• Netroots Nation (progressive blogger conference) is going on right now. This is the energy, the center of the progressive movement. Recaps can be found here.
  • Speaker of the House John Boehner and President Obama have locked horns over the War Powers Act. President Obama believes the War Powers Act does not apply to action in Libya. I believe this is the same type of action that we saw from the Bush administration, where the president simply didn’t believe that he needed to follow the rules. Glenn Greenwald has more.
  • A closer look at former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty reveals more of the same in his economic policy. Tax cuts for the rich. Excuse me, huge tax cuts for the rich and pennies for the rest of us. All this is is repackaged trickle-down economics. We know it doesn’t work. We’ve experienced the pain of trickle-down economics.
  • Recently a commentor on my blog suggested that Reagan was the “best” president with regards to the economy. I suggested that nothing was further from the truth. When you stack up presidents with regards to economic prosperity Reagan isn’t first or second. Looking at presidents from Eisenhower through Clinton, President Reagan ranks fourth. Reviewing a number of factors, including gross domestic product, real disposable personal income, unemployment, employment (job creation), inflation and deficit reduction, Ronald Reagan is not the economic powerhouse that conservatives would like us to believe. No president is perfect. No president has done everything right. Let’s not get carried away and think that President Ronald Reagan was an economic guru when, in fact, he wasn’t. By the way, if you’re wondering which president comes out as number one, it’s Bill Clinton.
  • Too many CT scans are driving up medical costs. I always have a problem with the retrospective review suggesting that physicians have ordered “too many” CT scans. What were the clinical circumstances? Was the physician really in a quandary? Did the patient need reassurance?
  • More voter suppression. Two former aides to a Maryland Governor have been indicted for voter suppression. We need to get a handle on this.
  • There’s a fight in the Democratic Party over anonymous campaign contributions. On one hand, those who are idealistic about trying to clean up campaign finances would like to eliminate anonymous donations. On the other hand, we live in the real world and Republicans are killing the Democrats with a flood of campaign contributions from anonymous donors.
  • Keith Olbermann may give Anthony Wiener a job.
  • You remember when Michele Bachmann said that the lying King was nothing more than gay propaganda? This isn’t even close to the craziest thing that she’s ever said. Here are her top 10.
  • If texting while you’re driving is dangerous, how about having sex while you’re driving? 🙂