AS THE REST OF THE COUNTRY DOES WORSE, Washington thrives.

A BLOG-REVIEW of Taking Chance. “It is rare that I can recommend a movie without having to issue some sort of caveat, but I can do it with this one.”

RANDY BARNETT: “Republicans be warned: No demonstrably creationist politician will be elected President of the United States.”

THE DEFICIT: A $300 billion rounding error? But wait, it gets worse: “And, in the best tradition of B.S. D.C. accounting methods, the $1.3 [trillion] figure doesn’t include the nearly $800 billion in stimulus spending or the $275 billion to forestall mortgage defaults or war costs for FY2009 or whatever TARP 2 costs, so the actual deficit figure (assuming revenue projections are good, which they likely aren’t) is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 [trillion] at a bare minimum. At $1.3 [trillion], the deficit would be 9.2 percent of GDP, a figure not seen since World War II. Under Ronald Reagan, whose deficits scared the bejeezus out of most people, the biggest deficit amounted to 6.4 percent of GDP.”

UPDATE: Link fixed; original post seems to have been deleted b/c of billion/trillion confusion and reposted.

ANNE BAYEFSKY: The Obama Administration Sacrifices Israel.

JOHN MCWHORTER AND GLENN LOURY: Quit whining about that monkey cartoon!

CHARLIE SYKES: Is the “Tea Party USA” movement growing?

DAVID WARREN: Back to the Carter Era. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.

MOSTLY COMIC, SURE. But “evolved?” Not so I’ve noticed.

BEST AND WORST MOMENTS from the Oscars. From the blog accounts I read, I didn’t think there were any best moments.

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: “Though reporters and constituents have followed the money to tie U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) along a string of controversies over the past year, he remains a fixture both in Washington and New York as his past credentials and ability to charm a crowd maintain Rangel’s political stature.” Also, Republicans feel they can do business with him, and that he’d just be replaced by another Democrat anyway, so why make a big deal about his numerous ethics problems?

Plus this:

Columbia history professor David Eisenbach ascribed Rangel’s alleged improprieties to a sense of complacency common among elected officials who have served for such long stints.

“Rangel is not unusual in having tax problems,” said Eisenbach, who lectures in American media and politics. “People in power have a tendency to feel that they are above the law. When you are in power that long, and you’re untouchable, it’s very easy to forget. He never has to look over his shoulder.”

Taxes are for the little people.

HOPE FOR CHANGE: “At a GOP pow-wow this weekend, the mood was jovial: a month into the Obama administration there is reason for optimism.”

CNBC: Santelli’s Manifesto: Why He Called for a ‘Tea Party’.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Remembering Chris Dodd and Enron. ” As a result of Dodd’s intervention, the SEC agreed not to issue a ban on the practice of auditing and consulting for the same client. Such practices have led to what Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) called ‘the kind of hide-the-debt shell game that took place at Enron.’ In an ultimate act of hypocrisy, Dodd has now actually introduced legislation to ban accounting firms from doing consulting for companies it audits, precisely the same policy he killed when the SEC was considering it.”

Kind of got a pattern here, don’t we? Next we’ll find out that Dodd’s shady Irish cottage had a subprime loan . . . .

MICHAEL YON: Finishing off Al Qaeda in Iraq.

CHANGE I COULD BELIEVE IN: Will Obama End the War on Drugs’ Undermining of the War on Terror? That would be great, but Obama, Holder, et al., have pretty strong drug-warrior records, so I’m not overly hopeful. I’d like to be wrong, though.

Some related — and, alas, apt — thoughts from Randy Barnett.