THE WHITE HOUSE is kinda friendly with Google, according to this report.

LOTS OF HALF-PRICE exercise and outdoor stuff. The economic slowdown does mean big savings, at least. The Insta-Daughter saved her Christmas money and has been hitting the desperation sales lately; she scored big yesterday on clothes she had looked at before Christmas, now 60 or 70% cheaper than they were a month ago.

AND WHY SHOULD THEY? The World Won’t Buy Unlimited U.S. Debt. In fact, their unwillingness to do so may be the only thing that saves us. “If any other country were to face these conditions, unpalatable measures such as severe government austerity or currency devaluation would be the only options.” Sooner or later, they’ll be our only options, too, if we keep it up.

ANDY MCCARTHY: More Eric Holder Questions.

JOEL KOTKIN: Height of Power: The Washington Fiefdom Looms Larger Than Ever.

For more than two centuries, it has been a wannabe among the great world capitals. But now, Washington is finally ready for its close-up.

No longer a jumped-up Canberra or, worse, Sacramento, it seems about to emerge as Pyongyang on the Potomac, the undisputed center of national power and influence. As a new president takes over the White House, the United States’ capacity for centralization has arguably never been greater. . . . The contrast between Washington and most of the United States has gradually become more pronounced. In good times and in bad, lawyers, lobbyists and other government retainers have continued to enrich themselves even as the Midwest industrial-belt cities have cratered and most others struggled to survive. “The vision of generations of liberals,” admitted the New Republic in the mid-1970s, “has created a prosperous and preposterous city whose population is completely isolated from the people they represent and immune from the problems they are supposed to solve.”

Not a positive development. But Washington has grown because rival power centers have suffered for their mistakes — while Washington’s mistakes produce more power for Washington. Great incentive system, huh? (Via NewsAlert).

DAN RIEHL: If there’s an emergency, why isn’t Congress acting like it’s an emergency?

DRUDGE: Pelosi says birth control will help the economy.

RANGEL ETHICS PANEL virtually disbanded?

From draining the swamp to ignoring it. . . .

UPDATE: Bill Quick is vastly unsurprised.

POLITICAL WIRE: KARL ROVE sets up Obama on Gitmo.

VIDEO: Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.

CHRIS DODD AND HEALTHCARE:

On the first day of a listening tour on health care, an issue pivotal to the new Congress and his own re-election, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd got an earful Friday.

The first comment came from a furious homeless shelter manager: He and his clients have no coverage, yet insurance giant American International Group got an $85 billion federal loan.

And don’t forget Countrywide, which gave Dodd a sweetheart mortgage whose terms he has so far refused to disclose:

Dodd was reluctant Friday to talk about one source of his poor polling: a controversy over favorable treatment extended him on mortgages by Countrywide Financial. Dodd has declined to release all relevant documents until the Senate Ethics Committee concludes its inquiry.

Asked if he still intended to wait for its conclusion before releasing the documents, Dodd said, “Not necessarily. … At some point soon we’ll do it.”

What’s the healthcare equivalent of being a “Friend of Angelo?” You can bet that if Dodd gets his way, there’ll be one, and we won’t get disclosure there, either . . . .

UPDATE: And that question is answered. It’s all at your expense, of course. But, then, what isn’t, these days?

OBAMA SEEKS SPACE WEAPONS BAN: “President Barack Obama’s pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.”

RON ROSENBAUM: My Caroline Kennedy Theory: The Crowd at Sylvia’s Got It Right. “The mystery is why Ms. Kennedy seemed to sabotage her bid so relentlessly, turning every advantage she had into a disadvantage, as if some submerged part of her was trying to subvert the part of her that wanted to do it, become a public servant, a senator like her father, JFK.”

HE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES. The folks at Media Matters may not know the meaning of the word “despite,” but “spite,” they certainly get . . . .

Plus, from the comments: “Just think about it Althouse: that lame, laughable post about you probably cost George Soros at least a thousand dollars!” Heh.

MAKE YOUR OWN Obamicon. Heh.

HEY, MAYBE THE ECONOMY REALLY HAS TANKED! “The name of a former payday loan mogul has been scrubbed from an athletics building at the University of Tennessee after he failed to follow through on a $2 million pledge.” I mean, when loan-shark-types are feeling the pinch . . . .

SORRY, but I don’t think this meeting puts the Supreme Court “in the tank” for Obama. It’s like claims that Scalia’s hunting trip with Dick Cheney disqualified him. (When, instead, it should have gotten him a medal for courage . . . .)

WELL, THAT IS A CHANGE: Biden: I have to think about everything I say.

BUT THE PENSIONS ARE UNDERFUNDED: “Sport utility vehicles and big pickup trucks are the preferred forms of transportation among Knox County employees whose take-home vehicles have been reported so far to the County Commission task force examining fleet expenditures.”

THE EXAMINER: When state taxes rise, businesses and residents flee.

Maryland used to be in the middle of the pack of states with business-friendly environments. No more. The Tax Foundation now ranks Maryland as the sixth worst state in the nation in which to do business. Only Rhode Island, Ohio, California, New York, and New Jersey are more hostile to job- and revenue-producing enterprises. Maryland’s “remarkable drop” – from 24th in 2008 to 45th place this year – is attributed to last year’s passage of the largest tax hike in state history, coupled with other major tax policy changes that also put the Free State dead last in the personal income tax category. . . . Decades of empirical research prove that economic growth in high-tax states consistently lags behind states with lower tax burdens. The 10 states with the lowest taxes also attracted almost 10 percent more new residents during the last decade than their high-tax counterparts. Just last year, 144,000 people fled from California’s punishing taxes, the highest state-to-state migration in the U.S. The ramifications of losing revenue-producing businesses and highly-skilled workers to lower-tax states should by now be apparent even to big-spending governors like Maryland’s Martin O’Malley and California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger – long-term economic decline.

You’d think. And yet . . . .

HMM: ‘Shovel-ready’ criteria puzzles local officials. “A group of the region’s leaders told U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd Friday afternoon that they are skeptical of and confused by key aspects of a potential economic stimulus package Congress hopes to pass by the middle of next month.”

Plus this: “Oefinger, like others, expressed concern that the stimulus will not provide long-term benefits or jobs. ‘I think it’s going to be dumping a lot of money down the rat hole and not have a lot to show for it,’ he said.” Gee, do you think? Meanwhile, it’s now been 185 days since Dodd promised to release those Countrywide mortgage documents.

CENTRALIZING POWER: “Already Obama is moving to create perhaps the most powerful staff in modern history – a sort of West Wing on steroids that places no less than a half-dozen of his top initiatives into the hands of advisers outside the Cabinet. President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy ‘czars’ that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts.” Enough with the “czars” already.

HEH. Cover blown.

AMERICAN COLLEGES recruit students in Iraq. “Academics and administrators from 24 American universities are in Iraq this week to lend support to an ambitious planned overhaul of Iraqi higher education and to stage student-recruitment fairs in Baghdad and the northern city of Sulaymaniyah.”

HOWARD KURTZ RENAMES MSNBC “The Obama Network.”