Ross Douthat babbles something about Martians, which is a bit of a relief since he’s not talking about sex (shudder), but is still kinda silly: If you were a visitor from Mars, watching and Paul Ryan’s Republican response, you would have no reason to think that the looming insolvency of our entitlement system lies at [...]

No member of Congress is beyond reproach. Every member of Congress should be open scrutiny of their record, and every member should be judged by his or her record. It’s critical to an effective democracy.

Last week, Congressman Bobby Rush’s record of carrying water for big telecom corporations — at the expense of the communities he represents — came back to haunt him when he lost his bid to become Ranking Member of the subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. Rep. Rush had been almost certain to get the position until more than 16,000 ColorOfChange.org members opposed his candidacy because of his record of advocating against net neutrality.

Senate Democrats had an opportunity to get together and make the Senate a working, majority-rule-based chamber. They could have recently used the “Constitutional Option” at the start of this new Congress to rewrite the Senate rules to either eliminate the filibuster outright or at least make staging a filibuster more difficult. Yet, due to a combination of a greedy refusal to give up any individual power, and a pitiful cowardice about a potential future in which the voters reject them, Senate Democrats collectively chose to throw away this opportunity. By doing nothing, they effectively voted to give Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell total veto power over everything.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report is sure to provide a powerful reinforcement to the growing lack of faith in elites and especially the financial industry. Because they will outline, in painstaking detail, how the financial meltdown of 2008 was completely avoidable – the result of policy failure at the highest levels of government and Wall Street, failures that bordered on criminal and that have never been fully adjudicated.

Reports are coming fast and furious from the streets of Egypt where thousands protested yesterday and again today.

With regard to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s bid for Mayor of Chicago, I do not know about you, but I cannot think of any instance in which a White House and President, especially one so intimately related to one side of the issue, has so directly stepped into a state and local court proceeding at such a critical moment with its opinion on the ultimate legal determination.

Things are worse at Quantico brig than I ever imagined.

Details about the conditions of Bradley Manning’s incarceration — specifically the denial of in-cell exercise allowed described by his attorney — surprised me. Based on my experience with the incarceration of federal inmates and pre-trial inmates in Special Housing Units / Solitary Confinement, federal regulations allows for a regular exercise period and Bradley Manning hasn’t been allowed exercise. Why are Manning’s military detention conditions different from federal pre-trial conditions specified by regulations?

In addition to the lack of discussion of the economic crisis, particularly the forgotten foreclosure crisis, one thing that struck many observers of the State of the Union address was no mention of gun safety, just a couple weeks after the Tucson shooting rampage and the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Maximum harassment, thuggery and intimidation on the part of the Quantico Military Police, who received orders to do so from above. Who knew exactly what they were going to do the moment we pulled up to the gate, when they had a prepared document ready for us to immediately sign saying we would not photograph or videotape anything they planned to do to us. But their actions were specifically targeted at the person who was trying to see Bradley Manning, not me, the owner of the car.