Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson is making his move. Today in front of a Washington-centric audience at the Newseum, and flanked by deficit peacocks Kent Conrad and Evan Bayh, he launched OweNo (my sentiments exactly), a $20 million dollar ad campaign designed to “start a discussion” about deficit reduction, and by “start a discussion” I mean “cut your retirement savings and your health care.”

• Finally, something the Decider and I agree on.
• Former German Chancellor: Bush lied, people died.
• See a pattern? British officials say Bush’s lying.
• Let the GOP circular firing squad commence.
• Don’t Teabaggers hate frivolous lawsuits?
• Glenzilla vs. O’Donnell.
• Poor, misunderstood Pantload.

According to the Fifth Circuit, Bobby Knight was too progressive, you couldn’t just infamously “lie back and enjoy” your rape, you have to actively cheer about it.

Benny Goodman — Sing, Sing, Sing, at the Aurex Jazz Festival, September 3, 1980, Budokan. Tokyo, Japan.

Oh noez! A super big giant phallo-missile mysteriously shot up in the air off of Catalina and no one at the Pentagon wants to talk.

Lawrence O’Donnell has Glenn Greenwald on MSNBC now to discuss their recent dust-up on Morning Joe, which Glenn wrote about here. Discuss.

If America is the best country in the world, how come we’re such a complete basketcase?

I think it was the timing of the end of the torture investigation that hurts most of all. Just days ago, Harold Koh was boasting of the Durham investigation to the UN. Then Bush started his dog and pony show, including his proud admission to have ordered up torture. All of which made today’s announcement, that no one will be charged for covering up evidence of torture, almost anti-climactic.

Of course no one will be charged for destroying the evidence of torture! Our country has spun so far beyond holding the criminals who run our country accountable that even the notion of accountability for torture was becoming quaint and musty while we waited and screamed for some kind of acknowledgment that Durham had let the statute of limitations on the torture tape destruction expire. I doubt they would have even marked the moment–yet another criminal investigation of the Bush Administration ending in nothing–it if weren’t for the big stink bmaz has been making. Well, maybe that’s not right–after all, Bob Bennett was bound to do a very public victory lap, because that’s what he’s paid for.

The US and South Korea are working on a revised free trade agreement that would differ somewhat from the original terms negotiated by George W. Bush’s Administration. It appears that President Obama would want to announce this reworked deal at the G-20 summit in Seoul this week. The plan would be to submit the free trade pact to Congress next year, when Republicans control the House.

If the Democratic Party wants to survive the next two years, it needs to find a new baby-sitter for Darrell Issa.