U.S. Bank Bailout to Rely in Part on Private Money  —  Wall Street helped produce the global financial and economic crisis.  Now, as the Obama administration prepares to unveil a revised bailout plan for the banking system, policy makers hope Wall Street can be part of the solution.

Celebrity side dish: Ann Coulter under investigation  —  Iman wants the world to stand up to Somalian pirates.  The supermodel is pained that her homeland remains so lawless that kids there can't get AIDS drugs from Keep a Child Alive's “Mother Africa” campaign.

FEELING UNSTIMULATED?  Watch this.  UPDATE: And check out this video on the stimulus from SNL...  FEELING UNSTIMULATED?  Watch this.  —  UPDATE: And check out this video on the stimulus from SNL.

Steele Confuses Stephanopoulos: Claims Government Jobs “Aren't Jobs,” Private Sector Jobs Never Go Away  —  There is certainly a political debate to be waged over whether or not government spending can effectively create jobs.  But in his interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday …

How the Internet Damages Our Culture  —  America is ruder, cruder, and more paranoid than it once was.  The anonymity of the Web bears much of the blame.  —  American society as a whole, and politics in particular, has become considerably ruder, cruder, and more paranoid than it used to be.

SC Governor: We're moving close to ‘a savior-based economy’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - As many state and local officials clamor for their share of the billions of dollars in federal aid in the stimulus bill under consideration in Washington, South Carolina's Republican governor is sounding a note …

Disagreeing With Paul Krugman  —  Paul Krugman doesn't believe that the stimulus bill is likely to be enough to get the job done and seems almost despondent about the fact that the compromise that will allow something to pass the Senate made it even smaller.

Senators pressure Pelosi on stimulus  —  Senators are pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi to embrace most of the stimulus bill they hope to pass early next week, claiming that adopting too many House provisions will doom the measure in the upper chamber.  —  After two years of showdowns …

Do not destroy the essential catalyst of risk  —  Since the spring, and most acutely this autumn, a global contagion of fear and panic has choked off the arteries of finance, compounding a broader deterioration in the global economy.  —  Much of the past year has been deeply humbling for our industry.

Sen. Ensign: It's ‘Fearmongering’ To Suggest That Any Teachers Would Lose Their Jobs  —  On Meet the Press this morning, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) slammed proposed cuts in aid to the states in the stimulus bill, explaining that states are slashing their funding for vital public needs.

Arabs throws pipebombs and fires rockets on peacful pro-israeli demonstration  —  This time the police was in better shape to handle the arabic mob that once again attacked our peacful pro-israeli demonstration in Malmö.  —  The police had sealed off the entire square, Stortorget …

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF CENTRISM.  —  There are two basic arguments you heard coming from the Collins-Nelson crew.  The first was that the stimulus was too big.  Asked last week to outline his thinking on the stimulus, Nelson said, “I think it will be below 800 [billion].

A Flawed Stimulus is Better than No Stimulus  —  Claire McCaskill seems to be softening her line on the Senate stimulus deal.  She Tweets “Just saw Krugman's comments on reduction in recov act.  Question for him.  Would no stimulus act be better than one thats 800 B instead of 900.”

Goodwin: Stumbling out the gate  —  It's not easy to waste a mandate and a honeymoon at the same time, but President Obama seems determined to try.  You know he's off to a lousy start when his most favorable reviews came after he said, “I screwed up.”  —  Did he ever, and not just once.

Why the Muslim World Can't Hear Obama  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA is clearly trying to reach out to the Muslim world.  I watched his Inaugural Address on television, and was most struck by the line: “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.”

Prop 8 Donor Web Site Shows Disclosure Law Is 2-Edged Sword  —  FOR the backers of Proposition 8, the state ballot measure to stop single-sex couples from marrying in California, victory has been soured by the ugly specter of intimidation.  —  Some donors to groups supporting the measure …