Treasury Department Releases Details on Public Private Partnership Investment Program  —  The Financial Stability Plan - Progress So Far: Over the past six weeks, the Treasury Department has implemented a series of initiatives as part of its Financial Stability Plan that …

I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O'Reilly's Producer  —  On March 1, ThinkProgress picked up on a story by News Hounds, which noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly — who has made controversial comments about rape victims in the past — was slated to speak at a March 19 fundraiser for the Alexa Foundation.

Tea Parties, Going Galt, Iraq, and Delicious Irony  —  I've been following the growing “Tea Party” and “Going Galt” movements with no small amount of amusement, in part because there is really just too much sweet, delicious irony surrounding both of these groups of people (who, I might add, are largely the same people).

Reviews are in: Geithner clears the bar  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - who hasn't had many winning days in his short tenure on Pennsylvania Avenue - scored a big political victory Monday …

HE'S NOT ‘PUNCH DRUNK’.... For a while, the lead story from Politico last night was the idea that President Obama chuckled a little too much during his interview with Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes.”  The headline on the piece read, “Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?”

EPA: Global Warming Threatens Public Health, Welfare  —  The Environmental Protection Agency sent a proposal to the White House on Friday finding that global warming is endangering the public's health and welfare, according to several sources, a move that could have far-reaching implications for the nation's economy and environment.

JPMorgan Chase To Spend Millions on New Jets and Luxury Airport Hangar  —  Outraged Critics Decry the Proposal, Call For Bank To Abandon Plans  —  Embattled bank JPMorgan Chase, the recipient of $25 billion in TARP funds, is going ahead with a $138 million plan to buy two new luxury corporate jets and build …

Obama writes letter to Chirac - blogosphere goes crazy  —  Want to know how quickly rumors get spread on the Internet?  Here's a prime example.  —  The right side of the web is apoplectic this morning claiming that President Obama doesn't know who the French president is.

Michele Bachmann on D.C.: “I'm a Foreign Correspondent On Enemy Lines”  —  During a Saturday afternoon interview on WWTC 1280 AM with The Northern Alliance's John Hinderaker and Brian Ward, Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann discussed her staunch opposition to several Democratic-led efforts …

The 50-Vote Senate  —  Could an obscure Senate rule free Barack Obama from the filibuster and enable health-care reform?  —  It's hard to imagine another town in which the most divisive thing you could do would be called “reconciliation.”  But this is Washington.

Law Professor Who Advised Obama Says House AIG Bill May Be Unconstitutional  —  I just got off the phone with Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, who advised Obama during the campaign, and he says he's leaning towards seeing the new House bill to tax back all the AIG bonuses as unconstitutional.

Texas School Board Set to Vote on Challenge to Evolution  —  The Texas Board of Education will vote this week on a new science curriculum designed to challenge the guiding principle of evolution, a step that could influence what is taught in biology classes across the nation.

Dodd's Wife a Former Director of Bermuda-Based IPC Holdings, an AIG Controlled Company  —  No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG.

This court brought to you by...ACORN  —  An ACORN fund-raiser on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals?  —  I'm kidding, right?  —  Nope.  —  And a GOP Senator approves of this?  —  I'm kidding, right?

Breaking up the Big Banks  —  My biggest concern about the PPIP approach to the banking system is that even if it works, what it does essentially is return us to the pre-crisis status quo—banks that are so large that they're too politically powerful to regulate effective and too systemically important to be allowed to fail.

IT'S THE PRICING, STUPID.  —  Here, in its simplest form, is what the administration seems to think (this comes from conversations I had with administration officials over the weekend).  It may be the case that these are mispriced assets rather than worthless assets.

500 miles later, I'm back in Madison.  —  Did you understand the previous post?  If not, the answer — along with much congratulations and debate — appears in the comments, notably here.  Let there be no doubt about it: A blogger — Althouse — is engaged to be married to a man who began …

Democrat copies GOP about White House e-mail  —  One week after Republicans sent a letter to the White House seeking clarification on e-mail archiving, the top Democrat on the same House government oversight panel sent his own letter with identical, cut-and-pasted questions.

SECOND TIME'S A CHARM  —  As far as the market is concerned, anyway, Tim Geithner's second shot at laying out a plan to rescue the nation's banking system is being received a lot better than his first.  At this moment, the Dow is up over four percent.  —  You can read the Treasury Department's description of the plan here.

Obama Sells Out a Friend From Connecticut  —  The thought has surely crossed Chris Dodd's mind more than once these past few days: is this how Barack Obama treats his friends?  —  When word spread a week ago that A.I.G. had used $165 million in federal bailout money to lavish bonuses …

NY state senator indicted, accused of assault  —  NEW YORK - A freshman state senator sworn in to office despite allegations he slashed his girlfriend's face with broken glass in a jealous rage has been indicted on domestic assault charges, prosecutors said Monday.

Schumer Comes Out For Gay Marriage (Updated)  —  At a private risotto dinner last night with gay leaders and elected officials at Gramercy Tavern last night, Sen. Chuck Schumer reversed himself on the issue of same-sex marriage, saying he not only now supports it but also backs a full reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Toxic-Asset Plan Lifts Stocks  —  Financials paced a broad market surge Monday after the government explained in greater detail its plan to use both private and public funds to take bad credit bets off of banks' hands.  —  At 3:00 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 401 points …

Republicans Aren't Doing Better—Democrats Are Doing Worse  —  By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog  —  Last Wednesday, I noted that Republicans are now running even or slightly ahead in the generic vote for Congress in two respected national polls.  On Friday, Charlie Cook noted the same results.

Is Gitmo creating terrorists?  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  Is the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, erected after 9/11 to imprison “the worst of the worst” of America's enemies, creating terrorists?  With Attorney General Eric Holder's recent announcement …

WOW, I NEEDED THAT  —  As part of their efforts to make the scale and scope of Bernie Madoff's crimes clear to Judge Denny Chin in deciding the terms of his plea, confinement and eventual sentencing, the folks at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York submitted emails …