LOTS OF PENSION NEWS — pretty much all of it bad — at PensionTsunami.com.

THE HILL: Fundraiser for Murtha may have broken campaign finance rules.

POLITICO’S BUSINESS MODEL vs. The New York Times’: “Exit question: which newspaper’s business model consists of handouts from a shady Mexican oligarch, a tapped-out credit line, and a new mortgage on their office space. Hint: It’s not Politico.”

WHAT A BREDESEN CABINET APPOINTMENT would do to the Tennessee GOP.

HARTFORD COURANT: Rob Simmons vs. Sen. Chris Dodd in 2010? Well, with his nosedive in the polls after the Countrywide Mortgage scandal and his modified-limited-hangout response, Dodd is vulnerable.

Plus this: Not Too Soon To Speculate On 2010 U.S. Senate Race.

When Sen. Christopher Dodd temporarily released some of the long withheld records of his home mortgages – reporters could look at, but not copy them – he said he and his wife will re-refinance their mortgages from the failed Countrywide Financial Corp. “to insulate ourselves against an accusation that we’re trying to get some special deal.”

But even if Dodd manages to get his special, “VIP” mortgage deal behind him, he will still have to insulate himself from a much bigger money problem if he runs for a sixth term next year.

He will have to answer charges that the companies responsible for the nation’s economic collapse are the same companies that financed the senator’s political career.

Indeed.

STILL MORE PICS from the Denver taxpayers’ rally.

Plus, news coverage in The Examiner and the Denver Post. From the latter:

As President Barack Obama’s pen touched paper today to make the federal stimulus bill law, hundreds of people rallied on the west side of the Colorado Capitol to decry the stimulus as irresponsible.

Protesters chanted, “No more pork!” and a few wore costume pig noses. They waved giant $30,000 novelty checks, representing the amount they said the stimulus would cost individual taxpayers. . . .

Many in the crowd professed great skepticism about whether the stimulus would spur the economy.

“I just think there’s no stimulus here,” said Peter Paulos of Denver. “It’s all pork barrel, and I think there are some hidden measures in it. Nobody really read the bill.”

Well, that’s certainly true. Read the whole thing.

MORE: Still more coverage, plus a photo slideshow.

Plus, reader Fred LaSor writes: “Did you notice who was NOT at the Denver Taxpayers’ Protest? Tim Geithner. ‘Cause he’s not a taxpayer?” Heh. Not really fair, but . . . not really unfair.

STILL MORE: Video. And lots more here.

MORE STILL: Next protest scheduled for Mesa, Arizona. (Bumped).

REIHAN SALAM: We’ve already nationalized the banks. “But the important thing to keep in mind is that it was the TARP that enmeshed the federal government in keeping the banks afloat. There are many good, principled arguments against the first bank bailout, and I fully expect that populist conservatives will make them for years to come, as well they should. Now, however, we’re living in a second-best world, and the nationalization-reprivatization actually dovetails with core conservative themes: rather than giving incumbent bankers handouts, the government would be demanding accountability.”

HOW MUCH DOES THE STIMULUS WEIGH? “That’s more than an Iowa class battleship.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Geert Wilders Is a Test for Western Civilization. “If Rushdie should be defended, why not the Dutch pol?”

POLITICO ON STANFORD FINANCIAL: Accused fraudster gave big to Dems. So, expect this story to die?

Plus, Dan Riehl is connecting the dots.

JAMES TARANTO: Man allegedly beheads wife. Feminists shrug.

FABIUS MAXIMUS: “The media doing what it does best these days, feeding us disinformation.”

MOE LANE EMAILS: “Did I somehow miss that Rahm Emanuel was on Freddie Mac’s board during the fraud period?”

IN DEFENSE OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. (Via A.C. Kleinheider).

READER MATT HOLTZMANN WRITES: “Today’s Times has a front page expose’ of the secret drone base in Pakistan. It tells all, including fuel usage. This should immediately result in censure of Dianne Feinstein. She has recklessly endangered American lives once again. She should have her security clearance pulled at the very least.”

UPDATE: Find the Drone. OPSEC problems abound.

WHAT TO BUY? A Sunday New York Times? Or a share of NYT stock? The stock’s cheaper.

IS STENY HOYER setting up an anti-Pelosi coup?

TROJAN PIG.

BUILDING A Jeffersonian Technocracy?

A BUNCH OF PHOTOS FROM THE DENVER TAXPAYERS’ PROTEST.

Plus, “Yes we care.” “Community organizing helped propel Barack Obama to the White House. It could work for fiscal conservatism, too.” Still more here. And reader Judith Sears emails:

I went to the Denver Pork Protest today. I don’t have a camera, so no pics. There was a good crowd – I’d guess 250 – 300, but I’m no expert. Somebody announced to us that the signing had only attracted about 75…but it was invite-only. The protest crowd was pumped and enthusiastic. The organizers brought up a pig, which got the most applause. Unfortunately, the Colorado Republicans are uninspiring speakers and didn’t seem to get the point that this was a rally – a time for chanting and hooting and hollering. Most read their speeches – poorly – and the speeches, although okay on substance, sounded like something that should be delivered on the floor of the House or Senate, not something for pumping up the base for a long political struggle. Nevertheless, we cheered whenever we got the chance and got some “No More Pork” chants going in between speakers.

Was anybody else there? Oh, yeah, here are more pictures.

And more pictures here.

A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM Prof. Michael O’Shea: The Right to Defensive Arms After District of Columbia v. Heller. (Bumped).

CAR LUST: The Kaiser Henry J. Not quite as cool-looking as the Hudson Jet, but like the Jet it killed its maker. And there’s a modern-sounding twist:

In 1949 he secured a $44 million loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a government agency, on the condition that some of the loan funds would go to the development costs of a new small car. The loan agreement required that the car be introduced in the fall of 1950, that it should have room for six adult passengers, and that it sell for no more than $1,300. . . . In Hudson’s case, it brought the well-appointed, superbly engineered Jet to market at too high a price point and lost sales as a result. Kaiser couldn’t overshoot the price point or it would cause a default on the government loan, so it came at the problem from the other direction–it de-contented the car to keep the price down. The plan was to introduce the base model first, and then roll out the upscale trim levels later.

Instead, Kaiser went broke because nobody bought it. Now we’ve got efforts to do the same thing: Government loans and “guidance” to the car companies on what they should be selling. Everything old is new again! Wonder how it’ll work out this time? But check out the pics — it could have been a nice-looking car.

FRANK TIPLER on The Caine Mutiny and Global Warming.

MEXICO: “Things are getting pretty bad in Mexico when the foreign minister has to deny that it’s a failed state.”

L.A. TIMES ROUNDS UP reactions to the stimulus-bill signing.

UPDATE: “The beginning of the end?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: “The administration official said the president was reserving for himself any decision on the viability of G.M. and Chrysler.”

Kind of a striking phrase, isn’t it?

MORE: “What you didn’t see.”