I’ve given up trying to point out examples of Obama Derangement Syndrome because it’s so acute right now. People literally think he’s ushering in a police state and how do you respond to that? But NY Times columnist Charles Blow is hearing similar things and notes that it’s troubling at best. From NY Times: Lately [...]

Republican Dick Lugar proposed normalizing relations a few days ago, and now we’re seeing some movement. And even though Obama has said that he’s opposed to normalization, I can’t help but think this is a first step towards that. Let’s hope. From Wash Post: WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to lift longstanding U.S. restrictions [...]

Just found a comment left by the Transportation Security Administration in the post I wrote yesterday about that situation in St. Louis where a Ron Paul supporter was held and questioned because he had $4,700 in cash on him (which is roughly represented in the picture above). From Evolution of Security: At approximately 6:50 p.m. [...]

I don’t usually write about blogging milestones but Doug is a friend and a contributor so a hearty “Well done!” is in order. Don’t think 1,000,000 is a big deall? Well, let me tell you… Creating and maintaining sites like BTB takes a hell of a lot of commitment. Because between reading all the day’s [...]

“Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that. My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.” – Obama cautioning bank executives on justifying high salaries in a recent private meeting I think it’s pretty clear that the bank executives simply don’t get how angry folks are. And [...]

Following up on my previous post about those awful underemployment numbers, Naked Capitalism agrees that the 15.6% number is definitely a depression type stat. However, Robert Reich says we’re now in a depression and we’ll need more stimulus… Capital markets may or may not unfreeze under the combined heat of the Treasury and the Fed, [...]

The most accurate gauge of the employment picture (referred to as U6) is getting a lot worse… One thing to take into consideration is that this graph does go back to 1995 so the fact that it’s going straight up like isn’t as scary as you’d think. Still, it ain’t good. This is due to [...]

So, what caused the current financial crisis? No, not the specific events but rather the underlying cause, the cultural fault. David Brooks believes there are two competing schools of thought. It’s the greed theory vs. the stupidity theory. Brooks begins with the greed theory: [T]he U.S. financial crisis is a bigger version of the crises [...]

No surprise here, and expect this to be a brutal fight. From NY Times: WASHINGTON — The House and Senate approved budgets of about $3.5 trillion for the government on Thursday with no Republican support, a sign of deep partisan tensions likely to color Congressional efforts to enact major policy initiatives sought by President Obama. [...]

A genuine surprise from the Hawkeye State today because the ruling was unanimous. Expect more of this type of thing to happen in the next couple years and challenge Obama’s opinion that gay marriage shouldn’t be legal… “The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal [...]

In the wake of the Justice Department’s decision to drop charges against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska’s Governor is joining those making a rather absurd call: Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) called on Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska ) Thursday to step down from his seat and run in a special election in the wake of [...]

I think I’ve said this before, but the Republicans definitely run the risk of being fractured between the social and the fiscal conservatives. Because call him whatever you like, but Bush was not a fiscal conservative. And there are A LOT of fiscally conservative folks who really despise the less tolerant aspects of social conservatism. [...]

This is Lagan from ANP… Senator Reid says he will “move forward” on nomination of Gary Gensler despite hold by Senator Sanders. Barack Obama’s plan to name yet another Goldman Sachs alum to his economic team is proving too much for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders put a hold on the nomination of Gary Gensler [...]

Today, political columnist E. J. Dionne lays out the central conundrum to Barack Obama’s economic policies: Describing what Obama is up to leads quickly to sentences freighted with contradictions. He wants to regulate the market more tightly in order to save it. He thinks big government is required now if we are to return to [...]

Looks like the Comedy Central boys are having fun using people’s words against them. And it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy than Beck. Why? Well, Beck is really taking advantage of 9/11 with his “9/12″ project and Colbert does what no journalist can. Flawless victory.

A truly dumb move by St. Louis airport employees is recorded and shared here by Fox News… Is Missouri’s militia/Ron Paul tie still in full effect? One note, the commentator in the middle who tries to tie this to Obama’s economic policies at the very end was a truly hacky move. He didn’t need to [...]

This comes as a bit of a surprise, but it’s certainly long overdue. And now that Raul Castro is starting to shake things up, it could actually be politically realistic. From Wash Post: The nearly 50-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, Lugar (R-Ind.) said in a March 30 letter to Obama, puts the United States at [...]

It just keeps going and going and going and… However, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. The Minnesota Supreme Court dealt Coleman’s chances a pretty big blow a couple days ago when they said that only a handful of absentee ballots would be reevaluated. And this is shaping up to [...]

Oh, and hybrids too. From NY Times: The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today. [...] To some extent, China is making a virtue [...]

Right now it’s the biggest one month drop in American history, and it’s up by about 50,000 over February’s record numbers. From Reuters: Private employers cut jobs by a record 742,000 in March versus a 706,000 revised cut in February that was originally reported at 697,000 jobs, said ADP, which has been carrying out the [...]