Romer and Bernstein on stimulus  —  Is this enough?  —  OK, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein have put out the official (?) Obama estimates of what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would accomplish.  The figure above summarizes the key result.

IDF: Whole Hamas battalions wiped out  —  Is Hamas falling apart?  Senior IDF officer says roughly 300 Hamas men killed since army launched ground incursion, whole Hamas battalions wiped out in dozens of clashes with troops over weekend; terror group also hit by wave of desertions, official says

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran's main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended …

5 Somali pirates drown with ransom share  —  MOGADISHU, Somalia - Five of the pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a $3 million ransom, a relative said Saturday, the day after the bundle of cash was apparently dropped by parachute onto the deck of the ship.

Uneasy Times for Black Politicos  —  The (dis) appointment of Roland Burris appears to spin out of unnecessary control at every speeding moment of the news cycle, even as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Illinois chum/senior Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) fail to see the full reality of it.

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches  —  Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea  —  Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount …

The ‘oldest hatred’ lives, from Gaza to Florida  —  Jew-hating pathologies ultimately harm the Jew-hater, too.  —  Recommend  —  In Toronto, anti-Israel demonstrators yell “You are the brothers of pigs!,” and a protester complains to his interviewer that “Hitler didn't do a good job.”

Protesters clash with police as 100,000 strong London Gaza demo descends into violence … Violent clashes occurred between police and around 20,000 protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London - with an estimated 100,000 protesters airing their views around the city.

We still don't know how or why Bush made the key decisions of his administration.  —  As George W. Bush once noted, “You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone.”  What I think he was trying to say is that, over time, historians may evolve toward …

Prince's apology for racist term  —  Prince Harry has apologised for using offensive language to describe a member of his army platoon.  —  The News of the World said it had a video of the army lieutenant calling a colleague a “Paki” while pretending to make a phonecall to the Queen.

‘Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years  —  Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.”  Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage caused …

MN-Sen: Minnesotans Oppose Coleman Lawsuit, Favor Seating Franken  —  More great news for Norm Coleman, from our new Research 2000 poll conducted on Thursday and Friday for Daily Kos (MOE 4%): … So why do Minnesotans want to move on?  Probably because by an overwhelming margin they think the recount process was fair:

Analysis: Bush legacy _ grim times, gloomy nation  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Wars.  Recession.  Bailouts.  Debt.  Gloom.  —  The unvarnished review of George W. Bush's presidency reveals a portrait of America he never would have imagined.  —  Bush came into office promising limited government …