TRANSPARENCY: Lewis Testifies U.S. Urged Silence on Deal. “Under normal circumstances, banks must alert their shareholders of any materially significant financial hits. But these weren’t normal times: Late last year, Wall Street was crumbling and BofA faced intense government pressure to buy Merrill to keep the crisis from spreading. Disclosing losses at Merrill — which eventually totaled $15.84 billion for the fourth quarter — could have given BofA’s shareholders an opportunity to stop the deal and let Merrill collapse instead.” I’m seeing a lot of potential litigation and prosecution as this bailout thing unravels. Government (and corporate) lawyers and officials will no doubt protest that they were doing what the country wanted in the face of an unprecedented crisis, but we’ve seen how well that argument plays once the crisis is over . . . .

UPDATE: The Tony Soprano perspective.

SO WHO’S BEHIND THE DISTRACTIONS? Democrats Under Ethics Cloud Benefit From Distracted Public.

Feinstein defended herself Wednesday by pointing out that her legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that reportedly awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract never was enacted into law.

Another Democrat, Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha, is facing a federal probe for purportedly steering defense appropriations to clients of KSA Consulting, which employed his brother Robert, and the PMA Group, founded by Paul Magliocchetti, a former senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense.

New York Rep. Charlie Rangel is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee in at least four areas, including his reported failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa in the Dominican Republic; use of four, rent-controlled apartments in Harlem; questions about an offshore firm asking Rangel for special tax exemptions; and whether Rangel improperly used House stationery to solicit donations for a school of public affairs named after him at City College of New York.

Also, reportedly all the Republican scandals of previous years have left the press “desensitized” to all the Democratic scandals coming up now. How convenient.

PART OF THE TREND. “A record number of Oklahomans are seeking permits to carry concealed handguns. . . . There have been twice as many applications so far this year as the same point last year, said Felicia Jackson, who manages the permit registry. ‘This is kind of a nationwide phenomenon,’ Jackson said.”

Plus, a fact sheet on ammunition availability.

DAVID FRUM: The Real Jane Harman Scandal: “The story is almost insanely complicated. But the deeper you delve into the details, the more you see that if there is any wrongdoing in the case, it was done by Harman’s accusers.”

FRANK CAGLE ON THE TEA PARTIES:

Ask the environmental movement or any other issues-oriented interest group the last time they were able to organize a national protest with this kind of turnout.

The energy is real and significant and it ought not be ignored. There is very real anger across America and if political polling is to be believed it is not directed at President Obama. It is an anger directed at Washington in general, both political parties, and the prospect of a bankrupt federal government. The pictures I saw at the protests across the country had as many anti-Bush signs as anti-Obama signs.

The question for our political system is where this anger finds expression in the future and whether it re-invigorates the Republican Party or splinters it to pieces.

Yes, if the GOP blows it they could go the way of the Whigs.

UPDATE: Reader Darryl Boyd writes: “I just got my weekly fund raising letter ‘From the Office of Michael Steele’. Two pages and not a single mention of April 15th or the Tea Parties. Doesn’t look like the Republicans are going to change into the Tea Party any time soon. I haven’t contributed a dime in the last year. I wonder if he wonders why.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A (mild) defense of Michael Steele, from Moe Lane. “This may have something to do with the fact that the Tea Party movement itself has no interest in bringing in the RNC . . . Speaking as someone who is simultaneously a supporter of both the Tea Party movement and the GOP: the door swings both ways on this. If it is made clear that someone is not being invited to participate, it seems a bit unfair to object when they take you at your word.” I posted (or at least thought had posted) an update with a reader email making the same point, but it seems to have vanished somehow.

PIRATE HAPPY TO HAVE ATTACKED U.S. SHIP: “A crewman from the Maersk Alabama says the sole surviving pirate — who now faces charges in the U.S. — seemed happy that he’d raided an American vessel. The crewman — ‘Zahid’ Reza — says Abdiwali Muse told him it was his dream to come to the USA.”

