News and Political Highlights of the Week

Since I haven't had a chance to blog in the past few days, here are some key highlights of the week (except Shirley Sherrod, who should just be left alone by everyone that threw her under the bus this week):

- President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Bill, enacting one of the largest regulatory reforms of the financial sector since the Great Depression. This post on New York Times' Dealbook blog has a great breakdown of the Dodd-Frank Act. If you want an interactive explanation, this interactive at the Washington Post is fun, easy to understand, and the pictures are too cute to ignore. (My favorites are the Derivatives panic people and the Regulators raising their hands to be picked.) Also on financial reform, Zach Carter writes in The Huffington Post about "Wall Street Reform: Five Key Fights After the Bill Is Signed"

- Elana Kagan passed the Senate Judiciary vote this week, with only one Republican, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, voting for her confirmation. The Hill has the text of Sen. Graham's statement. What's more telling though are the hateful comments from the readers at the bottom of the page. If you want an idea of how extreme our politics have gotten, read Graham's gracious statement and the venomous replies to them from readers.

- Some fantastic opinion pieces worth reading this week:
In Politico this week, Robert Borosage had an excellent opinion piece about the lack of leaders in DC, from the perspective of leadership as a personality trait rather than a formal position of authority. Here is an especially poignant excerpt:
"This country must build a new economic foundation — revive cutting-edge manufacturing, modernize infrastructure, revitalize education and training, invest in research and development, find ways to shackle speculation and drive private investment into longer-term horizons and empower workers to gain a fair share of the productivity they help generate."

Anne Applebaum of The Washington Post wrote about how people's words and actions can be in direct conflict with each other in a column titled, "A government of the people's every wish?"

Hopefully I can blog during the week. Otherwise, I'll check in next weekend! Have a great week!!!