Though little birdies tell me that the nightmares of the Obama administration’s vetting process are very real (Note to Greg Craig: you may want more than 10 people on this spending more than a day per person…?!), they haven’t yet actually deterred many folks from wanting to join up and serve at the pleasure of [...]

This week’s TIME cover story is about why Kate Winslet should win Best Actress, which she did last night. But even that fact does not give me a legitimate excuse to write a Swampland post about the talented actress. Nevertheless, I cannot resist posting a link to this video here. It’s just too perfect.

That’s what Robert Reischauer, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, calls the current task of pushing entitlement reform through Congress while managing a cratering economy. My TIME.com story on Obama’s plans and today’s fiscal summit is here. Also, for more on how Obama is planning for health care savings to provide our fiscal [...]

First off: Despite the protester who regularly screams at me about Obama’s birth certificate when I approach the White House gates, there is no serious doubt about the fact that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. None. Nada. Zippo. Hawaiian state officials have said there is no doubt–they have the paperwork. Factcheck.org has seen and [...]

Bobby Jindal is a very smart fellow. Back when he was in Congress, I’d try to check in with him every six months or so, just to see what he was thinking about. At first, we talked about health insurance–his specialty. Then, about the federal response to Hurricane Katrina (he was appalled). He was fairly [...]

Alas, however, not by me. Though I begged and begged, the High Sheriffs refused to let me join our Oscar liveblogging team of Kate Betts, Richard Corliss and James Poniewozik. (Hey, aren’t these awards all about the politics?) So I’ll be razzing them from the comments section instead. You can, too, starting around 6 p.m. [...]

Mark Steyn argues yes, sort of. Mostly he’s concerned with Britain’s wussy, censorious refusal to allow the Dutch parliamentarian/documentarian Geert Wilders to show his film about Islamic radicalism, “Fitna,” in the U.K. Well, we can agree on this: the west should, under no circumstances, allow its freedom of speech to compromised by threats from the [...]

Homeless policy usually focuses on those who are already homeless, getting them off the streets or out of shelters into transitional or permanent housing, and providing mental health or substance abuse treatment to the chronically homeless. And that’s what much of the $1.6 billion in grants that HUD announced yesterday for programs that help the [...]

For a month now we have called Barack Obama president and the baby milestone was marked in different ways by different folks. But my favorite is CBS’s Mark Knoller, who serves it up by the numbers. Update: Reader Dee points out that it might be fun to compare coverage of Obama’s first month with other [...]