He says he’s only speaking for himself, but I’ve got to wonder: Yesterday, Dan asked why no one had been slogging or commenting on the Massachusetts Senatorial race, which may de-rail HCR by cutting the Dem majority in the Senate to 59, if Republican idiot Scott Brown beats Democratic hack Martha Coakley. I cannot speak for other crickets, but I know why I haven’t written about it: I am totally burnt out on politics. Over the last 9 years, it’s been seven years of mostly simmering-to-boiling...

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) In remembrance, from the full text of his last speech: You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, “Are you Martin Luther King?” And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed...

Mashable: The Red Cross text messaging campaign has raised nearly $18 million for Haiti relief, according to the State Department’s Katie J Stanton today. Just four days ago we reported that the total had passed $5 million. Promos during the NFL playoffs helped boost donations, Stanton explains on her Twitter feed. … The goal isn’t unreachable: simple donations via text messaging combined with the viral spread of the campaign message on Twitter and Facebook have led to an unprecedented...

That according to Gabriel Sherman at NYMagazine: One personal friend of [New York Times Chairman Arthur] Sulzberger said a final decision could come within days, and a senior newsroom source agreed, adding that the plan could be announced in a matter of weeks. (Apple’s tablet computer is rumored to launch on January 27, and sources speculate that Sulzberger will strike a content partnership for the new device, which could dovetail with the paid strategy.) It will likely be months before the...

She’s 46 today… On Friday she celebrated with her staff (pictured). Last night the president took her to a surprise dinner bash at Restaurant Nora, an organic restaurant in Dupont Circle: [A] special lamb dish for her, and pan-seared Maine lobster and saffron risotto for him. They drank Spottswood sauvignon blanc. And after nearly four hours of partying in an upstairs private room at Nora, the president took photos with the wait staff and waded through the kitchen, shaking hands with...

I particularly enjoy that the president has called his “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee” a fee. Banks know from fees… Twenty years ago Texas-based banking consultant Bill Strunk convinced banks that they should allow customers overdraw their accounts and charge them a fee to do it. He’s also credited with convincing clients to make checking accounts free to entice more customers. But high to low transaction processing, that the banks came up with on their own: LOWELL BERGMAN:...

From the transcript of his weekly address: We want the taxpayers’ money back, and we’re going to collect every dime. That is why, this week, I proposed a new fee on major financial firms to compensate the American people for the extraordinary assistance they provided to the financial industry. And the fee would be in place until the American taxpayer is made whole. Only the largest financial firms with more than $50 billion in assets will be affected, not community banks. And the bigger the...

Whatever your view of John Maynard Keynes, or Keynesianism (mine is quite favorable) last week Planet Money did a terrific, brief but wonderfully complete and insightful piece on the origins of his thinking. Their guest: As great figures from history go, John Maynard Keynes should consider himself lucky, at least when it comes to his biography. His biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky, is one of the best. His three-volume biography of Keynes is not only comprehensive (1000+ pages) — it’s...

Jon Stewart apparently felt the sting of critics of his Monday night interview (here and here) of John Yoo, who authored many of the Bush administration’s torture memos while serving as deputy assistant attorney general in the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel. In the opening to last night’s show, Stewart essentially cops to the critique, “I was going to nail him… It was like interviewing sand… He got me. You know, I’ll bounce back. I’ve...

Christian Science Monitor: As part of the continued push to legalize marijuana in California, the state Assembly’s public safety committee approved a bill Tuesday to tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. It’s the farthest that efforts to legalize marijuana have got in the state. [...] Reaction to the 4-3 committee vote has been swift and strong on both sides of the issue. Advocates of legalization are overjoyed. KCRA in Sacramento: “The mere fact that there was...

I was a supporter of Google going into China; I support their new approach. I will be very interested to see how China reacts. Color me hopeful. Though the NYTimes adds some troubling detail: Google did not publicly link the Chinese government to the cyber attack, but people with knowledge of Google’s investigation said they had enough evidence to justify its actions. A United States expert on cyber warfare said that 34 companies were targeted, most of them high-technology companies in Silicon...

NYTimes Bits Blog: In a calm and understated blog post, Google said Tuesday that it had recently come under an unusual cyberattack from China. The Web giant said the attack was very different from previous ones because it was aimed at Chinese dissidents’ Gmail accounts, dozens of which were compromised. From that Google blog post: We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what...

On the final day of the legislative session, Gov. Corzine said he would sign it before leaving office next Tuesday: The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses. Stricter than most, the NJ bill will prohibit doctors from prescribing marijuana for anything less than a terminal illness or debilitating condition, such as cancer, AIDS...

