In 1804 and 1805, Lewis and Clark made history with their trip up the Missouri River, but it’s the waters coming down the Missouri that will make history in 2011. People along the Missouri are thinking less of Lewis and Clark and more about Noah these days. Water levels in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota are already at record levels, and all that water is pouring downriver. Dams can’t take any more water, and so the flow will only increase for cities and towns downstream.

It’s going to be a long, wet summer along the banks of the Missouri.

The White House appears finally ready to make a number of financial regulatory picks, readying nominees to replace the heads of the FDIC and the OCC, who have left or are in the process of leaving.

Just when I thought I was out of the Horrible Terrible No Good Very Bad Sexting Scandal, they pull me back in.

Last week, RevBev suggested self-care as a topic.. I thought it was a great idea! I have some inexpensive suggestions for keeping your immune system healthy and for keeping your skin in good shape, too.

Dr. Teeth — Money, from episode 106 of The Muppet Show.

Grab your popcorn, put your feet up on the coffee table, and try to keep the spitballs off the screen please. This is Late Late Night FireDogLake, where off topic is the topic … so dive in. I’m thinking about the Portland FDL Meetup coming up on June 16th at 2pm in Portland, OR. Details in the comments. What’s on your mind?

I’ve done my best to remain blissfully unaware of what it is Rep. Anthony Weiner did to get himself in political trouble. But I did note that as soon as the controversy, um, revealed itself, wise voices pointed out a simple way for Weiner to avoid having to leave office as a result — simply, refuse to resign.

Even the people who hyperventilate about deficits for a living think economic growth is more important than spending cuts right now.

The Götterdämmerung that is the Republican Party’s campaign for the presidency in 2012 has been wild enough to give hope for a round of presidentin’ to everyone who’s enjoyed a few minutes in media’s glare. That includes TX gov. Perry, recently much touted for offering to secede, and throwing court challenges against EPA’s right to protect TX citizens from the polluters that fund his campaigns.

Remember when Republicans like Mark Kirk were working to hamstring Obama on a bigger stimulus package by essentially telling the Chinese leadership not to loan the US any more money now that Obama was president because his budget numbers couldn’t be trusted?

Mind you, it shouldn’t take personal encounters like this for the Administration to realize it was going to look really stupid trying to convict a guy for keeping two unclassified documents in his email archive. But in the same way that it took PJ Crowley asking the President about Bradley Manning, did it take Thomas Drake asking Eric Holder about his own case to make that case to the Administration?