DAN RIEHL HAS THOUGHTS on politics and the Tea Party movement.

SWINE FLU CONTINUES TO SPREAD, but slowly.

FIFTY TOOLS EVERYONE SHOULD OWN. I’ve got most of them, but . . . .

LOTS OF COVERAGE ON THE CHRYSLER BANKRUPTCY AND MORE, at The Truth About Cars.

IN THE MAIL: When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror.

SCIENCE: Now a popularity contest?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER on Torture and What Nancy Pelosi Knew.

THE JOY OF MEAT: The tiresome vegetarian stuff has become so routine that a burger seems delightfully transgressive. At least, that was my thought when I saw this ad on TV the other day. But, really, what wouldn’t be delightful, if Padma Lakshmi is involved?

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HOPE AND CHANGE: Factory orders tumble.

HISPANIC DEMS FURIOUS at being pictured with President Obama. No, really, that’s pretty much the gist of the story. . . .

PRIVATE-SECTOR DISEASE SURVEILLANCE? “A Washington state biosurveillance firm raised the first warning about a possible outbreak of swine flu in Mexico more than two weeks before the World Health Organization offered its initial alert about a public health emergency of international concern.” Sounds like something out of Rainbows End. Well, 2025 is getting closer all the time . . . .

PHIL CARTER’S NEW JOB is official. Congratulations, Phil! And good luck.

A GAY MARRIAGE bandwagon effect?

PETER HITCHENS: On Being A Gun Nut. “As I argue in my book ‘A Brief History of Crime’, it’s the great gulf between police and public over how the law should be enforced that lies behind two important features of modern Britain. The frequent arrests of people for defending themselves or their property are not accidents or quirks. They are the consequence of the Criminal Justice system’s abandonment of old-fashioned ideas of punishment; also of that system’s social democratic belief that crime has ‘social’ causes and the ownership of property isn’t absolute. Most law-abiding people don’t really accept this. They think criminals do bad things because they lack conscience or restraint, not because they were abused as children or their dole payments are too small. And they don’t see why they have to barricade their houses or hide their worldly goods from view on the assumption that some unrestrained low-life is otherwise bound to steal them. So they regard it as legitimate to hurt and punish those who rob them or otherwise attack them. If they were allowed to enforce the law as they see it, they would quickly show the police and courts up as useless and mistaken. One of the most important jobs of the police is to stop us looking after ourselves, in case we do a better job than PC Plod.”

CHRIS DODD GETS more constituent criticism:

After some rather self-congratulatory remarks by Sen. Dodd and Chris Murphy, the U.S. congressman from the district (and a former intern in Dodd’s office), the questions were chosen and read.

Nothing about the banking crisis. Nothing about Countrywide or AIG. Nothing about Sen. Dodd’s lovely seaside “cottage” in Ireland, which has led to some intriguing questions about mortgage financing and property transfers. Not a word about any of it.

My question for Sen. Dodd was this: Shouldn’t you consider, in light of the compromising information that has been reported, resigning as chairman of the Senate banking committee?

It was not read. Nor were any questions submitted by the other journalists read. Meanwhile, Dodd and Murphy held forth at length on the benefits of single-payer health insurance (good), global warming (bad), and the beliefs and practices of the previous administration and Congress (really bad). The hours passed slowly.

I’m sure they did.

ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS you didn’t ask.

THE EXAMINER: Sims Nomination Mocks Obama’s Transparency Claims.

Sims has been King County Executive in Washington state since 1996. Under his watch, local government was fined after it failed to produce documents concerning construction of the Qwest sports stadium. The Supreme Court of Washington, in a blistering ruling on the case issued this past January, said officials illegally withheld documents from requestor Armen Yousoufian. “The unchallenged findings of fact demonstrate King County repeatedly deceived and misinformed Yousoufian for years,” Justice Richard Sanders wrote. “King County told Yousoufian it produced all the requested documents, when in fact it had not.” . . .

Sims was also in the middle of accusations of voter fraud in the 2004 governor’s race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Chris Gregoire. King County counted hundreds of ineligible ballots. Gregoire eventually won by a mere 133 votes after multiple recounts in which local officials repeatedly “discovered” additional lost ballots. Last week, King County reportedly paid $225,000 to settle an FOI suit brought by conservative blogger Stephan Sharkansky concerning recount documents that officials refused to give him for three years. So why would Obama, who promises unprecedented transparency in government, even think of nominating this guy?

Good question.

SOUTER REPLACEMENTS: Five Likely Picks. Plus, here’s my slightly-bleary insta-analysis from last night, on the XM Radio show PJM Political.

UPDATE: Time: White Men Need Not Apply. Not in the new “post-racial” era!

DUDE, WHERE’S MY TAX CUT? “Smoke, meet mirror.”

HECKLE AND CHIDE: When bus passengers yell at driver, it improves safety. Is this an argument for free speech in general?

SAYUNCLE: “A bill in TN to require someone subject to an order of protection for domestic violence relinquish their firearms has advanced in the senate. That’s right. No conviction, no jury of peers, just an order of protection based on one person’s word over another.” Apparently this would apply even to ex parte temporary orders. I’m not sure that’s constitutional, either under federal or Tennessee constitutional law.

THE HILL: Ethics Panel Pressured to Launch PMA Probe:

The House ethics committee is facing more public pressure to launch a probe into a lobbying firm under investigation by the FBI and its ties to three powerful Democrats.

Four watchdog groups, Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG, are urging the ethics panel to investigate activities involving PMA Group and Democratic Reps. John Murtha (Pa.), Peter Visclosky (Ind.) and Jim Moran (Va.), all members of the House defense appropriations subcommittee.

Seems like an investigation is called for.

F.E.C. SLAPS AL SHARPTON with $285,000 fine. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, but the F.E.C. should still be abolished as unconstitutional.

AN AL-MARRI GUILTY PLEA: Former ‘enemy combatant’ pleads guilty in Illinois. “A man whose case sparked a furious legal debate over whether the government can hold terrorism suspects indefinitely entered a surprise guilty plea, admitting to training in al-Qaida camps and coming to the nation’s heartland a day before Sept. 11.”

SENATOR SPECTER, meet your new friends.