Must be a federal holiday, things are so slow out there. How about a fun New York Times meta-correction?

In a number of business articles in The Times over the past year, and in posts on the DealBook blog on NYTimes.com, a Times reporter appears to have improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations.

The reporter, Zachery Kouwe, reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgment.

Where’s Jayson Blair when you need him? Oh, he’s a Certified Life Coach these days.

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Since we can’t get ourselves excited about Evan Bayh’s last-minute retirement, let’s see what Orly’s up to…

A California lawyer who has shepherded several of the high-profile legal challenges to Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president has filed a pleading in federal court in Washington, saying she faces a $20,000 penalty and a threat to her law license and needs the president’s birth documents to defend herself.

Attorney Orly Taitz told WND she submitted the pleading today to Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Taitz said she applied for a preliminary injunction, because her understanding of the rules of procedure for the district court shows a hearing or decision must be returned within 20 days.

So: Orly’s still on the hook for that twenty-grand penalty. And the only way she can defend herself against the charge of filing frivolous lawsuits over Barry’s birth certificate is to — demand Barry’s birth certificate!

We’re gonna miss her when she’s gone. Lucky for us she’s not going without being thrown out.

Attorney facing penalties wants birth docs for defense [WND]

Well, everybody can shut up now about Canada City putting up an oh-fer in Montreal and Calgary.  Thank God.  Also.  Full fawning is in effect over at CTV-ville, here.

Meanwhile — USA Wimmin 12:1 Chinese Wimmin in hockey.  The PRC is just going to have to console themselves by buying another $2tn in T-Bills.  (And that wasn’t even the worst outcome.  Canada City 18:0 Slovakia.  That’s a goal just about every two minutes.  Pete Carroll should look at that and sob.) 

A helpful viewing tip: Olympic coverage is much more bearable when you can fast forward through figure skating prelims.  If I’m going to sit through athletes crying through their makeup, it had better be for a medal.  (DVR is also quite useful for fast-forwarding through the B.C. Tourism spots, from which I am now officially sick.)

The menu: ice pairs will wrap tonight.  We might have men’s downhill — including everybody’s favorite flinty guy from New Hampshaah, Bode Miller.  And snowboard-cross; whoever can avoid getting tackled halfway down the hill takes the hardware.

Paragon of personal integrity Joe T. Plumber lashes out:

“I don’t owe him shit. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it… McCain was trying to use me. I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy.”

Oh, and Sarah Palin is a sellout, Birthers and Truthers need to get a life, and Barry’s not such a bad guy for a socialist.

Too bad Demrats can’t get shit done, or we’d really enjoy this.

A few minutes with Joe the Plumber [State House Sound Bites]

And yes, I have to post the obligatory Stormy photo:

Vitter isn’t as vulnerable as I’d like.

When Vitter’s scandal broke in 2007, some left his political career for dead. Two years later, his re-election campaign is humming along. He has racked up more than $3 million in his campaign treasury. Christian conservative leaders have come to his defense. The head of Louisiana’s Republican party says Vitter deserves another term representing the state, and Vitter has yet to draw a strong GOP opponent as some had predicted.

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Watertiger emails with some last minute gift ideas.

If I ever need a pill to do the deed, shoot me where I stand.

The early leader for “Storyline Bob Costas Is Beating To Death” is the whole “no golds for Canada in Olympics held on home soil” deal.  Apart from the fact that home soil is not normally touched in the Winter Olympics unless the snow melts (that’s in the mail for sure, on recent evidence), Canada’s done just fine.  At Torino, they nabbed 7 golds, and 24 overall — good for fifth.

One of those went to Jennifer Heil in moguls.  Ah, but looky here! Hannah Kearney (right) of Norwich, Vt. — Vermont, bitches! — beat out Heil to take U.S. America’s first super-duper shiny object.  Two things about the moguls — (1) my knees hurt just watching that, and (2) you can’t tell the difference between one run and another.  In that regard, it’s like figure skating without spandex, and with more stoners.

Anyway: Canada’s not starving for gold.  Tone it down, Bob.  (And that’s a general instruction, Bob, applicable to all things.)

Briefly: USA hockey (wimmin) draw China to open their run this afternoon (basic cable).  Mothership has more luge (safer than advertised, thank God).  Also: nordic combined has, in a shock, a dark horse American in the mix, and the fellas take to the bumps.  And ice pairs, for those into spandex.