Las Vegas and Miami are feeling the economic downturn. That's really too bad as both cities are a lot of fun to visit. Maybe instead of grants for law enforcement, the next stimulus bill could include some incentives for the rest of us to vacation so workers in the tourism industry won't lose their jobs.

The Miami article begins with a nod to a new book by author Steven Gaines, “Fool’s Paradise: Players, Poseurs, and the Culture of Excess in South Beach.”

The gossip-larded social history of Miami Beach spans the decades-long transformation of what the author calls “the little sand bar across the bay” into a fast-and-louche Eden, where corruption, street crime and profligate spending were as integral to the landscape as sand and swaying palms.

WaPo reports:

In a long interview Thursday on Telesur, a state-owned station that rarely challenges him, Chávez laid out the mortal dangers facing Venezuela and his importance to what he calls a revolution. He said the opposition was "injecting poison" into the veins of the young, spreading lies about his governing and plotting against him. Rocket launchers and explosives had been seized, he said, though he assured viewers that the threat had been neutralized and Venezuelans should remain calm.

Chávez then described how, in talks with Cuba's Fidel Castro, his mentor and friend, he had come to the realization of just how vital he is to the revolution's success. "Fidel put it very simply: 'I know how this revolution can be reversed,' " Chávez recounted. "I said, 'How?' 'Well, if something happens to you.' We discussed it on various occasions." Chávez said that if he was eliminated, his leftist movement would be irreparably divided.

A dangerous, authoritarian, thuggish demagogue? Of course. But it is up to the Venezuelan people now.

Speaking for me only

Gas is being passed in DC. I assume it is being televised on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and the like. If you have something to say about it, here is the place.

This is an Open Thread.

If he was tainted before, he is covered in Blago stain now:

Roland W. Burris acknowledged Saturday that the brother of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich solicited a campaign contribution from him several times in the weeks and months before Mr. Blagojevich appointed Mr. Burris to succeed President Obama as Illinois’s junior senator. . . . Mr. Burris said he provided the new affidavit to “supplement” earlier sworn testimony he gave before state lawmakers seeking to impeach Mr. Blagojevich. . . . [D]uring his testimony in January before the impeachment committee — just before he was seated in the Senate — Mr. Burris was asked directly whether he had talked to any person on a list of Blagojevich confidants . . . , but mentioned nothing of Rob Blagojevich’s more recent efforts seeking campaign contributions.

. . . “If it turns out this was some sort of attempt to avoid this coming out as part of the appointment process, then he doesn’t deserve to be senator,” Christine Radogno, the Republican leader of the State Senate, told The Sun-Times. “I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven.”

The Burris appointment always stunk to high heaven. This revelation makes it stink on the other side of the universe. And yeah, 'I told you so.' SusanG has the Illinois GOP demanding a perjury investigation. Guess what? There are grounds for it.

Speaking for me only

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

Last week, the silly Dick Morris let his Hillary hate run away with him as he pronounced her irrelevant. Here is the way Morris put it:

So what is Hillary’s mandate? Of what is she secretary of State? If you take the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan out of the equation, what is left? One would have to assume that the old North Korea hands in the government would monopolize that theater of action. What, precisely, is it that Hillary is to do? The question lingers.

Next week, Clinton goes to China. Dick Morris may not have heard of it, but I am sure most of you have. Secretary Clinton spoke about her upcoming Asia trip yesterday (h/t andgarden. The video of her speech is here.

Jeralyn has passed the TalkLeft torch to me on responding for National Journal's blogger poll.

Two questions were presented this week. The first:

Have events of recent weeks made you more encouraged or less encouraged about prospects for bipartisanship this year on major issues that Congress has yet to tackle, such as health care reform and energy legislation?

More . .

Three federal prosecutors in the Ted Stevens' trial were held in contempt of court Friday for failing to comply with a federal court order to turn documents over to Stevens' defense team:

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan called it "outrageous" that government lawyers would ignore his deadline for turning over documents.

Last month, Sullivan told the Justice Department to turn over all its internal communications regarding a whistleblower complaint against the FBI agent leading the investigation into the former Alaska senator.

More...

The Senate passed the stimulus bill late Friday night and the NY Times reports it was the longest congressional vote in history.

Hopefully, President Obama and the Dems learned that Republicans are not their friends.

The House vote was 246 to 183, with just 7 Democrats joining all 176 Republicans in opposition. In the Senate, the vote, 60 to 38, was similarly partisan. Only 3 centrist Republicans joined 55 Democrats and 2 independents in favor.

What took so long? [More...]

Ezra Klein and James Fallows note that Betsy McCaughey is back spinning her falsehoods again on health care. Fallows writes:

In 1994 [McCaughey] wrote a cover story in the New Republic "revealing" a number of hidden dangers in the Clinton plan that less careful analysts had somehow missed. Unfortunately for McCaughey, most of what she wrote was false. Unfortunately for the Clintons, most of what she claimed was echoed uncritically and became part of the conventional wisdom of why the bill couldn't pass.

. . . Why bring this up now? Because McCaughey has sprung up again to "reveal" another hidden danger in another Democratic administration's plans. . . . [W]hat is wrong with her "analysis" this time[?] [They are] flatly disprovable lies.

More . . .

From Jane Hamsher, good to see the Obama team recognize what some of the President's supporters refuse to see:

Mr. Emanuel owned up to one mistake: message. What he called the outside game slipped away from the White House last week, when the president and others stressed bipartisanship rather than job creation as they moved toward passing the measure. White House officials allowed an insatiable desire in Washington for bipartisanship to cloud the economic message a point coming clear in a study being conducted on what went wrong and what went right with the package, he said.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is good. Very good. Now, as Jane says, there really is no need to announce these things on the record, to assuage the peanut gallery (meaning people like me). Just do them. Oh BTW, stimulus bill passes House. How many GOP votes? Why ZERO of course.

Speaking for me only

It's Friday the 13th, Valentine's Weekend and Starbucks is introducing instant coffee next week. That's all I've got. Here's a thread for your thoughts, all topics welcome.