I've got a new piece up over at Bonddad's place. Read it here. Enjoy.

Andante of Collective Sigh has lost her battle with cancer. I always enjoyed visiting her blog and will miss her take on the world.

Per TMZ:

We've just learned Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Los Angeles ... and we're told it was cardiac arrest and that paramedics administered CPR in the ambulance ... and it's looking bad.

Family is reportedly en route to the hospital.

Update: Michael Jackson has died.

I'm following the dealings going on in the NBA at RealGM Knicks forum and wondering what new way the Knicks will come up with to disappoint me this year.

There seems to be a lot of trading and buying of draft picks going on (NYK bought the Laker's #29 first round pick, and there are rumors that they're trying to buy the T-Wolves' pick at #28 as well) - probably because this is a thin draft and draft picks are as good as money to teams who don't see anything they like. I watch with interest.

Oh - and in case you missed it, Shaquille O'Neal is now a teammate of Lebron James.

I've been watching the posts go up over at Lollipop Land to try and catch Crazy Mike Ledeen's response to the posts that went up yesterday that called him 'nonsensical' and 'offensive,' among other things. Snippets of those posts are farther down the page.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Ledeen doesn't plan to respond and is plotting to have his critics meet unfortunate 'accidents.' Ledeen doesn't seem like a guy who's got thick enough skin to accept criticism.

At any rate, we'll keep watching so you don't have to.

Zach Roth has a nifty rundown on how some MSM outlets (and web-based hack shops like Politico) completely swallowed the spin on the Sanford story.

These guys get paid for doing this. Even TV weathermen are held to a higher standard.

P. T. Barnum once famously said 'There's a sucker born every minute.' Apparently, most of them have gotten jobs at the WSJ, NBC and the Washington Post.

And Politico, which is fast building a rep as The Biggest Suckers In The Business.

You gotta see it to believe it.

Michael Rubin also takes a few swings at Ledeen.

I can't wait to see when Ledeen responds... we may reach new heights of Crazy.

My wife and I just got back from a cruise on the Baltic Sea--I never did a cruise of any kind before and was looking forward to it. The ship left Copenhagen, and we went up to the observation deck to watch as we set to sea. However, the forward deck was roped off for a "Private Function." Someone was speaking in there and I tried to stick my head around the corner to have a listen. However, I only heard his final words, "real Americans!", followed by applause and, yes, whoops.

"Real Americans"? Did I come all this way for more of that twaddle? And the voice...so familiar...so slimy...so...wrong.

A second speaker, a sort of MC, next addressed the group in there to introduce the full "panel" that would be giving talks to them on the rest of the cruise. And the names tumbled forth: Ed Meese...Wayne LaPierre...Newt Gingrich (yes, that was the voice)...Michael Steele...and Oliver North. At that point, my wife can't stop laughing.

Dammit!, I think, this is my vacation! So we beat a retreat to the elevators for our escape, but the talk had ended and the car filled up with some ancient Republicans in all their finery, positively glowing in Newt's benediction that they represent Real Americans. And their ID badges confirm the worst--somehow my pleasant vacation had been hijacked by the 2009 Freedom Cruise and Conference. My wife tried her best not to keep laughing. I tried to work out a solo a cappella version of "Yes We Can" to sing on the elevator and induce mass apoplexy, but I came up short

Thankfully I didn't see much of Newt and his boys, so I never had to follow through on my commitment to elbow Ollie or Newt into the sea should I pass them on an open deck. I did, however, almost run face first into the Gingriches: coming down the stairs from an upper deck, I turned a corner and almost ran into Newt and his wife Callista as they were coming up the next flight of stairs. Six inches from his face, I tried to think of something to say, but he looked straight through me. Instead, he cooed to his bride "Look where we are!" and she cooed back "The spa!" and they cooed together "The spa!"

Nope, I never did use that spa myself. Think it would've spoiled my appetite for the rest of the vacation. And I guess I wasn't the only one with an eye on Newt's Crew--my sister kindly pointed out this item in the HuffPost. Seems Newt loves him some show tunes...

(PS. Sorry, Stranger, I really did want to Live Blog this for you, but the ship's internet connection was so dicey that it would have taken hours to post any stories costing at least a half buck a minute. Maybe you need to up the per diem for your Foreign Correspondents, eh?)

While I was partaking in The Crazy over at Lollipop Land, I noticed this bit in a post by Andrew Stuttaford...

...how much better it would be if the private lives of politicians were seen as being none of our business — and our private lives were seen as being none of theirs.

Oh, the fucking irony.

Over in Lollipop Land (AKA The Corner), Paul Saunders slaps down Crazy Mike Ledeen. A couple of choice bits:

Bizarrely, Ledeen also tries to make a distinction between offering “political and moral support” and offering “encouragement” to the Iranians backing Mousavi in the street protests. This makes little sense. The dictionary provides several definitions of “support,” most of which I assume Ledeen is not proposing (though I suppose he may want America to pay the protesters’ bills, presumably secretly and perhaps through his good offices, as he once established key connections in Iran which facilitated the Iran-Contra disaster). The more relevant definitions of support include “to advocate,” “to assist or help,” and “to comfort or keep from losing courage” (which sounds a little like “encouragement”).

[...]

Ledeen moves from nonsensical to offensive, however, when he says that “Those who say we would be blamed, or that we would alienate the Iranian people by supporting” the protesters “say that because they don’t believe in America, not because they care about the future of the Iranian people.” For the record, I completed the edits to my piece in the Washington Post from a hotel in Philadelphia, two blocks from Independence Hall, where our nation’s founders discussed and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I spent the weekend there, taking my three children to see this and other sites that were decisive for America’s creation and explaining why they matter to our country and to the rest of the world. So, Mr. Ledeen, I love and believe in America — but the America I believe in is one where people tolerate one another’s opinions without questioning their patriotism. Also for the record, my own extended family includes expatriate Iranians. I do not presume to speak for them, but I do care about those who remain under a repressive government.

This should be fun...

Watching the Sanford press conference. The man is rambling, apologizing to everyone.

Admits to an affair with a 'dear, dear friend' from Argentina.

Announces resignation from Republican Governors' Association.

This guy's career is, for all intents and purposes, over. Dead man walking.

The guy who wrote this...:

Why I Am Not Using the R-word This Time

Unlike in 2001, many economists now seem unusually eager to declare the US precariously near recession. Even the former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan (one of the last to notice recession in 2001), recently said there was a 50 per cent chance of a downturn soon.

Why have I not joined this chorus? The answer has little to do with a hypothetical housing-led or consumer-led recession, neither of which finds much support in historical experience. My doubts about an imminent recession largely stem from some un­resolved academic disputes about the relative importance of oil prices and interest rates.

...in January 2008 (Month 2 of our recession) now says that Paul Krugman doesn't know what he's talking about. Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stick with Paul.

I've got another joint venture going on with Bonddad. My contribution to it (thus far) can be previewed here. Hope to have it all finalized by Tuesday. Lots of good stuff in there. Enjoy.

UPDATE: It's now here at Kos and here at HuffPo.