GOODBYE:

A handful of senior executives working within American International Group Inc’s controversial financial products unit have resigned, said a company spokeswoman late on Monday.

The division is at the heart of the financial problems that brought AIG to the brink of bankruptcy last September, saved only by a taxpayer bailout that has now swelled to as much as $180 billion.

The spokeswoman declined to specify the exact number of resignations, noting they were expected to be “manageable,” and said there were indications that more will follow.

Hmm.

MCCLATCHY: Congress isn’t feeling much heat from Obama’s ‘army’. “President Barack Obama’s army of canvassers fanned out across the nation over the weekend to drum up support for his $3.55 trillion budget, but they had no noticeable impact on members of Congress, who on Monday said they were largely unaware of the effort.”

IRANIAN BLOGGER dies in jail.

CHANGING CAMPUS CULTURE . . . via democracy?

PLENTY OF RAHM, at the A.I.G. table.

GREAT COMMUNICATOR: “How would he pronounce Cassiopeia?”

UPDATE: Reader R.H. Hardin says Obama’s teleprompter was right, and his critics are wrong:

Or-ee-an is the way the Michigan town of Lake Orion is pronounced.

It traps new newscasters on WJR Detroit.

That’s news to me. But is Orion Energy Systems pronounced like the town, or the constellations?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ed Morrissey emails:

You were right the first time; Obama blew it. He even acknowledged it afterwards. See my update.

I also have the video.

So there you have it.

STOCK ADVICE: Bank of America’s Bernstein Says Sell Bank Stocks After Rally. “Investors should sell bank stocks after they rallied 12 percent today because the Treasury Department’s plan to buy toxic assets won’t stop profits from dropping, Bank of America Corp.’s Richard Bernstein said.”

UPDATE: Or, if you’re really bold, you could take Stacy McCain’s advice.

JIMMY CARTER.

MICHAEL SILENCE: Leaks are springing in the Obama/MSM dike. “This from a columnist who, among other things, rarely saw a gun-control measure he didn’t like.”

HEADLINES THAT DON’T SURPRISE: 67% Say Politicians Should Give Back AIG Contributions, Political Class Disagrees.

DARREN HUTCHINSON: Surprise, Surprise: Potential Participants in Toxic Assets Plan Ask Government to Stay Away From Executive Compensation.

TOM LIFSON reviews Mark Levin’s new book.

PUBLIC OUTRAGE as a systemic risk.

KEEP THIS GUY AWAY FROM BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH: UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt.

JUST IN TIME: Baseball essentials.

THINGS ARE GOING SWIMMINGLY: China calls for new reserve currency. “China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund. . . . ‘This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money,’ said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.” I’m concerned, too.

I JUST SAW AN IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY NAMED FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ on O’Reilly, saying that “All the guns that are going to the drug lords in Mexico are coming from the United States.”

All the guns are coming from the United States? Here’s what the L.A. Times said:

Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semiauto- matic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. . . . The enhanced weaponry represents a wide sampling from the international arms bazaar, with grenades and launchers produced by U.S., South Korean, Israeli, Spanish or former Soviet bloc manufacturers. Many had been sold legally to governments, including Mexico’s, and then were diverted onto the black market. Some may be sold directly to the traffickers by corrupt elements of national armies, authorities and experts say.

Doesn’t sound like more gun control is the solution. And there’s also this: “Testimony from law enforcement officials concludes that, generally, military hardware is not flowing into Mexico from the United States.”

AT SHRINKWRAPPED, THOUGHTS ON POLITICAL DEPRESSION and its treatment. “If people are in despair it is up to them to refuse indulge in the passivity that is the only way Obama succeeds in remaking this country, and take action. Turning passive into active is a time honored treatment for depression.”

DAVID PATERSON’S APPROVAL NUMBERS fall to 19%.

TEST-DRIVING A solar-powered electric race car.

HMM: Law Professor Who Advised Obama Says House AIG Bill May Be Unconstitutional. “I just got off the phone with Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, who advised Obama during the campaign, and he says he’s leaning towards seeing the new House bill to tax back all the AIG bonuses as unconstitutional.”

UPDATE: Tribe vs. Tribe.

AZIZ POONAWALLA: Obama’s video to Iran provokes fear. I hope he’s right.

VIA EMAIL, Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh says that Barack Obama has asked him to be Legal Adviser to the State Department, the nation’s highest international-law post.

WHO PROTECTS the Internet.

MICHAEL BARONE ON THE GENERIC BALLOT: Republicans Aren’t Doing Better, Democrats Are Doing Worse. That seems about right. The Democrats are floundering, and voters have noticed, but the Republicans haven’t stepped up yet.