IN POPULAR MECHANICS, I have some thoughts on risk, regulation and danger.

POLITICO: INSIDE THE ECHO CHAMBER: “For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.”

HAPPY March Madness.

MICKEY KAUS: 1, 2, Many Zinnis.

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR confuses democracy with socialism. There’s a lot of that going around.

JON STEWART’S INSIDE CONNECTION.

QUAGMIRE! “Bush isn’t even mentioned. That’s big worm-turnage.”

CAN WE ALSO TAX SWEETHEART MORTGAGE DEALS? “Tax AIG Executive Bonuses, Dodd Says.”

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Huffington Post: “There’s also a big spend on political campaigns. For example, all of the US based public accounting firms like US Senator Christopher Dodd. It’s not the man, his party, or his politics, but his position that attracts the dollars. The Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee has significant influence over the legislation affecting the Big 4 public accounting firms. Another big recipient of the audit firms’ largesse is US Senator Charles Schumer. Early in the subprime crisis, he was heard demanding action from, of all people, the accounting firms. This is comical. After all, the public accounting firms pay Schumer to protect their interests, not the other way around.”

Plus, Hartford Courant: Chris Dodd – Rob Simmons Race Heating Up.

Dodd has come under heavy criticism regarding his refinancing of two mortgages – in Connecticut and Washington, D.C. – with Countrywide Financial, one of the nation’s most controversial mortgage lenders. Dodd was entered into a VIP program, but he has said repeatedly that he never sought any preferential treatment as a U.S. Senator on the powerful Senate Banking committee.

Regarding the months-long delays by Dodd and his wife, Jackie, in releasing information about the mortgages, Mann said, “They just believe they’ve done nothing wrong and so they don’t need to address it.”

The article says Dodd is a “seasoned and skilled campaigner,” so I guess that’s how they do things. Plus this observation:

This now poses the question: will painting Democrats as fatcats become a trend for the GOP? In New York’s 20th district special election, the NRCC has blasted venture capitalist Scott Murphy repeatedly for approving bonuses, and the GOP’s messaging in Connecticut could gain a national podium if, as a recent Quinnipiac poll indicates, it’s going to be a nail-biter. Just a thought.

Indeed.

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

SPACE JUNK . . . better put up my umbrella.

THE IMPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE: “So does this mean Maureen Dowd is Nico?”

WASHINGTON POST: Documents: Federal Funding Funneled to Rep. Murtha’s Supporters.

A Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two “handlers” close to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) as it collected nearly $250 million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and sources familiar with the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha’s campaign supporters.

The two advisers included a lobbyist for PMA, a firm with close ties to Murtha that is the subject of a federal probe into whether it made illegal contributions by reimbursing donors to the Pennsylvania lawmaker and other members of Congress. The Electro-Optics Center also relied on advice from a longtime Murtha friend who now works on the congressman’s appropriations staff.

Even Kos is unhappy and calling for an investigation: “House Democrats have been blocking an ethics investigation into this matter. That has to stop now. It was sh*t like this that helped Democrats lose control of the House in 1994, and Republicans in 2006. I’ve got no interest in giving Republicans easy ammunition. We have to show we are different than Republicans by refusing to tolerate any corruption in our ranks.” Good for him — he’s certainly right. But the GOP Congress didn’t listen to me; let’s see if the Dems listen to him . . . .

BRIAN DOHERTY ON concealed-carry reform in California.

TARGETING FALSE PROPHETS:

But rather than attacking just Cramer—who does seem to be an unreliable source of financial information—why not go after Barney Frank who, also in 2003, argued that “these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis.” As the Washington Post reported, Frank “said the [Bush] administration’s position [on tighter regulation of Fannie and Freddy] is driven by concerns about the financial safety and soundness of the companies ‘to the exclusion of concern about housing.'” To the exclusion of concern about housing. But here is a potential difference: Frank hasn’t attacked Barack Obama’s stimulus plan as “causing the greatest destruction of wealth I have ever seen by a president,” as Cramer recently did.

But of course, you rubes, cable television is the real malevolent power behind the financial crisis. Mustache-twisting CEOs use financial news programs to manufacture consent!

Pay no attention to the corrupt legislator behind the curtain.

AT LEAST IT WASN’T HIS FREEZER: Accused Tech Official Had $4,500 Inside His Pajamas. “The D.C. technology manager accused of operating a sophisticated bribery and kickback scam had more than $4,500 inside the pajamas he was wearing at the time he was arrested last week and told an informant that he gave $100,000 in cash to his mother to take back to his native Turkey, federal prosecutors said.”

Yeah, I know, you’re expecting some sort of blogger/pajamas joke, but I got nothin’.

A REPORT FROM A Tampa Tea Party get-together. 200 showed, which promises success in the future.

AN A.I.G. “tweetstorm” on Capitol Hill.

AND YET, THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT BONUSES?

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and a parade of European banks were the major beneficiaries of $93 billion in payments from AIG — more than half of the U.S. taxpayer money spent to rescue the massive insurer.

The revelation on Sunday by American International Group Inc was another potential public relations nightmare.

It’s as if all this bonus-talk is just some kind of distraction.

SMART DIPLOMACY: Mexico to impose sanctions on US exports.

TOM MAGUIRE: A compelling message of personal responsibility. “This is from the Administration that appointed tax cheat Tim Geithner to head the Treasury, inspired no doubt by his marvelous success at the NY Fed, where he had regulatory responsibility for Citigroup. Not only did Geithner cash his paychecks, he cheated on the taxes (in his IMF days) – maybe they should think long and hard about that before lecturing anyone else.”

NO, WE CAN’T.

GERARD VAN DER LEUN won’t miss the Post-Intelligencer.

What we will never hear is that their editorial policies and news slanting were part and parcel of their demise. We will never hear about the willed insults, slights, and snubbing of fully half of their potential circulation pool. Journalists and editors write a lot about “taking personal responsibility” when it comes to others. You never hear them write that about themselves. There’s no mea culpa among liberal newspaper journalists these days. There’s only “The Internet ate my newspaper.”

Ouch.

RESPONDING TO A TOUGH ECONOMY with barter.

ALASKA DODGES BANKING COLLAPSE.

UPDATE: “I blame Sarah Palin.”