Charlie Brown, will you never learn? You really thought Democrats were actually standing up to the Republicans on financial reform, huh? From Huffington Post:

Threatened with the prospect of having to spend the entire night sleeping on a cot inside the white sepulchre known as the United States Capitol, Senate Republicans have apparently assented to allowing a debate on the financial regulatory reform bill. Victory for Main Street! Unless, of course, Senate Democrats decided to back down on a strong(ish) bill so that the seeds of bipartisanship could be sown. In which case: Victory for David Broder!

No one exactly knows what is happening [C&L note: The Washington Post now confirms the deal], buthere's what the New York Times is reporting:

Republicans insisted that they had won some crucial concessions from Democrats, including the elimination of a proposed $50 billion fund that would be paid for by big financial companies and would be used to help pay for putting failed banks out of business.

The Obama administration also had expressed opposition to the fund, out of concern that it would complicate efforts to deal with more costly failures of financial companies. And the Democrats already had expressed a willingness to remove the fund from the bill.

Oh, well, that's just great! You know, it seems like only a week ago, Republicans were calling that provision the "permanent bailout fund" because that was the precise lie that Frank Luntz coached them to tell, over and over again. Incensed Democrats complained about this falsehood, over and over again, and actually did pretty well in getting the media on their side. But now, it's just one more thing that nobody really liked anyway, whatever -- hope you enjoyed the Kabuki theater.

Of course, we now have the benefit of viewing Senator Christopher Dodd's FinReg bill alongside the one put forth by the GOP, and can appreciate the ways in which they parted company. (TheWashington Independent's Annie Lowrey has a great comparative analysis of which you can avail yourself.)

Significantly, the two proposals aren't exactly worlds apart. But one way in which they part company dramatically is in the area of consumer protection. Per Matt Yglesias:

The ugly part of the bill is what it does to consumer protection. On the one hand, it seemingly weakens the independence of the consumer regulator. On the other hand, it has the consumer regulator preempt any and all state regulations. This is a helpful reminder that nobody on the right actually gives a damn about federalism except as a tool to advance conservative substantive policy--federal preemption of strong state regulation is always welcome.

Politico: McLame casting Obama as a 'celebrity' is particularly audacious coming from a guy, who, since 2000, has gotten more screen time than the rest of congress combined.

Consortiumblog: Tax-Factless Wall Street Journal-omics

unbossed: Spurning congressional oversight -The Dept. of Labor and double-secret stealth killer regulation

The Impolitic: Why doesn't polling mirror event turnout numbers?

Sic Semper Tyrannis: The DNI's power keeps growing

The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: Jane Mayer sheds devastating light on The Dark Side and how the war on terror has soiled America's good name and planted seeds of further extremism. Plus: Chastity is even duller than you think! Ray Bradbury loves libraries! And here's your chance to meet the sleazebag who helped lie us into a war!

"He's very Presidential, if you thought Bush was" (click for larger) from the very talented Distressed American at Seeds of Doubt. Open Thread below...

The Dalai Lama is participating in a five-day conference in Seattle that also has a high-profile web presence, including social networking and live webcasting of all events. More info at Seeds of Compassion. h/t to Don.

Open Thread below.

UCLA vs Memphis

North Carolina vs Kansas

It's the first time in tournament history that all #1 seeds made the final four. I'm a big UCLA fan, but Memphis is very good and it should be a great game. Josh Shipp has been in a slump and needs to hit a few 3's if they are going to win it all because they will have problems if Collison is the only Bruin hitting outside shots. Kevin Love is awesome. NC looks like the team to beat, but they should all be good games and any one of them can win the title.

Update: Logan and Mike F. are big KU fans so they'll be rooting hard for the Jayhawks.

For college hoop fans, what say you?

It's starting today and I'm ready. Bloggers and readers tell us who your picks are. I'm a big UCLA fan and I know John at Balloon Juice is rooting for West Virginia. 32 teams play today. My upset pick is San Diego State over Indiana tonight. There could be a few more- maybe Seton Hall over Wichita State, but that's what makes March Madness the best. I joined the Syracuse bandwagon as well with their great conference victory which pushed thme up to a # 5 seed. Here's today's schedule... How many #12 seeds and lower will win their first game?

I felt compelled to write after reading your "Akron Getting Big Housing Help" news story describing how Akron is receiving 20 million dollars from the Federal Government. This money is earmarked to raze and rebuild "230 rental units and 50 – 65 houses." This HUD Hope VI Program shows that the remnants of FDR's socialist agenda is alive and well, abetted by the Republican Right doling out our money and glad-handing to secure votes, and the Democrats freely spending the rest of our money in order to fuel a Leftist Utopian vision with a wink and a nudge to Chairman Mao and Lenin.

This is a microcosm of a larger woe afflicting American society, the pandering to the lowest common denominator rather than investing in the best and the brightest. Can you imagine what $40 million dollars in the form of grants and loans to Akron U graduates to start small businesses would do? That could be used to plant the seeds that the market would then decide to germinate or terminate, not the politicians. As the population of the area dwindles and brain drain continues, how much better to have spent this money on those who would contribute most to the area in the forms of jobs, taxes, families and a trickle down economy that would benefit far more people than new housing projects will.

That the project will end up costing $38 to $40 million dollars is astounding. The median home price in Akron is $104,000, with the median rental value of an apartment at $378 per month. It would seem to me that $40 million taxpayer (although ‘some’ funds will come from donations) should build a lot more than a total of 300 housing units. Of course, some of these funds are going for "job training" to make the residents more self-sufficient. I thought we already had a tax-based organization that did this, we call it the Public School system.

"Population in the area will grow, and with it will come retail services that people need, said Jeff Wilhite, Akron's deputy mayor for administration
." Thank goodness for this, I was afraid Akron wasn’t going to have enough Check Cashing and Payday Advance franchises, but this should help. `I don’t think in five years you’ll recognize the place,’" he said. Come by in ten years, I am sure it will look quite familiar by then.
It is frustrating to watch the middle class recede as more and more money is taken from our pockets to fund these feel-good band-aid notions. It is estimated that 62% of those considered by government standards as "poor" have either cable TV or Satellite service, along with 25% having cell phones. These are two things I do without because I don’t have the disposable income for these luxuries, but among all too many we see the reasoning of "You pay for what I need and I'll pay for what I want." And so now not only will we continue to pay for others’ housing, schooling, medicine, food, transportation and more, we will also make sure that the housing is newer and nicer, thus ensuring that there remains no incentive to live and breed within one's means.

Perhaps the most offensive statement was from the City Council President, stating that this area "will have everything other neighborhoods have." Well, everything except the bill. That goes to the rest of us.

Respond.