POLITICO: The case for doing nothing. “Washington has a habit of passing legislation in a crisis and suffering from morning-after regrets — the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and last year’s original bank bailout plan come to mind. So we thought it would be wise to air the views of the naysayers toward Washington’s latest consensus approach.”

Thing is, when it’s prudence vs. pork, prudence usually comes in a poor second. Which is how we got into this mess to begin with . . . . Plus this: “Policymakers are saying: ‘Screw the future generations.’” Like I said.

SMALL-GOVERNMENT EGALITARIANISM: “Libertarian progressivism distrusts big increases in government spending because that spending is likely to favor the privileged.”

BLAGOJEVICH: The gun that didn’t smoke.

WEASELS VS. AIDS RELIEF:

Some of the personnel stumbles of the Obama administration — including the abortive nomination of Bill Richardson as commerce secretary — resulted from incompetent vetting. William Lynn’s reception as deputy secretary of defense has been complicated by hypocrisy — the administration’s attempt to gain political credit for a restrictive lobbying ban it swiftly violated to get a qualified appointee.

But one major personnel error was made from malice. And it calls into question the depth and duration of President Obama’s “new politics.” . . . It is difficult to imagine what vision of public service could cause any Obama official to celebrate a victory by sabotaging a good man and a good cause. And it is difficult to conceive what political gain Obama has achieved. This type of captivity to extreme interests is precisely what has discredited Democrats so often in the past. It is a kind of politics with all the “newness” of a purge, all the “freshness” of a mugging.

Read the whole thing.

MORE ON THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE, from Radley Balko.

BUT IT’S NOT A CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR HILLARY! Bill Clinton made millions from foreign sources.

BACK TO THE FUTURE with the awful archconservative Roberts Court.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “If anyone wished to know what the baby-boomer generation would do when, in its full maturity, it hit its first self-created, big-time recession, I think we are seeing the hysterical results. After two decades of unprecedented economic growth, rampant consumer spending, and unimaginable borrowing to satisfy our insatiable appetites, we are suddenly going into even larger debt and printing trillions of dollars in paper money to ensure that someone else after we are gone pays the debt.” Fortitude has never been a Boomer virtue.

THE CARNIVAL OF SPACE is up.

UNDERCOVER PATIENT: A story about Norah Vincent and her research for her book Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost And Found in the Loony Bin.

LES JONES: What if they had an inflation and nobody came? I’m still trying to figure out if this is good news or bad news . . . .

“STIMULUS” TIME LAGS:

So only 8 percent of this spending occurs in budget year 2009, and only 41 percent occurs in first two years.

The rest occurs far enough out to help boost the inevitable inflation . . . .

Plus, what Keynes learned from experience.

DEREK LOWE ON THE DRUG INDUSTRY’S PROBLEMS: “Those of us in the drug industry don’t really know what to expect from the Obama administration (although we’re pretty sure that we’re probably not going to like a lot of what we’re likely to get). But it’s not like things were going wonderfully during the Bush years, either, to be honest. Decisions on Medicare pricing, liability law, reimportation and other issues can all have their effects, but none of them will change the underlying problems that have put the business where it is.”

SOME LEFTIES don’t like the Cass Sunstein appointment.

It’s probably my fault for praising the choice. . . .

WHEN MICROPHONE GEEKS blog. Yes, that’s my brother Jonathan. And yes, he’s become a microphone geek far in excess of my own microphone geekery.

A DENVER JOURNALIST’S brave stand against racism.

HALF-PRICE SWISS ARMY KNIVES. I’m a Swiss Army guy. My brother is a Leatherman guy. My brother-in-law is a Gerber Multitool guy. But we all get along. Kumbaya!

UPDATE: Reader John Richardson writes: “Thanks for posting about the Swiss Army Knife sale. I ended up buying a silver alox SAK Farmer model – kind of like a Boy Scout knife with an added little saw blade. It is not like I need another knife or two as I stare down at the pile of knives on my desk and in the desk drawer. Oh, well, I can always use another knife!” Can’t everyone?

ANOTHER casualty of the recession.

AZIZ POONAWALLA ARGUES THAT Joshua Treviño should replace Bill Kristol. Treviño is a swell guy, but is he “establishment” enough for the Times?

DEPARTMENT OF SELF-PARODY: Joy Behar Says Obama Too Perfect for Mockery. “No wonder President Obama doesn’t want Republicans listening to Rush Limbaugh.”

DOWN THE TUBES AT THE EUROPEAN UNION: “If you want to see just where the EU is going, then take a look at sections 1205-00 and 1206-00. Both of them say that it is a crime to ‘insult’ the State, the Nation, the symbols of the State or Nation, or representatives of the State/Nation. Does this mean that it is considered a crime if someone writes an op-ed that is disparaging of a politician? Sure sounds like it.” Experience suggests that if challenged, they’ll say of course not. Then, in the right case, they’ll change their mind.

“THROWING A POTPOURRI OF SPENDING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS . . . LIKE THROWING MONEY INTO A MUD PUDDLE:” Bob Corker on the “stimulus.”

HOW VERY SMART PEOPLE set the stage for financial disasters.

Back during the Savings and Loan crisis, I talked to Jack Reese, who was on the board of a local S&L that had done fine. “We were just dumb enough that we thought borrowing at 4% and lending at 7% was a good enough business that we didn’t need to do fancy deals,” he said.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

MIGHT AS WELL BUY THAT HUMMER, THEN: New Study Shows Climate Change Largely Irreversible.

Well, not really, but . . . .