Happy Thursday. CPAC starts today (the Conservative Political Action Conference), meaning a bunch of younger people that I know are coming to town to listen to Republicans give speeches and take part in other events. Just what we need in DC - more college students.

One thing about caught my eye, Rep. John Boehner's speech, scooped by Politico's Mike Allen. Boehner says that a change in leadership, to him as speaker, would change how the House is run completely:

"One of my first orders of business will be to post every bill online for at least three days before a vote. ... We'll take better advantage of new technology to continue to break down the walls between citizens and legislators, and to make our Congress more transparent and accountable to the American people.:

In reality, using the example of posting a bill online prior to a vote is ridiculous. The idea of transparency isn't much less crazy, but it sounds good. As I wrote two days ago, transparency may very well be how we got to this place, with voters reading bills they don't come close to understanding, then getting their opinions from cable news. That isn't what Boehner wants anyway. He wants an out when someone says, "we never got a chance to read the bill." If, by the time a bill gets to the floor, you haven't read it and don't know what's in it, you are absolutely not doing your job as a legislator. Period.

Anyway, I hope Boehner has some real change ideas, especially since the House hasn't had too much trouble with progress. It's unfortunate that some House members are going to lose their jobs in November, considering they actually did them for once.

Here's Politico's take on CPAC, an interesting look at how the conservative movement has changed.


Some other links:

• Stories like this one can only continue to help the president's reputation on national security. This is three major captures in a few days. It's quite possible I wasn't paying as much attention, but I don't remember ever reading stories like this in the past.
• Messaging seems to be the theme of the day, with this about whether or not President Obama is naive on terrorism.
• People know about it, but I'm not sure anyone really knows how deep the financial crisis is in California.
• I'm really sorry for posting this little blurb about Bristol Palin's child support situation, but the last line made me laugh a little.
• Finally, if you didn't see Shaun White last night - awesome.

Apparently I am running for Senate in Washington - and getting smacked in the polls.

As I was finished writing this post, "Shuttin' Detroit Down," by John Rich came on my iTunes. Really puts some things in perspective. You can lose sight of the real world when you live here.

Later y'all.