Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s assurance that the Great Recession is over will undoubtedly convince many Americans that relief is on the way and that they can loosen their belts and get back to business.

With rampant foreclosures and declarations of bankruptcy, historic levels of money creation, a plummeting dollar, and double-digit unemployment, one would think that the already-bowing backs of the American public have borne enough of the burden of trying to pull the eonomy out of the rut of recession via more "stimulus" spending. This may seem obvious to most, but not everyone would agree.

President Obama’s stimulus package is reviving the economy and providing work for eager Americans all over the country. Don’t believe it? Just ask the folks that live in Arizona’s 15th Congressional District.

Political organizations and advocacy groups around the country are curtailing or canceling their planned activities and advertisements in the wake of the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six people at an event in Tucson, Arizona, last Saturday.

In ancient times, on the well-traveled road from Athens to Eleusis, there was a small town called Erineus. Erineus was legendary for an inn there run by an innkeeper of some renown. Procrustes proclaimed his unmatched hospitality. He promised a comfortable bed and protection from the elements. And, somehow, there was always a vacancy.

On Saturday in Tucson, Arizona 22-year-old Jared Loughner opened fire outside a Safeway grocery store and killed six people and injured at least 15 others, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) who was appearing at an outreach event organized by her office.

Given its recent quest to overturn the sovereignty of the states, and the sovereignty of the people, it is not surprising to learn that the Department of Justice is re-branding itself in a manner that makes its efforts seem even more menacing.

Plutarch records that upon hearing one of his early public orations, Julius Caesar remarked about his erstwhile protégé and eventual assassin Brutus: “I know not what this young man intends, but whatever he intends he intends vehemently.”

In Federalist #84, Alexander Hamilton asked, �For why declare that things shall not be done, which there is no power to do?� To Hamilton (and his co-authors, John Jay and James Madison) such a question made sense. How could the national government exercise authority not granted to it by the newly proposed Constitution? It could not, they insisted.

President Obama had better head for an undisclosed location because thanks to last week’s electoral victories, incoming GOP committee chairmen are about to drop a little oversight “shock and awe” on the West Wing.