I don’t know that you could make a blanket statement anymore that the economic advisers know best – economic advisers have made a habit of letting the nation down these days – but in a contest between the economic team and the political team, I’ll take the economic team most of the time. The public doesn’t rely on economic theory to shape their opinions, they rely on results. They can be told that deficits drove the recession or some other pabulum, but the greatest antidote to this fearmongering would be tangible improvements in their economic picture.

President Obama apparently plans to submit long-stalled free trade deals with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia to Congress “as soon as possible,” according to a speech he made today. If Obama wants to have the Colombia agreement see the light of day, there’s a number of “outstanding issues” to be resolved. Specifically, the murders of more union members in Colombia than the rest of the world combined every year

Republicans are not happy with a mere 60-vote filibuster threshold and think their ability to obstruct legislation needs to be enhanced even more. Apparently, a year and a half of near-total gridlock has convinced Sen. Gregg that what our government really needs is even more ways for a minority party to bring legislating to a complete standstill. Republicans hate public programs so much they are prepared to subvert the clear Constitutional principle of majority rule in Congress to stop them.

Increasing the payroll tax cap to capture the 90% of salary which was the historical benchmark would cover close to half of the long-term Social Security funding issues, which are relatively minor compared to all other federal spending. Eliminating the payroll tax cap would eliminate that long-term issue entirely and allow for a modest increase in benefits. The choice to raise the retirement age is a choice to essentially give richer Americans a large tax cut. And that’s the choice Steny Hoyer, James Clyburn and arguably Nancy Pelosi are making. Raising the retirement age is a benefit cut over the lifetime of the program, and it breaks the promise of Social Security.

In case you hadn’t heard, wingnuts are freaking out that Charles Bolden, the head of NASA (and a former astronaut and Marine Corps General), said a few nice things about Muslims. And naturally, the Pantload discovers swastikas at the root of the problem.

To the surprise of — well, absolutely nobody I guess — Harry Reid is rolling in drug money. Tim Carney reports that “no incumbent is receiving as much air support from the drug industry as is Reid, who championed a health care bill that pads drug company profits.”

In a bit of inconvenient truth-telling, the Bush Administration proposed to deal with this through a cap-and-trade system, the very same kind of system that conservatives everywhere now decry as the stirrings of a socialist takeover. But the DC Circuit Court ruled that cap-and-trade system too lenient and not in line with the text of the Clean Air Act, which demands emission cuts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. So now EPA developed new rules that should have massive economic and public health benefits.

Yet another recess appointment proves the sham and fraud that was the Obama White House handling of Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.

Observers would be justified in thinking that Hawaiians have already decided the issue. Eight years ago, before Lingle was elected to her first term, she promised to sign a civil unions bill. She hemmed and hawed until the very last minute with this legislation, however, and ultimately went back on that promise. Her comment that the bill constituted “same sex marriage with a different name” is pretty much the point. Polling has shown the public more comfortable with the phrase civil unions than marriage, which connotes certain traditional tropes about family.

I’ve seen a number of stories on the horrific heat wave that’s baking the Eastern seaboard, and they usually mention that electric utilities are struggling to keep up with rising electricity demand as everyone turns on their air conditioners. But the stories are a little confused about what’s happening.