A REVIEW OF THE 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid.

TOM MAGUIRE HAS MORE FUN with the New York Times’ incomplete reporting on Chas Freeman.

DORA THE EXPLORER going skank?

POLITICO: Reform Lite: Obama Goes Soft On Pork. “At times, he sounded more like a defender of the old ways than a critic.”

UPDATE: Real leadership in short supply: “Quite of few of President Obama’s supporters are completely bewildered, wondering where the ‘no earmarks’ promise went, feeling the sting of an administration wandering quickly to the left.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jake Tapper reminds us how Obama has changed his tune:

Candidate Obama said then “we can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress’ seniority, rather than the merit of the project. We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And we can no longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.”

Today, of course, President Obama will sign into law more than 8,000 earmarks for FY 2009, part of the $410 billion omnibus spending bill.

But he pledged to work with Congress to reform the earmark process.

In other words, “I’ll start my diet tomorrow.”

REASON TV: Why you’re living in the libertarian moment.

JAMES CARVILLE’S situational patriotism.

MICKEY KAUS: Jennifer Palmieri wants an echo chamber: “It wasn’t enough for Palmieri to emasculate poor Matt Yglesias. Now she has to belittle the entire left wing of the Democratic Party. … Jane Hamsher resists.”

ANOTHER TEA PARTY: Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, March 14, at the Statehouse.

MICHAEL BARONE: Ad Hoc Fed, Treasury Acts Caused the Financial Crisis, Not Deregulation, Tax Cuts. Yes, but the narrative has already been chosen.

L.A. TIMES: Why we didn’t cover “tea party” protest.

RICH KARLGAARD: Washington Should Stop Favoring Short-Sellers.

EXCEPT FOR HIS SWEETHEART MORTGAGES AND IRISH “COTTAGE:” Dodd seeks more disclosure for financial instruments.

SOME “COMMON-SENSE GUN LAWS” in Tennessee.

WHO IS JOHN GALT? “I can tell you one thing for sure: that the whole financial mess proves capitalism doesn’t work. When it is controlled by government.”

CONGRESS AT WORK: $1 BILLION AN HOUR.

SAYUNCLE: “When does NRA go from being an all powerful lobbying group to being not worth a mention? Why, when they win, of course.”

DAVID HARSANYI: Now You Own It, Mr. President: Obama’s policies have made the recession worse.

IT’S NOT A RECESSION, it’s a Man-Cession.

NUCLEAR POWER IN FRANCE. I think our energy policy should be more French.

IN THE MAIL: From Roger Benimoff, Faith Under Fire: An Army Chaplain’s Memoir.

A TEA PARTY PROTEST IN ARKANSAS this Saturday: “It’s come to my attention that the Central Arkansas Campaign for Liberty has one of these protests scheduled for Saturday, March 14, at 5 p.m. at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock to coincide with Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s big money fundraiser with Vice President Joe Biden.” Will there be giant pig puppets?

UPDATE: Also Cincinnati on the 15th, 3 O’Clock, Fountain Square.

HE COULD HAVE BEEN A HEARTBEAT AWAY: Edwards talks about poverty, stays silent on paternity.

FROM SUZANNA LOGAN, pivotal life moments.

TOM MAGUIRE: Free speech for TARP recipients? Jane Hamsher thinks not. Okay, if the same thing applies to welfare recipients and members of public-employee unions. . . .

NANCY PELOSI’S AIR RAGE:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has gone from frequent flier to jet-aircraft connoisseur, with aides berating military officials to get the best planes, e-mails revealed yesterday.

Pelosi, who clashed with the military to get nonstop service when she flies home to California with police protection on government planes, revealed a particular fondness for Gulfstream’s sleek G-5 – a plane glamorized in Hollywood films and rap videos.

“It is my understanding there are no G-5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable . . . The speaker will want to know where the planes are,” a Pelosi aide wrote in an angry e-mail to the military.

The country’s in the very best of hands.