JERRY BOWYER: Stop the Reform-Industrial Complex! “Yesterday former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt published a piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for more regulators as a response to the Madoff scandal. Amazing! This regulator, who approved Bernie Madoff to head Nasdaq and put him on a reform commission associated with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), now tells us that he was right all along and we need more regulators. Others have called for higher pay for regulators, or more power for regulators, or more independence for regulators from our elected representatives.” Regulatory failure produces more power for regulators. Like Milton’s Chaos Umpire!

A GORGEOUS NEW BUILDING for the U.T. business school.

CBS NEWS: A Bush Legacy: Preserving The Oceans? Plus, Bush’s Tropical Paradise.

UH OH: “Denizens of Slashdot’s copylefty comment boards are reacting to Obama’s appointment of music industry litigator Tom Perrelli as Associate Attorney General. And they are not pleased with The One for tapping someone Slashdot terms ‘The Recording Industry of America’s favorite courtroom lawyer.'” No big surprise. Just look at Joe Biden’s record. Who did they think they were electing, anyway? After all, the beneficiaries of Big Copyright are all industries that support Democrats.

UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, Republicans should’ve listened to my advice. Here, as in many other areas . . . .

ROGER SIMON: The MSM, Gaza and Pajamas TV.

ROLAND BURRIS: Clean and articulate!

UPDATE: From the comments:

I do think it’s fair (or at least fun) to engage in a little game of Imagine If. Wherein we Imagine If Majority Leader Bill Frist refused to seat the lawfully appointed Senator Burris – the only African American Senator.

Kanye West would say that Bill Frist hates Black People.

Indeed.

ANOTHER WHITE PHOSPHORUS LIE debunked.

JOE THE PLUMBER will be reporting from Israel.

UPDATE: D’oh! Should’ve mentioned it’s for PJTV. Apparently the news is causing a bit of a stir.

HARRY REID is backing down as fast as he can.

THE CARNIVAL OF HOMESCHOOLING IS UP. Also the Online Dating Carnival. Lots more carnivals can be found at BlogCarnival.com.

IN THE MAIL: Ronald White’s A. Lincoln: A Biography.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: WAITING FOR DODD: Where are those Countrywide papers?

The Connecticut Senator got favored treatment from the subprime mortgage purveyor, even as he was a power broker on the Banking Committee that regulates the industry. When the news broke, the Senator first denied that he sought or expected preferential treatment. He later admitted that he knew he was considered a VIP at the firm but claimed he thought it was “more of a courtesy.” He also promised the Connecticut press that he’d come clean with the documents and details of the loans. But six months later — nada, zip, nothing.

The rest of the press corps may have moved on, but we’d still like to know. All the more so because former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg told us last fall that Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program for the influential. Mr. Feinberg also reported that he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s then-CEO, and Mr. Feinberg has offered to provide those documents to investigators.

Come clean, Chris.

WEAK REID: Senate Democrats Plan to Accept Burris.

HAROLD FORD, JR. ponders a run for governor. I hope he does run. Our podcast interview with Ford (from his Senatorial campaign) is here.

UPDATE: Related item: Haslam addresses guns, distances himself from Bloomberg.

APOCALYPSE NOW: “Just because the Times hasn’t managed its money very well doesn’t mean pulp can’t still make money during this dread interwebnum, and in fact it remains for the moment the only viable way of maintaining large-scale, in-depth news operations, even if they have to be scaled down and refocused. Instead of going straight to anarchy and hoping the monks can keep civilization alive, I like his Murdoch scenario better.” Speaking as one of those monks, so do I.

WHERE CELL PHONES ARE PLAYTHINGS OF THE RICH: The workers’ paradise, of course!

THE HILL: Rangel probe hastens need to appoint ethics chairman. “It’s always difficult to find members willing to serve on the panel, whose sole purpose is to police its peers. It’s even more difficult because Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and one of the most powerful and well-liked Democrats in Congress, is the one under the microscope. The House ethics committee ended the 110th Congress without releasing its report on Rangel even though Pelosi had said she expected it to do so.”

GEE, DO YOU THINK? The House Democrats Are Not Serious About Reform. “House chairmen could be in their posts until they retire or die.”

ED DRISCOLL: Resetting a moribund culture.

DOG BITES MAN: New York Congressmen Gladly Accept Pay Hike.

DOUG KMIEC VS. DOUG KMIEC on Heller.

EXERCISE MACHINES GATHERING DUST: I used to have a pretty good home gym and used it regularly, but I got rid of it — I go out to the gym now because I think I get a better workout. I keep a bike and a few dumbbells for those days when I want to get some exercise at home.

HEH: “So Obama plans to double the deficit his first year in office, and leave it there for years to come. We’ve tried all four combinations in recent years, and it seems the only way to get fiscal sanity is with a Democratic President and a Republican Congress. Well, let’s get right on that.”

IS THAT COFFEE REALLY DECAF? Find out with caffeine litmus strips!

HARRY REID: “I do not work for Barack Obama.”