Holy Ultimate Connectivity in a Virtual Ethernet Community, Batman!

The President of these U-nited States went smack on the InnerTubes to field questions from just plain ol' folks (who have web cams) about anything at all! What is this world coming to?

And, not only THAT. He answered the questions, too. Well, most of 'em.

Here's the stats: 92,918 people submitted 104,111 questions. I guess SOME people got to ask more than one question. My question is this: with nearly 304 million people in the United States, only 93,000 of us could come up with a question for the President??? Really?? That's, like, only .0003 percent of us took time off from shopping at Wal-Mart to actually think of and submit a question. I guess the rest of us were too busy working our second and third jobs.

Favorite question of the Virtual Town Hall, submitted from a guy named, Spicolli, in sunny California: "Huuuh, duuude, Senor El Presidente, I'm like here with my girlfriend Sunshine, and we're wonderin', like, you know, are you gonna like, uh, legalize the weed, maaaan? Also, a follow-up, got 'ny Oreos…maaaan?"

The President said, "no." To both questions.

And in other news, Congressional Republican Leaders, smarting from criticism they do nothing but criticize, released an 18-page alternative federal budget outline to counter the Obama Administration's 142-page federal budget. This did not, apparently, sit well with some Congressional Republican Leaders who argued for a 24-page alternative federal budget outline.

According to Politico, White House Spokesdude Robert Gibbs said, "It took me several minutes to read it."

And here's the real shocker: the Republican alternative budget calls for cutting taxes on America's wealthiest 2 percent. Oh, yea, and cutting federal spending…except for defense.

Healthy, productive national debate is always stimulated when the minority party comes up with new and innovative ideas to challenge the majority.

Back to the whole actual-citizens-ask-questions-of-the-president-thing, this is not over. The Nation magazine and the Washington Times are teaming up with the Personal Democracy Forum to provide an on-going project in which actual citizens (ACs) will get to submit questions for presidential press conferences. The website is: http://bit.ly/w45uA .

Wait…what? The ultra progressive Nation magazine and the ultra-rightwing Washington Times? Working together? Is this stuff of Biblical proportions? Dogs and cats living together?

As the great moral philosopher, Jimi Hendrix said, "All along the watchtower, princes kept the view. While all the women came and went; Bare-foot servants, too. Outside in the cold distance a wild cat did growl. Two riders were approachin'. And the wind began to howl."

Well, it's nice to have another day of good news from Wall Street.

Don't know what's gotten into them. Heavy investors seem to think the economy is becoming more stable? Could they be reacting with enthusiasm to the administration's plan for public-private manning of the lifeboats? The ghost of Friedman's past must have stopped, temporarily, rattling his chains.

Maybe one day we'll come to realize the stock market is NOT the economy and the economy should not be the stock market.

Hey, we can dream can't we?

I awoke this morning to find a busload of people from mid-America camped on my front lawn. Evidently, they mistook my address for the home of an AIG bigwig. They were out there demanding I give back the big bonus I got from their tax money.

I explained the mistake – BIG mistake – and gave them my breakfast toast instead. As they were leaving, one lady said she'd just gotten a Tweet from a companion camped on the lawn of a real AIG executive in Connecticut. They were served cake.

But seriously, New York AG Andrew Cuomo says 9 of AIG's top 10 bonus recipients have agreed to give back the money as did 15 of the top 20 bonusees in the company's financial services division (Derivatives & 'R Us), accounting for – get this - $50 million out of the $165 million given in bonuses. Those who declined to give back bonuses, Cuomo told the New York Times, were AIG employees who either live outside the U.S. or have absolutely no moral compunction whatsoever. (Okay, Cuomo didn't really say that last part. I did.)

China wants the world to start using something other than the dollar as a standard currency. So does Russia. Perhaps they would prefer their own currencies to be the world's standard: the Renminbi and the Ruble, respectively.

"Have you been injured in a monetary accident? Call the law firm of Renminbi & Ruble."

I don't know. Writing a blues song called, "Dead Leaders of the People's Glorious Revolution," just doesn't have the same ring to it. Bop-a-u-Mao-Mao.

As I understand it, some AIG bonus recipients have already converted their bonuses to Renminbi. "Come and get it, Yanks!" one was quoted as telling the Chinese news agency, Xinhua. (Okay, I made up that part, too.)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee some steps outlined in the administration's rescue plan for troubled financial companies may be "unpopular."

