It's Monday Again, Isn't It?

• Via twistedchick at Dreamwidth:  Watergate and Iran-Contra were the result of crimes mostly hidden.  Consortium News' Robert Parry via AlterNet, probably in support of his book on the subject.
• Mr. Krugman calls out progressives on the economy:

  So my advice has , obviously been -- part of it is that we need infrastructure, and there’s not enough people -- but also, yeah, you need to take a look at the way people express things. I[f] you think it’s really stupid to be cutting spending now, you should start your article by saying, ‘It’s really stupid to be cutting spending now’ instead of saying, ‘the deficit is a significant problem over the medium term, and then, four paragraphs in, say, ‘I do not think it is a good idea to be cutting spending now.’

• "Five Ways Privatization is Poisoning America" -- no, I don't think that's too strong.
• Toward a discussion about names and identity, from Flyover Feminism (via Shakesville):

  Names can be given, they can be claimed, and reclaimed. They can be denied by the people they are “given” to, or denied by people who refuse to recognize the names we claim for ourselves. Names can be imposed as way of erasing authentic identity. Many of us have multiple names and straddle identities. There are a range of stories – historical and personal – to be told about naming, a variety of meanings signified by names.

  Following up on the thinking here.
  
• Implementing reforms recommended at Vatican II ran afoul of the authoritarian imperative.

  There are no valid reasons in scripture or in the Church’s tradition that rule out the ordination of women. Women who were leaders in the Jesus movement routinely presided at liturgies and celebrated Eucharist, but today every effort is made to maintain the Church as a patriarchal community.

• Employment, the economy, cautious recovery.  (From No More Mister Nice Blog.)  And a right-wing pundit who blames President Obama for airport hotels.  (And the first comment is sufficiently snarkalicious that it gets its own link.  It is, however, ableist.)