Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. PajamaLine is on the Loose
2. A Real Economist Speaks
3. No Special Rights for Terrorists, Even Quakers
4. A Success in the War on Terror

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PajamaLine is on the Loose

Paul Mirengoff of PowerLine blog took some time out from his legal career to visit with the Senators conducting the hearing into the NSA surveillance activities. After Ted Kennedy left the podium, Senator Dick (our troops are Nazis) Durbin came to the lecturn to field questions. Paul was a little too anxious with his presentation, and the Senator was able to end the conversation prematurely, but I think this clip is an example of the birth of a new medium: the blogger on capital hill. If I were a traditional journalist, I would take some cues. Thanks to the Pajamas Media NSA Files for the video.

Play clip

Commenting on the video, we have Mark Tapscott, at Tapscott's Copy Desk:

A veteran Senate GOP staffer who requested anonymity offered this observation about the significance of the Durbin-Mirengoff exchange:

"The mainstream news media that covers Congress is tightly controlled by the House and Senate press galleries and they would never be so aggressive in pressing a Member of Congress. So this was big, it was unprecedented to have a blogger asking such questions. We need more bloggers up here asking questions because they aren't controlled by the galleries."

I agree, the more bloggers are covering Congress, the more likely it is that Members will be asked and, as Durbin discovered today, have to answer questions they never expect to hear from mainstream journalists.

It is exactly the kind of aggressive, don't-let'em-off-the-hook questioning by Mirengoff that I have long lamented as being a thing of the past among establishment media journalists. They are either afraid to ask the tough questions, or they don't know the tough questions.

So come on up to Capitol Hill, bloggers!

A Real Economist Speaks

I am a real podcast junkie. My daily subscription list almost reaches a gigabyte of content, which would result in a listening schedule of about ten hours. I listen to only about two hours a day, a half hour commute each way, and an hour walk in the forest at night. Most of my subscriptions languish unlistened. My favorites are listed on the wizbangpodcast website on the left hand sidebar. I always make time to listen to Radio Economics when it arrives. It is produced by an Economics professor at the University of South Carolina Upstate, James Reese. His latest telephone interview is with an economist at the Hudson Institute:

Diana Furchtgott-Roth ...a senior fellow and director of Hudson's Center for Employment Policy. In this interview with James Reese, she talks about being an economist in Washington over the past 20 years; the economic objectives of the Bush administration; the role of tax cuts in the macroeconomy; economic issues facing women today; and how "free market economics" policies benefit women.

Listen to this clip, where she summarizes free market economics, in a little counter intuitive logic. Churn is good, get better off by getting a better job. Great questions by Dr. Reese, as he seeks to probe the silly liberal arguments we hear in the news. She sounds a little harsh, but this is kind of logic I'd like to have in the labor department. It's a good tonic to the wishful thinking of the liberal economists like Robert Reich.

Play clip

Dr. Reese drifts off into a complaint about the textile mills in the south east, but I assume he is just stating the devil's advocate position there. As any economist knows, the textile industry in the southeast got its start because it offered lower wages to the owners of the textile the plants in New England during the early 20th century. I would not recommend basing an economy on the lowest cost labor force, since there is always going to be a lower cost labor force somewhere else. Certainly he is not advocating for protectionism for the Norma Rae workers in South Carolina. It is an indefensible position in today's global economy.

Go and listen to the whole interview for a marvelously intelligent discussion by a giant in the field of economics. Amazing stuff.

No Special Rights for Terrorists, Even Quakers

Senator Leahy of Vermont wanted to make sure that everyone was sufficiently angry about the NSA wiretaps at Monday's hearing. Here is part of his opening statement, in which he hallucinates that legislation passed after 9-11 was solely designed to capture Osama Bin laden, and not the rest of the Al Qeada crew, and certainly not the Quakers. Quakers? Listen to the clip, thanks to C-SPAN.

A Success in the War on Terror

At a speech Thursday before the National Guard Association President Bush shared the details of a foiled plot to destroy the Library Tower, now the U.S. Bank Building in Los Angeles. Listen to this clip, from C-SPAN.

Play Clip.

That's it for now, podcatchers.