Based on a true story, The Black Tulip takes us to Kabul in 2001 after the Taliban has been routed, as the hope of freedom returns. Written, directed, and produced by our guest Sonia Nassery Cole, who stars as Farishta Mansouri, The Black Tulip follows Faishta and her family as they open a restaurant in Kabul in the building where her father had his bookstore, Poet’s Corner. As children, Farishta and her sister witnessed Taliban troops kidnapping her father and burning his shop. Now despite the worries of her mother, and concerns of her husband, Farishta hopes to honor his memory with poetry readings and hospitality. Poet’s Corner restaurant grows in popularity, becoming a place where both the military and those opposed to them can enjoy traditional food, music, and an open microphone.

Obama, a consummate politician, made the decision that for his second shot at casting for the future, nuclear power is political deadweight.

Here is a summary of the American Jobs Act that the White House is putting out. I don’t have a ton of time to analyze it right now, but much of it will be familiar, albeit with a few new wrinkles. There’s $35 billion for state fiscal aid, which is somewhat robust and good bang for the buck in terms of saving jobs. All in all there’s $105 billion in infrastructure/public works (that includes a replenishing of the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, which helps address the foreclosure crisis). And there’s an attempt to restart the TANF Emegency Fund with $5 billion or so. That’s on top of the $170 billion for the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance. So all in all, back of the envelope says about $315 billion.

President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress tonight at 7:00 pm ET to discuss the need for measures to improve the economy and create jobs. The White House has been releasing preliminary summaries — see David Dayen’s post — while the GOP has spent recent days dismissing the speech in advance and insulting the President. We’ll see if the speech has more to add and provides a convincing narrative.

The Congressional Budget Office’s projections from January of 2008, the last ones made before it recognized the housing bubble and the implications of its collapse, showed a deficit of just $198 billion for 2009, the year President Obama took office. In other words, the deficit was absolutely not “on track to top $1 trillion.”

In a statement today, the White House announced that the President would speak at 9pm tonight about “the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits.”

Mubarak Announces he will not run in the next national election and says it was always his intention to retire at the end of this term. The embattled ruler swears he will die on Egyptian soil.