From WaPo:

The acting chief financial officer of troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead in his Fairfax County home early this morning after apparently committing suicide, Fairfax police said.

David Kellermann, 41, was a longtime Freddie Mac executive who joined the firm as an analyst in 1992. Police were called to his stately red brick home in the upscale Hunter Mill Estates subdivision shortly before 5 a.m., police spokesman Eddy Azcarate said. The call was made by someone inside the home, which is on a tree-studded corner lot in the 1700 block of Raleigh Hill Road.

Azcarate said Kellermann's body was found in the basement. Although one police source told the Post it appeared Kellermann had taken his own life, department spokesmen said only that there were no signs of foul play and that the county medical examiner would make a formal cause of death ruling.

Says John Yoo:

"Three thousand of our fellow citizens had been killed in a deliberate attack by a foreign enemy," Yoo, unruffled by shouts that he is a war criminal and should be in jail, told a packed auditorium on the Orange County campus. "That forced us in the government to have to consider measures to gain information using presidential constitutional provisions to protect the country from further attack."

The author of one book is a proponent of stimulant drug therapies.  So much so that I can hear the author grumbling to herself when faced with parents who resist giving their children drugs.

She states that the great majority of individuals with ADHD respond to stimulant therapies, but she never seems to get around to telling us what happens to the individuals who don't respond.  I appreciate her experience with the success of stimulant therapies, but I really would like to know what the options are when her preferred treatment fails.

Put yourself in the shoes of the people who were asked to interrogate al-Qaeda prisoners in 2002. One former officer told me he declined the job, not because he thought the program was wrong but because he knew it would blow up. "We all knew the political wind would change eventually," he recalled. Other officers who didn't make that cynical but correct calculation are now "broken and bewildered," says the former operative.

For a taste of what's ahead, recall the chilling effects of past CIA scandals. In 1995, then-Director John Deutch ordered a "scrub" of the agency's assets after revelations of past links to Guatemalan death squads. Officers were told they shouldn't jettison sources who had provided truly valuable intelligence. But the practical message, recalls one former division chief, was: "Don't deal with assets who could pose political risks." A similar signal is being sent now, he warns.

Two lawyers, who represent a former Gitmo prisoner who accused a San Fransisco Bay area company of flying him to foreign torture chambers for the CIA, face possible jail sentences for writing a letter to Obama asking him to disclose how brutally their client was treated.

The government says the letter falsely accused a Pentagon review team of censoring details of the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed from a document the attorneys wanted to send to Obama. The lawyers stand by their accusations but have been summoned to Washington, D.C., by a federal judge for a hearing next month on whether they should be held in contempt of court, punishable by up to six months in jail.

LINCOLN, Neb. - When it comes to the $787 billion in federal stimulus money flowing from Washington to the states, it will cost money to spend money.

Nebraska's governor's office told lawmakers it expects to spend more than $1.2 million over two years to oversee disbursement of about $1.5 billion Nebraska stands to receive in federal stimulus funds.

Other states are in similar straits. But Washington -- at least for now -- isn't handing out money for states to hire auditors and accountants, and the stimulus law requires stringent reporting from states to ensure transparency and curb abuses.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration, reversing field, will allow 17-year-olds get the 'morning-after' birth control pill without a doctor's prescription, a government health official said Wednesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency will comply with a federal judge's order overturning a Bush administration policy that restricted access. The official was not authorized to speak publicly before the FDA announcement, expected later Wednesday.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled in a New York lawsuit that Bush administration appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to allow over-the-counter access to the pills only for women 18 and older. Korman ordered the agency to let 17-year-olds get the medication, and separately to evaluate whether all age restrictions should be lifted.

The FDA's latest action does not mean that the pill will be immediately available to 17-year-olds. The manufacturer must first submit a request, but the agency is indicating that it will approve the change.

Link

When Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, approved yesterday by a Senate committee, takes over as secretary of health and human services, there will finally be one confirmed Obama appointee at each agency. But she may well be joining the ranks of the "home alone" crowd.

In that distinguished grouping we find Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner each have but one other confirmed nominee to talk to, according to data compiled by Clara Janis of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.

Indian business students snap up copies of Mein Kampf

Booksellers told The Daily Telegraph that while it is regarded in most countries as a 'Nazi Bible', in India it is considered a management guide in the mould of Spencer Johnson's "Who Moved My Cheese".

Sales of the book over the last six months topped 10,000 in New Delhi alone, according to leading stores, who said it appeared to be becoming more popular with every year.

Several said the surge in sales was due to demand from students who see it as a self-improvement and management strategy guide for aspiring business leaders, and who were happy to cite it as an inspiration.

grooming and beauty tips from Susan Boyle

The man in charge of electing more Republicans to the Senate said it will be difficult to stop the Democrats from winning a 60-seat majority in 2010.

"That's going to be real hard, to be honest with you," Cornyn said of keeping Democrats from reaching 60 seats, adding:

"Everybody who runs could be the potential tipping point to get Democrats to 60. We've not only got to play defense; we've got to claw our way back in 2010. It'll be a huge challenge."

that some of the media said the "jobless claims were less than expected".
When things are getting bad, and they don't get as bad as most had expected, that's actually a positive sign."

from cnbc today:

"The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by a slightly more than forecast 27,000 last week, government data showed on Thursday, while continued claims posted a record high again as the recession bit.  Continuing claims rose 93,000 to 6,137,000, setting a record for the 12th straight week. That number measures the amount of workers who collected unemployment benefits for more than one week during April."

from reuters.

the systemic effect of job loss is going to make the recession longer and deeper than anyone wants to admit.  Tell me again why this unemployment siutation is less serious than the threat of Iraq?

It is without a doubt the greatest threat we face and have faced since the great depression and yet our well paid and insured politicians sit idly and wait for the 3.5 million stimulus jobs.  

The banks will get much worse with continuing claims rising yet we keep throwing money at them and leaving the working class behind.  42% of those in notice of default cite loss of income or job as their reason for falling behind and that number is going to increase.  More than 15% of our working class is out of work or underemployed, if you include contingency workers my guess is that number is closer to 22%.