and claim that the pokey rate of the appeals process is denying the people of Minnesota their constitutionally mandated equal representation in the U.S. Senate for an unacceptably long time? I don't think he'd need to prove an intention to keep the seat vacant for partisan reasons (although that's clearly what's behind this); he would simply point to Article I, section 3. Just wondering.

Them other tectonic plate things may have moved around some, but everybody knows that Texas has always been in exactly the same position, and everything else sort of floats around it. Hey, teach the controversy, right?

to give 60-second mini-commentaries on NPR's "Marketplace" as the token liberal, then give the print equivalent here while garbed as some sort of wise pragmatist. I agree with letter writers who have said that these potshot quickies he's been writing are too glib, too superficial; we expect and need more from Reich.

How about a long, detailed chronicle of his role in formulating the Clinton Administration's economic policies? I'd love to know how and why the decisions were made that prolonged and deepened, the deregulatory, anti-labor climate that Clinton inherited from Reagan and Bush Sr. Maybe in giving us that story he could explain what standing he has to opine about the current situation.

Quite an argument for the continued existence of live, brick-and-mortar, boots-on-the-ground reporters, isn't it?

...so please let's cool it with the kick-out-Texas talk. Perry and the white right-wing oligarchy he represents is toast in a generation or so anyway--check out the demographic data:

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/pubs/fotexas/fotexas_petersen.html

"Did he comport himself as a gentleman? Hardly."

Clearly Mr. Cramer would be within his rights to demand satisfaction for this egregious slight. I'm sure his seconds will call on Stewart's seconds, assuming that he (the bounder!) has any.

I'd watch a sabre duel (or better, a cream pie fight) between Cramer (his second: Glenn Beck) and Stewart (seconded, naturally, by Stephen Colbert). Such a contest on the field of honor would elevate the level of our public discourse at least as much as the Cramer Unreality Tour, now in progress.

Ayn Rand is to "Lil' Orphan Annie" as Michelle Malkin is to "Mallard Fillmore."

Just sayin'.

In "Atlas Shrugged," apparently all the creative industrialists, scientists, engineers, artists and so on go on strike to show how essential they, the "mind" of society, are to the lives of the drones amongst whom they live.

Just imagine if all the bond traders, commodities speculators, house flippers, debt repackagers, mortgage-resellers--you know, the ones who have added so much value to our economy--were to do that in the real world. I shudder to think how bad off we'd be. Now imagine that the patriots on Fox and other cable TV stations, and the sages at the Hoover Institute, had called in sick with them...I think I need to breathe into a paper bag to keep from fainting...the horror...

Wow. Thanks, Michelle Malkin, for putting it all into perspective for us.

P.S. I assume that former Sen. Ted Stevens will be available to provide tech support for the new Internet venture of these daring neo-Objectivists.

that separation of church and state is intended to protect the church as well as the state...if I were a sincerely devout neoevangelical Christian, I would look at what Mammon and political power have done to my faith and hang my head in shame. As an evolution-believing, gay-marriage-supporting, non-fundamentalist Christian, I'm only too happy to be considered "not a real Christian" by the folks who brought us the Bush doctrine of presidential infalibility, too many sex scandals involving entitled white men to name or number, and decades of anti-tax, pro-gun, anti-public education, and anti-science nonsense in the name of Jesus.

as he actually is, he would still need to serve four or more terms as president to return the level of "partisanship," which seems to mean whatever Red Queen Rove says it does, to reverse the partisanship (defined as marginalization of the minority party) of the GWB years. The point is that the GOP has shrunk itself into a little extremist niche, so any rational behavior by Obama or the Democrats in Congress will, ipso facto, be "partisan."

[God] Love 'em. "[God], how I hate them."

under "Ideology/Single Issue." Hi, mom!

The issue was restoring the rule of law and competent, equitable government. We'll see.

A NATO (or EU) fleet surrounding the Channel Islands might loosen some lips, and produce some compliance...unlike the Caymans, Jersey and Guernsey are part of the UK--so no matter whatever medieval loopholes the international banks are using to stash their money there, UK and EU law should prevail.

Of course, my first response to to one of Mr. Conason's articles is often righteous indignation and a desire to smash something (or someone). Shrewd, skillful means, with threats of force as a last resort only, will be needed to reclaim the billions stolen from the world's citizens by these banks. As he points out, we need those funds to rebuild a tattered world. And meanwhile let's focus as well on the legislators and executives who have been complicit in creating these havens for stolen booty.

Swiss banks--they're not just in Switzerland, and they're not just for military dictators. Who knew?

The One World Government, for those of you who missed the last meeting, will now be led by David Schwimmer, not David Rockefeller. Please adjust your blueprints for world domination accordingly.