Op-Ed Columnist: Berating the Rating Agencies  —  Let's hear it for the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.  Its work on the financial crisis is increasingly looking like the 21st-century version of the Pecora hearings, which helped usher in New Deal-era financial regulation.

Jones under fire for Jewish joke  —  National Security Advisor Jim Jones's speech to a top Middle East think thank last week has been overshadowed somewhat by a brewing controversy over a joke he told at the outset.  But within the speech, Jones made big news on the foreign-policy front.

Jones apologizes for Jewish joke  —  National Security Adviser James Jones has apologized for an “off the cuff” joke that threatened to undermine a White House charm offensive aimed at American friends of Israel.  —  Though Jones's audience at a pro-Israel think tank didn't take offense …

Was Jones' Joke Anti-Semitic?  UPDATE  —  President Obama's National Security Advisor, retired General James Jones, with an ice-breaker:  —  Is it offensive?  —  Why, yes.  In our easily-offended society, you might say this joke wins the Triple Crown or the Insult Trifecta:

‘Nobody wins’ on immigration reform  —  The Arizona Legislature's passage of a new hard-line anti-immigration law may force both Democrats and Republicans into a place they don't want to be: dealing with the contentious, no-win issue of immigration reform in the midst of an election year.

“In Palinworld, Palin, By Definition, Speaks The Truth.”  —  New York's cover story convinces Josh Green that Palin isn't running: … This is the conventional view in Washington.  I think it's completely wrong, dangerously complacent, and out of touch with profound shifts in media, fundraising and politics.

Not Even in South Park?  —  Two months before 9/11, Comedy Central aired an episode of “South Park” entitled “Super Best Friends,” in which the cartoon show's foul-mouthed urchins sought assistance from an unusual team of superheroes.  These particular superfriends were all religious figures …