ED DRISCOLL: An Inconvenient Narrative.

EARMARKS FOR DEFECTIVE HELMETS: THE PMA CONNECTION:

The Army has issued a recall of more than 34,000 advanced-combat helmets that failed ballistics tests, a move certain to attract scrutiny on Capitol Hill. But an added element of intrigue that may also catch lawmakers’ attention is the firm that lobbied on behalf of the helmet’s manufacturer: the PMA Group. . . .

Gentex Corp. in Carbondale, Pa., manufactures those helmets and is based in Rep. Chris Carney’s (D) district. Gentex has received earmarks sponsored by the lawmaker in recent years. In the 2008 defense appropriations bill, for example, Carney and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) earmarked $2.7 million for improved performance for helmet displays and life support technologies.

Gentex hired the PMA Group in 1999 and has spent close to $2 million for the lobby shop’s services since then. PMA closed its doors at the end of March after the FBI raided the firm in the fall and began investigating its owner, Paul Magliocchetti, for alleged illegal campaign contributions to lawmakers.

The PMA Group and its lobbyists were the top contributors to Carney’s reelection campaign, pitching in $41,500, according to data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics. The same data indicate that Gentex was Carney’s fifth campaign contributor.

Gentex, which has been supplying the Pentagon with various products since the 1930s, has since hired the Federal Business Group — a consultancy started by six former PMA lobbyists.

Read the whole thing. And remember the Democrats’ “defective armor” talking point from a couple of elections ago? Not sure there’s any more to this, but sauce for the goose . . .

UH OH: Weak Treasury auction sends stocks lower. “The government had to pay greater interest than expected in a sale of 30-year Treasurys. That is worrisome to traders because it could signal that it will become harder for Washington to finance its ambitious economic recovery plans. The higher interest rates also could push up costs for borrowing in areas like mortgages.” It’s like people are losing confidence in the Obama Administration’s willingness to see that bondholders get paid. Oh, well — what could go wrong, really?

CHANGE! Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist. Good thing we don’t have that homophobic Bush Administration anymore!

Plus, a “rainbow rebellion?” Who are the rubes again?

GET READY TO TAKE DICTATION: Obama Tells Journalists To Stress “Significant” Nature Of Budget Cuts.

Some people think Obama has gotten a little too dependent on chumminess from the press. And no matter how good you are a dictating, only a dictator could make a mountain out of this budget-cut molehill.

BILL WHITTLE: Mountains of Money.

ABC NEWS: Infamous Clinton Fundraiser Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme: Government Also Charged Norman Hsu with Making Illegal Contributions to Hillary Clinton.

So I guess the other Hsu has dropped. . . .

TPM MUCKRAKER: Pension Players Go Back To The Lincoln Bedroom Days.

Correra and Schiaffino have something in common: they have both worked as agents for a placement agency called Diamond Edge Capital, which is run by Marvin Rosen, a former finance director for the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign co-finance chair in Florida in 1992. . . . It’s unlikely that the most prominent boldfaced names thus far dragged into the scheme — like money manager turned car czar Steve Rattner, had any clue about the more brazen practices of the scheme’s masterminds. But the investigation stands to shed considerable light on those players perceives as “normal” in the unregulated world of middlemen who control access to the pursestrings of public finance.

Some folks’ “normal,” after all, might raise the eyebrows of the average citizen. If Rosen sounds familiar, it’s because he was one of the key figures involved in promoting sleepovers in the Lincoln bedroom for top campaign contributors in the nineties. In 2005 Rosen joined Diamond Edge, where he now holds the title of chairman, and helped secure a handful of investments for hedge fund clients from the New Mexico and New York state pension funds. Records show the firm booked at least $3.25 million on four New York pension fund investments in 2005 and 2006 and an unclear amount on another four in New Mexico.

Read the whole thing.

PJTV: GenTheft: The Hearing Congress Is Afraid Of.

Full video here.

KEITH HENNESSEY reviews Obama’s proposed budget.

FOR MOTHER’S DAY: Markdowns and free one-day shipping on jewelry. Also, watches.

HUNKERING DOWN: Business Insider: The White House is Now Refusing to Respond to Chrysler Threat Stories. “By refusing to comment on our subsequent story about additional threats, the White House appears to be backing away from its earlier denial. If the threats weren’t made, why not just repeat the earlier denial? That would be easy enough.”

ABC NEWS: Pelosi Briefed on Use of Interrogation Tactics in Sept. ’02. Pelosi says her recollection differs from the written report. Obviously, we need a Truth Commission to sort all this out.

KUDLOW CLAIMS A SCALP: New York Fed chair resigns amid criticism. He’s been running a “Friedman Resignation Watch” for a few days now.

JUST LAID OFF FROM THE UNION TRIBUNE, Matthew Hoy is looking for work. He’s good!

MICKEY KAUS ON how Rattner can threaten hedge funds. “[T]he thing that Hedge Funds fear most is investor redemptions. If there is press about a hedge fund (again, in this environment) that suggests that that Hedge Fund is cross-wise with the Feds, redemptions would start.”

A FASTER METHOD FOR producing oil from algae.

WHO WILL HE PUT IN CHARGE? GEITHNER? RANGEL? Obama seeks to double tax law enforcement budget. Hey, Tom Daschle needs a job!

CALIFORNIA TOWN giving away $500 gift cards to buy cars.

PENSION PROBLEMS: “Sean Harrigan, a pension board appointee of LA’s Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa’s, has resigned over questions that ultimately go back to a firm founded by Car Czar Steven Rattner.”

Perhaps Rattner shouldn’t be as belligerent as this blog account suggests. . . . Kudlow was reporting similar stories last night. We’ll probably find out the truth sooner or later, probably sooner. Stay tuned.

WELL, GOOD: Virgin Galactic Sees Space Tourism As Just The Beginning: “Long-haul trips could be made in spaceships instead of planes in 20 years’ time if Virgin’s efforts to commercialize space travel succeed, the president of Virgin Galactic told Reuters in an interview. Will Whitehorn said Virgin’s plans to take tourists into space were just a first stage that could open up a range of possibilities for the company including space science, computer server farms in space and replacing long-haul flights.”

A BURGER COOKBOOK throwdown.

SOLVING THE MYSTERY of the Tunguska explosion.

KEITH HENNESSY on the stress tests.

A CARD-CHECK Twitter scam. “A busy Twitter account of undisclosed sponsorship has been beaming out messages with texts like ‘Join @newtgingrich @sanuzis in signing the EFCA Freedom Not Fear petition at …[URL]’ Unwary fans of Republican leaders Newt Gingrich and Saul Anuzis who click through and sign are in fact signing a pro-union group’s petition in favor of EFCA, a position of course strenuously opposed by Gingrich and Anuzis. . . . This strikes me as a really counterproductive tactic to use in support of the card-check bill, above all because it will tend to remind people of the many attested instances in which organizers have gotten unwary workers to sign union-authorization cards by leading them to believe they’re signing something entirely different. And if people think too much about those instances, they’re likely to be even less keen on replacing secret ballots with ‘sign here’ card procedures, don’t you think?”