The NYTimes on mini-generation gaps: Researchers…theorize that the ever-accelerating pace of technological change may be minting a series of mini-generation gaps, with each group of children uniquely influenced by the tech tools available in their formative stages of development. “People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “College students...

With the question of Leno definitively settled, the big question left on the table is will Conan go to Fox? A NYPost “exclusive” [cough] has sources saying The peacock ruffled Conan O’Brien’s feathers — and now he’s ready to fly the coop: “This level of sh- – -iness was not expected,” one source said. “He’s done a great job for NBC. He moved his entire staff, he moved his family to LA. And five months later, they repay him like this?” As...

In my December 27 post, I implicated our health care system in the Christmas day death by suicide of Athens, GA, folk singer and songwriter Vic Chesnutt. While I stand by that implication, Chesnutt’s friends are far more nuanced in their critique of the system. In a Fresh Air interview aired earlier this week, Terry Gross spoke with Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who discovered Chesnutt and produced his first two albums; Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, who played on a couple of Chesnutt’s albums;...

On The O’Reilly Factor Friday, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr said he thinks Republicans are overplaying their hand when it comes to criticism of the Obama administration and the Dec. 25 attempt to down a Detroit-bound jetliner: My main criticism of those who are criticizing the president, such as the former vice president, Mr. Cheney, is that I think it’s simply politics and partisanship and not substantive criticism because when you have the vice president from the prior administration...

The question is apparently raised by a new book titled Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living which claims that “the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.” Eating Liberally, in a wonderfully titled post asking Is Fido the New Hummer, contacted Dr. Marion Nestle, NYU professor of nutrition and author of Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine and Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding...

This Northern Ireland cad — MP Iris Robinson cheated on her husband with then 19 year-old Kirk McCambley (she was 59) — is not only female, she’s also the most famous homophobe in the UK: There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children. There must be sufficient confidence that the community has the best possible protection against such perverts. [...] I cannot think of anything more sickening than a child being abused. It is...

BEST: An actuary evaluates the likelihood of events and quantifies the contingent outcomes in order to minimize losses, both emotional and financial, associated with uncertain undesirable events. Since many events, such as death, cannot be avoided, it is helpful to take measures to minimize their financial impact when they occur. WORST: A roustabout is a laborer typically performing temporary, unskilled work. The term has traditionally been used to refer to traveling-circus workers or oil rig workers....

An all-singing, all-dancing tribute to the world’s most powerful man: Wearing a knitted cardigan and crooning into his microphone, Barack Obama paces around the stage, wooing Michelle with a love song. In another number, now clad in a suit, Jimmie Wilson who plays Obama, struts up and down, clasping his mike and leading a euphoric gospel chorus of “Yes We Can.” It premieres in Frankfurt on Jan. 17. Check out the photo gallery. Above, Sarah Palin performs with a scantily clad troop...

All I had to say I said last night. But the blogosphere has only just begun… The Big Money notices Leno is not popular online: Despite having more total and 18-49 viewers than his 11:30 p.m. colleague, Conan O’Brien, he didn’t come close to O’Brien’s Hulu numbers. Of course, we don’t have the exact stream numbers. Hulu refuses to release those. But here’s what we do know: The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien was the 13th most popular show on Hulu last year. That according to the...

As we awake to national news and preempted programs held hostage to the weather, it’s worth noting one finding that barely half of TV weatherman hold a college degree in meteorology or another atmospheric science. There’s a difference between accredited meteorologists and those schooled in the science of climatology. TV weatherman are largely meteorologists. (ABC’s Sam Champion is not even that. He’s got a B.A. in broadcast news from Eastern Kentucky University.) CJR: Kris...

VIDEO: Leno jokes about cancellation rumors… Me, I shouldn’t talk. I’ve never succumbed to Leno’s seductions. I used to like Conan, but haven’t paid him much attention in the decade since. Still, if NBC rewards Leno’s colossal failure weeknights at 10 by moving him back to 11:30 — thereby kicking Conan back to after midnight — the move deserves to be greeted with a deafening roar. That’s my gut talking. I’ve yet to read reports from NYTimes,...

Robert X. Cringely is only now in 2010 prediction mode. Today he looks at Microsoft — “In the simplest terms what we’ll see from Microsoft in 2010 is more of the same… the continued maturing of Microsoft into its ideal – IBM.” Tomorrow he’ll look at Homeland Security. And on Tuesday he looked at the Nexus None (his words). Here, now, the two points he says everyone seemed to be missing about the Google phone: 1) there is plenty of room in the mobile market for...