Dean Baker, one of my favorite economists, goes a bit too far in critiquing a column by Robert Samuelson when he tries to exonerate Wall St. for the financial crisis, blaming the amorphous "housing bubble" instead:

A couple of people have commented on Ross Douthat's piece in the New York Times eulogizing the "democratic ideal" supposedly represented by Sarah Palin because she became a "success" (such as it was) even though she hadn't gone to "Columbia and Harvard".

Frankly, if you spend all your time in office representing the interests of the rich and powerful, it really doesn't matter if you were were born to a bunch of sharecroppers and went to a one-room school house.

I found this discussion between Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Schumer (D-NY) on CBS's Face the Nation truly bizarre.

Most of the segment was spent discussing health care in the usual superficial, made-for-tv way with a handful of talking points and the obligatory promise of "bipartisanship". I felt dumber after watching the thing than before.

It was a bit rainy but that didn't dampen anyone's spirit at the Evanston 4th of July Parade. The first shot is just before the parade with Gov. Pat Quinn and DPOE President Daniel Biss getting their picture taken by Daniel's wife Karen. The second shot is a group shot taken afterwards.

The Sun-Times gets school reform right in this editorial:

There are lots of ways to improve failing schools. Charters are one way, but so is investing in traditional schools by offering smaller class sizes, better teachers, financial incentives for teachers and a longer school year.

I was happy to see all the ads in the buses and El's for the 'Young Chicago Republican' Event that took place on Monday. It's always nice to see them supporting public transportation in this way.

The write-up of the event from the Huffington Post had something that caught my eye.

First:

Panelists discussed policy issues, like health care reform, and how progressives should balance values, priorities and political strategy at the Hideout.

Arline Welty of the Active Transportation Alliance asks an interesting question:

"What does it mean when major urban planning decisions are made without consideration for effects on land use and travel behavior?"

Here's what it means: We've had a family picnic since time immemorial in a part of Lincoln Park near the Lake which we used to call the "Addison Rocks" (north part of Belmont Harbor). The last time we had this was two years ago.

So apparently, some in the media are up in arms about Nico Pitney from Huffington Post knowing he'd have an opportunity to ask the president a question at the press conference yesterday.

Steve Benen quotes one pissed off WaPo journalist who used words such as "arranged," "prepackaged," "preplanned," and "planted."

But if this is what 'preplanned' means, then aren't all the 'top' media outlets preplanning as well?

Paul Krugman encourages us to resist the temptation to define down 'centrists' and 'moderates'.

The real risk is that health care reform will be undermined by "centrist" Democratic senators who either prevent the passage of a bill or insist on watering down key elements of reform. I use scare quotes around "centrist," by the way, because if the center means the position held by most Americans, the self-proclaimed centrists are in fact way out in right field.