Peter Orszag, the cutest , coolest , cowboy-boot wearin’est budgeting badass ever to wrangle spreadsheets for a U.S. administration, is standing up to those not-so-cool critics who continue to insist that the health reform package President Obama and Congressional Democrats have put together is not, in fact, deficit neutral.

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The White House Kindly Requests You Do Not Refer to Its Health Care Budget Gimmicks as “Gimmicks”
Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko will discus asset forfeiture on the syndicated Jason Lewis show tonight at 8:35 pm ET. Check here for stations, or tune in to XM Satellite Radio, Channel 165.
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Reason on the Radio: Radley Balko To Discuss Asset Forfeiture on the Jason Lewis Show
Last week California state Sen. Roy Ashburn, a Republican who represents Bakersfield, was nabbed for driving under the influence after leaving a gay nightclub in Sacramento. In a Monday morning radio interview, he admitted he is gay.

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But How Did He Vote on Drunk Driving Legislation?
As I blogged the other day (and discussed today on Ed Morrissey’s radio show), Hollywood knuckle-dragger Sean Penn told Hollywood dullard Bill Maher that American critics of Hugo Chavez should be thrown in jail for their “biases.” Now Penn is being praised by the caudillo for defending his vapid, failed revolution. From AP : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is grateful that actor Sean Penn has defended him against his critics within the U.S

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Gracias, Sean!
A small and feisty group of protesters had already established themselves in front of Freddy’s Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn when I arrived shortly after noon to witness today’s big groundbreaking—or “groundtaking” as the protesters put it—ceremony for the Atlantic Yards project, a 22-acre eminent domain boondoggle that will bulldoze homes and businesses in order to make way for a basketball stadium and some office and apartment towers. Despite the fact that Atlantic Yards is a classic case of eminent domain abuse , New York’s courts have shamefully abdicated their judicial responsibility and allowed this blatant land grab to proceed. So today was something of a last hurrah for the opposition, many of whom have been fighting this outrage for the past seven years

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Snapshots from the Atlantic Yards “Groundtaking” Ceremony
Order another round of recession-is-over stories. Federal Reserve data show that U.S. households got slightly richer in the fourth quarter of 2009 — marking nine straight months of increasing household net worth.

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Zombie Banks Well Enough to Go Off Life Support While Living Fight Over Canned Goods
From our April issue, Contributor Editor Tim Cavanaugh reveals the Obama team’s favorite slices of fiscal baloney. View this article.

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New at Reason: Tim Cavanaugh on Obama’s Five Lies About the American Economy
On February 19, 2010, Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie made a special apperance via webcam on PBS’s Two-Way Street to ask the panel of experts on whether America should look to Portugal’s drug policies for its future. Approximately 1.13 minutes.
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Reason Staffers on The Tube: Nick Gillespie Talking Portugese Drug Decrim on PBS’ Two-Way Street
Last week, New York state assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) introduced a bill to ban the use of all salt in restaurant cooking and impose a fine of up to $1,000 on violators. Like all legislators who introduce absolutely insane legislation, he says he is trying to “make sure that we bring awareness.” Oddly, Ortiz seems to be raising awareness about someone else’s bill

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More on the NY Salt Ban Bill
In honor of this week’s 10th anniversary of the dotcom stock market peak, NetworkWorld’s Paul McNamara rounds up some entertaining contemporary coverage of a market bust that seemed impressive at the time but now stands in relation to the real estate bust as the Great War stands to World War II: A few of the names live on as poster children for failure, of course: Pets.com, Kozmo.com, MVP.com and Go.com… [T]here were remarkable and enduring successes during this period — Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, Yahoo, Google — even if it would be insulting to call them dot-coms and their real fortunes had so many chasing empty dreams. Highlights include this CNet obituary for one celebrity-enabled digital cash site: Flooz.com was a perfect example of a “what the heck were they thinking?” business

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Ten Years Ago This Week: A Requiem for Petopia