Liberals will tell you this doesn't matter, that Obama had no choice but to to pursue fiscal policies that produced this and that it's all Bush's fault (to be fair, on the latter point, it is partly Bush's fault) but don't worry, it's all good and there's nothing to worry about. And hope and change and "do you want the President to fail?" and stuff. Decide for yourself. I think it's, um, kind of a big deal, though.

The US public debt topped 12 trillion dollars for the first time in history, Treasury officials disclosed Tuesday, moving past a key barrier that raised hackles in Congress.

Treasury data showed Monday's outstanding debt at 12.031 trillion dollars, up from 11.999 trillion on Friday.

The ballooning debt reflects the massive deficit spending by the government in an effort to revive an ailing economy over more than one year.

The public debt topped 10 trillion dollars in September 2008.

Awesome. Just... awesome.

Meanwhile, a bunch of people within the Democratic Party (not the White House or Bob Menendez, chair of the DSCC, mind you) are having a freak out about independent attrition. But apparently some key Dems think it's really all down to "messaging."...

Oh dear. This is so sad. Really. England has a friendly against Brazil tomorrow (quick side note: Go Brazil!) and look what's happened. Frank Lampard has torn a muscle in his left thigh, and John Terry has injured his ankle. And they are two of England's more invaluable players. And, as luck would have it, two of Chelsea's, to boot.

Look, I don't really wish ill on Lampard and Terry. I actually kind of like them, even though there are two fairly good reasons not to (or should I say two of the less crappy reasons to dislike them out of a series of incredibly crappy reasons to hate footballers that football fans, including me, typically cite).

But with Arsenal in second place in the Premiership and just five points behind Chelsea, I have to say these could prove to be, um, helpful injuries. The only real problem is that of course when England loses tomorrow, we will all have to listen to a barrage of commentary about how England would have won (and won everything and been crowned the world's most awesome football team ever, by God himself RIGHT THEN AND THERE), if only it were not for Lampard and Terry being out. Which of course is crap. England fans consistently talk about how their team is on a par with [insert name of genuinely very good football team here] and how this year is going to be 1966 all over again (something I've been hearing roughly every two years since I was a small child), and so on and so forth, but the fact of the matter is, England just ain't Brazil. Tomorrow's inevitable result will demonstrate that, but these injuries will provide a nice crutch for self-delusional England fans until the next go around when, well, almost certainly, England will fail to deliver once again....

One of my pet peeves about now living in the US is that so many people here think soccer (football) is for wimps. I fail to understand why. They should seriously start watching the Premiership, because stuff like this happens-- and it is not wimp-friendly.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is Roy Keane, former Manchester United defender, breaking a guy's leg.

I would say this occurred in an effort to get the ball, but actually, it being Keane, I kind of doubt it. This was probably just for fun, or you know, a tactical maneuver to reduce the amount of opposition on the field (in a really effective way).

But what it was not, was the equivalent of a mean badminton move. Which, strangely (to me anyway) seems to be what a lot of people in the US think soccer (football) amounts to: Something as benign as croquet, but with running somehow involved.

Last year, on a relatively quiet day at the RNC, I had a debate about this with a colleague (who for the purposes of this post shall remain nameless and description-less). He hates soccer (football) and thinks it's stupid and not a real sport. I obviously disagree....