Clemente urging Fox employees to "remain fair and balanced" is like Satan urging his demons to "remain kind and generous."

It is to laugh.

3 in 10 Americans are complete morons.

"The more I read and listened, the more anxious and miserable I got" sounds just like my reaction to reading Salon!

Still considering whether to renew my premium subscription. It's due soon, and I'm not sure I get enough out of this. Mostly it seems to have become a whiners blog, whether it's about parenting or politics. It often seems that according to Salon's editorial board and its writers, nothing good will ever happen. And yet reality proves them wrong all the time. I'm about fed up with it. Other than Patrick Smith and the cartoons, there's not much here that's worth my time and money.

Sorry to interrupt. I now return you to your regularly-scheduled whine fest.

How nice that they're inventing their own religion and their own deity.

It clearly will have nothing to do with true Christianity -- that is, the teachings of Christ.

The economists surveyed were, in the aggregate, wrong. But they had little data to go on. Should I be surprised they came to the wrong conclusion?

On the other hand, ADP, working with actual (although incomplete) numbers actually came pretty close.

That just means that people with insufficient data have a harder time than those who do.

So no surprise.

But Wall Street will panic even so...

Finally, someone in Congress with a "D" after his name who has a spine. This is exactly the type of rhetoric that the Dems should have been using right along.

The White House doesn't like this scenario because the use of a reconciliation bill in the Senate poisons relations with Republicans

Yes, one wouldn't want to poison relations with a nest of cobras. That would be awful. Far better to offer one's tender flesh willingly, and trust the cobra to do what's best for you.

My reason for hating them (and all their brethren) is the fact that any but the latest new release's disc is likely to be scratched and unplayable. Same goes for Netflix from what I hear.

So for years now, I've bought all my own DVDs. Which means I watch less movies (since I can't afford to buy as many as I could afford to rent), but that's OK with me.

The President of the United States goes to Wall Street and asks the sharks there to play nice with the people who saved them from themselves. But sharks only understand self-interest and don't give a hang about anyone else. So there need to be consequences for asocial behavior.

But that will require action by Congress -- the same Congress that is bought and paid for by Wall Street. So that isn't going to happen.

It's just another nice show for the sheep, who are being shorn once again.

Nice summary of where we are, Mr. Reich.

As for contacting the scumbags I elect -- I've been doing that for quite some time now. It'd be nice if they started listening.

Oh, right. As obtuse as necessary to maintain your job and your prestige.

It's so blindingly obvious that if consumers aren't buying, then businesses won't be hiring, which will lead consumers to buy less, ad infinitum. The only way out of the death spiral is for the government to hire people and buy stuff.

But these guys are paid not to understand that simple thing, and to do their best to obfuscate the facts so others don't understand it.

Doing so, however, will require us to be the one thing we thus far haven't been: reasonable.

That was very generous of you. "Intelligent" is probably the more accurate term.

Yeah, Teddy would have hated for his words to be used to bring about health care reform. I can totally see where Steele's coming from.

I'm with the previous posters: it's all about being smart with your money. Spend only on things you really do need -- and spend as little as possible on those. That leaves you plenty of money for the things that make life better.

The less money you have to spend on needs, the better your life will be.

As far as paper towels, I do buy them. I'd be open to using cloth towels in the kitchen and for spills, but I'm not sure what I'd do about cleaning glass and mirrors in the rest of the house. Newspapers work fine for that purpose...but I don't buy newspapers.

Maybe I'll just keep paper towels around for cleaning glass, and use cloth towels for everything else.

When a legislator who is entrusted with overseeing the utility industry sleeps with a utility industry lobbyist, we're no longer talking about a private affair. We're talking about betrayal of the public trust. Duvall deserves every last bit of ridicule and humiliation he receives.

Agreed.

Well, duh!

The question is, what are the alternative means to that same end?

Once you take single payer off the table, not a whole lot!

All that's left is massive regulation of the health insurance industry, and we all know they'd never allow that to happen.

nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy.

That's the problem. The health care system should not be one-sixth of our economy.

But now that it has been allowed to become so, the entrenched interests can point to that fact, wag their fingers, and tell us it's too important a part of our economy and must not be trifled with.

The best way to give Blue Dogs cover is for the president to explain clearly and boldly why the public option is essential to healthcare reform, and why he's ready to veto any bill that doesn't include it. That's also the only way to give the nation a good chance of getting true healthcare reform.

Well said.