The $789 billion stimulus bill passed today. As expected, the Republican leadership carped about the cost. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained, "We've heard a lot from our friends about the danger of deficits over the past few years...Americans are wondering how we’re going to pay for all this." In case this message was too abstract for average Americans, McConnell supported his point with a common sense analogy, "Any parent knows you don't buy a new car and plan the summer vacation before you set the family budget for the year."

Monday 2/9. The MS Wall Fox Times, a joint news venture created by various prominent media organizations, has revealed that President Barack Obama is not Jesus. A probing collaboration by numerous reporters, pundits, and editorial assistants has determined that Barack Obama bears little physical resemblance to the celebrated hero of Christian faiths worldwide and cannot walk on water.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, publicly asked the government to raise his taxes in a NYT op-ed today. His position was not that of Warren Buffett, who has argued that taxes are unfairly low for the super rich. Rather, Hastings argued that higher taxes offer a more effective way to limit CEO incomes than pay caps. And he's right. To see why, we need to first understand why CEO salaries have gotten as high as they have.

Ready or not, here comes Valentines Day! You've only just finished breaking your last New Year's resolution, and now you have to find a sincere way to express profound sentiments of passion to your significant other.

I sit here before Deadman's brother's giganamous extreme-density power projection screen, eagerly awaiting the biggest television event of the year--Superbowl Ads XLIII. Yes, I belong to that silent majority of superbowl watchers who don't give a flying football about Cardinals vs. Steelers. We're here to see Ford vs. Toyota, Coke vs. Sprite, Bud vs. Miller, Mac vs. PC. I'm here to live blog answers to all your burning ad questions:

I published this piece long, long ago at the height of the political correctness "movement." Though the PC frenzy of the 90's has subsided, a recent complaint on this site by Jorn Barger, one of the first bloggers and coiner of the term, weblog, demonstrates that this piece is still relevant.

I left my friend Jake's apartment on Capitol Hill at 8:45am, clutching my hard-won "silver section" inauguration ticket. Hat, gloves, long underwear, wool socks, sunglasses--perfectly equipped for five hours of 32 degrees, mostly sunny. We wound our way around the Capitol, exchanging anti-Bush witticisms with the passerby. At first, there were big, friendly signs: "Silver section -->." The signs happily directed us where we already knew we were supposed to go.

To understand why the New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's upset, we must first understand how they became the top-seeded NFC team in the first place. In the fall of 2007, the Giants were 0-2 and had gone 1-3 in the preseason. But in their third game of the season, they upset the Redskins and then kept on winning, ultimately defeating the Patriots to win the Superbowl. In 2008, they had another strong season, which earned them the top NFC seed.

There's nothing wrong with Roland Burris and there's nothing wrong with the appointment

-- Roland Burris

In American cinematic tradition, The Aging Warrior, usually played by Sylvester Stallone, returns to the arena for one last heroic battle against The Arrogant Challenger, defying expectations and muscular degeneration to prove that he's The World Champion For Eternity. The Wrestler, a moving, melancholy character study about a fictional pro-wrestler of a certain age, is not one of those films. There is no epic battle between Aging Warrior and Arrogant Challenger. There is no Arrogant Challenger, period.

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New Year's Eve is over. Visit the THE VALENTINE GENERATOR™.

It's that time of year again. Resolution time. We're all supposed to come up with some great goals for 2009. But worthwhile goals aren't easy to come by. Sure, you could promise to quit smoking or abusing pigeons or getting naked in public or whatever boring resolution you make every year and violate three days later, but you've been there and done that.

Gather round, children, and I will tell you the story of Chanukkah (which I brazenly lifted from the internet).

Long ago in the land of Judea there was a Syrian king, Antiochus. The king ordered the Jewish people to reject their God, their religion, their customs and their beliefs and to worship the Greek gods. There were some who did as they were told, but many refused. One who refused was Judah Maccabee.

It was Sept. 18. Lehman Brothers had just gone belly-up, overwhelmed by toxic mortgages. Bank of America had swallowed Merrill Lynch in a hastily arranged sale. Two days earlier, Mr. Bush had agreed to pump $85 billion into the failing insurance giant American International Group. The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money. Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M.

Ah Democracy...freely elected legislators dutifully fulfilling the will of the people by blockading themselves in a locked room while the honorable opposition attempts to dutifully fulfill the will of the rest of the people by breaking down the door with a sledgehammer and other sundry power tools. Full video after the jump.

Dear dagreaders, we love ya. Thanks for reading and writing in and being cool people (which I know is a particular challenge for you Canadians).

It's tough to make a name a for yourself in the blogosphere, but the good word is getting out, and our audience is growing. In a fit of wild (yet completely unbiased) enthusiasm, I recently nominated dagblog for the blogger's choice awards. You may have noticed the badge in the right panel. If you can spare us a little love, I hope that you'll see fit to vote for us for 2009 by clicking the badge or this here link. We're nominated for politics, humor, and stuff. I think that you get 3 votes. It does require you to enter an email, but they won't spam you.

If you're feeling especially magnanimous, you can rate us and add us to your favorites at blogcatalog.com. You can also follow us on Facebook's NetworkBlogs.

Thanks so much for your help. Dag.

PS Personally, I've been stupidly busy this month, so I haven't been writing in much, but I promise to pick it up in the new year.

And here's the inevitable Bush-Austin Powers mashup:

The mob has gathered round the house of Governor Rod Blagojevich, waving their virtual pitchforks and shrieking for justice. Our own Deadman has even called him "ugly." Shame on him. Governor Blagojevich may not be married to a hot Star Trek actress, but he's a fine looking man, if a bit jowly. And no one is fooled by Aman's crocodile tears; we know that he yearns to return to his hometown and claim the office of Governor for himself. (When asked who would replace Blagojevich as Governor, he innocently shrugged in mock ignorance.)