David Brooks: “Last fall, the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission released a bold report on how to avoid an economic catastrophe.” No, it didn’t. [NYT, Bloomberg]

“The federal government provided part of a $60,000 grant to pay for the creation of a mural detailing Maine’s labor history. But since LePage had the artwork removed from the lobby of an Augusta building last month, a senior Labor Department official is asking for the the mural to be put back on display or the cash to be returned.” [Politico]

Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% [Vanity Fair]

“Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and his four alleged co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission… The attorney general forcefully blamed Congress for compelling the Justice Department to make this decision by interfering for political gamesmanship.” [CBS]

Obama email, this morning:

Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign.

We’re doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you — with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends. And that kind of campaign takes time to build.

Reuters, this morning:

Obama amassed a record $750 million as he surged to victory in 2008. His 2012 campaign total is expected to hit $1 billion or more, even without a major Democratic primary opponent or the emergence of a strong Republican contender…

Jim Messina, a former White House deputy chief of staff who will run Obama’s [campaign], has been telling big supporters they will need to collect $350,000 each.

Yes, well, we’ll pitch in where we can. Tell us when you’re within $25 of ten figures.

From the last speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 3, 1968, as he joined striking sanitation workers in Memphis:

We have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn’t force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.

…Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk1VANxSNyg

Text of the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech after the jump.

Read more »

…I’m prepared to accept whatever result they produce, even if it proves my premise wrong.

-Anthony Watts, prominent global warming denier, 3/6/2011 expressing confidence that a scientific study by a leading global warming skeptic, would rebut the global warming trend  observed by mainstream climate scientists.

With his testimony, Dr. Muller has totally destroyed any credibility he might have had with me.

-Anthony Watts, prominent global warming denier, 3/31/2011 expressing outrage upon learning that the results of the aforementioned scientific study tended to confirm, rather than rebut the global warming trend  observed by mainstream climate scientists.

(Hat Tip: Salon, and Paul Krugman)