Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?  —  President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, touching off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”  —  His remarks came in a “60 Minutes” …

Gregg: ‘This country will go bankrupt’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Even though he was almost a member of the new Obama administration, New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg Sunday slammed President Obama's approach to handling the country's fiscal outlook.  —  “The practical implications …

Friendly fire: NYT hits Obama  —  The leading liberal voices of the New York Times editorial pages all criticized—and, in some cases, clobbered—President Obama on Sunday for his handling of the economy and national security.  —  It's not unusual for Barack Obama to take a little friendly fire from the Times.

Coming Soon: Declassified Bush-Era Torture Memos  —  From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009  —  Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the …

Airstrikes in Pakistan  —  If you want something a bit under the radar to worry about, consider Greg Miller's LA Times article on the increasing use of airstrikes in Pakistan against alleged al-Qaeda targets.  —  I can't imagine that an American president ever would or should completely disavow the right to launch this sort of attack.

Chicago Way extension runs right through D.C.  —  President Barack Obama must not have had his Hopium before appearing on “The Tonight Show” last week, because he really screwed up.  —  No, not the screw-up in which he abandoned his trusty teleprompter to ad-lib a joke about how he's such a lousy bowler …

Are We Home Alone?  —  I ran into an Indian businessman friend last week and he said something to me that really struck a chord: “This is the first time I've ever visited the United States when I feel like you're acting like an immature democracy.”  —  You know what he meant …

The ‘Global Warming Three’ are on thin ice  —  The only problem with a project to prove that Arctic ice is disappearing is the fact that it is actually getting thicker, says Christopher Booker.  —  What a wonderful parable of our time has been the expedition to the North Pole led by the explorer Pen Hadow.

WHY I AM DEPRESSED  —  Victor Davis Hanson asks why so many Americans are depressed.  Suggesting five themes that might provide an answer, he thinks it might be more than the economy that explains our state of mind.  I agree, but none of Dr. Hanson's themes accounts for my despair.

A man and his dog  —  Governor Mark Sanford interprets Obama's intent in the real world. … Yes, Gov. Sanford, you're starting to get the message.  No matter how reasonable your argument, no matter how rational your reasons for not dropping to your knees in genuflection for the money Obama wants …

Retailers floating union compromise  —  Three major retail companies with a reputation for generous dealings with their employees and very little union involvement are floating compromise legislation that would make it easier for organized labor to unionize but preserve a workers' ability to decide using a secret ballot vote.

Obamateurism of the Day  —  This is a clip from a few days ago, and in this case, it's not so much what he says as the obvious fact that he got lost on his Teleprompter while saying it.  Watch President Obama look nervously left and right trying to find the thread of his remarks …

Parking meter rate hike sparks a rebellion  —  I spent last week staring at parking meters.  And wondering if I was witnessing the beginnings of a boycott.  —  Boycott is probably too strong a term.  Quiet rebellion may be more like it.  —  Whatever the word, on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m …

Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama “ignoramus”  —  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an “ignoramus” for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.

VP adviser: AIG bonus tax may go too far  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden's economic adviser warned Sunday that a congressional plan to tax American International Group Inc. executives' bonuses may go too far in using the tax code as a tool for retribution.

Follow the Bailout Cash  —  From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009  —  There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money.  But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars …

AP quotes “labor lawyer” who is really an anti-labor lawyer  —  Earlier, I noted that the Washington Post failed to quote a single labor representative in its Employee Free Choice article today, though it quoted three CEOs.  Turns out the AP is even worse.  This article doesn't quote any labor sources …

Valuing the Toxic Waste  —  The details of Tim Geithner's plan to buy up banks' toxic waste are still a little vague, but liberal reaction (Krugman, Baker, Smith) has mostly been pretty harsh regardless.  Their primary criticism is simple: banks aren't willing to sell their mortgage-backed assets …

The Trouble With Subsidies  —  From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009  —  I'm certainly not going to defend those AIG bonuses.  But the trouble with populist outrage is that it bubbles over, sweeping from one justifiable issue across to many others.  Waves of populism are now working …