-Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
SATURDAY NEWS:
* Trickle-down effect? Rising costs to repair our infrastructure are choking local government budgets.
* Good read: Dan Froomkin on how the proposed stimulus package won't help, you know, the poor.
* The legacy of the Bush Doctrine: "In too much of the world, America's promotion of democracy is now linked with violence and instability, and pre-emptive strikes against terrorists are equated with the unilateral invasion of nation-states."
* Dick Meyer on the return of John McCain.
* "It's legitimate to ask, given the destructive developments of the last few weeks, whether the Clintons are capable of being anything but divisive." (More rebuttal from Colbert King here.)
* Morgan Spurlock on filming in Afghanistan and more. (Bonus: "a 9-foot-tall bionic ninja.")
* The Oscar nominees are pretty depressing.
* Your tax dollars at work: "We find that the programming at issue is within the scope of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs - specifically an adult woman's buttocks."