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University of California, Berkeley Professor Christina Romer, the Obama administration’s first chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, appeared on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” Friday night. Romer — who resigned in 2010 after inaccurately predicting that the $800 billion stimulus would lower the unemployment rate — said that the S&P credit downgrade was a sign that we are “pretty darn f****.” “The long run budget situation is abysmal,” Romer said. “And it has been abysmal going back at least a decade. So it was never an immediate emergency. And it is something that we

Christina Aguilera opened Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, TX by singing our National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, in what may go down in history as the most embarassingly horrible rendition ever performed in public since Rosanne Barr's supposedly comedic version in 1990. Christina not only took the liberty of diva-ing up every single line within the song ... she completely forgot "O'er the ramparts we watched" and tangled up the subsequent lyrics as she proceeded to strangle every ounce of heart and soul out of the remainder of our precious anthem. Instead of the lyrics reflecting the emotional upheaval felt...

In June of this year, a little known organization called the American Economic Review published a 39 page research article, titled “The Macroeconomic Effects of Tax Changes: Estimates Based on a New Measure of Fiscal Shocks.” I have quoted from the publication here: This paper investigates the causes and consequences of changes in the level of taxation in the postwar United States. Our results indicate that tax changes have very large effects on output. Our baseline specification implies that an exogenous tax increase of one percent of GDP lowers real GDP by almost three percent… and that [capital] investment falls...

Christina Hendricks has been named America's best-looking woman in an Esquire cover article, but there's more than meets the eye with this one. For starters, though the article appears in a men's magazine, the fiery "Mad Men" star won the best-looking title via a poll of over 10,000 women. Hendricks nabbed 30 percent of the votes that were cast, beating out the likes of Megan Fox, who got 14 percent of the votes, and Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima, who got 17 percent. Fox was last year's title-holder in Esquire's annual issue dedicated to the fairer sex. Secondly -- and...

MSNBC host Chris Matthews appeared three times on Wednesday’s Today show to lionize Sen. Ted Kennedy, and twice he promoted Barack Obama as the "last brother" of the Kennedy political dynasty. He tried to clarify a little in his appearance in the 10am hour: "I don’t mean that in an ethnic sense or a black sense. I mean a brother of the Kennedy tradition. And I think he’s the new brother, not that last brother."

Checking to see what interest there might be in a Roe Conn Show live thread, for those who prefer some laughs in their post-Rush talk show. Canarble Wagon rolls at 5:00 Central.

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (Reuters) - A "Peeping Tom" who photographed a woman in the changing room of a Bethlehem area clothes shop sparked a night of rioting between Palestinian Muslims and Christians, witnesses say. At the height of the hours-long riot on Tuesday night, hundreds of Muslims and Christians fought each other with metal rods and stones overnight in the streets of the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, adjacent to Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus. Palestinian police tried to quell the fighting by firing volleys in the air with automatic rifles, but the fighting only died...

Come one, come all -- comment on this year's freak show. It began with three sluts on stage in their underwear.