View from Mideast: Obama's a problem  —  JERUSALEM — Vowing to change a region that has resisted the best efforts of presidents and prime ministers past, Barack Obama dove head first into the Middle East peace process on his second day in office.  —  He was supposed to be different.

There Will Be Blood  —  Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person.  He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction.  —  So here's what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can't wait for the blood bath in April. ...

Obama Politically Tone Deaf On TSA Outrage  —  President Obama spoke yesterday about the outrage that has swept the country over new TSA screening procedures, and his response strikes me as being incredibly non-responsive to the concerns that people have raised about procedures that many consider to be incredibly invasive:

The underwhelming Irish bailout  —  Color me underwhelmed by the Irish bailout.  By all accounts it's going to be less than €100 billion — probably in the €80 billion to €90 billion range — and that sum has to cover the country's entire borrowing needs for the next three years.

Special Underwear Makes Your Privates Invisible to TSA Scanners  —  Citizens, take heart: Even as our country falls under the total domination of our new TSA overlords, capitalism continues unabated.  A Colorado man has developed undergarments with special body scanner-blocking fig leafs to hide your privates.

'Don't ask, don't tell' study to be released day earlier than planned  —  Signaling the growing seriousness of the Obama administration's commitment this year to ending the military's ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, the Defense Department said Sunday that it will release …

Response to “Young Boy Strip Searched by TSA”  —  A video is being widely circulated showing a shirtless boy receiving secondary screening from a Transportation Security Officer (TSO).  A passenger filmed the screening with their cell phone and posted the video on the web.

Huckabee in Iowa: Palin potentially “a force” in 2012  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, one of three 2012 GOP presidential prospects in Iowa this month, said Sunday the next one on the schedule, Sarah Palin, would be a strong contender, should she decide to run.

Warren Buffett: Read My Lips, Raise My Taxes  —  Billionaire Buffett tells Amanpour Bush-era Tax Cuts for Rich Should Expire  —  In an exclusive interview on “This Week,” Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told Christiane Amanpour that the rich should be paying more taxes …

WHAT GOOD IS WALL STREET?  —  Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless.  —  A few months ago, I came across an announcement that Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, was to be honored, along with its chief executive, Vikram Pandit, for “Advancing the Field of Asset Building in America.”

CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?  —  It wasn't until late 2007 that the awkwardly titled UN International Independent Investigation Commission actually got around to some serious investigating.  —  By then, nearly three years had passed since the spectacular public murder …

The Impact Today and Tomorrow of Chalmers Johnson  —  Next week, Foreign Policy magazine and its editor-in-chief Susan Glasser will be releasing its 2nd annual roster of the world's greatest thinkers and doers in foreign policy.  I have seen the list — and it's impressively creative and eclectic.

Poll finds Obama, Romney deadlocked in 2012 matchup  —  A new poll shows President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in a statistical dead heat for the White House.  —  The GOP's Romney edges Obama by one percentage point, 45-44 percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Monday.

The Answer Is No  —  New Jersey governor Chris Christie is denying money to teachers and tunnels, oxygen to Democrats, and intentions to run for president in 2012.  Which is only making him more popular.  —  C  —  hris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, was trolling for clicks.