TOBY HARNDEN SAYS THAT THE OBAMA IRISH TELEPROMPTER GAFFE STORY is bogus. Thanks to reader Bill Jones for the link.

IN THE MAIL: Tal Ben-Shahar’s The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life.

IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN: Geithner agrees to new currency. It’s made in China, anyway.

SOMETHING “CREEPY” about the Americorps expansion?

SHOULD THE PRESIDENT BE working harder? I think he should take as much time off as he wants.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Rahm Emanuel’s profitable stint at mortgage giant: Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000. “Emanuel’s Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation’s current economic mess.” And that’s just the beginning of Emanuel’s financial history . . . .

THINGS HEATING UP with that North Korean launch. Some thoughts on the international law involved, here.

A QUESTION: So with the unaccounted-for TARP money, the AIG bailout debacle, and the uncertainty about whether the U.S. wants the dollar to remain the reserve currency, why is anyone enthused about giving the government more responsibility for the economy?

UPDATE: A.P.: Bold claims of stimulus jobs can’t be measured.

No promise from President Barack Obama is more important to the wounded economy than his vow to save or create some 3.5 million jobs in two years. In support of that bottom line, the government even tells states how many jobs they can expect to see from the spending and tax cuts.

But precise trajectories are impossible to plot and even approximations can be wildly off, as the authors of these forecasts acknowledge, usually more readily than the policymakers who use them to promote the plan.

Flip through the stacks of economic analyses underpinning the stimulus plan and you find a lot of throat-clearing qualifications and angst.

If you regulated politicians’ economic promises like businesses’ they’d all be in jail.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Financial Times: Obama’s Bank Plan Could Rob The Taxpayer.

HEH: Clockwise from left: Bernanke, Geithner, Soros. “400 Quatloos on the newcomer!”

“You’re killing her!” That would be the economy . . .

Plus, Bill Quick Joins George Soros in gloating.

USA TODAY: Sen. Dodd’s record raises doubts about his commitment, judgment. “At times, Dodd has seemed confused about whom he represents. Is it the people of Connecticut and other average Americans? Or the powerful financial and insurance interests that have given him more than $9.2 million in campaign donations during his long Senate career?”

“DIRTY MONEY:” “Mikulski did not respond to a phone call requesting comment.”

IT’S LIKE IT’S NOT MEANT TO ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING: Slow Start for New Congressional Ethics Office.

The slow pace in getting the outside ethics office geared up also shows a larger problem House and Senate Democrats have on the ethics front — especially with troubled lawmakers such as Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) — and that has party strategists privately concerned about a backlash in 2010. . . . Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has been under investigation by the ethics committee for six months over his personal finances, including whether he improperly used his powerful post to help raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. Murtha has been linked to a criminal probe of the now defunct PMA Group, a lobbying firm that collapsed after its office was raided by the FBI in November.

In the Senate, Democrats Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Roland Burris of Illinois are being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee, as well. Dodd is being scrutinized for his VIP mortgage deal from Countrywide, while Burris is being investigated for his ties to indicted former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Yeah, it’s as if there’s some kind of ethical problem that’s not being addressed.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL politicians in the world. Chris Dodd and Barney Frank didn’t make the list.

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN has died.

PJTV: Michelle Malkin, AlfonZo Rachel, and I talk about Tea Party protests, and Republicans’ problems with principle.

MORE ON TIM GEITHNER: “I wish the Admin could bring back the days when Joe Biden had sole possession of the gaffe-o-matic.”

MARK LEVIN’S BOOK IS STILL #1 on Amazon.

ALFONZO RACHEL: Don’t be mad about Leno.

THE CIVIL HERETIC: A profile of Freeman Dyson.

WELL, THAT MIGHT BREAK THE MEDIA BLACKOUT: Naked Tea Parties.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON: Inspector General warns DOE of stimulus pitfalls.

Well, we’ve already seen plenty of stimulus pratfalls.

UPDATE: “When are the grownups coming home?”

JIM LINDGREN: “The Obama Administration has been strangely noncommital on the prospect floated by the Chinese and the Russians of Special Drawing Rights based on a basket of currencies to replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.”

And here I thought we were going to start printing these.

MORE THOUGHTS ON disaster-resistant power supplies. I agree that micro-nukes would likely prove very robust.

HOW BAD ARE ATOMIC BOMBS FOR YOU? Well, this guy got two dropped on him, and he’s made it to 93.

Er, you probably shouldn’t generalize from a single data point, though . . . .

POST OFFICE running out of money.