From the Economist‘s Global Agenda Watch, “Betting on Bernanke”: The Federal Reserve has raised its key interest rate by another quarter of a percentage point, to 4.5%, at Alan Greenspan’s last meeting in charge. His successor, Ben Bernanke, is taking over at or near the end of a cycle of monetary tightening, and thus may sit on his hands for a while. But his first big challenge is not far

6:45: Awoke, had a cup of coffee, looked over a couple of briefs 7:17: Took his morning “porcelain constitutional” 7:53: Called his temporary clerk; citing “inherent authority” granted the Executive under the Constitution, demanded work begin on compiling a database on “non-traditional uteri”—defined by Justice Alito as “those potential gestational chambers that are used for purposes that do not include GOD’S MANDATE that we ‘be fruitful and multiply.’” This includes

[update:  2/2/06 for a thorough response to Glenn Greenwald’s long and disingenuous litany of conservative failings to “correct the record”—a record of Cindy Sheehan’s martyrdom that, incidentally, this post to which he linked doesn’t address, please see below, “Response to Glenn Greenwald.] From the SF Chronicle: Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, given a ticket by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, to attend President Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday

What?  It’s not like any of you fuckers cared enough to send cupcakes.

[post-liveblog update, exclusive to Max Zawicky readers:  the more astute of you will recognize in this liveblog a general tone of cheekiness mixed into the actual “coverage”; others of you, however, will pretend—as Max has—that my political leanings really do have me desirious of seeing Cindy Sheehan chained to a radiator and forced to lick pork-mottled Vandekamps out of a tin saucer] TV Fox – Hume, Kristol, Barnes, Kondracke, Easton,