YOU CAN JUST SAY “I FORGOT!” “Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother solicited U.S. Sen. Roland Burris for up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Blagojevich named Burris to the coveted post — something Burris initially failed to disclose under oath before an Illinois House impeachment panel, records and interviews show. . . . Burris’ statement offers the third version of events he has given about his discussions concerning the Senate seat, to which Blagojevich appointed him in late December, after Blagojevich was hit with federal corruption charges that included an allegation he tried to sell the Senate appointment.”

We’re seeing an awful lot of that these days.

GOOD NEWS: Solar Photovoltaic Prices Seen Falling.

“WE ARE ALL FASCISTS NOW.” Hmm. Somebody should write a book about this phenomenon.

WILLIAM BRIGGS, STATISTICIAN: Count ‘em: The White House should not control the Census.

THE REALLY IMPORTANT STORY I MISSED THIS WEEK: Stephen Colbert’s colonoscopy.

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of news from the Apple Empire. Including “International Verify Your Backups Day.” Not a bad idea.

AT POPULAR MECHANICS: Blacksmithing 101: How to Make a Forge and Start Hammering Metal. A fun project, an enjoyable hobby, and a potentially valuable skill in the event of civilizational collapse!

I actually seriously considered setting up a forge a few years ago — my friends and I made Roman armor (lorica segmentata) back in high school and this stuff has always interested me. I reluctantly concluded — even pre-InstaPundit — that the last thing I needed was another time-consuming hobby . . .

HAROLD FORD, JR. FOR Secretary of Commerce?

JAMES RUMMEL: “What would happen if the police chief of a major city in the United States was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by criminals? I’m asking because something like that occurred in Mexico over the weekend.”

TODD ZYWICKI on bankruptcy and mortgage modifications.

IF HE WERE AN HONEST POLITICIAN, HE’D STAY BOUGHT: Sneaky Dodd Slips Bank Pay Limits Into Porkulus Bill. Of course, if a lot of bank executives jump ship and the banks crash, they can be nationalized and staffed with political loyalists, so it’s all good. . . . Some related thoughts here.

Dodd, Senate Banking Committee chairman, was a “friend of Angelo” as in Angelo Mozillo, the former CEO of Countrywide. As such Dodd received mortgage loans at favorable interest rates.

Being a one-time friend of Angelo’s has made Dodd seem much less a friend of the people. Quinnipiac University has a recent poll that suggested that Dodd could be vulnerable. . . . The Dodd provision in the stimulus legislation will certainly give Dodd a way to change the subject when Republicans hit him with the “friend of Mozillo” charge when his re-election campaign gets into high gear next year.

Seems to me that it’s a demonstration of double-ended opportunism, but I guess Dodd’s hoping the voters are too dumb to notice.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Advice on successful kissing from Popular Science. And, really, isn’t that the first place you’d go for kissing advice?

FOR A FRUGAL VALENTINE, skip the actual holiday and celebrate a week later to take advantage of the sales!

VIA THE COMMENTS AT BLACKFIVE, a Calvin and Hobbes take on the “stimulus.” Thanks to reader Wayne Hegner for the link.

POST-STIMULUS ADVICE: Don’t Get Angry, Get Even And Move Forward.

MEDICAL PRIVACY: A warning to Markos and me?

WEIRD: Toby Buckell reports on the experience of writing on paper.

IN THE MAIL: From Michael Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq.

HMM: Justice Department Lawyers Held in Contempt: “An angry federal judge held Justice Department lawyers in contempt yesterday for failing to deliver documents to former senator Ted Stevens’s legal team, as he had ordered. . . . ‘Isn’t the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?'”

I am, as readers well know, no Ted Stevens fan, but it’s beginning to look as if he got the shaft in this case. Did his absence allow the stimulus bill to go through? . . . .

OBAMA runs for the memory hole. Again.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Hartford Courant: Mortgaging His Future: “Five-term U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has some thinking to do. Poll numbers are dropping and potential Republican opponents are circling like sharks in the water, sensing an opportunity to end the political career of Connecticut’s tarnished Democratic icon. . . . But the heaviest anchor around his neck is the controversy over the two mortgages he refinanced in 2003 at favorable terms with now-defunct Countrywide Financial. On Feb. 2, he let some reporters see the documents and announced he was refinancing again through a third party to remove the Countrywide taint. It seems a case of too little, too late. Quinnipiac’s latest polling yielded the senator’s worst results ever.”

GREGG WITHDRAWAL Ignites Census Rhubarb. “The White House power grab to apply ‘oversight’ of the national head count process will set off a war with the GOP.”

MORE ON THE PMA / MURTHA SCANDAL from Dan Riehl.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY: Some advice from Amy Alkon and the Insta-Wife. Sex, love, and those damn Valentine’s day jewelry commercials. Plus, if Valentine’s Day is for women, what about “steak and bj day” for men? (Bumped for Valentine’s Day).

SOMEBODY AT BORDERS has a sly sense of humor.