every single taxpayer dollar the way families watch every dollar in their budget.” Who said this? A fiscal conservative appalled at the unrestrained level of spending coming out of congress? Nope. It was the estimable Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opposing a [...]

And there was much rejoicing… From MarketWatch: NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday that first-quarter earnings will surge to a record $3 billion, well ahead of analyst forecasts, as loan losses and provisions dropped from the previous difficult quarter and its mortgage business thrived. Wells shares jumped 22% as the bank [...]

One thing to remember is that D.C.’s council only voted to recognize other state’s gay marriages. And maybe this is why they haven’t taken the next step. Due to D.C.’s strange system of governance, the District’s laws are subject to approval by Congress. If D.C. passes a gay marriage ordinance, the House Committee on Oversight [...]

One silver lining to the economic crisis? We’re exporting more and importing less. From The Census Bureau: February exports of $126.8 billion and imports of $152.7 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $26.0 billion, down from $36.2 billion in January, revised. February exports were $2.0 billion more than January exports of $124.7 [...]

From The Department of Labor… The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 28 was 5,840,000, an increase of 95,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 5,745,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,647,500, an increase of 146,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,500,750. So yes, 5.84 million [...]

“”While the Obama team regularly likes to blame the Bush administration for the economic problems it’s dealing with on a daily — if not hourly — basis, Obama would not have had such a great, arguably historic, debut on the world stage without Bush.” – MSNBC’s First Read Yes, I’m sure Obama loves that he [...]

More here: The ‘Twitter Revolution’ of Moldova’s high-tech teens

So, the ever-sophisticated minds at the Fox network have decided the recession could make for quality entertainment. The network plans to air a reality series where employees at struggling small businesses will decide who among them will be laid off (as distinct from the boss making the decision). Fox is attempting to position the show, [...]

So the site has been blazing fast recently because we moved to a Dedicate Virtual server at Media Temple, but today the cluster my server was on went down…even though we switched to DEDICATED hosting. Ugh. Sorry again. I know some of you have told me I have nothing to apologize for, but hey…I hate [...]

“This turn toward the extreme right on the part of Fox News is troubling, and will achieve nothing in the long run except further marginalization of the GOP—unless people start behaving like adults instead of angry kids throwing tantrums and ranting about conspiracies and revolution.” – EngnrMan of Little Green Footballs talking about the “Glenn [...]