Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius will be the new chief of HHS. I think she's a far better choice than Tom Daschle.

Here's some background on her. The announcement will be made Monday.

Update: Sebelius has accepted the nomination.

President Obama's new budget includes $26.5 billion for DOJ, a 3.5% increase.

The budget includes $109 million for prisoner re-entry services, including $75 million under the Second Chance Act. It also includes money for drug courts. More details here (pdf).

But do we really need $1.2 billion in the effort to remove undocumented residents? From the Homeland Security Budget (pdf): [More...]

Via Greenwald, the Obama Justice Department signals it will go to the Supreme Court to defend the Bush Administration's invocation of the "state secrets" privilege in the Al Haramain warrantless wiretapping case. The AP reports:

The Obama administration has lost its argument that a potential threat to national security should stop a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program. A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday rejected the Justice Department's request for an emergency stay in a case involving a defunct Islamic charity.

Yet government lawyers signaled they would continue fighting to keep the information secret, setting up a new showdown between the courts and the White House over national security.

(Emphasis supplied.) Greenwald writes:

Your turn. This is an Open Thread.

For "Opera lovers", I add this video:

BOBBY JINDAL: While some of the projects in the [stimulus] bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes . . . $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland . . .

New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Louisiana's transportation department plans to request federal dollars for a New Orleans to Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money in the president's economic stimulus package that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as unnecessary pork on national television Tuesday night.

So much for Bobby Jindal's "principles."

The word is out on what ABC calls the most stunning, shocking, dramatic and emotional finale ever for ABC's The Bachelor, airing Monday night. This season's star is Jason Mesnick from Kirkland, Washington who lives with his brother and four year old son. He almost got picked last season by bachelorette Deanna Pappas, but Deanna picked Colorado Snowboarder Jesse Csinscak (my favorite) instead. Then Deanna dumped Jesse. You can read my last interview of Jesse here and you can see Deanna make a inconsequential comeback on Jason's show Monday.

The internets have been on fire about the finale for a month now. Tonight, it seems, there's no more debate, the ending is in the bag and those who were in attendance for the taping of the final aftershow today, which will air March 3,have leaked the details, despite being warned they would face a $5 million penalty for doing so. [More...]

Like Ezra Klein, I have taken to watching White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' daily briefings. Before I wondered if his style really worked in that slot (Gibbs was very very good during the campaign.) I must admit he is really coming into his own now. Anyway, Ezra spotted this exchange:

Q On jobs, which is the big complaint up on Capitol Hill right now from Republicans, that this plan is a job killer, I mean, the $787 billion plan was all about jobs more than anything else, and now you've got a plan in place that -- how can you possibly tax people making over $250,000 something like $667 billion over the next 10 years and not have a downward effect on jobs?

MR. GIBBS: Well, Chip, how did it work in 1994 and 1995 and 1996 and 1997?

Great answer. And a great corollary would be how did cutting taxes during the Bush years work out for the economy? Yes, Bill Clinton did some good things. Glad to see Gibbs is not afraid to say so.

Speaking for me only

This is pretty funny from Chris Bowers:

In September of 2007, President Obama refused to promise to remove all troops from Iraq by January 20th, 2013. Now, he has promised to remove them all by December 31st, 2011. That is a positive shift. This is huge for no residual forces proponents.

Heh. Now I support President Obama's policy, and always understood the residual forces "issue" to be nonsense (I think Richardson did not even know what he was saying when some seized upon it as a rallying cry.) But I like Chris' declaring victory on the "issue" - so residual forces for 3 more years is "victory" now for the anti-"residual forces" folks. Well, good for Chris. Me, I think the declaration of a date certain for the end of our combat mission in Iraq is the big win here. But to each his own.

Speaking for me only

Here's a question, who thinks Citigroup is solvent? Please find "experts" not named Geithner or not working for Citi who think it.

This is an Open Thread.

Paul Krugman coined the memorable phrase "GOP Says World Is Flat; Dems Disagree" as an example of what "journalism" is today - "He Said, She Said" emptiness. Fred Hiatt, unsurprisingly, confirms this view today:

[T]he Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Earth, and Media Matters for America sent a joint letter to the Post reiterating the call for some form of correction or clarification . . . “George Will is entitled to his own opinions, but he is not entitled to his own facts,” the letter concluded. . . . But the Post’s position remains the same.

[More...]

Morganthau is a legendary figure in New York legal circles. From Wikipedia:

Morgenthau graduated from Yale Law School in 1948 and joined the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap & Webb, becoming a partner in 1954. In 1961, after twelve years of practicing corporate law, Morgenthau accepted an appointment from President John F. Kennedy as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. . . .

Morgenthau was elected to the office of District Attorney of New York County [in 1974.] This was a special election caused by the death of Frank S. Hogan who had served as D.A. for over thirty years.He was elected to a full term in 1977 and has been reelected seven times. He has not been opposed in a general election since 1985.

It will be the end of an era.

National Journal's weekly Washington Insiders and Bloggers Poll asked the following questions:

Do you expect another economic stimulus plan will be necessary in the next year?

How concerned are you that federal economic recovery aid has gone or will go to people and businesses that don't deserve it?

I'll ask the second one here in a poll below.