Better be careful, there. Wouldn't want to give the Republicans anything to criticize. They've been so helpful, so far.

Reaction to the President's presser Tuesday night was predictable: supporters loved it ("cool, calm, thoughtful, kept to message"); critics panned it ("dull, boring, thoughtful, kept only to message when the world is exploding").

Say what you will, you gotta love it when a POTUS says: "I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak." What a concept!

Funniest/most tragic moment of the PrezPresser: ABC's Ann Compton, normally a very fine reporter, was flummoxed at being called on. She asked him about "race" Wish he would have said, "Yea, I'm thinking about running in the Capitol Hill 5K." Or, "You know, you're the first person to mention that."

But, instead, he gave a great answer about how folks REALLY want him to fix the economy and keep America safe. Blah, blah…thoughtful, kept to message.

And finally, Florida Congressman Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, said over the weekend morality must play a role in our nation's recovery.

"Government is not our morality. We are our morality," Mack said. "As Americans, we know what is right and wrong."

Putting aside the "WTF" aspect of his remarks, this comes from a congressman who almost immediately upon getting to Washington dumped his wife for another member of the House, Congresswoman Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, CA., the widow of former Republican Congressman Sonny Bono, former husband of former entertainer, Cher. I'm sure Kevin Bacon is involved in some way.

Stocks are up, surf is up. You know what to do!

Okay, boys and girls, put down your pencils; eyes straight ahead; no talking.

Let's review: Our wonderful little nation, here, the place we call home, arguably the most important economic and cultural power in the history of the world, is absolutely in the worst mess since the 1930s and for those of you without math skills that's 80 years, give or take a few years that many of us baby-boomers don't even remember anyway.

Sure, sure, we were doin' fine there for a whole bunch of those 80 years, mostly glossing over a handful of really bad mistakes like Vietnam and Nixon and, oh yea, all the crap we pulled in Latin America and the Middle East for several decades. Despite it all, we kept pluggin' away, living out this thing we came to call, "the American Dream," and blissfully going about our business of getting fat, lazy, dumb and happy.

The fat, lazy, dumb and happy era gave way to a new millennium and when the world did not implode, as many had feared, we gratefully sobered up until the most whacked-out crazies of all time flew commercial airliners into New York killing thousands of good, decent folks. That REALLY sobered us up and we've lived since almost exclusively on caffeine, refinanced mortgages and the adrenalin rush of war.

That is, until last year when nearly everything surrounding the blocks where the World Trade Towers once stood began metaphorically crashing with such thunder and reverberation throughout the world we dang near forgot the shock and horror of those two buildings actually roaring to the ground.

But by then it was too late. Like Louie, the friendly constable in Rick's Casablanca of the 1940s, we were shocked, shocked I tell you to discover there was gambling taking place in our little bistro. For nearly 30 years, the gamblers had been artificially taking down the odds and making a killing – right under our noses.

So we decided at the end of last year to throw out those gamblers and bring in a whole new bunch of gamblers to see if we can build back the house.

But at this point we are dang near armed insurrection with busloads of common, decent and good folks taking out their anger by camping outside the home of Wall Street tycoons who continue to cash huge paychecks written on the public dole. Pretty good welfare payments if you can get 'em!

What we have is a battle between the Friedmansians and the Keynesians and that battle has been raging since our last economic disaster, to which we lovingly refer as, The Great Depression. The Friedmansians say capitalism should be unfettered and left to follow its own heart, no matter where the wind blows it. The Keynesians say unfettered capitalism leads to a radical accumulation of capital in the hands of the very few at the expense (literally) of the very many and to keep this from happening government must lower the sails of the capitalist ship from time to time.

The Keynesians pretty much controlled the US of A for 50 years, from the 1930s to 1980 when the election of Ronald Reagen as president swept into office the Friedmansians. Only Richard Nixon, as president from 1968 to 1974, gave any kind of nod to the Friedmansians but even he couldn't fully stomach their dictums.

Since 1980 the nation and world have been ruled by the Friedmansians. But with the election of President Obama many think the Keynesians have returned to power.

The Friedmansians call the Keynesians, "socialists." The Keynesians call the Friedmansians, "exploiters."

We'll see. As the great moral philosopher, Blondie said, "The tide is high and I'm holdin' on."