I hope everyone survived their New Year's celebrations. I have probably condemned myself to a bad year because I failed to stop by a friend's house for black-eyed peas. She insisted it is for luck, and lord knows I could use a dose of that for the year.

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich