Geithner plan arithmetic  —  Leave on one side the question of whether the Geither plan is a good idea or not.  One thing is clearly false in the way it's being presented: administration officials keep saying that there's no subsidy involved, that investors would share in the downside.  That's just wrong.

Bank of America's Bernstein Says Sell Bank Stocks After Rally  —  Investors should sell bank stocks after they rallied 12 percent today because the Treasury Department's plan to buy toxic assets won't stop profits from dropping, Bank of America Corp.'s Richard Bernstein said.

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.

Canadian defense minister to Greg Gutfeld and Fox News: Apologize; Update: Gutfeld apologizes  —  In which a YouTube grassroots brushfire explodes into a full-blown international incident.  You make the call: Below you'll find the “Red Eye” segment that aired on March 17 followed by MacKay's demand for an apology this morning.

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 Brutal Truth  —  Alex Knapp: … My sense is that it is a delayed reaction in some ways to Bush, and his betrayal of conservatism.  For all sorts of reasons, most of the current tea-partiers backed the GOP under Bush and Cheney, although some, to be fair, did complain about some of it.

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.

Cuomo Says Most Huge A.I.G. Bonuses Were Returned  —  Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced late Monday afternoon that 9 of the top 10 bonus recipients at the American International Group were giving back their bonuses.  —  He also said 15 of the largest 20 bonus recipients …

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.

China calls for new reserve currency  —  China's central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.  —  In an essay posted on the People's Bank of China's website, Zhou Xiaochuan …

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.

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.

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.

Barack Obama Industrial Average: Rising  —  The stock market is up, in terms relative to its most recent terrifying trench, and so is President Barack Obama's approval rating, which also bottomed out a while back.  —  The president would like people to think he follows neither indicator too closely …

Federal judge postpones medical marijuana sentencing  —  A federal judge in Los Angeles this morning postponed the sentencing of a man who emerged as a key figure in the national debate over medical marijuana, saying he wanted additional information about a reported change in the Justice Department's policy regarding such prosecutions.

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.

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 …

Rep. Frank calls Scalia a ‘homophobe’ in interview  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a “homophobe” in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com.

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.

Fox News VP: Fox is ‘the voice of opposition’ to the Obama administration.  —  Though Fox News is widely known to be biased in favor of conservatism, the network likes to claim that is “fair and balanced” and that the objectivity of the “hard news” they do is “is not in question.”

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.

Senate looks into expanding AmeriCorps  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate agreed Monday to take up legislation to triple the size of the AmeriCorps program and open up opportunities for more people to serve their communities.

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.

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?

Charles Murray's Praise of Human Misery  —  I kind of scanned Charles Murray's recent big AEI speech expecting to read something interesting, since I'd seen quite a few conservatives offer it lavish praise.  As best I could tell, though, his argument is that the problem with a social democratic model …

Obama budget's on chopping block in Congress  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget faces its first tests on Capitol Hill this week, where a leading lawmaker wants to cut as much as $30 billion from agency budgets …