The employment crisis is THE crisis of our times. Bob Herbert on the unemployment crisis:

The evidence is stark. More than 44 percent of unemployed Americans have been out of work for six months or longer, the highest rate since World War II. Perhaps more chilling is a new analysis by the Pew Economic Policy Group that found that nearly a quarter of the nation’s 15 million unemployed workers have been jobless for a year or more.

[. . . T]he biggest threat to the health of the economy — corrosive, intractable, demoralizing unemployment — is still with us. And the deficit zealots, growing in strength, would do nothing to counter this scourge. [. . .] The crippling nature of the joblessness that has moved through the society like a devastating virus has gotten neither the attention nor the response that it warrants. [. . .] Whole segments of the U.S. population are being left behind, even as economists are touting modest improvements in some categories of economic data, like the creation of 162,000 jobs in March. Jobless workers who are 55 or older are having a brutal time of it. Thirty percent have been jobless for a year or more.

This truly is the most serious problem we face and official Washington seems not to care. It is the crisis of the Obama Administration and it is not at all clear they are facing up to it.

Speaking for me only

A plea deal has been reached in the case of the teenage Somali pirate brought to New York last year. A change of plea hearing has been set for May 10.

No details are available yet as to what Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse will plead guilty to, or whether he will get a sentence break for cooperating with the Government.

In January, Muse was charged with two more hijackings. I wonder if they've figured out how old he is yet. More on his background here.

Did anyone like "Treme" last night? It hasn't grabbed me yet. But "Breaking Bad" on AMC gets better and better. I watched all of Season Two this weekend (via Netflix) and am now hooked.

Tonight, there's Dancing With the Stars (it's really time for Jake to go now, don't you think? Are people really voting for Kate Gosselin just so they can continue to watch how uncomfortable and awful she is?)

There's also "24" and the finale of "Life Unexpected" (will Cate marry Ryan or does Baze pull a Mrs. Robinson move to stop the wedding), and the second to last episode of "Damages." This could be it for Damages, FX says it's too expensive, although Direct TV might pick it up next season. That means it would first on Direct TV and then on FX. I think the Madoff story line this season has been great. I could do without the recurrance of the Ted Danson storyline though, it's old and tired.

If there's more news to talk about, or if you want to talk about TV or what you're cooking for dinner, here's an open thread all topics welcome.

A new report, Policing for Profit, has been released by the Institute of Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm. (Html link here.)

Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture is the most comprehensive national study to examine the use and abuse of civil asset forfeiture and the first study to grade the civil forfeiture laws of all 50 states and the federal government.

Under state and federal civil asset forfeiture laws, law enforcement agencies can seize and keep property suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to
permanently lose her cash, car, home or other property.

Vanita Gupta of the ACLU and Scott Bullock, a co-author of the report, write at HuffPo and the ACLU blog that it's time to end the abusive practices. [More...]

Leave it to Sen. Orrin Hatch to stir up rumors and serve up distraction, this time, with comments about whether Obama would nominate Hillary Clinton for the Supreme Court. Hatch says it's possible.

Stay focused, people. It's not going to happen.

In a 4 to 1 opinion, the Connecticut Supreme Court today upheld the conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel for the murder of Martha Moxley.

The appeal centered on Skakel's theory that two alternate suspects committed the crime. The court said the evidence doesn't support that claim. The majority opinion is here. There is also a concurring opinion, and a dissenting opinion. [More...]

The New York Daily News reports new details in the Najibullah Zazi terror plot against New York City. The attack was planned for Sept. 14, 15 or 16:

Zazi and his two Queens friends allegedly planned to strap explosives to their bodies and split up, heading for the Grand Central and Times Square stations - the two busiest subway stations in New York City.

They would board trains on the 1, 2, 3 and 6 lines at rush hour and planned to position themselves in the middle of the packed trains to ensure the maximum carnage when they blew themselves up, sources sai

Zazi, who is cooperating, has been moved from the MDC in Brooklyn to a "secure, undisclosed location." And authorities are extraditing another suspect from Pakistan in the case: [More...]

President Obama says al Qaeda is trying to acquire nuclear weapons and it's our biggest threat right now.

The next phase of airline fees: $45 for carry-on baggage. One airline, Spirit, announced the move, and Sen. Chuck Shumer is appealing to Treasury to stop it.

All my tivos will be busy tonight: Treme, about struggling musicians and other locals in post-Katrina New Orleans, by the creator of "The Wire" starts on HBO, which also has a new episode of "Pacific." Reviews for "Treme" are promising. There's a two hour Brothers and Sisters, a new "Breaking Bad" on AMC and a new "Celebrity Apprentice." Brett Michaels and Cindy Lauper make the show now that Blago is gone. I hope they stay tonight and uptight athlete Michael Johnson goes home.

What's on your agenda tonight? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Fabian Cancellara, the greatest cycling road racer in the world, blitzed the field again, winning Paris-Roubaix with ease, just as he did in the Ronde. Next big one - Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The first big GT is the Giro d'Italia next month. The Tour de France is in July.

An exciting Masters finish is shaping up this afternoon. Westwood leads Mickleson by 1 and Tiger lurks at 4 back. Worth watching.

This is an Open Thread.

clammyc demands a liberal nominee to replace Justice Stevens on the SCOTUS from a centrist President. It is a welcome demand, but fanciful in the extreme. President Obama is not a liberal. As the Dawn Johnsen situation amply proves, President Obama is not, never was and never will be a liberal champion. Paul Rosenberg celebrates the end of the self deception:

The word "myth" has two distinct, but related meanings. One is "a compelling interpretive framework", the other is "a lie." Many myths are both, to varying degrees. The myth of Obama as Rorschach test is one of them. [. . .] In "The death of Dawn Johnsen's nomination," Glenn Greenwald writes:

virtually everything that Dawn Johnsen said about executive power, secrecy, the rule of law and accountability for past crimes made her an excellent fit for what Candidate Obama said he would do, but an awful fit for what President Obama has done.

and thus, finally, one can hope, the myth of Obama as Rorschach test can be set aside. It had a certain credibility once, but by now it simply comes down to the fact that Obama blurs and distorts his image as needed, just like every other politician does.

This is delusion from Rosenberg. The myth of Obama as progressive hero will never end for most Democrats and unfortunately, for too many self proclaimed progressive activists. Rosenberg, who never believed Obama to be a liberal champion, now thinks everyone else will see what he sees. The delusion now comes from him. More . . .

Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi says Yemen will not hunt down American born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, believed to be hiding in Yemen.

The U.S. put al-Awlaki on its "kill or capture" list but Yemen says it has not been provided evidence he is a terrorist and that he is not a terrorist. Background here and here. [More...]

Via CelebStoner,

NORML's famous "Money Tree" ad is currently running 18 times a day in New York's Times Square in the Super Screen located below the CBS eye across the street from Ripley's Believe it or Not. From 9 am to 1 am, the 15-second spot flashes once an hour.

CBS initially banned the ad but changed it's mind in March.