Links of the Day
Andrew Sullivan, touching and passionate as usual, this time about calling a place home.

A new sleep study confirms that only 6 hours of sleep a night, over time, wears on your cognitive ability.

At the other blog, read how a 7th Circuit panel decided that nobody is allowed to challenge the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer.

Krugman on Paul Ryan's "sick joke."

This is awesome - see where your tax dollars are going. New White House page.

Quote of the Day 2
Justice Alito, dissenting in Snyder v. Phelps

Respondents’ outrageous conduct caused petitionergreat injury, and the Court now compounds that injury by depriving petitioner of a judgment that acknowledges the wrong he suffered.

In order to have a society in which public issues can beopenly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like petitioner. I therefore respectfully dissent.

Quote of the Day
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing in Snyder v. Phelps:

Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and—as it did here—inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a Nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate. That choice requires that we shield Westboro from tort liability for its picketing in this case.

Obama Calls Their Bluff
Pres says: Yeah sure, states, let's amend the health-care bill. You are all free to opt out of reform mandates ASAP. If you can....

The legislation would allow states to opt out earlier from a range of requirements, including the mandate, if they could demonstrate that other methods would allow them to cover as many people, with insurance that is as comprehensive and affordable, as provided by the new law. The changes must also not increase the federal deficit.

Good luck with that.

The Myth of the Useless Bureaucrat
Krugman points to a compelling Washington Monthly piece making the case that huge cuts to the government payroll doesn't help us reduce the deficit; it increases it. The Nobel Prize-winning economist adds:

...any private corporation would have no trouble understanding the argument that you need more auditing, more supervision, to keep costs under control. But when it comes to government, the myth of the useless bureaucrat persists.

Chart-Fest
See Mother Jones' "Eight Charts that Explain Everything That's Wrong with America."

A Computer is Not in a Situation
Stanley Fish on Watson

Too Quiet
I'm as big an Obama cheerleader as they come, but the administration is being too quiet on this Wisconsin moment. It's time to show unqualified support for organized labor and collective bargaining rights. The President's first statement was strong and got to the point - that it seemed the Governor was attacking unions. Since then, nothing. Protesters in Madison deserve better.

Cairo?
Republican Congressman Paul Ryan - the least intelligent nerd since Revenge II - finally agrees with Michael Moore about something: the protests in Wisconsin over the brand-new Governor's plan to end the collective bargaining rights of public employees, including teachers, have brought the spirit of Cairo to America. The thing is, Ryan thinks that's a bad thing....

Whose side was he on in Egypt, anyway? Maybe a reporter could ask him.

Quote of the Day
Link

"You guys (Americans) are evil," he says with a laugh. "Canada's the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don't need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you're broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard's baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby's premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home."

Click the link to see who, if you dare.