Morning Matters

• Welcome to post-bailout America, where various federal agencies have replaced board rooms in fighting over how to salvage a failed company.
• Two former federal prosecutors argue in the NY Times for expanded use of asset forfeiture.
• Swine flu panic spreads. Actual swine flu spreads too, though much less rapidly.
• Bea Arthur, RIP. To borrow from Andrew Breitbart's Twitter feed, may she be remembered for more than being the target of the greatest joke ever told.
• "Perhaps one of the biggest mainstream business media cliches is the surprising discovery that industry leaders often favor regulation of their industry."
• Americans aren't necessarily less religious, they're just changing religions.
• Obama: “Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over.” Not really. Science will merely be beholden to a new ideology. 
• Union officials may have intimidated, called the police on a political operative legally videotaping a public event. 
• Cocaine prices falling; drug is pure as ever. 
• Will the Kindle be the death of literary snobbery? If it takes off, it’ll certainly reveal just how few people who buy the classics actually read them.

with Hit and Run, Reason

_______________________________________________________________