Apparently the Beltway Village Idiots Pundits are anxious to stop writing all those bummer articles about the un and underemployed and the destruction of the global economy. I guess it’s just too Debbie Downer for them. So they’ve started the “Everything’s Getting Better” articles.

Nicholas Kristof makes an interesting point about teacher pay in today’s New York Times. But then, as is Kristof’s habit, he feels the need to “balance” this plea for higher teacher pay with some rather shallow union bashing.

It says something about the desire of the Obama Administration to try to quietly and without consequence destroy anyone who makes any challenges to their shameful mistreatment of an alleged whistleblower that they waited to make their move, not just for the usual news black hole that is a typical part of the American weekend, but for a weekend when a single global event — the ongoing catastrophes in Japan — would consume what media and public attention exists:

P.J. Crowley is abruptly stepping down as State Department spokesman under pressure from the White House, according to senior officials familiar with the matter, because of controversial comments he made about the Bradley Manning case.

In John Dewey’s work, Firedoglake is a public. It provides a place for the practical wisdom of democracy to express itself and find solutions to problems. Join us!

The War on Thinking is fought on many fronts by a diverse army of selfish elites and bitter, know-nothing Palinites. The entire American advertising industry and the mediasphere it paid for are implicated. Thoughtful people don’t buy pet rocks, a perfect symbol of American consumer products.

Disaster is not too strong a word for what has happened to Japan in the last three days. The biggest earthquake recorded, the subsequent massive tsunami and now the follow-on of at least two partial meltdowns of nuclear reactors at Fukushima and the critical status of three more there, and others in the nation.

The TSA may not be good at math, and they may suck at keeping their own Secretary up to speed on their planned retests, but one thing they are really good at is media management.

Not surprisingly, we have Honshu Earthquake coverage this morning. Christiane Amanpour broadcasts from Japan, others promise updates. A lot of budget talk as well. Fareed Zakaria focuses on the turmoil in the Middle East. And Kevin Drum and Jay Ackroyd are Virtually Speaking, California Sherry has their lineup for the rest of the week over at myFDL.

Our own bmaz hosts the FDL Book Salon, Queer (In)justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, with authors Andrea Ritchie and Joey Mogul. Movie Night Monday features Beyond Belief.

Professor Ludwig Von Drake starring in Make Mine Music. Tonight’s cartoon was first aired on January 30, 1966 on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. What is Late Late Night FDL and more…

Wingnuts smears of Keith Ellison as a liar turn out to be lies, who coulda guessed.