The traditional media has finally taken note of the campaign by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to enlist private security firms in a plan to smear their political enemies using dirty tricks

The National Academies just released a report on the scientific basis of the FBI Amerithrax investigation and has concluded that the DOJ Investigative Summary overstated the scientific backing for connecting the attack material with Bruce Ivins’ famous RMR-1029 flask.

Republicans are more afraid than I thought about the possibility of a government shutdown, or rather, being blamed for a government shutdown. They really don’t want to take the heat for it. Of course, the only way they’re going to get major spending cuts in the near term is if they refuse to compromise and threaten a shutdown. But Democrats have actually done a decent job of pre-blaming the opposition for the consequences of that. So the GOP has shied away from it, to the extent that Paul Ryan said today that Congress would pass short-term CRs while the 2011 budget situation reached a solution.

Josh Gerstein reports that a Federal Judge has rejected ACLU’s effort to get the government to remove more of the redactions in the OPR Report on the torture memos. Judge Rosemary Collyer basically argued that the President’s need to get candid advice on how to make torture legal trumps citizens’ right to know about such illegal activity.

Secretary Clinton has characterized the American message on these protests as consistently on the side of freedom of assembly and opportunity.

But Justin Elliott notes that this isn’t entirely true. In fact, one country’s protests haven’t been noted by the US government – those in Yemen.

• GOPers still love big government.
• Is Berlusconi finally going down?
• Will Haley Barbour denounce a racist domestic terrorist?
• Reagan and reality.
• Republicans love socialized medicine — when it’s for them.
• CPAC: always extra classy.

Protests spread throughout the middle east, especially to historical American client-states.

Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody, Joe Cocker – You Are So Beautiful, and, Foreigner – I want to know what Love is

The stories immediately post-9/11 made me want to throw things: “Why do they hate us?” I can’t imagine. Because for years we dropped bombs on their children? Would that possibly piss YOU off a little, if someone did that to you? What would you do, if someone killed your family, everyone you knew, tore a gaping hole in the roof of your house, in your business, in your life, and then walked away? What would you want, of them? And knowing what you want, how dare you assume anyone, no matter where they live or what language they speak, would want anything different?

With Congressional Republicans almost giddy about cutting programs designed to help struggling people and even President Obama proudly showing what a “super serious person” he can be by cutting home heating assistance for poor people, it’s important to reflect on what the latest research says about the long-term damage the extreme stress of poverty and joblessness can cause.