THE WASHINGTON BLADE WONDERS if the Log Cabin Republicans are controlled by Democrats.

HOPE AND CHANGE! CIA Signals Continuity With Bush Era.

A REMINDER OF OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN PROMISE of a net spending cut.

FASTER, PLEASE: Cheaper Concentrating Solar for Photovoltaics.

HONK! If you’re paying my mortgage.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Allen writes:

Any conservatives that place these well-intentioned TNGOP bumper-stickers on their cars might end up catching a lot of unexpected heat (and hand gestures) from people thinking that *they* are the sub-prime deadbeats.

Shouldn’t the proper message of outrage be “Honk if I’m paying *your* mortgage”??

Several readers have written to this effect, but I think the bumper stickers are better as written. This way, everyone who sees them feels like a sucker — the other way, it makes the bumper sticker owner the sucker. Which is more politically effective?

IN THE MAIL: From Travis Taylor, One Day On Mars.

JAPANESE SCIENTISTS cool to Kyoto.

IS THE FUTURE CANCELLED? A new issue of H+ Magazine is out.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME BLOG: Nacchio conviction reinstated.

AN NYC TEA PARTY PROTEST is scheduled for this Saturday at 2 pm, City Hall Park in Manhattan.

UPDATE: Texas Tea! Protests scheduled for Austin and San Antonio tomorrow.

WELL, THERE’S MONEY THERE: Lobbyists Flock to Climate Issue.

ANOTHER BURRIS BOMBSHELL: Burris’ Son Got State Job From Blago. And now he’s facing foreclosure, having made less than $3000 in payments on a $400K mortgage since 2006. Plus this: “Burris II built his home in the booming Bronzeville neighborhood on land he bought from the City of Chicago in 2000. City records show he paid $1 for the lot as part of an effort to clean up his once-blighted block.”

Your political class at work!

PHILIP JOSE FARMER HAS DIED. If you haven’t ever read him, To Your Scattered Bodies Go is a good place to start.

RECOMMENDED BY MINDLES H. DRECK: Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead.

TIME FOR A TEA PARTY? Chuck Simmins has a list arranged by location. If you can make it to one of these, please send me pics and reports!

And remember these media tips.

POLITICAL WIRE: Top Obama Officials Have Earmarks In Bill.

UPDATE: CQ Politics:

Funny how items show up in spending bills without any notice — like an earmark for a president who promised not to seek any.

President Obama, who took a no-earmark pledge on the campaign trail, is listed as one of dozens of cosponsors of a $7.7 million set-aside in the fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill (HR 1105) passed by the House on Wednesday.

The bill is an accumulation of leftovers from 2008 — spending measures that weren’t enacted before the 110th Congress expired. Lawmakers who wanted money for local projects in those bills were required to submit their requests many months ago, while Obama was still a senator. It’s moving through Congress now because a temporary extension of funds to run the government will run out after March 6.

Obama’s name jumps out on a list of many earmark cosponsors because he and his staff have been so emphatic about his no-earmark stance.

Read the whole thing.

THE TWO-PERCENT ILLUSION. “Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can’t possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama’s new spending ambitions.”

HOLDER AND DALEY: Dan Riehl notes that they’re circulating the talking points on renewing the “assault weapons” ban.

I note that the New York Times is dutifully reciting the narrative. But what about the bazookas? Doesn’t anyone care about the bazookas?

ON THE TRAIL OF OSAMA BIN LADEN using biological tracking models.

RASMUSSEN POLL: Many Americans Question Fairness of Tax System. Plus this: “Most Americans agree it is better to cut taxes than increase government spending, despite the push in Washington for billions of dollars in stimulus spending.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES falls for a parody site. It’s all those layers of editors and fact-checkers . . . .

I CREDIT THE OBAMA TEAM FOR THIS ECONOMIC GOOD NEWS: Sales of Atlas Shrugged are, reportedly, soaring. “Sales of Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ have almost tripled over the first seven weeks of this year compared with sales for the same period in 2008. This continues a strong trend after bookstore sales reached an all-time annual high in 2008 of about 200,000 copies sold.”

MICHAEL TOTTEN POSTS A FIRST-HAND REPORT on Christopher Hitchens and the Battle of Beirut. And remember, he’s supported by reader donations, so if you like his work, you might want to hit the PayPal button. Best line, from Hitchens: “They should have been worried about us.”

HOPE AND CHANGE: Holder Trumpets Continuation of War on Drugs.

STATE OF THE PRESIDENTS: “Clinton 67 million, Bush 66 million, Obama 52 million. . . . Well, the audience for President Obama’s first State of the Union address was big, but failed to come close in size to the audiences that Presidents Clinton and Bush 43 drew in their SOTUs at the nation’s times of crisis.”

More on the ratings at the L.A. Times.

Plus, heh.