We round up some of the most important news and commentary released over the weekend (Jan. 24 and 25).

AMERICAblog: There will not be a recession, flashback to 2006/2007 - Chris from AMERICAblog digs up a compilation of clips from Fox News and CNBC that illustrates how economic commentators who predicted the recession were ridiculed. This is yet another example of how media figures change the costs and benefits of supporting a particular position by creating an artificial consensus. The cable news networks have created an environment where commentators who were wrong about the recession and shouted down the pessimists face no accountability.

Slashdot: Monster.com Data Stolen, Won't Email Users - Hackers once again breached Monster.com's user database, stealing personal information such as names, e-mail addresses, and passwords. Even worse, Monster isn't notifying their users about the breach. As a society we habitually give up our privacy without an understanding of the consequences. Cable companies don't need our social security numbers, but we give it to them without thinking. There is no system of accountability for companies that lose or abuse this data.

NYT: Republicans Are Resistant to Obama’s Stimulus Plan - Congressional Republicans have no intention of supporting Obama's stimulus plan as it currently exists. Of course, if the stimulus passes and fails to work, they benefit politically, so they have an incentive to pass a less effective bill. Todd Beeton thinks that the political pressure will be too much for some Congressional Republicans to resist, and Atrios argues that the focus should be on creating the best bill possible regardless of Republican support.

Russ Feingold: Constitutional Amendment Ending Gubernatorial Appointments to Senate Vacancies - The process that governors have employed to fill Senate vacancies has been unquestionably disastrous. Russ Feingold wants to push a constitutional amendment to end this undemocratic practice. A constitutional amendment honestly seems unlikely to pass given the work involved and votes needed, but at least Feingold's move keeps the flaws of gubernatorial appointments in the spotlight. Will have more commentary on this later in the week.

Larissa MacFarquhar: Ms. Kennedy Regrets - Relatedly, the New Yorker published a sympathetic profile of Caroline Kennedy told largely from the perspective of her friends. It argues that she's a smart and well-meaning person, but just not cut out for politics. My response would be that although she may have had problems as a candidate, the broader issue is the fundamentally undemocratic process of Governors appointing Senate vacancies. What if she hadn't realized that she wasn't prepared to be a Senator and accepted an offer from Patterson? One conclusion from the piece is that elections weed out people who don't realize they aren't suited for high-profile politics, not just in terms of talent but also lifestyle change.

Firedoglake: Sunlight is to Lobbyists as Garlic is to Vampires - Banks that benefited from the bailout are using taxpayer money to work against our collective interest. I don't think all lobbying is bad, but a lot of the collective action problems we face seem to be exacerbated by the lack of transparency in lobbying.

Think Progress: Obama’s Right-Wing Dinner Friends Rip His Stimulus Package: Worst Bill In ‘Galactic History’ - The conservative pundits that Obama embraced and legitimized are already trashing his stimulus plan. Big surprise.

Zack Exley at Revolution in Jesusland explains why "evangelical" Christians are worth taking the effort to understand. The Gaiman quote from “A Game of You” he references encapsulates why the story one of my favorite Sandman arcs. Gaiman took what most readers earlier dismissed as a throwaway character, developed her, and showed us this fascinating and complex fantasy world inside her mind. The story makes a compelling case that everyone is worth understanding regardless of the initial impression they convey, and the principle of equal worth of all people as Exley points out.

Amanda Marcotte at pandagon dissects the most recent episode of Battlestar Galactica, particularly its attempted parallels to U.S. politics, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff -- what've you been reading?