For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for [health care] reform as it's likely to get. The legislation on the table isn't perfect, but it's as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made – and everyone has to decide which side they're on.

WASHINGTON - If Democratic leaders manage to push a massive health care overhaul through the House of Representatives this weekend, they'll have to do it without one of Maryland's Democratic congressmen. Freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil, facing one of the toughest re-election fights in the country next year, announced Friday that he opposes the measure. His stance could complicate efforts by Democratic leaders to secure approval of the legislation this weekend.

One thing I learned from this experience is that if you follow professional entertainers, the "status rub-off" effect dominates the "suffer by comparison" effect. The audience is primed to be sympathetic to you and many of them do not actually know which of the speakers are truly the high status people.

If Congress wants to spend the taxpayers’ money to do something about the struggling housing market — and it should — it should invest the money where it is most needed, in better programs that help people avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.

"Tax credits like this only work by creating the sense of urgency to take advantage of them. This is the last extension of the home buyer tax credit, and I urge all Americans whether they're first-time buyers who've always dreamed of having a home of their own or someone who's been gridlocked in the failure of our move-up market to take advantage of this opportunity."

(Attention: If you switch to Dominion you WON'T lose the $100 BGE credit just obtained by the Public Service Commission as a result of a venture by Constellation Energy, the utility's parent. The credit is applied through your BGE delivery account, which doesn't change no matter who your electricity vendor is. So you can basically double the O'Malley/PSC credit by switching to Dominion.)

UPDATE: Switching to Dominion, WGES or any other competitive supplier does not affect the Peak Rewards you get from BGE cycling off your AC in the summer, either.

In comparing its price to BGE's price, Dominion's marketing department seems a little messed up. They claim 10.37 cents is 12 percent less than BGE's "price to compare" of 11.97 cents. Actually it's 13 percent less. But at this point on the calendar, BGE's price to compare is misleading. That's because 11.97 cents is a blended price to compare for the 12 months starting June 1 -- a period that includes both BGE's high summer rates and lower non-summer rates. But summer is over, so a better point of comparison should be BGE's non-summer price that started Oct. 1 and goes through May 31 -- 11.527 cents.

Got that? No? Don't worry. Dominion's price is still 10 percent less than what BGE's standard price will 

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the dolphin has built up quite a reputation. All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean. Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behaviour is interesting because it shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realised that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has, in effect, trained the humans.

It was the first thing analysts asked Black & Decker boss Nolan D. Archibald about the Maryland company's sale to The Stanley Works. "Why now?" James C. Lucas of Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia queried during a Tuesday conference call. "What drove this transaction today as opposed to any time in years past?" Archibald had an answer, which I'll get to. But the real answers seem obvious. After one of the longest reigns in history for a Fortune 500 CEO, Archibald is old enough to retire and ready to relinquish power. That's the first answer. The second: Both Stanley and Black & Decker are probably worried about the economy.