* For the first time in seven years, the size of the U.S. military presence in Iraq has fallen below 100,000.

* The White House named a new U.S. ambassador to Syria yesterday, which wouldn't be especially noteworthy except it's the first time we've had an ambassador to Syria since 2005.

* President Obama is moving forward with his bipartisan commission on debt reduction. He's chosen former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson (R) and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles (D) to serve as co-chairmen.

And if you think conservative Republican lawmakers are ridiculous at the federal level, consider how truly insane they can be at the state level. In South Carolina, one GOP lawmaker introduced a bill to prohibit the state from accepting U.S. currency. Seriously.

...NOTHING BUT 'NET'.... It's now impossible for serious observers to claim the stimulus didn't create new jobs. The leading economic research firms -- IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers, and Moody's Economy.com -- estimate that the effort has already created as many as 1.8 million jobs, and will create about 2.5 million jobs when all is said and done. As far as the independent Congressional Budget Office is concerned, those are conservative estimates -- the CBO believes the stimulus is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs....

(Washington Monthly)