Chief Justice [John] Roberts has not served nearly as long as his three most recent predecessors. The court he leads has been in flux. But five years of data are now available, and they point almost uniformly in one direction: to the right.

“It’s a simple recommendation that we made, that Treasury put forth how many people it truly expects to help stay in their houses through permanent modifications,” Mr. Barofsky told members of the Senate Finance Committee. “It’s a recommendation that all three of us on this panel have made to Treasury and that Treasury has ignored.”

Shocker.

This is a fantastic, and incredibly wonky, essay from U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman about the recently passed financial legislation.  He discusses the good parts of the law, as well the significant items that were left out and could still bring down the entire world economy. Historians will want to refer to this article when the next financial crisis occurs — whether that is this year or in ten years.

Good article on teacher to student ratios in Oregon schools. Here’s an interesting excerpt:

Only California and Arizona spread their high school teachers thinner… The generous compensation paid to Oregon educators, particularly health and retirement benefits, also helps explain why high schools can’t afford more teachers.

This is awesome.  All those folks who think that immigrants (both legal and illegal) are taking jobs from hardworking Americans, can now go to a website to sign up for fieldwork.  I’m sure there will be a ton of takers…

“When our public finance situation blew wide open, the dominant consideration was ensuring that there was international investor confidence in Ireland so we could continue to borrow,” said Alan Barrett, chief economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland… Rather than being rewarded for its actions, though, Ireland is being penalized. Its downturn has certainly been sharper than if the government had spent more to keep people working. Lacking stimulus money, the Irish economy shrank 7.1 percent last year and remains in recession.

The father of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who turned up on the U.S. government’s terror watch list says the worst thing his daughter has ever done is probably been mean to her sister… Now they’ve received a letter from the government addressed to 6-year-old Alyssa, telling her that nothing in her file will be changed.