We're back for another Monday, and the beginning of Daylight Austerity Time. The Associated Press has picked up the drum beat of cataloging and taking a closer look at gun incidents around the country, focusing on January 19th, like I did, and like NBC has done since. But curiously, neither NBC nor the AP bothered to mention that January 19th was "Gun Appreciation Day." Greg Dworkin joined in to update us on the "Team 26" ride from Newtown to DC, now in progress, and continued to make the case for gun policy as a public health issue, as a follow-up to his Sunday Kos piece on the subject. We could use a little help on that score from gun folks, though, who could help a lot by doing their part to encourage real compliance with safety protocols, and stop accepting those who refuse as full members in mainstream gun culture. Despite the lip service given to gun safety, the pattern of shooting two toddlers per weekend continues apace, as does the trend of mistaking one's partner for an intruder. Is there really nothing we can do consistent with gun rights here? Moving on to the political roundup: the Senate begins moving a budget for the first time in years, Republican presidential hopefuls somehow view CPAC as a springboard to legitimacy (!), Jeb denies the existence of Bush family baggage, Sen. Coburn says Senate leadership is the big hurdle to compromise, House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy quietly declares the Hastert Rule dead, and Republican crazies make compromise tough. Shocking. To wrap up, we read Krugman on Dwindling Deficit Disorder, and OurFuture.org's roundup of the nonsensical agenda behind "Fix the Debt."