TOM BLUMER: ‘Going Galt’ Got Going Last Summer.

Related: How anticipated spending and regulation kills growth.

CORY DOCTOROW: Joe Biden promises a blank check to the entertainment cartel. No surprise there.

AND I WONDER, STILL I WONDER, WHO OWNS THE RAIN? “Across the country, resourceful homeowners have embraced rainwater capture as a way of conserving community water supplies while maintaining healthy gardens. Unfortunately, rain barrels are sometimes at odds with the law. Facing certain water scarcity, cities and states have begun to wrestle with the conundrum of water rights versus conservation. When it all shakes out, will you own the rain that falls on your own property?”

INDEED: “Really, at this point any CEO who agrees to do business with the government should be fired.” Will the shareholder suits be starting up soon?

POLITICO: Was Freddie Pressured to Toe Obama Line? “Both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are reporting that Freddie Mac’s Chief Financial Officer, David Kellermann, who was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide, was involved in recent months in a heated dispute with Freddie’s regulator over how to reflect costs of President Obama’s anti-foreclosure program. . . . While the Obama administration might not want to have the pricetag for its foreclosure efforts look too big, the reason regulators may have pressured Fannie to understate the cost of the program is pretty simple: both Obama and Geithner said publicly that it wouldn’t have a material financial impact on Fannie or Freddie.”

Via Mickey Kaus, who comments: “Why would Obama and Geithner make such an estimate? Because they were publicly buying into the Juiceboxy free-lunchish, counterintuitive notion that if only lenders were made to offer more lenient terms to homebuyers, the lenders would make more money!”

LARRY KUDLOW: Is TARP a Criminal Enterprise? No doubt there will be calls to prosecute a lot of government lawyers and officials who, in their zeal to deal with a pressing crisis, might have broken the law. . . .

Plus, TARP oversight problems: “As head of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, Elizabeth Warren has massively extended her mandate, using the office as a sort of forum for broad-ranging commentary on the financial crisis. Rather than tracking the expenditure of the funds, she’s increasingly using the oversight board to push her own ideas about what should be done with the banks. This is wildly inappropriate.”

The country’s in the very best of hands.

CHARGES OF HYPOCRISY on Obama’s quietness about his torturing allies.

WHY IS VENTURE CAPITAL UNDER ASSAULT? Lots of people are discovering who the rubes were . . . .

PETE HOEKSTRA: Congress Knew About The Interrogations:

It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses. . . .

Members of Congress calling for an investigation of the enhanced interrogation program should remember that such an investigation can’t be a selective review of information, or solely focus on the lawyers who wrote the memos, or the low-level employees who carried out this program. I have asked Mr. Blair to provide me with a list of the dates, locations and names of all members of Congress who attended briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques.

Yes, let’s hear about that.

HEH: Let Gays Have Marriage; We’re Not Using It.

WELL, IT’S A FAILING COMPANY ANGLING FOR A BAILOUT: Bonuses To New York Times Execs Under Fire.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: GM Is Becoming A Royal Debacle.

OBAMA’S “WAR CRIMES” HYPOCRISY.

CHANGE: Obama Administration Wants Judge to Toss Embassy Hostage Suit. “The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit against Iran filed by Americans held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran 30 years ago.”

Protein Wisdom comments: “Some torture is more forgivable than others, I guess.”

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama lets Congress — and lobbyists — do the work.

WILL PEOPLE PAY MORE FOR GREEN PRODUCTS? “I, personally, don’t buy it.”

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: How Rome Fell and a Lesson for the USA. “The Roman experience suggests that imperial decline is likely to start at the top.” Well, then, with our political class, there’s nothing to worry about! Whew!

MORE THUGGERY AT U.N.C.

LESSONS LEARNED from the Morgan Hill cyber-attack. Too much centralization, not enough hardening. And, above all, way too much complacency. (Via Slashdot). And stay friendly with your local ham radio community!

Here are some related thoughts. And this is an example of one organization thinking about these things.