• Why are we still there?
• The wages of austerity.
• Krugman: vouchercare is not medicare.
• Oh — that’s where the recovery went.
• We have always been at war with Eurasia.

In his withdrawal announcement, Diamond laments the “distorted” confirmation process, which caused him to have to be renominated on two separate occasions, and the “little understanding of monetary policy” from those who conduct oversight of it, i.e. the Senate. But the saddest part of this is that Diamond is on point as far as the near-term challenges are concerned. He says that the costs of high unemployment must be primary rather than the low risk of inflation. He says that the risk of fiscal contraction is more pressing than the risk from the long-run national debt. Diamond is hardly a doctrinaire liberal; he’s just allowing the facts to govern his policy insights at this time. That’s what Republicans in the Senate couldn’t abide.

The Right-Wing still knows how to become outraged about the important stuff…at least according to what the Village tells me.

The Byrds Live – The times they are a changin’

New Hampshire seventh grader Sam Maden, an avid Boston Red Sox fan, wanted his favorite team to make a video for the project as well. He launched a petition on Change.org. The result? Almost 10,000 signatures in only a few days:

In the first installment of this series, we discussed the Meat Coma that one can acquire at Lindey’s Prime Steak House in Arden Hills, a northern suburb of Minneapolis. But for those of you who of necessity would like to confine their intense carnivorism to downtown Minneapolis, there really is only one option, especially if you favor your beef rare: You must go to Murray’s. You must.

Back in January of 2009, I wrote a diary titled I Am Unemployed but Not a Statistic. I was thinking about that diary this morning. With all the discussion of statistics, unemployment rates, jobs created or unemployment claims filed, there is a human being somewhere who is affected. I started Just A Small Town Country Boy as an attempt to put a human face on just one of those people (myself) who sits behind the statistic. But as we all know, I am just one voice among the millions.

At a recent meeting with House Democrats, President Obama shot down the members’ hopes that he might step up his rhetoric against the Republicans. He’s concerned how the markets would react.

Every week, the nice folks at CNN allow various organizations to suggest headlines linked to their blogs. Here are my suggestions for headlines you probably won’t see.

In the sea of Sarah Palin books that have been released since she slammed into the national consciousness, Blind Allegiance is unique. With access to the woman, the gubernatorial candidate, the governor, the VP candidate and the quitter, Frank Bailey was a true insider. He showed up at Palin campaign headquarters literally on Day One with a paintbrush and a mop. By virtue of his loyalty and work ethic, he played an integral role in her campaign, and rose in the ranks to become Palin’s powerful Director of Boards and Commissions during her administration as Governor.