Lebaran is this weekend which means I have successfully completed my first Ramadan in a Muslim country. I wasn't affected much. My area of the city has almost as many Christians as Muslims, so the restaurants were still crowded at lunch time. I was more careful about eating, and drinking alcohol, outside during daylight hours and I didn't eat in front of my Muslim co-workers prior to sundown, but other than that, life went on normally.

Dear TPM refugees, web surfers, and other assorted riffraff,

I returned from vacation last night and was happy to find a surge of activity from new members and friends from TPM Cafe. Welcome all to dagblog.com.

We're always told that economics is a complicated science, which is true, but also that bottom-line practical economics is very simple. But the simple rules we've all learned seem to have landed us into an incomprehensible mess. Let me try to recap what's happened.

Obviously, every business needs to make a profit to survive. This is done by keeping costs lower than revenues. If you're selling something, you need to make more money selling it than you spend in making or buying the product and in paying your workers.

It’s an election year. That must mean it’s time for Congressional representatives to announce support for ridiculous Constitutional amendments and for state leaders to instill fear in the population by creating all sorts of boogeymen, like (imaginary) undocumented Mexicans running roughshod in the Arizona desert, beheading (imaginary) poor, unsuspecting, hardworking, freedom-loving, salt of the earth Americans.

Which has me wondering: why is discussing problems and solutions like grown ups so unpalatable in America?

I just want to write in to express gratitude to the new immigrants from TPM Cafe for all the great material you've contributed over the past few days. Dagblog really came alive this week. I hope that you've enjoyed the experience and that you continue to write and comment here. For those who have just stopped by to check out the scene, I encourage you to crosspost here and see how you like it.

Always quick to pounce on a big opportunity, political entertainer Sarah Palin today announced she has signed a $5-million deal to hawk sex enhancement products on QVC.

“If you’re tired of being limp and impotent, I’m here to help,” said Palin. “Why, I’ll make millions just from the lamestream media.”

The deal comes after Palin’s recent comments on the Sean Hannity Show:

LAS VEGAS – The age old question – could God create a shotgun big enough to blow his own brains out? – has finally been answered. And that answer is, yes. Yes he can.

God was found dead yesterday at the Wynn Las Vegas of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Much has been said about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s performance at a debate recently. Here is a quick look at how Brewer quickly went to pieces during her opening statement:

So, apparently we've reached the point in our present national decline when our modern day Father Coughlin has decided it's time for full-blown anti-intellectualism: