BURRIS' SON GOT STATE JOB FROM BLAGO  —  The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.  —  Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II …

President and His Inner Circle Have Earmarks in Omnibus  —  Funny how items show up in spending bills without any notice — like an earmark for a president who promised not to seek any.  —  President Obama, who took a no-earmark pledge on the campaign trail, is listed as one of dozens …

Obama Budget Sees $1.75 Trillion Deficit  —  President Obama's budget proposal for 2010 projects a stunning deficit of $1.75 trillion for the current fiscal year, which began five months ago, reflecting a shortfall of more than $1 trillion as the fiscal year began, plus the costs of bank bailouts …

The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP  —  With CPAC upon us, I had wanted to write a state-of-the-movement piece, and describing what I felt had gone wrong.  But I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  It hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw this:  —  It could have been like any other of the hundreds …

Bloggers and Unions Join Forces to Push Democrats  —  WASHINGTON — A group of liberal bloggers said it is teaming up with organized labor and MoveOn to form a political action committee that will seek to push the Democratic Party farther to the left.  —  Soliciting donations from their readers …

Karl Rove: Self-deluded or consciously dishonest?  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV)  —  Karl Rove, Wall St. Journal Op-Ed page, today: … Associated Press, March 18, 2006: … Karl Rove's entire strategy for the Bush presidency was grounded in straw men accusations.

Behind the budget: Rahm's brother  —  There's an Emanuel brother behind President Barack Obama's budget, but it's not the one you think.  —  Ezekiel Emanuel, big brother to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, is quickly emerging as a key player as Obama makes the biggest push to expand health care coverage in two decades.

Governor Jindal, Rising G.O.P. Star, Plummets After Speech  —  Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been a rising star in the Republican Party, but his stock took a hit as he was roundly panned for his televised response to President Obama's first speech to Congress on Tuesday night.

Christopher Hitchens and the Battle of Beirut  —  Last week Christopher Hitchens and I were attacked in Beirut.  Less than 24 hours after we landed at the international airport, a half dozen members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party jumped us on Hamra Street when he defaced one of their signs.

Judges reverse ruling tossing Minn. Senate witness  — Judges reverse ruling tossing Minn. Senate witness  —  ST. PAUL, Minn. - Republican Norm Coleman has caught a break in his Minnesota Senate election trial related to his allegation that some Minneapolis residents got two votes.

U.S. Is Arms Bazaar for Mexican Cartels  —  PHOENIX — The Mexican agents who moved in on a safe house full of drug dealers last May were not prepared for the fire power that greeted them.  —  When the shooting was over, eight agents were dead.  Among the guns the police recovered …

GOP at risk of becoming party in the no  —  Another day, another no vote.  —  After near-unanimous Republican congressional opposition to President Barack Obama's stimulus package and a week dominated by headlines of GOP governors poised to reject stimulus funding, House Republicans followed …

DATING A BANKER ANONYMOUS...EXPOSED!  —  On January 25, the New York Times reported on the women of Dating a Banker Anonymous.  The Times reported: … On February 2, the Times appended a typical Times correction to the story: … The Times missed a tad more than the second “t” in Buffett's name.

Log Cabin under Democratic control?  —  Sources say Tim Gill, a prominent Dem donor, is dictating GOP group's direction  —  The amount of money that the Gill Action Fund has contributed to the Log Cabin Republicans — about one-third of its total budget in some years …

ACLU sues city of Clearwater over tackle shop's fish mural  —  Herb Quintero, owner of the Complete Angler, and the ACLU's Becky Steele talk Tuesday after suing the city of Clearwater.  —  Times]  —  CLEARWATER — A fight over a fish mural has landed in federal court.

Kristol Reveals GOP's Secret Plan  —  Remember when Mike Schaffer wrote that Bill Kristol's column was “immensely useful” because he was “shunning the responsibilities of a public intellectual and instead writing an amoral column that might have been drafted by a paid political operative of the sort Kristol used to be”?

Reality check for Vice President Joe Biden  —  Updated:  —  SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Giving the republican response to President Obama's speech Tuesday night, Governor Bobby Jindal pointed out fundamental differences in how republicans and democrats see the economy.

The Dead Tree Theory  —  Whenever a president gives a major address, like the one Barack Obama delivered to Congress this week, the opposition party delivers a rejoinder.  Which American citizens always ignore.  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's speech was, therefore, a kind of triumph.

Prudes at Dinner, Gluttons in Bed  —  Put down that cheeseburger and listen up: If food has become what sex was a generation ago — the intimidatingly intelligent Mary Eberstadt says it has — then a cheeseburger is akin to adultery, or worse.  As eating has become highly charged with moral judgments …

Philip Jose Farmer, RIP  —  It's been more than two decades since I read anything by Philip José Farmer, the venerable science fiction writer who passed away yesterday.  So you'll have to take the following words of praise with a caveat that applies to all the literature I enjoyed in my early teens …