Everybody knows this is nowhere

Song in my head. Neil always fits my mood when I'm feeling bleak. I spent more time arguing with David Cay Johnston in the comments at this post than I did blogging this weekend and the links are piling up, so here's a few things that I didn't get around to talking about or otherwise speak for themselves.

The big wheelers and dealers meeting in Davos for the annual state of the world economy powwow were dissing the US citizenry for their extravangant spending but that surely didn't stop them from partying like it's 2004. Bleeding hypcrites.

Meanwhile, the victims of the policies these fat cats promoted right up to the moment of the big crash, are commiting sucide in droves.

Maybe because a simple Craig's list ad for a 12 hour a week job gets thousands of responses in one day.

There is some small glimmer of hope for homeowners who are being foreclosed on though. Marcy Kaptur explains how you can squat in your own home using the "produce the note strategy."

A special tribute to the man who should be receiving the credit for starting the long economic slide of the middle class. Will Bunch wrote a book that tears down the Reagan myth. This is a must read post.

I loved this one. An Iraqi orphanage erected a sculpture to commemorate the shoe throwing journalist, Muntadhir al-Zaidi, who by the way is still in jail awaiting trial. Sadly, the Iraqi government made them tear it down the next day. Love that young democracy, eh?

In other insanity, Glenn Beck want to kick California out of the union.

The 'new' GOP. Gaga Over Palin. Go for it GOPers. Please.

And lots of news on the mother of all insanities, the war on some drugs. Mona has the ultimate take on the Phelps marijuana confession.

Culture11 sums up the real cost of the war on drugs. Be sure to read Radley Balko's piece that's linked in the sidebar as well. That was a great article I never got around to linking to myself.

Plus, looking back on one of the uglier botched raids of last year where two perfectly sweet dogs were murdered.

Finally, to end on a cheerier note, some nice photos of lovely downtown Northampton. These were my old stomping grounds.

I've also been searching, literally for years, for a photo of my old digs downtown. I just discovered you can see it on google maps. Go here and enter 212 Pleasant Street, northampton, ma, usa. Click on street view and use the arrows to look right. There's the old rowhouse right in front of you. I lived in the middle for a long time but by the time I left I was in the very last apartment on the far end from the main street. And a couple more photos here.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]