Morning

Jobs report comes out in a few minutes. Consensus forecast is +184K jobs.

I'll take the under.


...+162K, unemployment remains at 9.7%. That is unacceptable, but nothing can be done.

"No Case to Answer"

Remember those hacked emails "proving" that the science about human-caused climate change is a great big hoax?

Funny thing -- that was a made up pseudo-scandal all along! Who ever could have guessed!

Not A Person, Really

Just a concept.

Starting to think Chuck Lane isn't just the worst person at the Washington Post - truly a towering achievement - but the worst person in the world.

Evening Thread

enjoy

More Trouble For John Edwards

Ruh-Roh.

Investigators appear to be looking into whether Mr. Ensign sought to ingratiate himself with P2SA so that he could ease Mr. Hampton out of his office in Washington. Former Capitol Hill staff members like Mr. Hampton are barred from lobbying for a year after leaving their jobs, and if Mr. Ensign knowingly helped him evade that restriction, he could face ethics or criminal charges.

While some of Mr. Ensign’s interactions with P2SA were first reported last month, the extent of them was not clear. The senator’s office said then that he had not provided any assistance to the company. But subsequent interviews showed that his most senior Senate aides intervened in an effort to prevent the Las Vegas business from going under, a fact that Mr. Ensign no longer disputes.

Deep Thought

I guess if teabaggers don't turn in their census forms, the administration can always just get the answers by tapping their phones.

Afternoon Thread

Here's a video.

Turn In The Damn Forms

I'm with Josh in that, joking aside, I really hope everyone, teabaggers included, turn in their damn Census forms.

So Much Texas Regulation

Yes, it seems like Texas did something right. During the housing bubble, I knew people were taking out loans they couldn't really afford, though I didn't have any idea that lending standards had gotten so bad that the people issuing loans didn't actually care if people had any chance of paying them back. The framework that Texas has in place makes a lot of sense, and had it been in operation nationwide we wouldn't have had this mess.

Clocker!!!

This is v. exciting!!! Or would be if true.

I hate April Fool's Day.

Census Wingnuttery

Read through the comments for some laughs.

Wanker of the Day

Orin Kerr.

That's A Lot Of Rain

Was quite pleased that the local deluge didn't result in basement flooding here in the urban hellhole, a problem around these parts,* but southern New England got a lot more. As the linked post says, it's wrong to try to tie any one weather event to global climate change, but patterns of abnormal events certainly raise questions.

*If Obama's team wanted to do something about the economy they could hire a lot more people to speed up water pipe/sewer replacement projects basically everywhere.

So, Uh, Stop Accepting It?

I really don't understand the administration's approach to the economy.

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate, currently at 9.7 percent, will remain "unacceptably high" for some time to come, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

If they really think they've done all that is theoretically possible (not true) say it. If there's something they'd like to do, but Congress won't let it happen, tell us what it is.

No Earthly Justice

Increasingly the message from the Catholic Church leaders is, basically, your courts can't touch us, and you have no right to judge us. Neener neener.

Condo Hell

Another local condo hits the auction block. When I first started casually house hunting, I imagined a center city condo would probably be a decent option. But Philly's a place where you can get a house for the kinds of prices they were trying to charge. It's an urban hellhole, but still a relatively affordable one.

Flood

Life in Rhode Island has not been particularly pleasant the last few days.

Thursday Is New Jobless Day

CNBC tells us:

Weekly jobless claims fall to 439,000; continuing claims move up to 4.66 billion

I'm reasonably sure they mean million.

Good Morning

This is my least favorite day on the internets.

Best of Luck

Sincerely.

It's like when Darcy and Lizzy finally understand each other, only except for Darcy you have Travis Bickle, and except for Lizzie you have Travis Bickle.