This is the second edition of my little experiment; in case you missed last week’s introduction, The Party Line is my attempt to take the ideas and thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head all week, and use them to kick off a weekend’s worth of conversation.

The Justice Department has confirmed that they have received criminal referrals from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, but would not confirm how many referrals, how they will handle them, or what the timeline would be for any future actions. Justice Department Spokeswoman Elisa Spinelli said that the agency generally is not able to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, but said that they take any information regarding potential violations seriously, and will subject them to a review.

The NYT has a sanitized version of the story of a “US Consular employee” who has been charged with shooting two Pakistanis. But Jeff Stein speculates about what might really be going on.

The streets of Egypt this “Angry Friday” are filled with people and police – tear gas and smoke.

Al Jazeera is reporting live – and you can view it at live streaming here http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/ or via Livestation.

Check here for more updates on conditions in Egypt.

Meanwhile the United States appears perplexed with how to address this issue. While President Obama said in a YouTube interview yesterday that activists should “have mechanisms in order to express legitimate grievances,” and that Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, while an ally, should move forward on economic and political reform, Vice President Biden said that Mubarak was not a dictator and highlighted the strategic relationship between Egypt and the US. Meanwhile, the New York Times dug into its cache of Wikileaks cables and revealed how the Obama Administration took a non-confrontational approach to Egypt during the early days of the Presidency.

• Tear gas and rubber bullets in Egypt.
• But no Internet.
• Krugman: their own private Europe.
• Meet the new Press Secretary.
• Chuck, fighting the good fight.
• Wait until AIPAC hears about this.

Egypt goes dark, but for most of it’s people it already is.

P!nk – F**kin’ Perfect

I don’t understand why Creepy Clarence is allowed to lie about Mrs. Ginni T’s money. His job is all about people telling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. He must think that part doesn’t apply to him when he expects it of the other people in his special room.

Anyway, I think Common Bob can expect that phone call from Mrs. Ginni T just as soon as she finds where Creepy Clarence hid the gin.

How stands the Social Security discussion in Washington following State-of-the-Union night? More or less where it was before. Which, for defenders of the program is mostly not good.

President Obama honored his pledge to congressional Democrats over the previous weekend not to endorse cuts to the program. In fact, he went a bit farther, rejecting any plan that would include “slashing benefits for future generations.”

There’s more to say about that. But first, what about Paul Ryan and that Michele Bachmann?