NBC reports that Patrick Fitzgerald will stay on as U.S. Attorney in Illinois.

I don't think this was in doubt. When the Chicago Tribune editorial board interviewed Obama in March during the campaign, he was asked about this and said:

Wall St. doesn't think much of the stimulus plan. The Dow fell 382 points.

Yesterday's decline deepened as investors -- who had bid up the price of stocks last week in anticipation of this week's announcement -- cashed in their gains and sold, traders and analysts said.

Geithner's presser hurt as well:[More....]

An editorial in the Greensboro News-Record makes a good point:

While using federal dollars to put more police officers on the street probably will lower crime rates, it's a stretch to think doing so stimulates the economy.

Actually, it's a stretch to think that more cops on the street will lower crime rates. As the editorial notes:

As proposed, the stimulus plan includes about $4 billion to revive grants dating back to the Clinton administration that funded drug task forces, after-school programs, prisoner rehabilitation and salaries for local police officers. In the 1990s, the money was used to hire more than 100,000 police officers nationwide. Yet critics say the federal cash infusion was mostly ineffective in reducing crime and seldom cost-effective.

[more ...]

AP:

The U.S. and Iran have a chance to "work out a way of talking" that could lead to understandings on a range of issues, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday. In a hopeful assessment of prospects for improved relations with Tehran, Clinton told reporters at the State Department that the U.S. remains opposed to Iran getting nuclear weapons. She added that the Obama administration hopes the two nations can work out "a better understanding of one another."

[More....]

Bloomberg:

“The House bill will create more jobs and a stronger economy than the Senate bill,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, who was a campaign adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Zandi estimates that the $838 billion Senate package would create about 625,000 fewer jobs than the $819 billion House version over the next two years.

(Emphasis supplied.) 625,000 less jobs costing $20B more? Time to trim the fat, fry the bacon, and milk the sacred cows out of the Beltway "bipartisan" BSers Senate bill.

Speaking for me only

When you lie about steroid use:

All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada has been charged with lying to Congress about steroids, with the baseball player scheduled to appear in court Wednesday where he is expected to plead guilty.

When isn't it? When you are Bush DOJ official Brad Schlozman:

I am particularly disturbed about the findings that a senior Justice Department appointee, Bradley Schlozmann, made false statements under oath when appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

We always look to baseball players to tell the truth, but not Justice Dept. officials.

Speaking for me only

AP:

President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan has passed the Senate and is on its way to difficult House-Senate negotiations. Just three Republicans helped pass the plan on a 61-37 vote and they're already signaling they'll play hardball to preserve more than $108 billion in spending cuts made last week in Senate dealmaking. Obama wants to restore cuts in funds for school construction jobs and help for cash-starved states.

(Emphasis supplied.) I like that the story says Obama wants to restore the state aid and school construction money. He should also press for removal of the AMT fix from the stimulus bill and other unstimulative tax cuts. By doing so, he can actually significantly reduce the cost of the bill while increasing its stimulative power.

Speaking for me only

New levels of absurdity in the Michael Phelps bong case. WIS News reports:

We've now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they've made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff's department served search warrants.

We've also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong. Sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000. The owner, who wasn't even at the party, is one of the eight now charged.

[Hat tip to Tom at LEAP]

Everyone likes Mark Blumenthal. Even me. But I take strong exception to his accepting Andrew Sullivan's false characterizations of the critiques from some of us of President Obama on the stimulus package. Blumenthal quotes Sully as follows:

As Andrew Sullivan summarizes this morning . . . Paul Krugman, who wants a partisan war on the GOP . . .

Sullivan has years of attacks on Krugman (all of them completely wrong) under his belt. He is not to be trusted when he discusses Krugman. Not surprisingly, he misstates Krugman's argument. Krugman is engaged in a policy debate on the stimulus package. Something Sullivan can not do, as a self proclaimed conservative Obama supporter. He has a problem now - he is a "conservative" but he really can not argue policy here as conservatism is a bankrupt ideology -especially in this moment. So he turns it into a discussion of "partisan war," in the finest traditions of David Broder. Unfortunately, Blumenthal gets taken in by this game. More . . .

Geithner is going to announce his TARP II plan today. Reports are pretty bad so far.

This is an Open Thread.

David Sirota writes:

I, and many others who supported Obama, weren't misled by him. I had my eyes wide open - [b]ut I did think - and continue to think - he was far and away the best and most progressive person for the job, among the serious contenders out there.

Not to restart the primary wars- but the "most progressive?" Come now David. I also supported Obama, in famously tepid fashion. Because he was the one I thought could best move a progressive agenda and was the most electable. But on the issues, stop me if you have heard this - there was not a dime's worth of difference between them (going forward, in the past -- on the Iraq Debacle, Obama was right and Clinton was wrong) except on health care, where Clinton's position was deemed much more progressive than Obama's. David still has his hate on for the Clintons and still is living in a fantasyland on Obama's trade positions. Sorry David, Obama agrees with me and the Clintons on trade, not you.

Speaking for me only

Politico notes:

With the revelation last week that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is suffering from pancreatic cancer, the political stakes for Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the next solicitor general were raised dramatically. President Barack Obama has nominated Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, to become the 46th solicitor general . . . While her confirmation is widely expected by both sides, Democrats and Republicans consider the fight over Kagan’s nomination to be a dry run for a future Supreme Court nomination battle.

It makes watching Kagan's confirmation hearing more interesting today.