You want to do what?

It isn't that I don' t understand the issue but, still, this story has a strong "say what?!" factor for me, so I can only imagine the gut reaction of someone who is a more casual observer of the news of the day.

After so much bad news, it scarcely seems possible. But having regained a financial footing as well as a bit of their old swagger, major banks are racing to pay back billions of taxpayer dollars. Many insist they will do so by year-end. . .

But now that big banks seem to have stabilized, regulators are trying to determine how and when these institutions should be allowed to return their bailout money . . .

Weather oddity

The fact that I was even tempted to do a blog post about the weather (much less that I yielded to the temptation) may be a sign that I should shut this thing down. Anyway.

The Twin Cities blasted into a heat record Tuesday with a high temperature of 97 degrees, breaking the previous record for the date by eight degrees.

Meanwhile, as Granite Falls hit 100 degrees at 5 p.m., Grand Marais was recording 34 degrees, giving Minnesota both some of the nation’s warmest and coolest temperatures simultaneously.

Strange, indeed.

Did he really say this?

This guy just signed a contract for over $50 million for the next 6 years.

When the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers make their trip to the White House Thursday, one of the players largely responsible for their victory over the Arizona Cardinals says he won't be attending.

Linebacker James Harrison said he'll pass on the invite from President Barack Obama. . .

"This is how I feel -- if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won," said Harrison.

Well, yes, when you have a ceremony to honor the champions of a sporting event (no matter how silly how that may be in the first place, particularly when it happens many months after the competition ended), it is better to invite the champions, not the runners-up. I hope to heck that this is a joke and this guy is not really this stupid.

What ails conservatives, as described by a conservative that I can respect

Posner.

My theme is the intellectual decline of conservatism, and it is notable that the policies of the new conservatism are powered largely by emotion and religion and have for the most part weak intellectual groundings. That the policies are weak in conception, have largely failed in execution, and are political flops is therefore unsurprising. The major blows to conservatism, culminating in the election and programs of Obama, have been fourfold: the failure of military force to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives; the inanity of trying to substitute will for intellect, as in the denial of global warming, the use of religious criteria in the selection of public officials, the neglect of management and expertise in government; a continued preoccupation with abortion; and fiscal incontinence in the form of massive budget deficits, the Medicare drug plan, excessive foreign borrowing, and asset-price inflation.

By the fall of 2008, the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party.

Excuse me?

Current banner headline on CNN.com:

"LIVE BREAKING NEWS: News briefing on future of Miss California USA Carrie Prejean".

Seriously?

Kentucky Derby

For reasons that aren't entirely explainable because I'm not a horse racing fan generally, I have always loved the Kentucky Derby. This year was a classic, the second biggest upset in history. Because I can, I will preserve it forever on this blog.