Happy July 1! In the Cycle Today: California Schemin,' Sanford has more for ya, drug bans, climate bills, and Wal-Mart's back!

Down Goes California!  California is down! seriously, is there any big state out there who can get together and make state government work?

New York Can! Well, not really . The children in the Senate are still throwing tantrums.

Hello Swordsmen! Let's get right into it.

I'd like to open this NCR with a this:

ABC News: A white African-American is suing UMDNJ medical school because he was discriminated against because of his..race? ethnicity? Consider me siding with the plaintiff on this one.

Good Friday morning Swordsmen. It's been a while since I dropped a NCR, but the last week of every month will always be a tough time for me. I hope everything is going well with everyone. a lot of stuff hit the Google reader that have since blown over, so if you see an old story or two, forgive me. On the ledger: a new guy in at Bank of America, Souter stepping down, Obama the socialist, black optimism, the future of the Republican Party, Chysler, cheating, and a surprise guest arrives to Twitter.

Good afternoon Swordsmen! Live, from Chicago, IL..well..technically Schaumburg. Here's your Roundup for Wednesday and Thursday. Torture seems to be on your minds these days, also partisanship, oh and Miss America's runner up. C'mon, admit it--if you didn't Google, would you know who won?  I digress. on the ledger today: Room designs, gun marches, cyber threats, fascism explained, and going green. and I threw a little torture in there for good measure.

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Good Tuesday morning, Swordsmen! I think we had a good conversation yesterday. Stories the carried the day at SwordsCrossed were around torture, Obama's budget/spending, among others. On the ledger today: Gary Johnson, Motorbikes, Job losses, Gotch moments, Jackie Chan (yes, that one), immigration, nudging and Yes You Can!

AmConMag wants you to meet Gary Johnson , a 2012 Republican seeking to take the libertarian mantle away from the current front-runner, Mark Sanford.

Good Monday morning Swordsmen! I hope you had your fill of tea and pirates last week, as we try to cycle on towards a new set of stories. On today's ledger: vouchers, stimulus, Al Franken (boo!), Rudy Giuliani, and Palin..oh, and where we are as a country. 

NYT reports on waterboarding usage on 2 suspects.

Good Wednesday morning Swordsmen. Today is tax day, and Americans are filing taxes. Also, there will be tea party marches around the countries protesting Obama's election and implementing campaign promises taxation, bailouts, and other things. We'll see where it goes. On the ledger today: immigrants, tea parties, taxes, lions, dolphins, and charter schools. Otherwise, open thread.

Our next weapon against the pirates? Dolphins .

Good Tuesday morning to all. Some very interesting developments across the nation today involving Cuba, sexting, San Francisco-European-NY values...and we begin in Texas, a state I've been considering moving to...if I can:

Leading Drudge today, it looks like Texas is mad as hell at Washington telling it what to do, but it still needs the federal money..

Good Wednesday morning. Well, some very interesting news stories have hit the G. Reader today, and here are some that i'd with you. Topics include gay marriage, taxes, health care, inflation, and drugs. a little bit of everything.

When inflation goes very, very wrong: This is kinda funny, but it shouldn't be--the fact no one is stealing it is very telling.

The National Organization for Marraige ramps up their side of the 1M1W Marraige debate with scary storm clouds. I'm a little confused (still) about what exactly they are talking about, but the group is very diverse.

Nate Silver analyzes the paradox of taxes and deficits among American voters.

Good Tuesday morning!

Here are some of the news stories hitting my Google Reader this morning (and a couple from yesterday).

SciAm: Remember Olestra (Olean)? it was supposed to be the miracle fat-reducing chemical added in fatty foods like chips and cookies. Well, now the scientists at Procter and Gamble have found another use for it: Paints and Lubricants . No, seriously. and if you're wondering--yes, they do still use it in some foods.

Good Monday afternoon! Today is my Performance Evaluation at work so wish me luck. But, in the meanwhile, I'll leave you with some stories of interest:

WSJ: Obama won't let the banks pay back bailout money .  That is quite alarming to me. If the banks are asking to get out of the bailout plan, let's let them. If they are willing to strike out on their own, perhaps they aren't in as dire straits as advertised.

It's Friday. Let's see what we have on the ledger.

Megan McArdle: Please remember what you learned in your stats class in school about correlations .

Promoted by skymutt... I have no authority here, but nobody minds, right?  These are good, should be good for open threads, and we are getting into the blue on the last open thread.

News Cycle Roundup time! Good morning! It's a wonderful 55 degrees here in NYC. And although I'd prefer mid-60s like the promise Spring brought growing up down south, I guess it won't be coming until May. Speaking of promises half fulfilled...

Obama: Make under 250K? As promised, your tax cut is here! I told you none of your taxes will go up..well, except these little taxes over here .

Media Matters is outraged because Fox News adopted the Republican budget op-ed as a Fox Fact .

Erick Ericson via Redstate: Grab your guns! Beat a state official! Fight for phosphates in Washington State!  So what if it's federalism at work. It's not how I like it though. Revolution! Aargh!

I really don't like when people criticize polls for "oversampling." Oversampling implies the pollster intentionally picks more Democrats (or Republicans) to get a result, but this assumes that the nation is 33% Democrat, 33% Republican, and 33% independent. I seriously doubt that's true.

Froma Harrop: Liberal Democrats,  be advised: You really need your Blue Dog counterparts .

American Spectator: Dodd is a Dud .

Scientific American: Economics and Rational Human Thought don't mix well .

Broder: Obama finally may be showing a little assertion .

It's been a busy time for me, but I have your News Cycle roundup from pundits and bloggers from around the spectrum:

In case you missed it, here are some stories of interest for your first-day-of- Spring Friday.

Leno: Congress is Scary :

If the government decides they don't like a guy, all of the sudden hey we're going to tax you, and, boom, and it passes, that's seems a little scary," he said. "It was frightening to me as an American that Congress or whoever could decide I don't like that group, let's pass a law and tax them 90 percent.

Here's today's news cycle roundup. I tried to find stories despite AIG still sucking all the oxygen out of the room:

While everyone is focused on AIG Rage, here are some other stories of interest, in our new, Swords Crossed series on the pundit/blogger round up! I'll try to pull articles from all sides of our little blog here, with liberal, conservative, independent, and libertarian voices. Maybe it will spur some conversation and encourage more non-Open Thread posts. Hope you like!

I came across a pretty scary story this morning regarding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

What follows below is perhaps the best explanation of the credit freeze (and what caused) I've seen to date. It's very balanced, explaining how some Wall-street exuberance and some Main-Street irresponsibilty all played a part in this economic decline we're experiencing. Check it out, and shoot some questions/comments my way. Have a terrific weekend.