Tuesday's Daily Brief

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Arianna Huffington: Bill Maher Saves the Oscars... At Least for Me Arianna Huffington: For my money, this year's Academy Awards telecast was the funniest in ages. No, not because of the show itself -- Anne Hathaway and James Franco's "young and hip" shtick wore thin pretty quickly -- but because I watched the show sitting next to Bill Maher at the Vanity Fair dinner at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Bill kept up a running commentary that put the on-screen patter to shame. At one point we realized that we were both tweeting and retweeting what each of us was saying to the other. "This is excruciating for me, I can only imagine what it's like for you," I leaned over and said to him after a particularly lame joke. He then tweeted what I'd said... which I then retweeted. I'm not yet sure if this mode of communication is a good thing or a bad thing -- I'm just reporting. WORLD Pro-Gaddafi Forces Fight Rebels In 2 Cities MEDIA Frank Rich Leaves New York Times POLITICS New Polls Find Support For Public Employee Unions POLITICS Wisconsin Gov Walker To Outline Budget Tomorrow ENTERTAINMENT Christina Aguilera Arrested For Public Intoxication BLOG POSTS Sec. Hilda Solis: At the Table My mother worked the 3 p.m. to midnight shift at a toy factory. My father worked at a battery recycling plant and was a shop steward there for the Teamsters Union. I was "raised union." Frank Luntz: The 11 Words for 2011 These are the phrases that you should or would be hearing if the political leaders were listening and communicating effectively. Jeff Jarvis: Exploiting Charlie Sheen Why is the media interviewing Sheen? Not because they expect him to say smart things that give insight. They want him to act nutty. I think in the field they call that enabling. Keli Goff: 7 Reasons You Don't Care About the Royal Wedding (and I Don't Either) A whopping 75 percent of those under 30 describe themselves as "not interested" in the royal wedding. Why are so many joining me on the grinch list this year? Allow me to posit a few theories. Dean Baker: Right to Work: Representation Without Taxation Scott Walker's "right to work" proposal is a great name from the standpoint of proponents, just like the term "death tax" is effective for opponents of the estate tax, but it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

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