Read Stuff, You Should

Happy Birthday to Conrad Lozano, 61.

Oh, and I didn't get around to linking to my Post Partisan post yesterday about Richard Lugar and polarization.

Now, the good stuff:

1. More war on budgeting. Greg Sargent reports the Citizens for Tax Justice view of the Ryan budget: "This is all smoke mirrors and no deficit reduction."

2. Jonathan Chait is good on the budget, too. As is Jonathan Cohn. Also Stan Collender.

3. Jack Goldsmith makes the case for the legality (and Constitutional sanction) of targeted government killings of US citizens abroad. I haven't really been involved in this debate...I'm not sold on his case, but I do agree with parts of it, and recommend the article to those interested. I guess my position on this one is that I'm ambivalent about the general point of whether this kind of killing can ever be legitimate, but I'm very much not sold that the current procedures are anywhere close to what they need to be to prevent abuse.

4. And Alyssa Rosenberg on the new patronage.