HARTFORD COURANT: Ethics Complaint From Judicial Watch Says Price Dodd Paid For Cottage Amounts To A Gift.

Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint Friday against U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, saying the price Dodd paid for his cottage in Ireland amounted to a gift from a friend and accusing the senator of failing to report it as such on government disclosure forms.

“It’s relatively straightforward,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “It looks like he is getting taken care of in Ireland, and he’s not reporting the nature of the gifts he is getting as a result of his being taken care of.”

Dodd’s office responded angrily, attacking Judicial Watch’s credibility, criticizing the group’s complaint and criticizing The Courant for reporting it.

No defensiveness here.

TODAY IN L.A., it’s the Grilled Cheese Invitational!

MORE ON EARMARKS from Keith Hennesey.

RANDY BARNETT: How Tea Partiers Can Make Washington Pay Attention.

“QUIET SUN” BAFFLING ASTRONOMERS, new flu outbreaks, and worries about “civil unrest.” I feel like I’m in a John Ringo novel. That is, when I don’t feel like I’m living in Fallen Angels.

PUNISHING A doctor-patient romance. I agree that it’s hypocritical to punish consensual relationships more harshly than serious medical mistakes. But not surprising.

Plus, from the comments: “How do you get emotionally dependent on someone you see for a 3 minute visit?” Heh.

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN:

What does it means when you have an editorial in the US News and World Report that says gun control is unconstitutional, period, and the Baltimore Sun runs an article about the ineffectiveness of the gun control movement?

It means victory.

MICKEY KAUS: The Hole in TNR’s Big Obama Theory.

Plus this: “Do the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department really think they can keep the results of the ‘stress tests’–i.e. which banks are in trouble and which aren’t–secret until May 4? With no flurry of trading on insider knowledge?” I hope somebody at the Public Integrity section is tracking congressional stock trades . . . .

A BIG SPRING CLOTHING SALE at Amazon. (Via TigerHawk).

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: WaPo: “In Connecticut, Sen. Chris Dodd (D) has been in free fall for the better part of the last year — the result of a hopeless presidential bid (in which he moved his family to Iowa for a time) as well as entanglements with scandal-tarred companies like Countrywide and AIG.” And don’t forget that Irish “cottage!”

CDC SWINE FLU INFECTION-CONTROL GUIDELINES.

UPDATE: World Health Organization “very, very concerned.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: “Raising alarm” among U.S. officials.

WOMEN’S SKI-JUMPING LAWSUIT wraps up in Vancouver.

FALLOUT: Homeland Security replacing intel official: “The head of the Homeland Security agency responsible for a controversial report that suggested veterans were being recruited to commit terrorist acts in the U.S. is being replaced by a former FBI and CIA official. . . . The announcement came on the eve of a scheduled meeting between Ms. Napolitano and the head of the American Legion, who expressed outrage last week at the report.”

GOOD QUESTION: Why Doesn’t The Stimulus Include Money For Painting Roofs And Roads White? Some earlier thoughts on that subject here.

PIRACY UPDATE: Petraeus: Shippers should consider armed guards.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN THIS WOULD HAPPEN. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Political Extremism Infiltrates the Pentagon.

I’D FEEL SORRIER FOR THE C.I.A. FOLKS, if they hadn’t run a multiyear leak-war against the Bush Administration. Did they really think electing Obama would improve their situation? Once again, they don’t seem to have gamed things out to the end.

UPDATE: Charlie Foxtrot: The CIA is not monolithic. Well, true — but lack of organizational discipline has its price. If CIA leadership had wanted to shut down those leaks, I think it probably could have.

BUY IN BULK! “If not for the on-off interrogation show trial debacle, the biggest presidential misstep of the week would have been the laughable effort to nibble $100M out of the federal budget.”

It’s a target-rich environment. More: “But this is what the Obama team is forced to resort to — silly symbolic efforts because of the trap they find themselves in, or rather, have put themselves in. They have created a massively irresponsible budget that will, over time, eat up more and more of the GDP and strain our ability to finance our debt. And the public, independent voters especially, are very nervous about it. Figuring that the public isn’t paying much attention to the number of zeroes, Obama throws out a number that used to sound like a lot of money — $100M. But the public is perhaps smarter than Obama reckons, and the administration’s critics aren’t playing along with the charade.”

TALIBAN SPOKESMAN BLAMES AMERICAN WOMEN. Make that a geographically-challenged Taliban spokesman.

WOUNDS THAT a letter and a visit cannot repair.

MORE FROM STEFAN SHARKANSKY: Speaking of Ron Sims: “King County Executive Ron Sims, who is ultimately responsible for any records violations under his administration, appears to be on track for confirmation as Deputy Secretary of HUD. Sims is also well known for the Yousoufian public records scandal.”

REMEMBERING J.G. Ballard.

SAVING ENERGY with Kill-A-Watt?

DELL GOES IN for plastic surgery.

BEING A BLOGGING GADFLY CAN BE LUCRATIVE! Just ask Stefan Sharkansky: “King County has now settled my public records lawsuit for $225,000, one of the largest settlements for public records violations in state history.” Read the whole thing. No, really — it’s big.