Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee this afternoon revealed that another of President Obama’s nominees — U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk — has tax problems. Finance staff briefed aides to committee members today on the revelations, which indicate the former Dallas mayor underpaid taxes to the tune of $9,975 during 2005-07, and that he has agreed to promptly file adjustments. The underpayments deal in part with speaking honoraria he received

I think I may have mentioned that I rarely listen to Rush Limbaugh, unless I’m on the road and there’s nothing else, but I may have to start listening. I say that, because I’m wondering if this nipple-headed jackdaw could possibly have made me regret supporting him any more quickly than he has: HUGHLEY: You know what we do, we talk like we’re talking now. You have your view. I

Stocks fell worldwide, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below 7,000 for the first time since 1997, and Treasuries rose after Warren Buffett said the economy is in “shambles” and American International Group Inc. reported a $61.7 billion loss. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. retreated 5.9 percent after reporting the worst annual drop in book value since Buffett took control in 1965. HSBC Holdings Plc sank 19 percent after announcing a rights

Moe Lane: NAME! THAT! PARTY! “Troubled.” How droll. It’s Pete Visclosky (D, IN-01), by the way. I repeat it because the AP can’t seem to. Visclosky’s ties to troubled PMA Group run deep. WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky has promised to return money from donors with ties to a troubled lobbying group, but critics say his ties to PMA Group run deep. The northwest Indiana congressman’s former chief

James Joyner deems the Tea Party Movement bizarre, noting that a bunch of Congressional Perps are up for re-election in 2010. What are people supposed to do till then? Suck it up? Astroturf? Why it simply won’t do to demonstrate our anger at the socialization of America in the meanwhile, by whatever means we have at our disposal, is a subject that James doesn’t broach in this post. What makes

Some final thoughts, before I head back to the hotel and try to rinse all this strained GOP enthusiasm (and a splash or two of barmaid, whose name I’ve forgotten) off of me: 1) Were one to scroll through the photos of the PJM Xpress bloggers — the new mainstream GOP media’s picks for who gets to frame “conservatism” on the web for the next few years — one cannot

From Jammie Wearing Fool: Shocking, isn’t it? The man who is President Obama’s newly minted urban czar pocketed thousands of dollars in campaign cash from city developers whose projects he approved or funded with taxpayers’ money, a Daily News probe found. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion often received contributions just before or after he sponsored money for projects or approved important zoning changes, records show. Most donations were organized and

The art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged a visiting Hollywood delegation to apologise for “insults and slanders” about Iranians in films, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday. “(Iranian) cinema officials will only have the right to have official sessions with… Hollywood movie makers when they apologise to the Iranians for their 30 years of insults and slanders,” Javad Shamaghdari said. “The Iranian people and our revolution has been

Hot chicks with conservatives edition! Knuckle-draggers Patrick Poole says bloggers were the red-headed stepchildren of CPAC, and adds: This year’s CPAC was the largest on record. It was encouraging to see the large herds of students moving throughout the hotel. Unfortunately, the constant theme those students heard during this year’s CPAC was that the proper role of the conservative movement is as cheerleader for the GOP. I must strongly dissent.