This is OT but the recess appointment of Andrew Biggs at Social Security makes it look like there’s privatization (i.e., windfalls for fat cats) in the works.

Not a chance. That authority can only come from Congress.

This was just the shrub having another tantrum.

he switched sides to work for bush – to have a
little more influence and make a little more money –

and now he’s switching sides again, as the power balance shifts.

when you think about it, he’s quite a politician – sort of the john mccain of the campaign strategists.

I think people who have, out of pique or snobbishness or the need to prove they aren’t one of Those or sheer tunnel-vision ambition, to the world we live in now where simple human decency is considered to be fuzzy-brained socialism increasingly need desperately to believe that this is true, because if it isn’t, then they have to take a look at what exactly they’ve been paid to do all these years.

I think that’s why they’re such incredible suckers for “religious” bullies. There, they’ve promoted whatever that values thing is. They’re good people. Besides, it keeps the poor people quiet and voting sensibly.

And in the final analysis, if they decided to break with the system that’s been so very good to them, there’s a risk that their children will have to live in the world they’ve built.

Sorry to be OT … but does anyone realize the significance of today in history?

April 4th in History
1541: Ignatius of Loyola becomes first superior-general of the Jesuits
1581: Frances Drake completres circumnavigation of the world, proving the earth is not flat
1818: Congress decided US flag is 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars
1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ‘NATO’, formed in Washington USA
1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

April 4th birthdays
1896: Tristan Tzara, French poet
1899: Duke Ellington, American band leader
1914: Marguerite Duras, French writer
1915: Muddy Waters, Chicago blues singer
1928: Maya Angelou, American poet
1932: Anthony Perkins, American actor

It is the day MLK died. :

YouThinkLeft

I am 15, the youngest in the group, but I have had my own blog for a while. I am also the only 9th grader.

About the youth site:
Cassie and the others: my comments are at the end of the last blog.

I am 15 and I am the youngest. I think the oldest is 19. I am in 9th grade. Daniel and Brendon are both in 10th. Ava is in 11th. One of the Emily’s is out of high school, and I do not know the others yet. Today is our third day blogging. I have been promoting the site here, at HORN chat, and at HARTMANN CHAT. Also on my own blog: Political Teen Tidbits. But now I will stop and JUST talk about the real topic of the post.

All the bloggers are teenagers but adults can comment, and we won’t kick anyone off if they turn 20.

I think Milbank’s gimmick is to act like *both* sides are idiots.

Yes, I think that’s true. Come to think of it, there’s a strong correlation between when I like him versus when I think he’s full of sh*t, and which side he’s making fun of that day.

Ah, that jaded Washington humor……lived here almost 20 years and it still eludes me.

actually Milbank had a pretty good column about it in today’s ComPost. I can’t quite get a handle on Milbank…..sometime he’s right on and sometimes he totally pisses me off.

I think Milbank’s gimmick is to act like *both* sides are idiots.

My question about W’s speech is that if no major news media covered it, did a tree fall in the forest & make no sound? Or was it just too late for today’s deadlines & media will cover it tomorrow?

actually Milbank had a pretty good column about it in today’s ComPost. I can’t quite get a handle on Milbank…..sometime he’s right on and sometimes he totally pisses me off.