My favorite:

Best Subprime Couple: Maria Bartiromo of CNBC and Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of subprime mortgage giant Countrywide Financial. On March 13th, Bartzilo canoodled on Closing Bell. Maria looked soulful as Angelo bemoaned the liquidity crisis that will result if regulators respond to the subprime tsunami with too much regulation and investors say P.U. to MBS. Angelo acknowledged that some Countrywide competitors had been “irrational” and it would be “positive” if they folded. But he also invoked the little people and their need to ascend the social ladder via subprime affordable homeownership.

Pass me a hankie so we can all grieve for the poor subslime mortgage brokers who are being so persecuted and misunderstood… Maybe we could send them inspirational postcards when they’re in prison.

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That’s what right-wing blogs are screaming about Dianne Feinstein’s conflicts of interest, where the Hell is their side?

As a member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, Sen. Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband’s firms.

Why isn’t the media covering this? Why aren’t Republicans screaming about this?

Here’s why.

a) Many congressional Republicans no doubt have similar egregious conflicts of interest.

b) The ruling class will always defend itself against the rest of us. That’s the reason for the media silence and the lack of response from ranking Republicans. War profiteering is something the ruling class often does, and they are terrified this will turn into a major issue.

And it should be a major issue. Feinstein voted for war funding that hugely benefited her husband’s companies. She didn’t recuse her vote and no one in the Senate said this is wrong or tried to stop it. Of course they knew.

This isn’t a Left vs. Right issue. This concerns us all.

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Sen. Reid has endorsed a March, 2008 deadline to withdraw troops and end most spending in Iraq. Sounds great, right? Maybe not.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley said the Democratic leader does not expect the bill to become the official position of Senate Democrats, given its strong terms, but rather the “next in a series of steps designed to try to force a change in administration policy.”

Sigh. More Anti-war Lite. What at first glance look like a substantial commitment is, upon closer examination, just air. The way to ‘force a change’ is most certainly not by telegraphing that what you’re doing is just a ploy, and that you aren’t serious about it. But then, that’s the favored game of congressional Democrats, isn’t it? Like little barky dogs, they make growly noises, but really, they’re just ankle biters.

Stop the funding and bring the troops home now. Not next year. NOW.

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Our gardening blog, Downtown Tomatoes, is back after a winter hiatus. It was named after a comment I made on a roof of a loft in downtown L.A. where they grow plants, saying they could grow tomatoes, sell them, and call them downtown tomatoes. When we started the gardening blog, Sue remembered my comment, so that’s what we named it.

Interestingly, the main posters, Sue and I, plus DJ, have all escaped from L.A. We live in Connecticut now while DJ and his wife live “in the middle of nowhere in Utah and love it.” They’ve been blogging about country living, installing solar, raising chickens, warding off the rabbits and voles, and raising vegetables, among other topics.

I’ve been posting photos, and many more are coming. The photo here is of Blue Heron nests, and they will be returning a a week or two. Spring is almost here, and there’s lots of hikes and walks and photo ops out here in the semi-country. Plus our garden will be exploding with flowers soon.

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