ANN ALTHOUSE:

I’m one of those people that pay the entire balance every month to avoid paying any interest, and being told I’ve been taking a free ride all these years does not soften me up to pay my supposed fair share to support the credit card system. I just won’t use the card if that’s the deal. I’ll switch to a debit card or pay cash.

I’m still waiting to be told how this credit-card plan will stimulate the economy. I have my doubts . . . . Interesting discussion in the comments.

LAST LAUGH: “Why are newspapers dying? Because they damn well deserve to.” I talk to the wind. The wind cannot hear.

THE “OBAMA STRADDLE” — a brilliant success! “Sullivan, after writing for years about the lawlessness of the Bush administration, accepts the Obama military commissions largely because of a change in style. Let me repeat: There’s very little substantive difference here between what Bush did and what Obama is doing.” Yeah, but although Obama says he opposes gay marriage, it’s obvious that he’s lying about that — so everything else he does is basically okay! At least in Sullivanland, which has been increasingly divorced from reality since . . . Bush came out against gay marriage.

Said the straight man, to the late man: Where have you been?

UPDATE: Yes, back-to-back King Crimson references. Full lyrics here. Though I was actually listening to the Kirsty Hawkshaw / Opus III version.

MOE LANE looks at the April fundraising numbers: “Bottom line? For a organization that’s supposedly simultaneously dead, hated, at war with itself, and shrinking, the Republican Party seems to be oddly functional.” Hmm. Well, stay tuned.

WHERE’S MY HOPE AND CHANGE? Fed’s Economic Forecast Worsens.

SOME CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS: “Congress has voted to allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The House today approved the measure, 279-147, one day after the Senate acted.” An overwhelming bipartisan vote!

Plus, SayUncle notes that the Brady Campaign blew it on this one.

TERROR PLOT FOILED IN NEW YORK? FBI, NYPD Arrest 4 in Alleged Plot to Bomb NY Synagogues.

MEDIA MATTERS POINTS OUT THAT Fox’s “tea party-like hyping” of Obama protests at Notre Dame didn’t produce much in the way of results.

Which, you know, undercuts previous dismissals of the Tea Party protests as just a Fox News hype-production, right?

BOB SOMERBY defends Donald Rumsfeld.

ALINSKY LIVES: Just remember that these tactics work both ways, and people on the left — used to having the media cover for them and less used to harsh criticism in private settings — are probably more vulnerable. Wind, whirlwind, and all that . . . .

UPDATE: For pointing out the wages of thuggery, I’m accused of being a “tenured thug.” Double standards abound on the left.

IRAQ BOMBINGS? I THOUGHT THOSE HAD STOPPED BECAUSE EVERYONE LOVES OUR PRESIDENT NOW. Reader Paul Harper writes:

Remember how we used to see snaps of the carnage in Iraq before the election? Well, the Obama loving press has decided Iraq no longer matters. But it gets worse, the right is following the left. Nothing on Drudge, the Telegraph or in the Corner of the horrific bombing that killed more than 30 civilians.

We may be tired about reading about bombing, problem is, the bombers aren’t tired of bombing and don’t look to be anytime soon.

Cost of progress or a sign of a what Iraq will look like without the stability US troops provide?

Hard to say, especially if folks aren’t even aware that the bombings have resumed.

Good point.

TEA PARTY POLITICS: A battle from the right is brewing for Bennett: Tax protesters target him for backing $350B bailout for banks.

In his third term in the Senate, Bob Bennett finds himself in unfamiliar and unfriendly waters, roiled by public frustration with Washington and with at least two sharks circling, believing the Republican senator might be vulnerable.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is expected to announce his Senate bid today and Tim Bridgewater abandoned his bid for state party chairman last week, saying he heard all over the state that delegates wanted a more conservative choice for senator.

Bennett was a prime target of tax protesters at “Tea Party” rallies last month, who booed the junior senator for supporting a bank bailout last year; conservative state legislators are breaking with Bennett and lining up with his challengers; and Shurtleff’s internal polling shows Bennett might have cause for concern.

Read the whole thing. Related item here.

A ROUNDTABLE on Pontiac’s demise.

PREHISTORIC Gangsta Grills.

GOING TO COURT: “Three of Chrysler’s secured creditors are mounting a fresh attempt to thwart the carmaker’s Chapter 11 reorganisation on the grounds that it violates their legal rights and the US government’s authority under the Troubled asset relief programme.” Amusingly, they’re pension trusts for unionized state employees.

UPDATE: Related: Chrysler’s chickens, coming home to roost. “Pacific Investment Management Co., Barclays Capital and Fridson Investment Advisors have joined Schultze Asset Management LLC in saying lenders may be unwilling to back unionized companies with underfunded pension and medical obligations, such as airlines and auto-industry suppliers, because Chrysler’s creditors failed to block Obama’s move. The reluctance may put additional pressure on borrowers seeking capital in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

THE FIERCE MORAL URGENCY OF CHANGE: Obama: Plame Lawsuit Should Not Be Reconsidered By Supreme Court. “Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argues the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. It is surprising that the first time the Obama administration has been required to take a public position on this matter, the administration is so closely aligning itself with the Bush administration’s views.” Not so surprising. The shoe is on the other foot now, and that foot aims to . . . well, never mind.

WHY LET PUBLIC INTEREST SUFFER FROM PRIVATE GREED? Nationalize Martin Luther King, Jr.

JOHN PODHORETZ: The old Time and the new Newsweek. The old Time sounds like a lot more fun. . . .

QUESTIONS ABOUT Wolfram Alpha’s terms of use.

PAUL MIRENGOFF: The Testiness Test:

Aggressive questioning of advocates at oral argument is hardly a vice; often it is a plus. Naturally it’s better for judges not to get testy with the lawyers, and certainly the lawyers should be permitted to answer. But judges are human and come with varying demeanors. This variation is evident, for example, on the current Supreme Court.

Nothing I have read about Sotomayor’s demeanor and questioning at oral argument remotely suggests that this set of concerns makes her an objectionable nominee. There really shouldn’t be a “niceness” test for judges and Justices, and judicial temperament in an appellate judge should be measured almost exclusively by what the judge writes in opinions, not by how he or she questions from the bench.

Well, lawyers get unhappy with judges suffering from “black robe fever,” but that’s really only a severe problem in trial-court judges. Plus, this take: “Really, does anybody care if lawyers are intimidated?”

NOW THAT’S COOKING: Memorial Day Burgers with Bourbon Slush.

REASON TV: All The President’s Newsmen: Should Obama Bail Out the Press? Why not? They’ve done it for him already, and he no doubt figures he’ll need their services again. . . .

REASON TV: Privatization In The Age of Obama.

TURNABOUT: Craigslist CEO Files Suit Against South Carolina Attorney General. Craigslist has a lot of users in South Carolina, and I think they should be informed of the situation. . . .

TOYOTA LAUGHS AT THE CHEVY VOLT, indirectly.