Jeaz, nobody posts a fresh open thread for a couple days and look how testy things get!

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 .

Is this the thread where we will at long last discuss all the important topics?  Time will tell...

Saga continues with Somali pirates . American captain attempted to escape but was recaptured.

Wells Fargo is looking good. Stock rises on positive profit news. Not all is dire.

Happy Weekend.

Via Mark Thoma , a good article on bubbles and depressions.

Central Italy rocked by 6.3 earthquake . over 92 dead and priceless medieval buildings fall in ruin.

NY Gov. hits new low in approval rating.

Have at it.

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 .

Obama gets quite active in the Auto Industry:

Some frustrated U.S. taxpayers cheered President Barack Obama's tough steps to shore up the reeling auto industry on Monday but critics called his decision to fire General Motors' chief a heavy-handed power grab.

Obama signs Omnibus Public Lands Management Act into law. (more below the fold)

Obama celebrates the Iranian New Year . See link for a clip of what was seen on TV in Iran this morning.

These are precisely the moments I'm glad he's the President and not McCain.

Obama on Leno . See transcript through the link. He doesn't support taxing the bonuses at 90%. I agree.

Will update with some news soon.  Hope all is well with everyone.

Today is Friday the 13^th .  Are you superstitious about anything?

Stewart gave Cramer the business last night.  Do economic cable talk shows directly effect the market?

The SCOTUS severely limits the Voting Rights Act.

Obama calls for stricter teacher accountability .

Will Iraq's continuing deterioration cause Obama to readjust his withdrawal plans?

Why am I so tired today?  I know there was a time change and all, but come on!

What's the good word?

The unemployment rate has risen to 8.1%. Not too unexpected.

Newt Gingrich is considering running for President in 2012 (yet again). He is definitely one of my favorite Republicans.

Have at it!

British PM Gordon Brown will be in town to urge Congress to free their markets and give up protectionism.  That's right.  The leader of the Labour Party in the UK is telling Congress to be less socialist.

AIG losing money at incredible speeds... - Looking for another bailout.

However Consumer spending is up, reversing a trend . We'll see if that will cheer the markets up today.

We have a fairly big storm here in the NorthEast today and I am one of the very few who came in to work. Amazingly some dumbass in my department called in very "believably" sick. How are you guys doing?